Question of the Day-Verbal Ability

Question:
The question below contains a paragraph followed by alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the paragraph.


The case for large-scale government investment in broadband is not as strong as its proponents claim. When it comes to promoting economic activity, it is easy to see why having broadband is better than not having it, but most benefits are likely to come from wiring people up in the first place rather than making existing connections hum faster. In Japan and South Korea over 40% of households have fibre links capable of blazing speeds, but that does not seem to have resulted in more rapid economic growth, or the emergence of new applications unavailable to consumers with ordinary broadband.

OPTIONS
1) The case for large-scale investment in broadband is not very strong because internet does not result in pronounced economic growth or new applications.
2) The case for large-scale investment in broadband is stronger compared to providing access to new areas because faster internet does not result in economic growth or new applications.
3) Focusing on expansion of the internet base is better investment option for economic growth than trying to make the existing connections faster.
4) The case for large-scale investment is not as strong as the case for access, as it hasn’t resulted in economic growth or new application.
5) The case for providing access is stronger than the case for investing in faster broadband as it hasn‘t resulted in faster economic growth or new applications in Japan and Korea.

Solution

The essence of the passage is: Investment in faster broadband is not as strong as the case for expanding the user base, as the latter is likely to produce more benefits. Japan and Korea are examples where faster internet did not produce faster economic growth or new applications.
Option 1 talks about internet not resulting in economic growth which is incorrect.
Option 2 is incorrect because it states that the case is stronger.
Option 3 is also partially correct; it also drops the new application part.
Option 4 is incorrect as it does not mention ‘broadband’ – the essence of the paragraph.
Option 5 best captures the essence of the paragraph. Though the summary does not need the examples of Japan and Korea, their inclusion does not make the option incorrect.
Hence, the correct answer is option 5.



 
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