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Use of English

Level C1

Part 2 - Open Cloze

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For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap.

Urban Biodiversity

Cities are often seen as places built (0) FOR people rather than wildlife, yet many species manage to survive within them. The challenge lies not only in protecting green spaces, but also in ensuring that these areas are connected (1) .......... one another. Without such links, animals may be unable to move safely across the city, which makes populations more vulnerable (2) .......... decline. Another difficulty is that urban planning is frequently designed with human convenience (3) .......... mind, while the needs of insects, birds and small mammals are treated as secondary. Even when parks are created, they may be too small or too isolated to serve (4) .......... suitable habitats. Pollution, noise and artificial light can all interfere (5) .......... feeding and breeding patterns, making survival harder for species already under pressure. What is more, public attitudes can sometimes stand (6) .......... the way of conservation efforts. People may support the idea in theory, but object when wilder spaces appear untidy or attract unfamiliar animals. For this reason, experts argue that cities must be planned not just for efficiency, but with nature (7) .......... well. Only then will urban environments be able to support biodiversity rather (8) .......... merely limit the damage caused by development.

What to do

This part consists of a short text with a series of gaps. There are no words from which to choose the answers, candidates have to think of a word which fits the gap correctly.

Errors in punctuation are ignored, although spelling must be correct.

Contractions (e.g. don’t, we’ve, won’t) count as two words. However, can’t is a contraction of cannot, which is one word.

Sometimes, there is more than one correct answer. Cambridge will always account for this and all options will be accepted. However, you should not write more than one answer.

Don't spend time in a word you don't know. Wasting time on this activity might cost you points later in the exam because you won’t have enough time to do other tasks well.

Strategy

  1. Read the title and the whole text so that you understand what it is about.
  2. Read the whole sentence in which the gap occurs, to look for clues as to what kind of word you need.
  3. Check the words before and after each gap and look for grammatical collocations.
  4. Remember you must write only one word.
  5. You are never required to write a contraction. If you think the answer is a contraction, it must be wrong, so think again.
  6. Read the whole text through once you have completed it to make sure you have not missed any connectors, plurals or negatives.

Instructions

For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap.

Exercise Details

Author

Bejenaru Alexandru

@bejenaru-alexandru

User Prompt

"Create an exercise about the challenges of maintaining biodiversity in cities"

Tone: Standard
Level: C1

Created on:

May 15, 2026

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