The Map Beneath the Floorboards | Part 1: Multiple Choice Cloze Practice | C1 Proficiency

The Map Beneath the Floorboards — Part 1: Multiple Choice Cloze

"The Map Beneath the Floorboards" is a Cambridge C1 Proficiency Multiple Choice Cloze (Part 1) practice exam. This task tests your command of collocations, idiomatic expressions, phrasal verbs and fixed phrases in context. Read the full text carefully before choosing each option — the correct answer often depends on what naturally follows the surrounding words, not grammar alone. Eliminate distractors that are grammatically possible but semantically wrong, and watch for subtle register shifts between formal and informal usage.

Reading text

During repairs to a nineteenth-century house, a builder found a folded map under a loose floorboard. The paper appeared to (1) .......... back to the period when the street was first planned, although it had been hidden so carefully that nobody had mentioned it in local records. Some of its lines were so (2) .......... that they could be seen only in strong light. The map had been (3) .......... in a dry room, which explained why the ink had survived better than expected. The drawing showed a market square (4) .......... than a later row of shops, revealing how the centre of the town had shifted. The discovery did not (5) .......... up a complete answer, but it gave researchers a starting point for questions they had not asked. It also provided physical (6) .......... for the existence of an old footpath remembered by local residents. The museum plans to (7) .......... visitors to examine a high-quality copy, while the original remains (8) .......... protected from light and handling.