Section A

Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

It’s a fantasy that goes back centuries: a message in a bottle, carried ashore from far-off lands. Authors, artists and children    26    have dreamed of such a gift from the sea.

This time, though, it’s not a bottle that washes ashore. It’s eggs—thousands of little toy eggs.

That’s what happened on the German island of Langeoog this week.

Lying just off the North Sea coast, it found itself    27    by an invasion of colored plastic eggs—much to the    28    of local children, because the eggs contained toys.

Police    29    the eggs came from a freighter that lost part of its cargo during an unusually    30    storm, the worst to hit Germany’s northeastern coast since 2006.

At any rate, what was lost now has been found, by many of the community’s littlest residents.

“The surprise eggs have found their way to freedom,” said Mayor Uwe Garrel. However, the joy of the moment    31    off soon.

“At first, I thought this was a wonder, because everything was so    32    , but then we realized that this is a huge    33    in the end,” said the mayor. He also noted the plastic bags and other materials that have washed ashore on the island can cause serious problems for    34    .

Still, all these little eggs contained an extra treat with their toys. They    35    notes from afar.

There was just one problem for the German children who received them: They were written in Russian.

A) wore   B) wildlife   C) suspect   D) struck   E) similar   F) quantity   G) overthrown   H) mess   I) intense   J) human   K) effective   L) delight   M) colorful   N) bore   O) alike