The station is inspected twice a year, although staff can monitor most systems remotely. During winter, the only practical way to reach it is (9) .......... foot, and equipment has to be carried up a steep path. The climb is demanding, (10) .......... the engineers say that it gives them a better understanding of the conditions in which the instruments operate.
Each reading is checked automatically before it is added (11) .......... the public database. If a value seems unusual, the system compares it (12) .......... data from nearby sites. A warning is sent only (13) .......... the difference remains after that comparison, so that temporary faults do not cause unnecessary concern.
The project has attracted interest from farmers, (14) .......... need reliable forecasts during the growing season. The team is now considering (15) .......... a small visitor shelter could be built nearby. (16) .......... doing so, it would have to show that the building would not disturb wildlife.
Farmers who use the site’s information say that they value the explanation as much as the figures. It helps them decide when a warning reflects a short-lived mountain effect and when it is likely to affect fields at lower altitude.
The team publishes notes beside unusual values, explaining what has been checked and what remains uncertain. This prevents readings being mistaken for weekly predictions.
The station is inspected twice a year, although staff can monitor most systems remotely. During winter, the only practical way to reach it is (9) .......... foot, and equipment has to be carried up a steep path. The climb is demanding, (10) .......... the engineers say that it gives them a better understanding of the conditions in which the instruments operate.
Each reading is checked automatically before it is added (11) .......... the public database. If a value seems unusual, the system compares it (12) .......... data from nearby sites. A warning is sent only (13) .......... the difference remains after that comparison, so that temporary faults do not cause unnecessary concern.
The project has attracted interest from farmers, (14) .......... need reliable forecasts during the growing season. The team is now considering (15) .......... a small visitor shelter could be built nearby. (16) .......... doing so, it would have to show that the building would not disturb wildlife.
Farmers who use the site’s information say that they value the explanation as much as the figures. It helps them decide when a warning reflects a short-lived mountain effect and when it is likely to affect fields at lower altitude.
The team publishes notes beside unusual values, explaining what has been checked and what remains uncertain. This prevents readings being mistaken for weekly predictions.
Question 9
Exam guide & reading text▾
Mountain weather station — Part 2: Open Cloze
"Mountain weather station" targets the Open Cloze (Part 2) of the Cambridge C1 Proficiency exam. Unlike Part 1, no options are provided — you must supply single words (articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, pronouns, conjunctions or discourse markers) that complete the text grammatically and logically. Scan each gap for the grammatical slot it occupies: is it linking clauses, marking reference, or completing a fixed structure? Small words carry heavy weight at C2 level.
The station is inspected twice a year, although staff can monitor most systems remotely. During winter, the only practical way to reach it is (9) .......... foot, and equipment has to be carried up a steep path. The climb is demanding, (10) .......... the engineers say that it gives them a better understanding of the conditions in which the instruments operate.
Each reading is checked automatically before it is added (11) .......... the public database. If a value seems unusual, the system compares it (12) .......... data from nearby sites. A warning is sent only (13) .......... the difference remains after that comparison, so that temporary faults do not cause unnecessary concern.
The project has attracted interest from farmers, (14) .......... need reliable forecasts during the growing season. The team is now considering (15) .......... a small visitor shelter could be built nearby. (16) .......... doing so, it would have to show that the building would not disturb wildlife.
Farmers who use the site’s information say that they value the explanation as much as the figures. It helps them decide when a warning reflects a short-lived mountain effect and when it is likely to affect fields at lower altitude.
The team publishes notes beside unusual values, explaining what has been checked and what remains uncertain. This prevents readings being mistaken for weekly predictions.