Helping or Sightseeing?

C1 Advanced · Open Cloze · Cambridge Ready original exercise

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.

Spending a few months volunteering abroad has long been regarded (0) ___ a worthwhile way to spend a gap year. Every year, thousands of young people pay considerable sums (1) ___ the privilege of teaching English or helping to build schools in poorer countries. In recent years, however, such schemes have come (2) ___ growing criticism. Critics point out that untrained volunteers often do work that could be done by local people, who would benefit (3) ___ the wages. In the worst cases, children in orphanages form attachments to one volunteer (4) ___ another, each of (5) ___ leaves after a few weeks. There is also a suspicion that many trips have (6) ___ to do with improving the volunteer's CV than with meeting any real need. Defenders accept that badly run schemes exist, but argue that it would be wrong to write (7) ___ the whole idea. A well-run project, they say, is one led by the community itself, and volunteers who arrive ready to listen and learn may find that the experience shapes the way they see the world for the rest of (8) ___ lives.

Helping or Sightseeing?

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