Fresh Starts

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.

Every January, millions of people make resolutions, a great many (0) ___ which are quietly abandoned within weeks. Why should this be (1) ___ case? Psychologists point out that resolutions tend to be framed in terms so vague (2) ___ to be almost meaningless. 'Get fit' gives no indication of what, (3) ___ anything, is actually to be done on a wet Tuesday evening. Timing is part of the problem, too. We tend to set our goals in the dark days of midwinter, when energy is often at (4) ___ lowest. Little (5) ___ we suspect, as the clock strikes midnight, that the gloom of January is hardly the ideal moment for reinvention. Those who succeed, by contrast, tend to start small and attach a new habit (6) ___ one they already have: taking a short walk, (7) ___ instance, straight after the morning coffee. Nor should a lapse be regarded as fatal. A single missed day does little harm in itself; it is the conclusion that the whole enterprise is doomed, and the surrender (8) ___ follows, that does the real damage.

Fresh Starts

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