NewsTracker Answers for week of May 30, 2011

Q: Officials in Brazil turned down China's offers to buy hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland. So, the Chinese signed a $7 billion contract with the farmers to grow crops for them. Where is Brazil?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Brazil and the second-largest country in South America are moving to limit farmland purchases by foreigners. Which is the second-largest country?

A. Argentina

B. Bolivia

C. Chile

D. Peru

A. China wants to offset its growing reliance on crops from the United States by pursuing vast tracts of Latin Americas agricultural heartland, including the largest countries Brazil and Argentina.

Q: Which is Brazil's largest trading partner?

A. Argentina

B. United States

C. China

D. Japan

C. China replaced the United States as Brazil's largest trading partner in 2009. The trade has helped fuel an economic boom in Brazil. But, some worry that nearly 84 percent of Brazil's exports to China are raw materials while 98 percent of China's exports to Brazil are manufactured products.

Q: Some call the trading partnership a classic neo-colonial relationship in which China has the upper hand. Brazil was once an actual colony of which country?

A. Spain

B. Portugal

C. France

D. Britain

B. Brazil became a colony of Portugal in 1500 and became independent in 1822. It is the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world.

Q: Some economists predict that Brazil will have one of the world's five largest economies by 2050. Which country will NOT be in the top five?

A. India

B. Mexico

C. China

D. Japan

D. China is expected surpass the United States as the world's largest economy in less than 20 years. According to Goldman Sachs, India is expected to be third largest by 2050 followed by Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Indonesia, Japan, Britain and Germany.