B2 First (FCE) Reading and Use of English – Practice Test 1 — Part 6 – Gapped text
Questions 37–42. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A–G the one which fits each gap. There is ONE EXTRA sentence you do NOT need to use.
Farming on the Roof
Ten years ago, the flat roof of an old factory in the north of the city was an empty, forgotten space. Today it is a working farm that produces several tonnes of vegetables every year. When the project began, the organisers were not at all sure it would work. They were, quite simply, wrong.
The first challenge was finding people to take part. The organisers put up a few posters and waited, expecting little. Within a month, more than a hundred families had signed up. For many, it was their first chance to learn where food actually comes from.
Of course, growing food on a roof is not easy. The wind is stronger up high, and everything — the soil, the water, the tools — has to be carried up several floors. The plants also depend completely on the volunteers who water them each day. Despite these difficulties, the farm has flourished.
One question the organisers are often asked is whether the vegetables are sold. In fact, they are not. A family that helps for a season takes home fresh food all summer, which for some makes a real difference to their weekly budget.
Perhaps the greatest success, though, has been social. In big cities, many people live for years without ever speaking to their neighbours. On the roof, strangers who would never otherwise have met now work side by side every weekend.
The factory farm is no longer unusual. From Tokyo to Toronto, unused roofs are being turned into gardens, proving that even in the most crowded places, there is always room to grow something.
