Topic 7: Comprehension Cloze

Aisha woke up early on Sports Day, (1)___ with excitement. She had trained for the 100-metre race every afternoon for a month, and she was (2)___ to win a medal. At the stadium, the runners lined up at the starting (3)___. The teacher raised his flag, and then a loud (4)___ rang out. Aisha (5)___ forward and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Halfway down the track, another girl was just a step ahead, but Aisha refused to (6)___ up. She pushed harder and crossed the finishing line first, a fraction of a second (7)___ her rival. The crowd (8)___ loudly as the results were announced. When the medal was hung around her neck, Aisha felt a deep sense of (9)___. She hugged her coach and thanked him for his (10)___ during the long weeks of training.

Honeybees live in large groups called (1)___. Each group has one queen, hundreds of male drones and thousands of female worker bees. The queen's only job is to (2)___ eggs, sometimes as many as 1,500 in a single day. Young workers clean the hive and (3)___ the baby bees, while older ones fly out to collect (4)___ from flowers. When a worker finds a good patch of flowers, she returns to the hive and performs a special (5)___ to tell the others where to go. The nectar is then (6)___ into honey and stored in wax cells. Honeybees are very (7)___ to farmers because they help flowers to make fruit and seeds. However, their numbers have been (8)___ in many countries. Scientists believe that harmful chemicals and the loss of natural (9)___ are to blame. Many people are now planting flowers in their gardens to (10)___ these helpful insects.

Dr Amina Yusof was born in a small fishing village. Her family was poor, but her parents (1)___ that education was important. Amina walked five kilometres to school every day, and she never (2)___ a single lesson. She was especially (3)___ in science and often stayed behind to ask her teachers questions. After winning a scholarship, she left home to (4)___ medicine in the city. Years later, she became a doctor and (5)___ to her village to open a clinic. The clinic (6)___ free treatment to families who could not afford to pay. Dr Amina also trained young villagers to be nurses so that they could (7)___ others. Her hard work was (8)___ when the government gave her an award for outstanding service. In her speech, she told the audience never to (9)___ up on their dreams, no matter how difficult the (10)___ ahead might seem.