CPE Reading and Use of English Part 2
For questions 9-16, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).
Example: JUST
When the World Watches
There is something distinctive about the way the Olympics capture attention. Sports that pass largely unnoticed for most of the year suddenly occupy centre stage, watched by audiences who may struggle to explain the rules but can sense the significance of the moment. The rarity of the occasion itself is where this intensity comes from, not 0 JUST superior athletic skill.
Because the Games occur only once every four years, they resist becoming routine. Events that might otherwise feel niche acquire weight precisely 9 they are fleeting. The viewer’s engagement is primarily driven by an awareness that the opportunity to witness it is temporary rather than the performance itself. The fear of missing out 10 becoming a part of something is too great.
The Olympics also compress national identity into a brief, highly visible form. For a few weeks, athletes are framed less as individuals than as representatives, their success interpreted 11 collective terms. This symbolism is often powerful, even for spectators who remain sceptical of overt nationalism. It is possible to recognise the constructed nature of the spectacle 12 still responding to it.
Yet the appeal of the Games lies as much in what they suspend as in what they promote. Daily divisions are momentarily 13 aside, replaced by a shared narrative of effort and excellence. Viewers follow unfamiliar disciplines 14 virtue of the context that elevates them – they might not have even heard of the sport before. The Games, briefly, ask for your undivided attention.
15 the closing ceremony the spell is broken. Stadiums empty, athletes disperse, and public focus shifts elsewhere. What remains is a memory of having paused, however briefly, to watch the world come together 16 a single event. The Olympics endure precisely because they are temporary rather than constant.
For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary
