The Virtue of Getting Lost

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.

astray

amiss

awry

abroad

unruly

ungainly

unwieldy

uncouth

across

along

down

over

tumbles

staggers

lurches

stumbles

hold

keep

bear

carry

set

kick

strike

hit

habit

manner

practice

custom

snorted

sighed

scowled

sniffed

For most of history, travellers had little choice but to take their (0) ___ from the sun, the stars and the occasional obliging stranger. Today, with a map glowing in every pocket, it is almost impossible to go (1) ___ , and few of us would willingly return to wrestling with (2) ___ paper maps in the rain. Yet something has been lost (3) ___ the way. The tourist who obediently follows a blue dot from one recommended sight to the next rarely (4) ___ upon anything that has not already been photographed a thousand times. Losing our way, by contrast, obliges us to (5) ___ our wits about us: to read the streets, to (6) ___ up conversations with strangers and to trust our instincts. Wrong turnings have a (7) ___ of leading somewhere unexpectedly rewarding, whether a café that appears in no guidebook or a courtyard where nobody thought to look. The occasional hour of bewilderment, then, is not to be (8) ___ at; it may well be the part of the journey we remember longest.

The Virtue of Getting Lost

headings

bearings

aspects

courses

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

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