CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH EXAMINATIONS / CERTIFICATE OF PROFICIENCY EXAM / CPE / USE OF ENGLISH / Open Cloze

 

For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap.

 

Leonardo's Childhood

Leonardo da Vinci was naturally gifted with unusually muscular strength. He could twist the clapper of a bell or a horseshoe as (1) ... it were made of lead. Along with his unnatural strength came certain weakness that was mingled (2) ... this extraordinary aptitude. The artist was left-handed and his old age paralysis finally deprived him (3) ... the use of his right hand. from the very beginning - according to Vasari's testimony – the child showed an immoderate and at times even extravagant thirst for knowledge of any kind.
He would have made even more extraordinary progress (4) ... it not been for his marked instability of purpose. He threw himself into the study of one science (5) ... another and bounded to the (6) ... root of questions, but abandoned work as readily as he began it. During the few months he devoted (7) ... to mathematics, he acquire such knowledge of the subject that he confused his master all the time and (8) ... him to shame. He was also very musical. He excelled particularly on the flute, the instrument he used later for accompaniment of the songs he improvised.

[start-answers-block type=1 columns=3 textTransform=none]

[answer="if#though"]

[answer="with"] [answer="of"] ! [answer="had"][answer="after"][answer="very"][answer="himself"]

[answer="put"]

[end-answers-block]

 

 

 

 

 

 

answer keys

 

1)    IF/THOUGH
PHRASE AS IF/THOUGH
In a way that suggests something:
Jack smiled as though/if he was enjoying a private joke.
 
2)    WITH
VERB + PREPOSITION MINGLE WITH
To combine or make one thing combine with another:
Her perfume mingled with the smell of wood smoke from the fire.
 
3)    OF
PHRASAL VERB DEPRIVE SB OF STH
To prevent somebody from having or doing something, especially something important:
They were imprisoned and deprived of their basic rights.
 
4)    HAD
INVERSION (THIRD CONDITIONAL) HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR
HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR => introduces the only factor that prevents the particular thing from happening:
Had it not been for your offer to lend me the money, I wouldn't have been able to buy the car.
 
5)    AFTER
IDIOM ONE AFTER ANOTHER
Used to talk about a series of similar things or events:
The bills kept coming in, one after another.
 
6)    VERY
ADJECTIVE VERY
Used to emphasize that you are talking exactly about one particular thing or person:
That might provoke a riot, the very thing he was trying to avoid.
 
7)    HIMSELF
VERB + REFLEXIVE PRONOUN + PREPOSITION DEVOTE YOURSELF TO
To use all or most of your time, effort etc in order to do something or help:
Few people are able to devote themselves fully to their career.
 
8)    PUT
IDIOM PUT SB/STH TO SHAME
To be much better than somebody/something:
His cooking puts mine to shame.