Section Ⅱ Use of English
( 15 minutes)
Read the following text and fill each of the numbered spaces with ONE suitable word.Write your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.
Children who grip their pens too close to the writing point are likely to be at a disadvantage in examinations,______ (31) to the first serious investigation into the way in which writing technique can dramatically affect edu-cational achievement.
The survey of 643 children and adults, ranking from pre-school to 40-plus, also suggests ______(32) pen-holding techniques have detedorated sharply over one generation, with teachers now paying far ______( 33 ) atten-tion to correct pen grip and handwriting style.
Stephanie Thomas, a learning support teacher______ (34) findings have been published, was inspired to in-vestigate this area ______(35) he noticed that those students who had the most trouble with spelling______ (36) had a poor pen grip. While Mr. Thomas could not establish a significant statistical link______ (37) pen-holding style and accuracy in spelling, he______ (38) find huge differences in technique be-tween the young children and the mature adults, and a def'mite ______(39) between near-point gripping and slow, illegible writing.
People who______ (40) their pens at the writing point also show other characteristics______ (41) inhibit learning, ______(42) as poor posture, leaning too ______(43) to the desk, using four fingers to grip the pen ______(44) than three, and clumsy positioning of the thumb (which can obscure ______(45) is being written).
Mr. Thomas believes that the ______(46) between elder and younger writers is ______( 47 ) too dramatic to be accounted for simply by the possibility that people get better at writing as they grow ______(48) . He attrib-utes it to a failure to teach the most effective methods, pointing out that the differences between ______(49) groups coincides with the abandonment of formal handwriting instruction in classrooms in the sixties. "The 30-year-old showed a huge diversity of grips,______ (50)the over 40s group all had a uniform ' tripod' grip. "
