Open cloze
For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap.
I was forty-three when I decided to learn the cello. I had always loved the sound of it, but as a child I had been told I wasn't musical, and I believed it 1. years. What finally changed my mind was a conversation with a colleague 2. had started piano lessons at fifty. 'The only thing stopping you is you,' she said. My first teacher warned me that progress would be slow, and she wasn't joking. For the first few weeks, the noise I produced sounded more like a door opening 3. music. There were evenings when I came close 4. giving up altogether. What kept me going was the discovery that adults have some advantages over children. We tend to be more patient, and we usually understand 5. point of practising scales, however dull they are. It also helps that we are doing it because we want to, not 6. someone else has told us to. Two years on, I am far from 7. expert, but I can play a few simple pieces without embarrassing myself. More importantly, I have discovered that it is never too late to learn something new, as 8. as you are willing to sound terrible for a while.