2B1 Reading

Read the article about childhood. Five sentences have been removed. Choose from the sentences A–G the one which fits each gap (1–5). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

Happy days

Behind the house where I lived as a child, there was an old caravan. There were trees all around it, the windows were filthy, and inside were some smelly old yellow and brown cushions. 0  G  It was our camp, where adults never came, nor wanted to.

There were three of us: Roger, the farmer’s son who was our leader, and Anne, his sister.
1      I’ll always remember the good times we had together.

I know I was younger than nine at the time because that’s how old I was when we moved to a different part of the country due to my father’s job. Even now, 50 years later, I haven’t forgotten the house we left behind. 2     

That house is the safe place I return to in my mind time after time as I recall the happiest of memories. It was there that I saw my first badger and learned to swim in the river and fish for crabs. It was there that I was given my first pet, too. 3     

My parents let me go out and about to explore, and I loved spending time with my friends.
4      And if there was nobody around, I would spend my days in the caravan or down by the river doing whatever I wanted. Best of all, though, was the beach. When the tide was out, there was what looked like a beautiful tablecloth of white sand. It stretched across the huge bay and down to the sea. There, horses would gallop, children would sail dinghies, and people would walk their dogs. At high tide, it was covered in seaweed, driftwood, and shells. I called it my beach.

After I had learned to drive, I returned regularly to have a look at my special place. 5      Some people say it’s a mistake to return to the treasured places of our past because they will probably have changed so much that we won’t recognize them. Now, decades later, do I want to go back to the house? Well, I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s best to leave those memories in my head, untouched and unspoiled. And perhaps it’s best not to chase a dream. After all, I’m an adult now with four grown-up children of my own.

A  Often my mother let my classmates from school come and spend the night at our house.

B  But that wasn’t the problem, I realized.

C  And best of all, I got to be a bridesmaid at a neighbour’s wedding.

D  Then there was little me, the hanger-on, who was allowed, and sometimes even encouraged, to join in.

E  I found myself driving along the country roads every year, just so that I could see the house.

F   There was never another one that meant as much to me.

G  But to the gang of small children I was part of it was a special place.