Word formation
For questions 1-8, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line.
Mots de Base:
Watch an experienced stand-up at work and every line seems to occur to them on the spot. That air of 1. is almost always an illusion, the result of months of 2. preparation. A new joke usually begins life in the back room of a pub, tried out on a few dozen people whose reaction can be 3.. Most material does not survive its first outing. 'You find out very quickly whether an observation is 4. or something only you have ever noticed,' one comic told me. What follows is a slow process that performers call 'writing on stage': a phrase is reworded, a pause stretched, a word cut, until the laugh arrives 5., whoever happens to be in the audience. The 6. of the jokes matters as much as the jokes themselves, since a strong closing line can rescue an uneven set, while a weak opening can leave a room 7. quiet for the next ten minutes. Many comedians also regard nights of public 8. as more instructive than their triumphs, because a silent room is the most honest editor there is. Audiences, meanwhile, remain blissfully unaware of how much effort lies behind a remark that sounds so offhand.