Reading the Rings

C1 Advanced · Multiple Choice Cloze · Cambridge Ready original exercise

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.

turn

come

break

show

like

than

as

to

regained

recuperated

recovered

refunded

valueless

invaluable

devalued

overvalued

overflowing

overturning

overtaking

overrunning

place

cast

put

lay

pull

drag

haul

draw

rests

sits

stays

lies

Every year, a tree (0) ___ a new layer of wood beneath its bark, and in a cross-section these layers (1) ___ up as a series of rings. Because a tree grows faster in warm, wet years than in cold or dry ones, the rings vary in width, creating a pattern as distinctive (2) ___ a fingerprint. By matching these patterns across living trees, old timber and even waterlogged wood (3) ___ from ancient settlements, scientists have built up continuous records stretching back thousands of years. The technique has proved (4) ___ in a surprising range of fields. Historians have used it to establish when buildings were constructed, sometimes (5) ___ long-held assumptions about their age. Art experts have used it to (6) ___ doubt on paintings on wooden panels that were said to be older than they are. Climate researchers, meanwhile, (7) ___ on tree rings for evidence of droughts and cold spells that occurred long before records were kept. Not bad, as one researcher put it, for a science that (8) ___ on little more than counting.

Reading the Rings

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Available as a free printable PDF worksheet with an optional answer key.

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