Part 4
Questions 16-20
Five sentences have been removed from the text below. For each question, choose the correct answer (A-H). There are three extra sentences which you do not need to use.
Learning to Cook Late in Life
My father retired from his job as an engineer at the age of sixty-five. For forty years, my mother had done all the cooking in our house. The only thing Dad could really make was toast. 16 . Then, two months into his retirement, my mother fell and broke her wrist.
Suddenly, Dad was in charge of the kitchen. I visited the day after the accident and found him staring at the refrigerator as if he didn’t know how to use it. 17 . He had written down step-by-step instructions for boiling water. I am not exaggerating.
The first few weeks were difficult. We ate a lot of scrambled eggs. 18 . He had decided to learn properly. He checked out three cookbooks from the local library and watched countless videos online. Every evening, he would present a new dish to my mother, waiting nervously for her opinion.
19 . My mother told me she had never seen him so focused on anything except his work. He started keeping a notebook filled with notes about what worked and what didn’t. ‘Too much salt.’ ‘Needs five more minutes in the oven.’ ‘Ask your mother where she hides the good olive oil.’
By the time my mother’s wrist had healed completely, something unexpected had happened. Dad announced that he would continue to cook three nights a week. 20 . She told me later that she had spent forty years waiting for a break, and all it took was a broken bone.
A. Very occasionally, he would make himself a sandwich if she was out.
B. He explained that he had discovered he actually enjoyed the process.
C. My mother, meanwhile, looked absolutely delighted with this arrangement.
D. I offered to bring them some frozen meals, but he refused.
E. On the kitchen counter next to him was a piece of paper.
F. She had always insisted on doing everything herself, which now seemed like a mistake.
G. But then, around day ten, something changed.
H. His confidence grew rapidly after that first successful meal.
For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary
