Proficiency Use of English Part 1

For questions 1 – 8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0). You should try to finish this exercise in 12 minutes. Use this timer to help you.

0 A torrent B surge C gush D swell
1 A initiated B evoked C generated D incited
2 A signpost B landmark C keynote D cornerstone
3 A inverse B converse C adverse D reverse
4 A probabilities B forecasts C prospects D eventualities
5 A observed B witnessed C acknowledged D testified
6 A score B measure C class D rank
7 A surpassed B overtaken C excelled D outdone
8 A retaliate B contend C retort D counter

When you are ready, click ‘START’ and choose the correct option. Use this notebook to write your provisional answers:

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The remarkable (0) SURGE in investment in scientific research in recent years, now routinely measured in hundreds of millions of dollars, has (1) a vast number of research papers. But it all seems to add up to surprisingly little in terms of (2) developments, certainly compared to the early twentieth century, when poorly funded scientists rewrote the laws of physics and genetics.

A writer called John Horgan controversially proposed an explanation for the apparently (3) relationship between the current scale of research funding and scientific progress. He argued that the very success of science in the past constrains its future (4) . Since the last century has (5) a series of scientific discoveries that (6) among the greatest intellectual achievements in history, it is difficult to imagine how such feats can be realistically (7) .

However, many prominent scientists (8) his argument by pointing to the historical record. The view that progress cannot be maintained indefinitely has been expressed many times before, only to be consistently disproved.

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