Part Five: Multiple Choice (Page 1, 2) Read the following newspaper article and then answer questions 1-6 on the next page. Give only one answer to each question. |
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COMFORT “Why
don’t you listen to the CD all the way through, Katy?” her dad said, who was sprawled
out on the other sofa. “You’d like the other songs as well.” Rebecca glanced at David and then said, “I could do with something to perk me up.” Her words trailed off with a heavy sigh, and then a yawn. It was the first in a series of hints that she would like him to get up and make her a cup of tea. On the lamp table next to the sofa, she noticed a letter that had been delivered a week ago, advertising exercises classes and a slimming club. She had kept it on the table as a reminder, or perhaps to conjure up the same kind of magical effect that people believe in when they splash out on membership to a fancy gym without going near the place more than once every two months. “Have you seen this flyer?” she said to her husband. “Just the thought of going for a workout makes me want to go and lie down.” Once more she didn’t get a response. “Who’s going to make the tea then?” was her third and most blatant attempt to get a drink before she died of thirst. He stood up. “I suppose it’s my turn. Again.” He went off into the kitchen while Rebecca, the victor, snuggled a bit further into the sofa. Charlie, who’d been asleep on the sheepskin rug, now started up with his own brand of baby chatter. He was attempting to cover the whole repertoire of vowel sounds this afternoon, like a singer performing warm-up exercises. Then, occasionally, he jammed his fingers into his mouth to make a sound approaching an elongated ‘w’. He lay underneath a baby gym, which consisted of a tubular frame in patriotic colours of red, white and blue and a top bar, from which dangled two clowns, one on a swing and one in a position that Rebecca thought was called a pike. (It was a long time ago that she had achieved her gold star award in the trampoline.) Once Charlie made eye contact with Rebecca, his happy babbling began to turn into a grizzle. Does
Charlie want feeding again?” Rebecca asked in the baby voice that irritated them
all, herself included. She bent down to scoop her son up. “I’ll
try – just in case he’s hungry.” In the kitchen she warmed through the mush of
potatoes and broccoli that Charlie liked and took it back through to be with Katy. “Thanks.
You’re a treasure.” She settled down to feed Charlie, knowing that her tea would
be the perfect temperature to drink in one go by the time he had had enough.
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