You are going to read an extract from a novel. For questions 1-8, choose the answer (A, B, Cor D) which you think fits best according to the text. Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet. Maria had lived all her life in a small town which was divided in two. Half of It was in the foothills of the mountains and the other was balanced on the rocks beside the harbour where marry, en? Maria didn't smile then, for sha to the fishing boats were Maria smiled and reached for her cup, 'Oh that's strongl l'll miss your coffee when I go. "And I'll miss you - much more than you'll miss my coffee,' her mother replied. Why couldn' vou have picked a nice boy from this side of town moored. A steep road twisted and turned from one half of the town to the other A few bushes grew on the rocks. and well above the high tide mark, Maria's father had put a light to guide home the her mother was only half joking. When Maria married Marco, she would go up in the world quite literally. She would leave the fisherman's little cottage and head up the steep hill to begin her new life as the wife of a wealthy local fishermen who risked their lives at sea while doctor's son. Although Maria would often be struggling to support their families. Her family's little cottage was typical of the area. her own in the house while her new husband was away on business, she was looking forward to being It was built of stone and years ago the paint on the married. This feeling of excitement didn't ston h worrying about her mother, however. outside had been the colour of peaches, but the sun was intense and the lash of the salt in the wind had quickly peeled it from the walls. Every room was small but the narrowest part of all was the kitchen 'But we will see each other when you come up the hill to the market." where in fact, the wall had been carved into the then she frowned, though not every day. I can't I suppose we might,' her mother answered and rock making it feel strangely like a cellar. Despite this it was warm and welcoming. On a high shelf, Maria's mother had put her collection of bottles promise you that. Maria knew how much her mother hated climbing and pebbles found on the beach, her eye caught by the hill and as a result she had become rounder a strange shape or shade. than the other women in the village. She would do almost anything to avoid the effort of the long walk: pretend she had an ache in her leg or make What Maria adored about her mother, Anna, was the way she approached her daily chores. When she had to clean and polish her house, she did it the contents of her food cupboard stretch a little further. with a song or at least a hum. Even when she was making coffee she was playing, heaping the grounds But cleverest of all was Anna's ability to guess into an impossibly tall pyramid, higher and higher when one of the fisherman's wives from the village until sometimes they collapsed all over the kitchen was on the brink of slipping her basket over her arin he table and she had to wipe them all up again. and setting off on the slow walk up the hill. Often, seconds before the woman left, Anna would press a Maria breathed in the scent of freshly made few coins and a shOpping list into her hand says coffee now as she climbed down the crooked steps lust a couple of things. You don't mind do your from her room at the top of the house. "Mum, what time is it?" she called out. Anna was tall with a low voice and a natural air of authority and few of the wives dared refuse her *Ah Maria, you're awake at last.' She heard a laugh So they would walk up the hill and carry a heavi ripple through her mother's voice. "The smell of basket back down again while Anna went fhonie coffee must have woken you -I hoped it would." pleased with herself.​