• In this extract from My family and other animals, the writer and naturalist Gerald Durrell recall his idyllic childhood on the island of Corfu. For questions 1-8, read the text and decide which answer (A, B, C, or D) best fits each gap.
Gradually the magic of the island settled over the US as gently and clingingly as pollen. Those days were (1) ____________ each with a tranquility, a timelessness, about it, so that you (2) ____________ it would never end. But then the dark skin of night would (3) ____________ and there would be a fresh day waiting for us, glossy and colorful as a child’s transfer, and with the same (4) ____________ of unreality. In the morning, when I woke, the bedroom shutters were luminous and barred with gold from the rising sun. The (5) ____________ morning air was full of the scent of charcoal from the kitchen fire, full of eager cock-crows, the distant (6) ____________ of dogs, and the unsteady, melancholy (7) ____________ of the goat-bells as the flocks were driven out to pasture. We ate breakfast, a leisurely and silent (8) ____________ out in the garden, under the small tangerine trees.
1, A. compatible B. idyllic C. spotless D. picturesque
2, A. wanted B. yearned C. wished D. aspired
3, A. hang back B. draw in C. peel off D. spring up
4, A. stain B. shield C. fleck D. tinge
5, A. heady B. strong C. infectious D. robust
6, A. bleat B. yap C. screech D. purr
7, A. song B. hum C. tune D. buzz
8, A. contest B. incident C. episode D. affair
1. B
2. C
3. C
4. D
5. A
6. D
7. C
8. D