CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH examinations / PROFICIENCY EXAM / CPE / USE OF ENGLISH / Multiple Choice Cloze

For questions 1- 8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.


 

The Goliath Tarantula


For obvious reasons, tarantulas strike fear  … [into/from/of/for]  the hearts of many people. They are big, they are hairy, and they stalk around in a rather  ... [menacing/menial/mercenary/manacled]  manner. The largest of all of them is the goliath tarantula from South America. Although humans are often afraid of thes spiders, in their native environment of the South America coastal rain forests, they  ... [fall/incline/go/come]  prey to many forest animals, for whom such a large, protein-packed meal would be a real  ... [find/finding/findings/finder] . To protect itself in these forests, the goliath tarantula has evolved some unique ways of defending itself.  ... [Should/Would/Had/Were]  it find itself confronted by a predator, the first thing this spider does is to warn the  ... [foe/foal/fob/frock]  by rubbing its bristle clad legs together, making a rasping sound. If the predator has come across one of these spiders before, it knows what follows these warning stridulations and  ... [backs/takes/puts/stands]  off. If the predator is naïve, then it presses on and further tests the spider. The big tarantula must then  ... [resort/call/adjure/plead]  to its next line of defence.

[answer-table]

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANSWER KEYS

 

1)    INTO
IDIOM STRIKE FEAR INTO THE HEARTS OF 
To make somebody be afraid, etc.: 
These figures continue to strike fear into the hearts and minds of people.
 
2)    MENACING
ADJECTIVE MENACING
Making you expect something unpleasant:
At night, the dark streets become menacing.
 
3)    FALL
IDIOM FALL PREY TO
To be killed and eaten by another animal or bird: 
All these animals, and others, had fallen prey to the apprentice hunters.
 
4)    FIND
COLLOCATION A REAL FIND
Something good, interesting, or valuable that you discover by chance: 
Our new babysitter is a real find.
 
5)    SHOULD
MODAL VERB SHOULD
Used to refer to a possible event or situation:
Should you need any help, you can always phone me at the office.
 
6)    FOE
NOUN FOE
An enemy:
Who goes there? Friend or foe?
 
7)    BACKS
PHRASAL VERB BACK OFF
To move backwards in order to get further away from: 
As the riot police approached, the crowd backed off.
 
8)    RESORT
PHRASAL VERB RESORT TO
To do something extreme or unpleasant in order to solve a problem: 
We had to resort to another loan from the bank.