Read the following passage and choose the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase the best fits each of the number blanks. Fill in the appropriate word in question 20A NIGHTMARE OF NOISEAccordingto a recent TV program, noise pollution is becoming an increasingly serious problem. Background noise such as (18)_____, police sirens and aeroplanes is growing year by year, and complaints to the police are becoming more and more (19)_____. However, for people ...

Read the following passage and choose the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase the best fits each of the number blanks. Fill in the appropriate word in question 20

A NIGHTMARE OF NOISE

Accordingto a recent TV program, noise pollution is becoming an increasingly serious problem. Background noise such as (18)_____, police sirens and aeroplanes is growing year by year, and complaints to the police are becoming more and more (19)_____. However, for people like Mary Norman, who lives close to London Heathrow airport, the situation is particularly bad. “It’s becoming very difficult to (20)_____ a normal family life,’ she told an interviewer, ‘because the planes start first thing in the morning. They make a terrible noise, as you can imagine, and it (21)_____ on all day long. Of course I have complained about it but nobody takes any notice. I’m fed (22)_____ with living here, but unfortunately I can’t afford to move.”

Researchers believe that the problem is getting worse. They have found that people who are exposed to high levels of noise become (23)_____ aggressive. Take the case of Henry Wilson, who was (24)_____ mad by a neighbor who insisted on playing his music at full volume. One night, he finally lost his (25)_____. After being forced to listen to heavy metal songs for hours, he burst into his neighbor’s house, poured petrol all over the carpets and (26)_____ to set fire to the place.

When he finally appeared in court, the judge was surprisingly understanding. He (27)_____ to send him to jail, saying that he had suffered enough.