Tanit  +  568700 Sun, 21 Sep 08 01:36 PM This quiz is part of a past paper, which means it appeared in a real exam (in June 2004). It’s Part 1 (Selective cloze) of Paper 3 (Use of English) of the ESOL First Certificate in English (FCE) of the University of Cambridge, taken approximately at the upper-intermediate level. ______________________ Deserts To most people, the word ‘desert’ means sand, a Selectburstingburningsmokingflashing hot sun, camels and the occasional palm tree. And there is nothing wrong with that picture in general, Selectapartbesidesexcludingexcept for the fact that this describes only one type of desert. The truth is that sand deserts Selectequalillustratecorrespondrepresent only a very small proportion of the world’s dry lands. Many deserts are vast expanses of Selectstraighthorizontallongflat stony ground, covered with thin plants. Others Selectinvolveconsistcontaininclude of rocky mountains, with hardly a leaf in Selectsightvisionoutlookshow . Each type is Selectproducedcomposedgrowninvented by a combination of temperature, rainfall and wind conditions. There are hot deserts and cold deserts, deserts where rain has never been Selectregardedknownconsideredunderstood to fall and deserts that have up to 10 cm of rain a year. Deserts are Selectenormouslydeeplyseriouslymainly varied. They are also Selectshelterhousehomelodging to millions of people, more than 5,000 kinds of animal, and a huge Selectorderrangesortclass of plants. The size of some deserts is difficult to Selectassumeimaginethinkexpect . The Sahara Desert covers more than 9 million square kilometres, which Selectmakeskeepsleavesgives it more than sixteen times the size of Great Britain. In the great deserts the days are exceedingly hot, while night temperatures plunge to Selectclosealongnearnext zero. These extreme Selecttransformationsvarietiesalterationschanges of temperature mean that surviving in the desert is difficult for all Selectformsaspectsstructuresstates of life. Tanit Joined on Mon, Jul 31 2006 Senior Member 3,040 There is no greater pain than to remember a happy time when one is in misery. (Dante) Universities, Tests, FCE

	JCDenton  +  569972 Wed, 24 Sep 08 07:27 PM Hi Tanit, heh.... I had 15/16.... I made a mistake in "Many deserts are vast expanses of straight stony ground"...Actually, I was hesitating between straight and flat....:-). But I guess, what's straight is also flat, am I right?...hm.... ..Ehmmm, It doesn't matter...... In any case, it was nice test!.. Thanks Tanit. Best Regards JCD     JCDenton Joined on Tue, Jul 3 2007 Regular Member 658 Regards

	Kooyeen  +  570031 Wed, 24 Sep 08 10:40 PM Hmm, there are lots of things I will never understand about these kinds of tests... They want you to pick the most idiomatic one, but how can I do that when I don't even know what's idiomatic, LOL? For example, I got the first one wrong... I chose smoking hot... what's wrong with that? I thought it was the best by far. Unless I actually dreamed of people saying "Hey dude, check out that chick... she's smoking hot!" LOL Kooyeen Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005 Italy Senior Member 4,985 Parental Advisory / Explicit Posts

	hairmichelle  +  570036 Wed, 24 Sep 08 10:48 PM I guess because when one thinks of the desert, they think of sun--sun burn, so I guess burning was the "right" answer. I don't know. But "smoking hot" would be slightly more descriptive. hairmichelle

	Tanit  +  570143 Thu, 25 Sep 08 07:59 AM Kooyeen “I chose smoking hot... what's wrong with that? I thought it was the best by far. Unless I actually dreamed of people saying "Hey dude, check out that chick... she's smoking hot!"” ... hmm, but would you say "a smoking hot sun"?  Tanit

	JCDenton  +  570163 Thu, 25 Sep 08 08:23 AM   Tanit “ ... hmm, but would you say "a smoking hot sun"?  ” :-))). Yeah, exactly. In my point of view, this test was just about what sounds more natural....Like this one: The truth is that sand deserts represent only a very small proportion of the world’s dry lands. In my opinion, word ilustrate isn't there wrong as well, but it just sounds a little weird...Really nice exercise, thanks again.  JCD   JCDenton