CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: ADVANCED (CAE) use of english part 1
multiple choice cloze
For questions 1 - 8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
Scotland
People come to this small northern country for many reasons, lured, perhaps, by the promise of spectacular [scenery/scene/view/panorama] ... , friendly natives, and a vibrant arts scene. Some are searching for their family [roots/race/basis/source] ... or others just want to get away from it all and, digging [up/off/down/on] ... old memories from their English Lit class of gallant heroes engaging in larger-than-life struggles, their [minds/spirits/brains/head] ... wander to faraway lands, to somehow familiar yet different destinations. Why not go to Scotland? But what kind of country are they coming to and what should they expect once they get there? Scotland [consists/includes/embraces/comprises] ... of an area of 30, 418 square miles - so it's a fairly compact and "doable" country - with a population of about five million people - not too small, not too big. It is one of three countries that form the political [entity/entirety/entry/entitle] ... called Great Britain, the other two being, of course, England and Wales, which, along with their fourth partner, Northern Ireland, becomes the United Kingdom. Scotland is bordered on three sides by water and on its fourth by England, which has had both its advantages and disadvantages. Geographically speaking, the country can be divided into three broad areas, the Southern Uplands, the Central Lowlands, and the Highlands. Although the rugged Highlands [take up/take out/take in/take off] ... about two-thirds of the land area, the [vast/expansive/expanding/spacious] ... majority of the population lives in the Central Belt between Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, and Edinburgh, Scotland's capital.
[answer-table]
ANSWERS
1) SCENERY
| COLLOCATION | SPECTACULAR SCENERY |
| (SCENERY => UNCOUNTABLE) The natural features of a particular part of a country that you can see, such as mountains, forests, deserts etc: Reunion Island is a wildly tropical Island with spectacular scenery. |
2) ROOTS
| COLLOCATION | FAMILY ROOTS |
| Your relation to a place because you were born there, or your family used to live there: Why not try to trace family roots when you travel? |
3) UP
| PHRASAL VERB | DIG UP |
| To find hidden or forgotten information by careful searching: They tried to dig up some dirt on their political enemies. |
4) MINDS
| COLLOCATION | MINDS WANDER |
| If your mind, thoughts etc wander, you no longer pay attention to something, especially because you are bored or worried: Does your mind wander while performing daily tasks? |
5) CONSISTS
| VERB + PREPOSITION | CONSIST OF |
| To be formed from the things or people mentioned: The house consists of six rooms. |
6) ENTITY
| COLLOCATION | POLITICAL ENTITY |
| A unit with political responsibilities: A new autonomous political entity will be created to replace the existing Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. |
7) TAKE UP
| PHRASAL VERB | TAKE UP |
| To fill or use an amount of space or time: How much space will the wardrobe take up? |
8) VAST
| COLLOCATION | VAST MAJORITY |
| Almost all of a group: The vast majority of people can read and write. |