Water in England - Unit 13

C2 Proficiency · Open Cloze · Objective Proficiency 2nd Edition Workbook, Cambridge University Press

For questions 1–8, 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.

Large areas of the famously wet country called England, notably in the south-east, have had very low rainfall for the (0) ___ part of two decades. In one recent year, England's rainfall was less than any country in Europe (1) ___ than Belgium and Cyprus. Less, (2) ___ is, than the national average in famously dry countries like Spain and Portugal. And yet, English people expect their kitchen taps, (3) ___ fail, to deliver, in 30 seconds flat, a litre of ex-river water from which (4) ___ trace of human and animal sewage, pesticides and fertilisers, has been removed. They expect, and get, (5) ___ of the best quality tap water in the world – as much of it as they want, as (6) ___ as is required. Even the British government seems to regard the country as a kind of gigantic, inexhaustible sponge. The water industry gazed in dismay as plans were finalised to build another 200,000 households in London, one of the driest parts of the country, (7) ___ the course of the next ten years. Yet extraordinarily, the water companies were not consulted (8) ___ after the expansion plans had been published.

Water in England

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