Cambridge Advanced Certificate (CAE) Paper Three Use of English Part Two Cloze Usage
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PART 2: CLOZE USAGE

Complete with one word only in each space.

A DISCONTENTED PARENT

For three years, on and (01).............................., the teachers in Britain had been on strike or going slow. One parent, (02).............................. daughter received at the end of the summer a computer print-out telling her she had failed her school-leaving examinations (known in England (03).............................. O-level), expressed the anger of many:

"... when someone I love, who has worked hard and intelligently, is reduced (04).............................. tears by a computer print-out I start to look for reasons. I start to reflect on her (05).............................. throughout the year to share textbooks with a friend. I reflect on the number of classes she attended which the relevant teacher, in pursuit of a dispute, (06).............................. not.... I reflect on the teacher who did not and does not set homework (07).............................. he 'doesn't believe in it.' Perhaps most of all, I reflect on (08).............................. might have been, (09).............................. not my daughter spent a crucial year in her life (10).............................. treated like an educational football by a profession so cosseted that faced with the threat of being assessed it walked (11).............................. the job.

"My wife and I cannot be the (12).............................. parents in this country who do not give a damn what teachers believe in. What we believe in is the right of our children to an education uninterrupted by disputes and untrammelled by pseudo-philosophical stances (13).............................. homework which are at best irrelevant and at worst plain idle. It may be that the anger and resentment I feel now is no substitute (14).............................. calm, rational thought followed by constructive action. But the first member of the National Union of Teachers who thinks of throwing that one at me had (15).............................. rehearse it first. In front of a mirror."

©English Teaching Systems February 2005