When the people first came ____ they were all sitting around drinking tea ____ and ____ glancing at the cupboards. I didn’t like the atmosphere and found the whole situation ____. I was beginning to ____ why I had asked these people ____ to go ____ my stuff and take what they wanted. Then my sister Louise arrived ____ the door. Without putting ____ her bag or saying hello, she headed ____ the bedroom, ____ on her face. She couldn’t get there quick enough. ‘I knew she’d be the competition!’ cried my friend Rosa, jumping ____ the sofa and ____ in the same direction. This is what happens ____ you open your home to friends, family and neighbours, telling them they can ____ themselves ____ everything ____ it. Moments later, Rosa and Louise reappeared with ____ of clothes and pot plants. I was surprised that they hadn’t taken the whole lot. Last month, I moved ____ for two years to study, taking just a ____ suitcase with me. I couldn’t ____ to keep my flat, so when it ____ to my possessions, extreme measures were called ____. Some of my stuff, like old novels and pairs of jeans, I could cope ____ giving ____. But there was a list of things like precious paintings and my childhood teddy bear that I couldn’t ____ myself to let go. I just wasn’t ____ to that. So, I decided to offer these things up for ____ term loan. It’s not recycling, or even ____: I’m calling it ‘sharecycling’. It was my beloved tent that formed the ____ of it. I made the decision as I thought about the pointlessness of putting stuff ____ storage ____ two years. ____, I imagined someone I loved putting my tent onto their back and setting ____ into the countryside in the summer sunshine. I was moving to the other side of the world, but this made it feel as ____ I would still, ____ some small way, be with my friends. And once I’d come ____ with the idea, it just grew and grew. I decided to give ____ everything – the plants on the balcony, the computer games, the chairs, ____ the towels in the bathroom. To get ____ of it all, I had an open house, inviting everyone I knew to take my ____. ‘This is just like ____ stealing!’ said one friend, as she loaded books by the ____ into a carrier bag. I became like a sales assistant. I recommended novels, waved toys ____ babies, and brought out coats and jeans for people to try ____. Now I am sitting in a flat on the other side of the world ____ the last of the ____ rains pour ____ outside, turning the pavements into ____ and sending the street sellers sheltering under doorways and umbrellas. I feel very ____ from my home, and from my stuff. That list I made of the things I want back? I’m not sure how much I’ll need it. ____ far, I haven’t missed any of my pictures, or that strange purse ____ like a mouse which I’ve had ____ I was seven years old. ____, I’ve missed my family, my friends, and my city. And my ‘sharecycling’ plan ties me back ____ them. A friend took my tent to a music festival. And my favourite picture ended ____ on the wall of my best friend’s flat ____ home. This is what gives me a real ____: the thought of all my ____ and pieces in my friends’ lives, a physical reminder of our ____. It’s like I’ve pressed ‘pause’ ____ my city life rather than ‘stop’, making the move easier. It shows I’m not ready to travel ____ the world forever with just a laptop.

Complete FCE for schools unit 10 text p.108

Print
Embed

Leaderboard

Visual style

Options

Switch template

Continue editing: ?