Exercises for CAE Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English, Paper Three, English in Use

Answers. You should have scored at least 10 out of 15, preferably 12.

GOGHING, GOGHING, GONE !

(01) On the anniversary of the artist's birth, Van Gogh's Sunflowers was sold for (02) just under £25 million at the fine art aunctioneers, Christie's, in London. It was one of a number of paintings (03) on the theme by the artist, another version hanging in the National Gallery, London. The price was triple the previous (04) record of £8 million paid in 1985 for Mantegna's Adoration of the Magi. At least lO bidders competed for the painting, half by telephone, anonymously battling it out in leaps of £5OO,OOO. Van Gogh wrote in a letter of 1889 that `'one of these Scots or Americans" (05) ought to pay 500 francs - about £25 at that time - for (06) such a painting.



Christie's chairman (07) told reporters after the sale, `'It's a beautiful picture, it's a rare picture, it's a picture that many people wanted." A spokesman for the firm added, "We are absolutely cock-a-hoop. It's fantastic. We just could not be more ecstatic." Not (08) everyone who was at the auction agreed. One watcher muttered, "It's obscene." Another commented, "More money (09) than sense."



Many people do feel uneasy that a picture (10) could/should be auctioned for such a mind-boggling sum. They find distasteful the contrast (11) between this sort of money and the impoverished life of the painter (12) himself. Van Gogh, once a lay preacher (13) among the miners of Belgium, was (14) more interested in producing work that dignified labour than he was in selling for a profit. Depressive, poor, unrecognised and eventually suicidal, he remains a romantic figure in the public (15) imagination (NOT mind).