First, Middle or Last

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.

Few ideas about family life are (0) ___ popular as the belief that birth order shapes personality. Eldest children are said to be responsible and ambitious, the youngest charming but spoilt, while those (1) ___ the middle are supposedly overlooked and forever competing (2) ___ attention. It is easy to see why such theories appeal (3) ___ us, since most of us can think of a family that fits the pattern perfectly. Yet when researchers have studied large numbers of families, they have found that birth order has little, (4) ___ any, effect on personality. Differences between brothers and sisters seem to have far more to do (5) ___ temperament and circumstance (6) ___ with position in the family. Why, then, does the myth persist? Part of the answer may lie in the way (7) ___ which families talk about their children. Once a child has been labelled 'the sensible one', relatives may treat him or her accordingly, and the child may in time come to live (8) ___ to the label.

First, Middle or Last

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