The FP Quiz

1. After China, which country is the top source of recalled products in the United States?

1. Japan
2. Mexico
3. United States

2. What percentage of the world’s cargo travels by sea?

1. 40
2. 65
3. 90

3. What is the primary cause of HIV/AIDS in China?

1. Blood transfusions
2. Intravenous drug use
3. Unprotected sex

4. U.S. movie box office receipts made up what percentage of the global total in 2006?

1. 37
2. 57
3. 77

5. What percentage of Nobel Prizes have been awarded to women?

1. 4
2. 14
3. 24

6. Which country is home to the world’s busiest McDonald’s?

1. Britain
2. China
3. Russia

7. After the United States, which country imports the most gasoline?

1. Germany
2. India
3. Iran

8. How many of the world’s 10 largest companies do not sell cars or oil?

1. 0
2. 1
3. 4

Answers

1) C, United States. Of the 467 product recalls in the United States in 2006, 113 were for products manufactured by U.S. firms, compared with 221 from China. Just six years ago, this figure had been reversed: 150 U.S.-manufactured products were recalled in 2002, versus just 99 Chinese products pulled from shelves that year.

2) C, 90 percent. The high seas are still the cheapest and most efficient means to transport cargo around the world: Ninety percent of all global goods travel by water. And despite strong growth in air cargo traffic during the past decade, world maritime traffic has increased even more, at an average rate of 5.4 percent each year since 1995.

3) C, Unprotected sex. In 2001, nearly 70 percent of all HIV cases in China could be traced to intravenous drug use. But in 2005, unprotected sex overtook drugs as the primary cause of new HIV infections. In 2007, 57 percent of new infections were due to unprotected sex, compared with 42 percent for drug use.

4) A, 37 percent. Movie studios increasingly depend on foreign audiences for their big hauls. According to the Motion Picture Association of America, U.S. box office receipts accounted for nearly half the global total in 2002. By 2006, that figure was down to a little more than a third, with American theatergoers plunking down just $9.49 billion of the $25.82 billion in global box office receipts.

5) A, 4 percent. A total of 777 individuals have been awarded Nobel Prizes since 1901, but only 35 prizes have gone to women — and Marie Curie won twice, once for physics and later for chemistry. Of the 35 prizes, 12 have been awarded for peace and 11 for literature, the latest in 2007 to author Doris Lessing.

6) C, Russia. Moscow’s Pushkin Square McDonald’s serves more customers than any other in the world. On average, each McDonald’s restaurant in Russia serves roughly 850,000 customers every year, more than twice the Big Mac traffic in any of the 117 other countries that host the chain.

7) C, Iran. Iran may have the world’s second-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia, but it is also the world’s second-largest importer of gasoline, thanks to a severe lack of refineries. Iran imports more than half the gasoline it consumes, and a 25 percent price hike and rationing of its heavily subsidized petrol caused riots around the country last year.

8) B, 1. Of the world’s 10 largest companies (as measured by revenues), only retail giant Wal-Mart, which takes the No. 1 spot on the Fortune 500, can attribute its bottom line to something other than oil, gas, or cars. Oil behemoths ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips pepper the top 10, along with automakers General Motors, Toyota, and DaimlerChrysler. French gas conglomerate Total rounds out the list.