Computer games love them or hate them?

A recent report on children and new technology emphasised the many opportunities for fun and learning that
computer games provide. But the media coverage focused on the usual fears and worries. The report 1 --- (said,
spoke, told, talked) that we need to move away from talking about computer games 2 -- (bringing, causing,
making, supplying) harm. Experts writing in the media, however, 3 --- (recommend, explain, show, prove) that
computers and televisions should be 4 --- (held, checked, protected, kept) in communal spaces in the home. I cant
5 --- (believe, suppose, think, imagine) of anything more annoying for everyone concerned than playing games in
a shared living room. Games 6 --- (do, form, make, build) a noise: theyre surely going to irritate other family
members who arent playing them. As a child in the 1980s, I had both a television and a computer in my bedroom. I
watched a lot of television, mostly when doing my homework, and I sometimes 7 ---- (continued, stayed, waited,
delayed) up late playing on my computer. The only lasting effect 8 --- (looks, pretends, sounds, seems) to have
been to provide me with the ability to work with any 9 --- (number, quantity, amount, sum) of background noise.
These days, as well as writing fiction, I write online computer games, 10 --- (so, as , since, while)
I expect Im prejudiced in favour of computer games. But for me, they can be works of art and literature, and theyre
still developing. The stories they can 11 --- (say, speak, talk, tell) and the experiences they provide are increasingly
interesting and wonderful. And that, of course, is the point. The world that todays children grow into will offer so
many rich 12 ---- (practices, experiences, tests, events) through video games. The real neglect would be to deny
our children the chance to understand and enjoy them.

A camping holiday in Canada I had never been camping before, so I was rather nervous when some friends
suggested we should go canoeing and camping in a national park near to our home in Canada. However, we 1 -----
(EVENTUAL) agreed that it might be an exciting thing to do. So one morning in August, after a 2 --- (SATISFY)
breakfast of coffee and pancakes, six of us 3 --- (HAPPY) set off in three aluminium canoes across one of the lakes in
the national park. Canoeing was not a sporting 4 --- (ACTIVE) I knew much about, but after an hour or so, I began to
see some 5--- (BAD) in my canoeing skills. Everything went well until we suddenly noticed some black clouds on the
horizon. Within ten minutes we were in the middle of one of the 6 --- (IMPROVE) electrical storms I had ever seen.
There was nothing for
it but to beach the canoes and try to find a 7 (SHELTER) spot to camp for the night. 8(FORTUNE), when we
started to unpack our camping gear, we realised that everything we had packed so carefully was soaking wet. This
is not my idea of 9 (ENTERTAIN) , I thought to myself! We dried what we could around a small camp fire and tried
to get some sleep.I might have succeeded if someone hadnt been thoughtless enough to say Shout if you hear
any unfamiliar noises in the night. There are black bears in the area! I suddenly felt less than 10 --(ENTHUSIASM)
about the trip and decided that I wanted to go home!
Cats
Cats of all kinds are present in the legends, religion, mythology, and history of (1) ... different cultures. Cave
paintings created by early humans display different types of wild cats (2) ... are now extinct, or no longer around.
Many of these great beasts saw humans as food, but were hunted by humans in return. Cats similar (3) ... the ones
kept as pets today started showing up in artwork thousands of years ago. For example, the ancient Egyptians
believed cats were the sacred, or special, animal of a goddess named Bast. They believed that Bast often appeared
as a cat, so many ancient Egyptians respected and honoured cats and kittens. (4) ..., other cultures feared cats or
thought that they brought illnesses and bad luck. Today, with millions kept as pets in homes around the world, cats
have become important members of many families. No one knows for sure when or (5) ... cats became very popular
household pets. It's possible that people noticed how cats hunted mice and rats, (6) ... they set food and milk out to
keep the cats near their homes. This helped to prevent (7) ... many of these rodents (8) ... coming into homes and
eating people's food or spreading sickness.

Doing a gap year

Gap year is the _________ used to describe the year that some students
take off before _________ to university. Gap years are quite popular in
many countries, ________ the UK, Australia and Germany. There are a
variety of options ___________ for people who are thinking of taking a
gap year. One is to _________ the year travelling around the
world. __________ possibility is to spend the year at home getting work
experience. A third option is to do volunteer work , ___________ at home or
abroad. In 2003, Sam Cooke chose this option and travelled to Ecuador to provide tuition
in basic literacy for underprivileged children. "It was a wonderful experience and it really
helped me ____________ mature". However, Sam warns
__________ it's not for everyone. "Voluntary work is certainly not an easy
option and before you go you should make ___________ you are properly
informed about the living conditions you will find there. Young people need to ask
themselves _______ they'll be able to put ________ with these
conditions for a whole year."

When we consider how the world has changed _________ our great-grandparents
time, its important to take _________ account how transport has changed. Of
course, people complain _________ traffic now, but even in the past
people _________ to think that the roads were dangerous. When cars were a new
invention, a man ________ walk in front of them with a red flag, warning everybody.
Now of course, we have ________ used to them.
Another thing we dont find strange _______ more is the range of products in our
shops. As we go ________ our local supermarket, we see tea form China, bananas
from South America and radios from Japan. All these products _______ be
transported. Every day goods ________ moved from one part of the
world _______ another by all kinds of means of transport. One of the wonders of
transport is that, if we stay in one place, the whole world comes to us.

There is no doubt that money, in the form that we know it today, __________ what keeps modern

economic life functioning. Yet, in the course _______ history, money, in whatever form, has

provided people ___________ the ability to buy and goods. Thousands of

years ___________, civilisations ______ to rely on the barter system as a way of

exchanging goods. Within this system a person had to exchange one thing for another. This meant that the two

parties involved had to ________ an agreement as to what they thought their products

were ___________ . Items such __________ wheat, tobacco and salt have
all ___________ used as money at one time or another. It was not until much later that humans

came up _________ the idea of money in the form of metal coins.

So why ________ the barter system come to an end ? The answer is simple. Coins were much easier

to handle and carry around. __________ then, the use of coins has become widespread. It has made

business simpler and has given countries an opportunity _______ development by doing business

with other countries further afield, which they ________ never done business with before.
Later on, paper money became more common all over the world ,as it was easier to use.

It _________ not be long, however, before plastic cards

take ____________ completely, replacing coins and bank notes.