English: Cloze Test for IBPS Clerk Exam – Set 103 (IBPS PO 2017 MAINS BASED)

The given questions on Cloze Test are based on IBPS PO Mains 2017 Exam.

Directions: In the passage given below there are 10 blanks. Every blank has A PAIR OF five alternative words given in options (A),(B),(C), (D) and (E). You have to tell which PAIR is APPROPRIATE according to the context. Mark that appropriate pair as your answer.

When a globally successful fashion-store chain opens up for the first time in a big city’s most prominent shopping district, it might reasonably expect a rush of excited consumers. But when Uniqlo of Japan opened its first midwestern outlet last month, on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, the reaction was _1_. In its first week of trading, “Some days were busy, others not so much,” says a saleswoman. Many who did turn up were from out of town, she reckons.

Uniqlo did its best to arrive in Chicago with a _2_. It took over an “El” (elevated light-rail) train, decorated it with Japanese lanterns and brought over a DJ to pump out Japanese pop as the train travelled round the Loop, the central business district. Chicagoan chefs, cheerleaders, rappers and other “tastemakers” were _3_to model Uniqlo’s clothes on its website.

The retailer is performing well at home in Japan, thriving in China, South Korea and Taiwan, and doing not so badly in Europe (though it did close some of its British branches). But America, where it has more than 40 shops, is a different story. Uniqlo has been in the country for ten years, but its presence is still much smaller than that of its main global rivals, Zara and H&M, respectively a Spanish and a Swedish retailer of fast fashion. It is also smaller than two local casual-clothing chains, Gap and Forever 21, and than “off-price” sellers of designer labels such as Ross and T.J. Maxx. Last month Fast Retailing, Uniqlo’s owner, reported losses for the fourth fiscal quarter, mainly because of the _4_performance of its outlets in America and of J Brand, its _5_ American denim chain.

Succeeding in America’s _6_ competitive retail market is never easy, for local and foreign firms alike. American Apparel declared bankruptcy in October. Gap is closing a quarter of its 675 shops in the country. J. Crew, an American brand that Fast Retailing considered buying last year, is reporting _7_ sales. Abercrombie & Fitch, until recently a rising star, has been struggling. Among the foreign retailers, Mango, of Spain, is shutting all its 450 concession outlets in J.C. Penney department stores in America. United Colours of Benetton, an Italian retailer, _8_ its last American shop in September.

Uniqlo has already scaled back its American ambitions. Though Tadashi Yanai, the chief executive of Fast Retailing, had previously said he wants to open 200 Uniqlo shops in America by 2020, the firm now says it will open only five in the coming fiscal year, compared with 17 in the one just ended.

Uniqlo’s weakest branches are in suburban American shopping centres, says Masafumi Shoda _9_ Nomura Securities, an investment bank. In the ’burbs, no one has heard of the company. Mr Shoda expects it to close some such branches (three in New Jersey have already gone) and concentrate on city-centre stores like the new Chicago one, and on selling online. So far only 15% of Uniqlo’s sales in America are through the internet.

Takahiro Kazahaya, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, argues that Uniqlo should persevere in America because winning brand recognition takes time. It is doing so well in Asia, he says, that it can afford to bear losses in America for a while. Moreover, if Uniqlo is to become the world’s top fashion brand, as Mr Yanai often says he wants, it can hardly _10_ the world’s biggest clothing market.

1. boisterous, garish
   inhibited, contemptuous
   restrained, discreet
   loquacious, prudent
   None of these
   Ans.- C
   Explanation: discreet = careful and prudent in one’s speech or actions, especially in order to keep something confidential or to avoid embarrassment.
2. tedious, blot
   cringe, abundance
   slosh, scads
   splash, fleck
   None of these
   Ans.- D
   Explanation: fleck = a small particle or speck of something.
3. hired, charter
   axed, charter
   sacked, charter
   envious, charter
   None of these
   Ans.- A
   
4. jolly, dapper
   festive, immaculate
   lugubrious, dreary
   dismal, dingy
   None of these
   Ans.- D
   Explanation: dingy = gloomy and drab.
5. >
   ailing, indisposed
   feeble, sassy
   unhealthy, eager
   seedy, willing
   None of these
   Ans.- A
   
6. excitedly, mildly
   grimly, placidly
   blandly, severly
   fiercely, violently
   None of these
   Ans.- D
   
7. moving, plunging
   dropping, escalcating
   waning, gaining
   slumping, plummeting
   None of these
   Ans.- D
   Explanation: plummeting = fall or drop straight down at high speed.
8. secure, bind
   shut, fasten
   ajar, loosen
   expel, sever
   None of these
   Ans.- B
   Explanation: fasten = close or do up securely.
9. about, upon
   at, in
   through, about
   by, on
   None of these
   Ans.- B
   
10. reuse, renounce
    relinquish, revert
    abandon, forsake
    bear, espouse
    None of these
    Ans.- C
    Explanation: forsake = abandon or leave.