PART
2
For questions 13 – 24, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each
gap. Use only one word in each gap.
!"#$%#&#' (
A desert is a landscape (13) ............................. region that receives very little precipitation. You
will be surprised to learn that approximately one third (14) ............................. the Earth’s land
surface is a desert.
The world’s largest desert (15) ............................. the continent of Antarctica which has a surface
area of (16) ............................. 14 million square kilometres. The largest non-polar desert is
the Sahara Desert of Northern Africa. It is bounded in the east by the Red Sea and in the west by
the Atlantic Ocean.
The Sahara desert is extremely dry, and it is also one of (17) ............................. hottest areas
in the world. During the summer temperatures are often above 90 °F but the air
(18) ............................. cooler (19) ............................. night.
The Sahara Desert is not (20) ............................. bleak and barren plain like we imagine. In truth,
it is covered (21) ..................... various types of vegetation like grasses and shrubs.
One specific feature of these species is that they (22) ............................. able to adapt to little
water and excessive heat.
Nevertheless, there are still areas of the Sahara Desert (23) ............................. you can find trees
and other growing things, like the Nile Valley or the Saharan highlands, where one can find
species of cypress and olive (24) ............................. with oleander, date palm, and thyme.
48
FCE 2 | Paper 3 – Use of English | Part 2
!"#$%$&'&($)*+%!%$",%&-%("**%$$.%+&(/,010%-22333:;
5567865133385098