Business English Certificate (BEC) Higher Level C1 / Reading / Part 4

Part 4
Questions 21 - 30
  • Read the article below about life coaching - regular meetings between a business person and a neutral consultant to discuss work-related problems.
  • Choose the correct word or phrase to fill each gap from available options.
  • For each question 21 - 30 mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your answer sheet.
  •  
  • There is an example at the beginning.

(0)   stared     glanced     seen     inspected
 

Why I Found A Life Coach

Anyone who has ever ... [!glanced/stared/inspected/seen] through a self-improvement book has probably learned that such books do not hold the (21) ... [secret/solution/answer/key] of personal happiness. Having read too many of them without success, I was (22) ... [resigned/patient/tolerant/contended] to staying vaguely dissatisfied for the rest of my life. But when I (23) ... [came across/found out/ran into/met with] a newspaper article about a new kind of consultant, called life coach, I became curious, and decided to learn more.

    I was looking for a more personal way to (24) ... [evaluate/account/estimate/reckon] my life: I'd achived my material goals before (25) ... [enlisting/appointing/signing/registering] the support of a coach, but professional challenges, long hours and not having someone neutral to talk to were putting my work and relationships at (26) ... [risk/danger/hazard/peril]. I realised I needed to learn how to deal with problems before they occured.

    My life coach is very good at asking me (27) ... [probing/examining/exploring/investigating] questions which help me to discover what I'm dissatisfied with in my life., and to understand who I am. It's good to have someone you can trust and respect to (28) ... [talk/discuss/say/tell] things over with.

    I sometimes pick topics in (29) ... [anticipation/preparation/readiness/precaution] of our discussions, such as situations at work, or conflicts between me and colleagues, though I don't always (30) ... [set/put/place/hold] an agenda. and I know that everything I say to my coach is in the strictest confidence. I am far better at tackling difficult situations now, and best of all, I feel much more at ease with my life.

[answer-table]