The Allure of the Past

C2 Proficiency · 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.

dismissed

discharged

dispelled

dispersed

get

come

bring

make

provoked

incited

prompted

instigated

buffer

bumper

fender

wedge

beyond

outside

without

except

low

behind

short

down

grasped

clutched

gripped

clasped

other

more

better

rather

Nostalgia was once (0) ___ as a medical condition, a malady afflicting homesick soldiers and sailors. Today it is more likely to be (1) ___ as a harmless indulgence, or as a marketing tool that sells everything from vinyl records to retro sweets. Psychologists, however, have begun to take it rather more seriously. Far from being a sign of an inability to (2) ___ to terms with the present, nostalgia appears to serve a useful purpose. People who are (3) ___ to reflect on fond memories report feeling more connected to others and more optimistic about the future. It seems to act as a kind of emotional (4) ___ , cushioning us against loneliness and anxiety. That is not to say it is (5) ___ risk. Viewed through rose-tinted spectacles, the past can become a yardstick against which the present will always fall (6) ___ . Whole societies, too, can be (7) ___ by a collective yearning for a golden age that never really existed. The trick, it would seem, is to visit the past (8) ___ than to take up residence there.

The Allure of the Past

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

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