NewsTracker Answers for week of July 19, 2010

Q: A tiny mushroom, little known to scientists, is behind some 400 sudden deaths in China. Where is China?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The investigation into the deaths was initially hampered by language barriers, and the remote locations of the Yunnan villages where the deaths occurred. Which is the most common of the many languages spoken in China?

A. Cantonese

B. Mandarin

C. Min

D. Wu

B. Mandarin is spoken by 836 million people worldwide. Wu is spoken by 71 million and all the others are spoken by fewer people.

Q: Yunnan province is at the southern end of China. Which of these southeastern Asia nations does NOT border Yunnan?

A. Burma

B. Laos

C. Thailand

D. Vietnam

C. Yunnan is bordered by the countries of Burma, Laos and Vietnam, and it is bordered by the Chinese provinces of Tibet, Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangxi. Thailand does not border China.

Q: What is the official name of the nation commonly called China?

A. Republic of China

B. People's Republic of China

C. Communist Republic of China

D. Democratic Republic of China

B. The People's Republic of China is governed by the Communist Party of China under a single-party system. The Communists took control of the country in 1949, and their rivals fled to the island of Taiwan where they established the Republic of China.

Q: Since China began giving up state control and ownership of all business in 1978, it has become the world's . . .

A. Most developed nation

B. Biggest exporter

C. Richest nation

D. All of the above

B. China now exports more goods than any other individual nation, but many of its citizens are still very poor.