: A widespread occurrence of an infectious disease (used here metaphorically for obesity).

: In developed economies, lower-income groups are now disproportionately affected by obesity due to the cheapness of calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods, whereas wealthier individuals have the means to pursue healthier lifestyles.

(The passage explains that as incomes rise in developing nations, people adopt Western diets and sedentary jobs.)

To secure a high band score, you cannot afford to read every single word deeply. You must deploy aggressive skimming and scanning.

Below are the typical questions that accompany this passage, along with the correct answers and detailed explanations.

When the world was a simpler place, the rich were fat, the poor were thin, and people worried about how to feed the hungry. Now, in much of the world, the rich are thin, the poor are fat, and people are worrying about obesity. Thanks to rising agricultural productivity, famine is rarer all over the globe. According to the UN, the number of people short of food fell from 920m in 1980 to 799m in 2000, even though the world's population increased by 1.6 billion over the period. But the consequence of this prosperity brings a new problem and with it a host of interesting policy dilemmas.