Music to Shop By

C2 Proficiency · 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.

Step into almost any shop, café or hotel lobby and you will find yourself listening, whether you like it or (0) ___ , to music (1) ___ nobody present has chosen. Such music is not designed to be listened to attentively. Its purpose is to fill silence and set a mood, ideally without anyone noticing it is there (2) ___ all. Retailers have long been alive (3) ___ its commercial possibilities. Slow music is said to encourage shoppers to linger, and (4) ___ longer they stay, the more they are likely to spend. Restaurants, by the same token, may favour a brisker tempo when they need tables to turn over quickly. Critics, however, object (5) ___ having their surroundings filled with sound they never asked for. For anyone with impaired hearing, music in a crowded room can make conversation all (6) ___ impossible, and there are those who find it so intrusive that they will go out of their (7) ___ to avoid places that play it. Some campaigners argue that silence should be valued as an amenity in (8) ___ own right, rather than treated as an empty space waiting to be filled.

Music to Shop By

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

More C2 Proficiency Open Cloze practice · All C2 Proficiency practice