The Wall Street Journal Weekly Quiz s14

The Wall Street Journal Education Program

Weekly Review & Quiz

Covering front-page articles from April 22-29, 2006

Quiz Spring 2006 Issue #15

Developed by: Scott R. Homan Ph.D., Purdue University

1. The recent visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao was ___.

a. highly choreographed

b. highlighted by several in-depth interviews with the Western media

c. cut short due to huge protests

d. highlighted the lack of political tension between the US and China

2. During his visit the Chinese president _____.

a. drank Dom Perignon with Bill Gates

b. hugged Henry Kissinger

c. was interrupted by a Falun Gong protestor

d. all of the above

3. Today TIAA-CREF manages a massive ______for 3.2 million active and retired university employees, as well as some employees at research and health-care institutions..

a. $70 billion

b. $370 billion

c. $730 billion

d. $770 billion

4. To cut costs TIAA-CREF let go _____ employees.

a. 500

b. 1000

c. 1500

d. 5000

5. Italian women spend, on average, 21 hours a week on household chores other than cooking -- compared with just ______hours for Americans, according to Procter & Gamble Co research.

a. three

b. four

c. five

d. ten

6. Italian women want cleaning products that are:

a. tough on dirt and larger in size

b. convenient timesavers

c. inexpensive

d. multi-purpose and easy to carry around

7. Often called "the conscience of Europe," the Strasbourg court handles alleged violations of the______, a 1950 treaty set up on a wave of soul-searching after World War II.

a. Geneva Convention

b. "dictatorship of law"

c. European Convention on Human Rights

d. NATO alliance

8. More cases against ______are pending in the Strasbourg court than against any other country.

a. Norway

b. France

c. England

d. Russia

9. Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. -- known within the industry as the ______-- are training more American executives for senior management positions.

a. “Top-Three”

b. “A-Three”

c. “H-Three”

d. "J-Three"

10. North America accounts for _ of Toyota's sales, but about _ of its operating profits.

a. 24%, 43%

b. 34%, 43%

c. 44%, 33%

d. 54%, 33%

11. The median age of Mexico's 107 million people is______, meaning half are older than that age and half are younger. In the U.S., the median is 36.

a. 25

b. 26

c. 45

d. 55

12. Currently an estimated ______Mexicans come to the U.S. each year, according to the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.

a. 459,000

b. 559,000

c. 659,000

d. 759,000

13. Studies show that U.S. executives often don't even use up the vacation time they're entitled to each year. They usually just take:

a. a month at a time

b. a week or 10 days in the summer

c. a few days at Christmas and around other holidays

d. Both b and c

14. “Small stuff” that neurotic managers focus on include ____.

a. grammar

b. font size and styles

c. punctuation

d. All of the above

15. MySpace was bought by News Corp. for $______.

a. 58 million

b. 80 million

c. 580 million

d. 850 million

16. By one estimate, only ___ of submarine fiber-optic cable will be lit by the end of this year.

a. 14%

b. 24%

c. 34%

d. 44%

17. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations over the past year resulted in the arrest on April 19 of ______employees and seven current and former managers of IFCO Systems North America.

a. 11

b. 118

c. 187

d. 1,187

18. Good selling strategies when hosting a yard sale include _____.

a. price goods at 20% to 25% more than what they are willing to accept

b. “buy one get one free”

c. displaying items in random order

d. Both a and b

19. Today, between 30% and 40% of the nation's coal-fired electricity output is generated by facilities that use scrubbers, but that figure is expected to jump to about _____ during the next five years, according to utility executives and analysts.

a. 45%

b. 50%

c. 60%

d. 65%

20. Kenneth Lay’s testimony blamed Enron's December 2001 collapse on deceitful underlings, hostile stock traders and damaging news coverage by _____.

a. The New York Times

b. The Houston Chronicle

c. The Wall Street Journal

d. USA Today

21. High interest rates generally make owning _____less attractive and make it harder for companies to raise capital.

a. stocks

b. land

c. lakes

d. computers

22. Suppliers say that Walmart wants to pare $6 billion in inventory costs, or ____ of its year-end total, to boost its margins and returns.

a. 10%

b. 20%

c. 25%

d. 30%

23. When WSJ.com surveyed economists in early February, they expected economic output to expand at a 4.3% annual rate in the quarter. Now the consensus estimate has risen to_____.

a. 4.5%

b. 4.9%

c. 5%

d. 6%

24. The best way to resolve a consumer complaint is to _____.

a. call the toll-free customer-service line

b. get in touch with the "executive resolutions" department

c. by-pass the "company profile"

d. remain calm and refrain from using foul language

25. Cities with a weaker housing market include ____.

a. Boston

b. Seattle

c. Dallas

d. Atlanta

26. Gigantic refrigerators are riding the______or people's desire for more space to store the items they buy in bulk.

a. “GFS effect”

b. “Aldi’s effect”

c. “Sam’s Club effect”

d. "Costco effect"