CLOZE TEST.

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CHAPTER 3: CLOZE TEST

Part 1. Cressida Cowell is the author of the widely-
praised How to Train your Dragon series of children’s
books. She spent her own childhood holidays on a
remote island, where she has left very much to her own
(1)________ . As a result, she became an avid reader,
entertaining (2)________ with books and developing a
fervent imagination. She even (3)________ up her own
secret languages.
Cowell believes that today’s children still have a real
(4)________ for language, even though their attention
(5)________ may not be as great as in her day,
(6)________ them less tolerant of descriptive passages
in stories. Her books are outlandish and exciting, with
vivid imagery, cliffhangers and eye-catching
illustrations. Dragons seem to (7)________ to children
of all nationalities, who also seem to (8)________ with
her protagonist, Hiccup, quite easily. Hiccup is a boy
who battles his way through’s life problems, often
against the (9)________.
Cowell is currently planning an illustrated book for
teenagers. In her own words, she enjoys breaking the
(10)________ and finds that kids are open-minded
enough to (11)________ this.
Part 2. Recent research carried out in Ireland amongst
chefs and consumers found that 48% of people
(1)________ to regularly over-ordering in restaurants. A
campaign has been launched as a result calling for the
food-service industry to join (2)________ with chefs and
consumers to address the issue of food waste.
To bring the research findings to (3)________, the owner
of a restaurant in Dublin is creating a "Great Irish Waste"
menu, reconsidering food ingredients that have been
thrown away, rejected or (4)________ inedible and
turning them into imaginative dishes that are both
appetising and of a suitable (5)________ to serve his
customers. He says that while there will always be some
(6)________ of waste in the kitchen due to elements
such as bones or fat trimmings, there's an opportunity to
minimize wastage in the restaurant (7)________
through better communication. "Even though so much
food comes back on customers' plates and goes in the
bin, the majority of diners aren't aware of the
environmental or cost (8)________ of that waste."
Without consumers shifting their (9)________
restaurants will struggle to reduce food waste
significantly.
Tackling this problem as a consumer is straightforward.
Ultimately, it (10)________ down to smart shopping,
clever cooking and shrewd storage.
Part 3. The relationship between the modern consumer
and his or her rubbish is a complex one. Getting rid of
rubbish has come to mean a great deal more than simply
consigning breakfast leftovers (1)________ a plastic
bag. With the (2)________ of recycling, rubbish has now
invaded many people’s personal lives to an
unprecedented degree.
There was a time, in living (3)________, when rubbish
collection was a simple matter – but today’s household
rubbish, (4)________ being discarded, has to be filed
and sorted into colour-coded containers according to its
recycling category.
What is more, we are (5)________ out in a rash of
irritation by the suggestion that, if rubbish collections
(6)________ to become more infrequent, people would
then make the effort to cut down on shopping and
recycle more. We might be excused for wondering how
this would be (7)________. Can people realistically buy
fewer eggs or tubes of toothpaste than their lives
require?
Recycling is (8)________ to be good for us. But for
some, it’s just a (9)________ of rubbish.
Part 4. The environmental outlook for the future is
mixed. Inspite of economic and political changes,
interest in and (1)________ about the environmental
remains high. Problems such as acid deposition,
chlorofluorocarbons and ozone depletions still require
(2)________and concerted action is needed to deal with
these. (3)________ acid deposition diminish, loss of
aquatic life in nothern lakes and streams will continue
and forest growth may be affected. Water pollution will
(4)________ a growing problem as an increasing human
population (5)________ untold stress on the
environment. To reduce environmental degradation and
for humanity to (6)________ its habitat, societies must
recognize that resources are finite. Environmentalists
believe that, as populations and their demands increase,
the idea of continuous growth must give (7)________ to
a more rational use of the environment, but that this can
only be brought about by a dramatic (8)________ in the
attitude of the human species.
Part 5. Just as a language may develop varieties in the
(1)________ of dialects and argots, languages as a whole
may change (Latin, for example, evolved into the
different Romance languages). Sometimes rapid
language change occurs as a result of (2)________
between people who each speak a different language. In
such circumstances a pidgin may arise. Pidgins are
grammatically based on one language but are also
influenced, especially in vocabulary, by (3)________;
they have relatively small sound systems, reduced
vocabularies, and simplified and altered grammars, and
they rely heavily on context in order to be (4)________.
Pidgins are often the result of contact by traders with
island and coastal peoples. A pidgin has no native
speakers; when speakers of a pidgin have children who
learn the pidgin as their first language, that language is
then (5)________ a creole. Once the creole has enough
native speakers to form a speech community, the creole
may (6)________ into a fuller language. Many creole
speakers think of their languages as dialects of some
colonial languages. Linguists nearly always disagree
with this view - from our (7)________, creoles have
independent grammars and all the equipment of full,
proper languages.
Part 6. The issues for emerging economies are a little
more straightforward. The desire to build on
undeveloped land is not (1)________ out of desperation
or necessity, but is a result of the relentless (2)________
of progress. Cheap labour and a relatively highly-skilled
workforce make these countries highly competitive and
there is a flood of inward investment, particularly from
multinationals (3)________ to take advantage of the low
wages before the cost and standard of living begin to
rise. It is (4)________ such as these that are making
many Asian economies extremely attractive when
viewed as investment opportunities at the moment.
Similarly, in Africa, the relative (5)________ of precious
metals and natural resources tends to attract a lot of
exploration companies and a whole sub-industry
develops around and is completely dependent on this
foreign-direct investment. It is understandable that
countries that are the focus of this sort of attention can
lose (6)________ of the environmental implications of
large-scale industrial development, and this can have
devastating consequences for the natural world. And it is
a vicious (7)________ because the more industrially
active a nation becomes, the greater the demand for and
harvesting of natural resources. For some, the
environmental issues, though they can (8)________ be
ignored, are viewed as a peripheral concern. Indeed,
having an environmental conscience or taking
environmental matters into consideration when it comes
to decisions on whether or not to build rubber-tree
plantations or grow biofuel crops would be quite
prohibitive in. For those (9)________ in such schemes it
is a pretty black-and-white issue. And, for vast
(10)________ of land in Latin America, for example, it
is clear that the welfare of the rainforests (11)________
little to local government when vast sums of money can
be made from cultivating the land.
Part 7. It seems that a large percentage of today’s
population is addicted to all forms of digital media and
no one seems (1)________ of the nagging phone that
buzzes, rings or sings to its owners incessantly. Many
people no longer trust their own fallible memories and
(2)________ every detail of their lives to some digital
device or (3)________ and are completely lost without
it. Generally speaking, it is the younger generation who
are so addicted, but more and more people seem to be
(4)________ their way of life eroded by the digital
world. People ‘tweet’ the most mundane of (5)________
as well as the most interesting – in their world, having a
cup of coffee is as exciting as climbing Mount Everest!
There is a grave danger that people are allowing
technology to take (6)________ over everything else in
their lives. And in educational circles, concern is
(7)________ over the influence of social media, which
seems to be adversely affecting students’ progress in
some cases.
Part 8. Social networking is here to (1)________ and
interaction between people all over the world has
never been (2)________. We can share our lives with our
network friends who can help us solve problems or offer
advice. Although these sites can (3)________ as a kind
of group therapy session with people who seem to care
and who will listen, there is little or no censorship, so
cyber-bullying is a growing problem. Perhaps there need
to be more (4)________ on what people are allowed to
say. Nevertheless, social networking sites can be a
great way to find people with shared (5)________. and
they can also be very informative if used wisely. For
many people, it offers them a feeling of (6)________
from the real world. Furthermore it gives them a chance
to chat about anything and (7)________, often
quite meaningless, without fear of being rejected by
others. (8)________ the drivers, it has become a
compelling activity for many, so it is hardly surprising
that some people feel a (9)________. of
disconnectedness if they are unable to get online for
any period of time. And when they do get (10)________
online after a few hours of downtime, there is an
unmistakable feeling of relief at being a (11)________
of the world once more.
Part 9. It is hardly surprising, in light of their
desperation, that the peoples of the developing world
who are on the very bottom (1)________ of the ladder
have little time for the conservationists and
environmentalists who (2)________ bloody murder at
what they perceive to be a total (3)________ for the
environment in some parts of the “Third World”. And
while they – the nature campaigners, that is – have, on
the (4)________ of it, a very valid point after all,
serious, and, in some cases, irrevocable, (5)________
has been done to many precious habitats and the rare
creatures that inhabit same – we must understand that the
rules of supply and demand are in (6)________ here in
the developing world just as much as anywhere else. For
example, on the African plains, where (7)________ is
still rife, and in the mountain forests where rogue hunters
patrol, ask yourself this; would they bother if there
wasn’t a market for their kill? Believe me, for every bull
elephant slaughtered for its ivory (8)________, there is a
rich, greedy, fat-cat collector ready to pay a premium to
acquire this ‘find’ – in fact, there are probably ten of
them. Similarly, for every mountain gorilla murdered,
whose dismembered limbs appear in tourist outlets
(9)________ so-called ‘ornaments’ – ashtrays and
jewellery boxes, if you don’t mind – there has to be a
willing buyer; an admirer of these grotesque trinkets.
And there are plenty of them it (10)________ out. It’s
the same principle with rare animal furs and skins; who
do you think buys the crocodilian handbag? I doubt the
local tribespeople could afford the price tag, don’t you?
It is an absolute tragedy that endangered species of
animals are being (11)________ to the verge of
extinction, of this there can be no doubt. But we must try
to understand the reasons why this is happening. The
reality is that poaching will continue while it is a
lucrative occupation and while the (12)________ of
finding other forms of employment are very poor.
Developing nations need our help, not our scorn.
(13)________ that for the few unscrupulous trophy
hunters still out there; rich, spoilt, despicable Western
brats who get a (14)________ out of taking aim at some
of the world’s most precious and endangered species; it
is a good thing for them that we live in a civilised world
where the death penalty has, by and large, been removed
from the list of possible punishments our courts can
(15)________ down. That said, since they have made
themselves judge, jury and executioner for the innocent
creatures they have slain, perhaps nothing (16)________
than a capital sentence would be good enough for these
trigger happy delinquents.
Part 10. While the internet opens up a whole new
(1)________ of knowledge and information for this and
future generations to explore, it also (2)________ a
number of serious concerns for parents with young, net-
savvy children. For (3)________, it is exceptionally
difficult to (4)________ your children's net activity and
keep (5)________ of whom they are interacting with
online. Secondly, there is little (6)________ any
censorship of the internet, so parents must be willing to
do the censoring themselves or rely on software products
to do it for them. Even still, there are ways around the
best-intentioned of such programmes, and, besides, the
alarming level of growth in cyber-bullying is
(7)________ of a trend parents should, perhaps, be far
more concerned about. lt used to be that children were
(8)________ from the bullies one they returned to the
safe confines of their home, (9)________ escaped their
schoolyard tormentors, but not anymore. There is
nowhere to (10)________ thanks to social networks like
Facebook, which, if anything, make the (11)________
far and wide of malicious rumours and the like easier
than ever before given the virulent (12)________ of the
internet.
Part 11. Today many people find that the pressure they
have at work makes their jobs untenable as they have to
put their families totally in the (1)________. So working
from home, being more at the (2)________ of your
family rather than your current boss, has great appeal to
many as they start up their own businesses from
bedrooms or garages. But don’t just think about it. Now
is the time to start, so (3)________ while the iron’s hot.
Providing you are disciplined in what you do, and
(4)________ the idea of working mostly alone and
without the team spirit (5)________ by working
alongside others, then what’s stopping you? You gain far
more flexibility as you can choose the working hours
that suit you. You will still have to meet deadlines, but
they are ones that you or customers have (6)________.
And if you are at a (7)________ end during quiet times,
you can go out and do things you couldn’t do before. But
don’t get (8)________ away with the idea of making
millions. You’ll need to be determined and work hard to
succeed, but it’ll pay off in the end.
Part 12. It is said that we never stop learning until the
day we die. Broadening our horizons has never been
easier, as the twenty-first century (1)________ ever
more opportunities for learning and developing our
skills. And if you don’t want to (2)________ out in the
job market and (3)________ for a poorly-paid, boring
job, there’s no (4)________ these days. Thousands of
online courses allow you to work at your own
(5)________, while you are doing a full-time job.
Although be careful that you don’t (6)________ off
more than you can chew! Modern-day society puts a lot
of pressure on people, many of whom have had to take
out (7)________ and run up enormous overdrafts, just to
survive. The situation they find themselves in is often
not of their own (8)________ but rather that of the
global economy. Facing up to difficult situations by
doing something about it rather than running away and
coming up with new ways of solving these problems is
the (9)________ to survival, and ongoing education
helps you do this. Don’t (10)________ around
complaining. Get out there and do something about it.
Remember, actions speak louder than words!
Part 13. According to some psychologists, we should
examine our deeper (1)________ when we attempt to
help others who appear to be in need of our support.
Helping others is clearly a good thing to do, and it can
have a therapeutic effect on both giver and (2)________.
If, however, we begin to focus on what we might
(3)________ out of helping someone, rather than how
that person might be helped, we could be in (4)________
of adopting a somewhat calculating attitude. This would
be to lend (5)________ to the ideas of those
psychologists who believe that, ultimately, we only do
things for our own (6)________ that no actions are truly
altruistic. And, of course, we can all think of examples
of problems that have been exacerbated by the well-
intentioned, but ill-considered intervention of third
parties. We should also (7)________ in mind that doing
too much for people and protecting them from the
consequences of their actions can (8)________ their
motivation and even rob them of the resources to
(9)________ things out for themselves
Part 14. We live in culture that values participation over
ability: the karaoke culture. In broadcasting, it seems we
cannot (1)________ the vogue for “access TV”, “people
shows” and “video diaries”. (2)________ is our
apparent obsession with documenting our own lives that,
in future, programmes will be replaced by cameras in
every room, so that we can watch (3)________ endlessly
on TV. In the countless shows that (4)________ our
daytime schedules, the audience has become the star.
The public make programmes, the public participate in
programmes, the public become performers. Anybody
can do it!
But there is a world of (5)________ between enjoying
something and joining in. If we all join in, what is the
(6)________ of artists or experts? If everything
(7)________, there can be no mystery, no mystique. I
love listening to a genius and learning from (or even just
appreciating) his or her skill. To assume then that I can
“have a (8)________ at” their craft would be monstrous
impudence on my part.
Part 15. Few inventions have had more scorn and praise
(1)________ upon them at the same time than television.
And few have done so much to unite the world into one
vast audience for news, sport, information and
entertainment. Television must be rated (2)________
printing as one of the most significant inventions of all
time in the field of communications. In just a few
decades it has (3)________ virtually every home in the
developed world and an ever-increasing proportion of
homes in developing countries. It took over half a
century from the first suggestion that television might be
(4)________ before the first flickering (5)________
were produced in laboratories in Britain and America. In
1926 John Logie Baird’s genius for publicity brought
television to the (6)________ of a British audience. It
has since reached such (7)________ of success and
(8)________ on such a pivotal function that it is difficult
to imagine a world (9)________ of this groundbreaking
invention.
Part 16- Concentration is good in exams, bad in orange
juice. Concentration happens when you manage to focus
on one thing to the (1) ______ of all others, and
concentrating on that one thing (2) ______ you to stop
worrying about a lot of other things. Sometimes, of
course, your mind concentrates when you don’t want it
to. Maybe you can’t get something out of your head,
such as a problem you have to (3) ______ up to, or an
embarrassing situation you’ve been in. That’s why
collecting things as a hobby is popular; it (4) ______
your mind off other things. Indeed, some people seem to
prefer looking after and cataloguing their collections to
actually (5) ______ anything with them, because this is
when the absorbing, single- minded concentration
happens.
The natural span for concentration is 45 minutes. That’s
why half an hour for a television programme seems too
short whilst an hour seems too long. But many people's
lives are (6) ______ of concentration. Modern culture is
served up in small, easily digestible chunks that require
only a short (7) ______ span although young people can
concentrate on computer games for days at a (8) ______.
Sticking out the tongue can aid concentration. This is
because you can’t (9) ______ yourself with talking at the
same time and other people won’t (10) ______ to
interrupt your thoughts, because you look like an idiot!
Part 17. Television occupies a large portion of American
children's time. Starting in preschool, children spend
more time watching television than participating in any
other activity (1)________ sleeping. Children also have
extensive experience with television before being
exposed to many socializing (2)________, such as
schools, peers, and religious institutions. (3)________
the central role of this medium in most children's lives, it
is important to understand its potential positive and
negative effects on a variety of cognitive, academic,
social, behavioral, and attitudinal outcomes.
The results of recent research suggest that there is
considerable overlap between the comprehension
processes that take place during reading and those in
prereading television viewing. Thus, it may very well be
the (4)________ that children who learn these
comprehension skills from television viewing before
they are able to read are equipped with some very
important tools when they later start to read. If
(5)________, this has important implications for
education, by opening the door for early childhood
education of some of these essential literacy skills.
Clearly, television viewing is not the sole (6)________
in which important cognitive precursors to literacy may
develop. For instance, children may be (7)________ to
narratives through parental bedtime reading and
storytelling, particularly given that most parents have
positive beliefs about the value of such activities.
Television, however, may be an especially ideal medium
in which to cultivate some of the skills and knowledge
needed for later reading acquisition. For example, this
medium involves minimal print, and the decision to view
can be controlled entirely by the preschooler. Television
is also partially a visual medium, and thus (8)________
information more concretely than do written and spoken
text. This content difference across media seems to
(9)________ for the fact that preschoolers frequently are
better at (10)________ televised stories than audiotaped
ones.
Part 18. Television used to (1)______as a uniquely
unifying national phenomenon. Never before had so
many people had so common (2)______ core of shared
cultural experiences. People might not know the names
of their next-door neighbours, (3)_____ they probably
watched many of the same programmes.
Thses days, however, with the vast (4)_____ of
television programming, everyone can watch (5)_______
different, just as each Internet user can explore a
different selection of websites. Even so, programmes
(6)_______ at international markets generally
(7)_______ to be less popular (with the partial exception
of those from America) and people still often choose to
watch their own national programmes. In (8)_______, if
television develops along similar (9)_______to the
movie business, with a few blockbusters attracting vast
international audiences, people may even (10)______ up
watching a narrower range of programmes.
But (11)______ patterns of viewing habits develop,
television will almost certainly become a personal
(12)_______ of equipment, more (13)_______ a mobile
phone than a communal source of entertainment. Armed
(14)_______ a credit card and a remote control, viewers
will be able to pick their programmes from wherever
they choose. Television will then have become truly
global. (15)______, perhaps, will the cultural values it
instils.
Part 19. Language is thought to be a mechanism for
transmitting the information (1)________ thoughts. One
experiment used to demonstrate this idea (2)________
subjects to listen to a short passage of several sentences.
The subjects are then asked to repeat the passage. Most
subjects accurately convey the gist of the passage in the
sentences they produce, but they do not come
(3)________ to repeating the sentences verbatim. It
appears as if two transformations have occurred. Upon
hearing the passage, the subjects convert the language of
the passage into a more abstract representation of its
meaning, which is more easily (4)________ within
memory. In order to recreate the passage, the subject
(5)________ this representation and converts its
meaning back into language.
This (6)________ of thought and language is less
intuitive than it might be because many people find
language to be a powerful (7)________ with which to
manipulate their thoughts. It provides a mechanism to
internally rehearse, critique, and (8)________ thoughts.
This internal form of communication is essential for a
social animal and could certainly be, in (9)________,
responsible for the strong selective pressures for
improved language use.
Part 20. There are solid reasons for supporting,
preserving, and documenting endangered languages.
First, (1)________ and every language is a celebration of
the rich cultural diversity of our planet; second, each
language is an (2)________ of a unique ethnic, social,
regional or cultural identity and world view; third,
language is the repository (3)________ the history and
beliefs of a people; and finally, every language encodes.
a particular subset of fragile human knowledge about
agriculture, botany, medicine, and ecology. Mother
tongues are (4)________ of far more than grammar and
words. For example, Thangmi (known in Nepali as
Thami), a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by an ethnic
community of around 30,000 people in eastern Nepal, is
a mine of unique indigenous terms for local flora and
fauna that have medical and ritual (5)________. Much of
this local knowledge is falling into (6)________ as
fluency in Nepali, the national language, increases.
When children (7)________ to speak their mother
tongue, the oral (8)________ of specific ethnobotanical
and medical knowledge also comes to an end.
Part 21. Broadcasting has democratized the publication
of language, often at its most informal, even undressed.
Now the ears of the educated cannot escape the language
of the masses. It (1)_______ them on the news, weather,
sports, commercials, and the ever-proliferatinggame
shows. This wider dissemination of popular speech may
easily give purists the (2)_______ that language is
suddenly going to hell in this generation, and
may(3)_______ the new paranoia about it. It might also
be argued that more Americans hear more correct, even
beautiful, English on television than ever before.
Through television more models of good usage
(4)_______ more American homes than was ever
possible in other times. Television gives them lots of
colloquial English too, some awful, some creative, but
that is not new.
Hidden in this is a (5)_______ fact: our language is not
the special private property of the language police, or
grammarians, or teachers, or even great writers. The
genius of English is that it has always been the tongue of
the common people, literate or not. English belongs to
everybody: the funny (6)_______ of phrase that pops
into the mind of a farmer telling a story; or the travelling
salesman's dirty joke; or the teenager saying, 'Gag me
with a spoon'; or the pop lyric — all contribute, are all as
valid as the tortured image of the academic, or the line
the poet sweats over for a week. Through our collective
language (7)________ some may be thought beautiful
and some ugly, some may live and some may die: but it
is all English and it (8)________ to everyone — to those
of us who wish to be careful with it and those who don't
care.
Part 22. Little babies are not so innocent after all, it
would seem. Infants as young as six months, new
research claims, are capable of lying to their doting
parents, which they do (1)________ crying when they
are not truly (2)_________ pain or distress. They do it
simply to draw attention to themselves, but once they
start receiving the loving hugs and cuddles they
(3)_________ badly crave, the babies then do
(4)________ best to prolong this reward by offering fake
smiles.
This has led to suggestions that human beings are 'born
to lie' and that this is a unique quality of our species. As
someone who has devoted a lifetime to studying human
and animal behaviour, I have to report that this is
actually (5)_________ from being the truth. Mankind
may be the most adept species at telling fibs, but we are
far from alone.
A young chimpanzee in captivity, for example, is just as
capable of 'lying', as I have witnessed on many
occasions, most commonly when human handlers,
working with young chimps, have to leave them alone.
(6)________ human babies, the apes really hate
(7)___________ left alone, and for this reason, their
handlers, (8)_________ have become their 'family',
should ideally never be out of sight. Even (9)_________
the handlers always do their best to avoid going away for
too long, some absence is unavoidable. In
(10)__________ a situation, and as soon as the young
ape knows it is going to be left alone, it will start
protesting vocally, and these protests can be heard as the
handler leaves the building. The screaming stops when
the door is slammed, (11)__________ at this point the
ape knows that the handler can (12)________ longer
hear him. It has total control (13)_________ its crying
and can switch it on and off whenever it likes. The
crying is actually a deliberate signal, rather
(14)________ an uncontrollable outburst. But
(15)________ this is a case of "real" lying rather
depends on how you look at it.
Part 23. Once children had ambitions to be doctors,
explorers, sportsmen, artists or scientists. Now, taking
their (1)________ from TV, they just “want to be
famous”. Fame is no longer a (2)________ for gallant
service or great, perhaps even selfless endeavour. It is an
end in (3)________, and the sooner it can be achieved,
the sooner the lonely bedroom mirror can be replaced by
the TV camera and flash gun, the (4)________ Celebrity
is the profession of the moment, a vain glorious vocation
which, like some 18th-century royal court, seems to exist
largely so that the rest of us might watch and be amazed
while its members live out their lives in public,
(5)________ self-regarding members of some glittering
soap opera.
Today, almost anyone can be famous. (6)________ has
fame been more democratic, more ordinary, more
achievable. No wonder it s a modern ambition. It’s easy
to see why people crave celebrity, why generations
reared (7)________ the instant fame offered by
television want to step out of the limousine with the
flashlights (8)________ around them. It doesn’t want to
be the (9)________ of attention at some time in their
lives?
Modern celebrity, peopled by (10)________ largely vain
and vacuous, fills a need in our lives. It peoples talks
shows, sells goods and newspapers and rewards the
famous for — well, being famous.
Part 24.
In 1942, only a few months after the United States had
entered World War II, as Hitler plunged deeper into
Russia and Japan was advancing victoriously throughout
the Pacific, President Roosevelt, Secretary of State
Cordell Hull, and his deputy, Sumner Welles, along with
many politicians, journalists, and academics, were
already involved in a debate on postwar arrangements.
Many of the proposals were far-reaching, (1)________
revolutionary. In no other country did the shock of war
create such a (2)________ at a time when the Nazis and
the Japanese were still clearly winning. Such activities
(3)________ strikingly with the negativism and lack of
verve that now, in our peaceful time, characterize the
discussion, when there is any, of international
organization for the future.
At the end of the war, (4)________ from the usual
xenophobes and isolationists, relatively few voices
questioned the need for the new international system. On
the (5)________, there was a tendency to oversell it and
to create unrealistic hopes for its effectiveness. Thus
when the cold war—along with the usual tendency of
sovereign states to quarrel and (6)________ to violence
—shattered the dream of a more rational world, public
disillusion and hostility to the UN (7)________ all the
fiercer. In fact, the UN has never quite (8)________
from its failure to live up to its advance notices.
Already in 1942 there were warning (9)________.
Professor Nicholas Spykman of Yale wrote that “plans
for far-reaching changes in the character of international
society are an intellectual by-product of all great wars,”
but they have never altered “the fundamental power
patterns.” Spykman predicted that the new postwar order
would remain “a world of power politics in which the
interest of the United States will continue to demand the
preservation of a (10)________ of power in Europe and
Asia.”
Part 25.
Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people
are beginning to find that we cannot (1)________
without the wilderness and that mountain parks and
reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber
and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life. The
national park movement, is seeing to the worldwide
protection of wild places, not only out of respect for their
intrinsic natural (2)________, but also for their capacity
to (3)________ people’s lives with a depth of spiritual
and poetic inspiration, dicovery and adventure.
It is often in the (4)________ places, away from the
dominating presence or evidence of human activity, that
thousands find spiritual and physical refreshment: on the
downs, along the seashore or by the mountain streams. It
is a dislike of constraint and restriction which
(5)________ us to wild places. We aspire to wild
landscapes because we aspire to freedom. In Britain our
wild landscapes are now small in (6)________ and
ecologically (7)________ due to overgrazing, acid rain
and nitrogen pollution. What is (8)________ is doubly
precious.
Part 26.
A few countries, mainly in the south, have large herds of
elephants that are growing in number and are rapidly
exceeding the (1)________ of game reserves to sustain
them. In most other countries, mainly in the centre of the
continent, elephants are (2)________ but extinct. The
lines of conflict are (3)________ by this division.
Countries with big and growing herds push for culling
and trade in elephant products. Those (4)________
favour a ban on trade in ivory.
For environmentalists, the answer is to (5)______
elephants from overpopulated to underpopulated areas,
can help to ease the pressures to cull and stops the bitter
clashes (6)________ what to do. However, this is often
just too expensive.
The only real (7)________ lies in the opening up of large
new elephant rangelands by dropping the fences of game
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