I. Fill ONE suitable word into each of numbered blaks in the passage. 

Australia is a big country, but nearly all Australians live near the sea. On hot summer days, you can see  thousands of people at the beach. Many beaches have waves (1)______ are very high. These large waves are known as surf and the people who ride them are called surfers. Surfing is a skill, and  it needs learning. Don’t (2)______ to be able to surf properly the (3)______ time you try. However, by practising  a few times you will learn (4)______ to do it. 

Surfing is not a new sport. Perhaps its origins need explaining. It started hundreds (5)______ years ago in  Hawaii. Men swam (6)______ to sea to catch fish and found they could come back to land very quickly by  riding the waves. These first surfers did not (7)______ a board. They were “body surfers”. Many people  (8)______ do this type of surfing today. 

After a while people started to use boards and rode the waves by lying, kneeling or standing (9)______ them.  These first surfboards were made of wood and the water made them rot after a while. Today, surfboards  are made of plastic or fibreglass (10)______.