In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Tea prices in the domestic (1)__________ continue to rule high in the current year despite the expectation of a higher production as compared to the previous year. During the past three months, tea prices have been (2)__________ with the prices of other companies. Unlike last year, tea prices have generally shown (3) __________, when tea prices rose dramatically, this year, prices seem to have (4) __________ at a rather high level. In the subsequent four months, the (5)__________ average price showed a downtrend.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 3.
- (a)an innate
- (b)a reduction
- (c)an uptrend
- (d)an inflow
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The passage's last sentence supplies both the word class and the pair: "the (5)__________ average price showed a downtrend".
Blank 3 sits in the same frame, "have generally shown (3)__________", and takes the mirror noun, an uptrend. Shown needs a noun naming a direction of movement, and uptrend is the only option that names one.
The paragraph also holds prices that continue to rule high, which an upward trend fits. Option (c) is the key.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)an innate — Innate is an adjective, as in an innate talent, so shown an innate breaks off before the noun it needs. Word class alone rules this option out before meaning is considered.
- (b)a reduction — Reduction points downward, and the passage saves that direction for its closing clause, showed a downtrend. It also fights the opening statement that prices continue to rule high.
- (d)an inflow — Inflow names a quantity arriving — an inflow of funds, an inflow of supply — not a direction a price moves in. Prices show trends, they do not show inflows.
Concept
A cloze passage often plants its own answer in the vocabulary it uses elsewhere. Here the closing sentence uses downtrend, and blank 3 wants the same kind of word pointing the other way.
Two filters do the work. Word class first: after shown the slot needs a noun, which removes an innate outright. Direction second: the paragraph describes prices that continue to rule high, so a word of decline sits badly.
Uptrend and downtrend are business-page nouns for a sustained rise and a sustained fall.
The printed sentence is awkward. It runs: "Unlike last year, tea prices have generally shown (3) __________, when tea prices rose dramatically, this year, prices seem to have (4) __________ at a rather high level."
The comparison clause sits in the middle and the logic does not run cleanly, so the blank is decided by word class and by the uptrend-downtrend pair rather than by the sense of the contrast.
Key facts
- An uptrend is a sustained upward movement in a price or a series, and a downtrend is its opposite.
- Innate is an adjective meaning inborn and cannot stand as the noun after shown.
- This passage uses downtrend in its final sentence, which fixes the vocabulary blank 3 belongs to.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing a reduction because unlike last year sounds like a reversal.
- Reading past the article an and forgetting that innate cannot be a noun.
Blanks in this passage are answered from the paragraph's own vocabulary rather than from a grammar rule.
The sentence carrying blank 5, English Q.25 of this shift, is where downtrend appears (9 Sep 2024, 16:00).
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.