Question

Directions (26- 35): In the following passage, some of the words have been left out, each of which is indicated by a number. Find the suitable word from the options given against each number and fill up the blanks with appropriate words to make the paragraph meaningfully complete. It is the latest example of weather __(26)__to poor harvests in one part of the world, and __(27)__ in shortfalls and price rises at supermarkets far away. And it __(28)__ as a reminder of the complexity and fragility of the vast global system putting food on the plates of consumers around the world. Last year, a cyclone that __(29)__ Madagascar sent prices for vanilla pods surging. The east African island nation accounts for 80% of the world's vanilla supply, and the storm meant the country's annual crop was cut __(30)__ around 15%. That set off a supply crunch, at one point pushing prices for vanilla pods, which were about $30 a kilogram, or $13.60 a pound, in 2012, to more than $700 a kilogram in 2017. Those prices,__(31)__ with poor crops, were too high for some retailers. Oddono's, an ice cream chain in London, stopped selling vanilla ice cream for several months. A drought in California drove almond prices sharply higher in 2014 and 2015. That came just as demand for a broad range of nuts was surging, pushed in particular by__(32)__ consumption in China. In 2015, the combination of rising demand for chocolate in Asian countries, unusual weather in major cocoa-producing countries of West Africa and attacks of fungus resulted in higher prices for chocolate. The factors just happened to__(33)__ with Valentine's Day. Britain is particularly__(34)__ to shifts in the international food system: it imports almost a third of its food, and a weaker currency, driven in part by uncertainty over the country's exit from the European Union next year, could make groceries even more expensive. The unexpectedly severe drought in India of the past few years has affected hundreds of millions of people in the country. It has also had __(35)__ for global markets, including for chickpeas, as India typically produces 10 times the amount of the legume as the next-biggest producer, according to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.