· For questions 1 - 6, read the three texts below and decide which answer (A, B, C, or D) best fits each gap.
Supermarket Opening
The opening of a new supermarket used to be a bit of an event in Britain. You could always rely on a soap star, a disc jockey, or a minor member of the royal family to come down and cut the ribbon. Now it seems that new branches are (1) .... up every day in many areas and so the poor old celebrity has become (2) .... . Why pay a famous person when any Tom, Dick or Harry will open it for nothing? Last week, waiting pensioners didn't care who opened the new branch of Superbuy, (3) .... they were at the front. According to one prospective customer who knew someone who worked there, the first five men over the (4) .... would be getting a bottle of aftershave, and the first five women, a bunch of flowers. This (5) .... of information quickly swept (6) .... the crowd, instilling feelings of smug superiority among those at the front, and envy from the latecomers.
1) A. popping B. leaping C. jumping D. nipping
2) A. superfluous B. excessive C. surplus D. residual
3) A. despite B. so long as C. in case D. regardless
4) A. entrance B. doorway C. threshold D. barrier
5) A. clipping B. strand C. string D. snippet
6) A. among B. through C. across D. around