QUESTION 11-15: WORD CHOICE
PRIMALY ENGLISH OLYMPIAD 1 · 5 lessons
The chef carefully spread the sweet ________ on top of the freshly baked cake before serving it to the guests.
A. icing ✓
Icing is a sweet, thick coating spread on cakes—it's the standard topping for baked cakes and fits perfectly here.
B. butter ✗
While butter is used *in* baking, you don't typically "spread butter on top" of a finished cake as a serving topping.
C. cherry ✗
A cherry is a fruit, not something you spread; it could be a garnish, but it's not the main topping described as "sweet" and spreadable.
D. batter ✗
Batter is raw cake mixture used *before* baking, not spread on top of a finished cake.
The old wizard stood in his tower, carefully flipping through the pages of a book before reading a special ________ to make his magic work.
A. spell ✓ Correct
A "spell" is the magical words or incantation a wizard reads to cast magic. This is the traditional term for magical utterances in fantasy contexts.
B. recipe ✗ Wrong
A recipe is for cooking food, not for casting magic. It doesn't fit the magical context.
C. instruction ✗ Wrong
While "instruction" is too general and bland for magical language. Wizards don't typically "read instructions"—they cast spells.
D. potion ✗ Wrong
A potion is a magical drink the wizard would *make* or *drink*, not read from a book. The sentence says he's reading something, not consuming it.
With intense training and determination, the athlete managed to break his personal ________.
A. record ✓
"Personal record" is a standard phrase meaning someone's best achievement in a sport or activity. It's the idiomatic way to describe breaking your own best performance.
B. performance ✗
While "performance" relates to how well someone does, "break his personal performance" isn't natural English. We don't typically "break" a performance.
C. score ✗
"Score" only works for specific sports/games where points are counted. It's too narrow—athletes in swimming, running, or weightlifting don't have "scores" to break.
D. level ✗
"Break his personal level" isn't standard phrasing. We might say "reach a new level," but not "break" it.
On a cold winter night, smoke rose from the ________, curling up into the night sky with the scent of burning wood.
Why A is correct:
A chimney is the tall vertical structure that smoke passes through and exits from a building. It's the natural endpoint where smoke rises into the air, making it the perfect fit for "smoke rose from the ______."
Why the others don't work:
- B (fireplace): This is where the fire *starts*, not where smoke exits. Smoke rises *from* the chimney, not the fireplace.
- C (attic): An attic is an indoor space—smoke wouldn't naturally rise from it into the night sky in this context.
- D (vent): While vents can release smoke, "vent" is too generic and doesn't capture the specific, picturesque image of smoke curling up into the sky like a chimney does.
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