From
Paper 1 (Reading) of the CPE (Certificate of Proficiency in English) of the
University of Cambridge,
Part 1. In this part candidates are asked to read three extracts and to answer a total of 18 questions, six per extract.
Here are some directions and suggestions given in the CPE handbook for this task:
Students should be aware of the different aspects of vocabulary tested in this part of the paper. They should read through each text carefully, not forgetting the title, to get a general idea of the text type and meaning before looking at the options. They could also be encouraged to think about the possible forms and meanings of the gapped words at this stage. They should be aware that the missing word(s) may form part of an idiom, fixed phrase or collocation, so they should always check the words around the gap carefully. The missing word(s) must also fit the whole context of the passage so they should also check that the completed sentence makes sense in the passage as a whole. This is particularly important in the case of linkers.
Are you ready to read the extract and decide which answer best fits each gap?
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Keas - not just pretty parrots
Few birds are as curious as keas. New research shows how these New Zealand parrots channel that curiosity for maximum benefit: they up tips by watching each other. Keas are notorious for investigating and, in the , often destroying everything from rubbish bins to windscreen wipers. Ludwig Huber and colleagues from the University of Vienna have found that in keas, which live in family flocks, social learning affects patterns of curiosity. In their experiments, the keas' tasks was to open a steel box with a complete locking mechanism. Two birds were gradually trained as 'models' and then they the task again under the watchful gaze of keas who were new to the job. enough, birds who had watched a demonstration had a much higher success than keas who had never watched one.