Cloze Test June 21

Read the paragraph carefully and then identify which word has been replaced from which blank. The list of words has been provided below.

By returning a verdict for a coalition of mainstream parties in Sunday’s poll, viewed widely as a __1__ on Athens’ continuation in the eurozone, the Greeks have shown they have not lost hope in the politics of moderation. In an encouraging show of __2__ this time, traditional rivals — the rightwing New Democracy (ND) and the Pasok socialists — are putting their heads together to provide what everyone hopes will be a stable government. There are already signs that Europe’s leaders are __3__ to ease the terms of the Greek bailout. Sunday’s elections, the second in as many months, saw a __4__ in support for the radical left — a 10 per cent rise in vote share over the May polls. For the first time since Greece’s return to democracy in the 1970s, the far-right has also been catapulted into Parliament. The erosion of the political middle-ground in Greece mirrors what has been happening elsewhere in Europe as the continent __5__ with the harshest economic crisis since the Great Depression. While ND was in power in the early years after Athens joined the eurozone and enjoyed a credit boom, it failed to undertake crucial reforms that were needed to check __6__ tax evasion and other administrative lapses. Greece made headlines when it came to light that its growth figures were inflated in order to show compliance with European Union stipulations. When the debt crisis __7__ Greece in 2010, the incumbent socialists were blamed both for the country’s bloated public sector and for the extremely __8__ bailout conditions imposed on Greece by its European and international partners.

A) rampant   B) inclined    C) sagacity     D) stringent     E) gripped      
F) referendum      G) surge     H) grapples