Read the followingpassage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.

Being an only child, there was not much that Thahirah could do when she was alone. Reading her books made her life seemed so much more interesting. She read so much that she earned the (21)______ 'bookworm'. Because of all the reading that she did, her grasp of the English Language was so good that no one in her level could ever beat her at it.

Her teachers were all so proud (22)______ her. They especially enjoyed her compositions as she had a very good imagination and could write very well. One day, a surprise waited for Thahirah in school. Her teacher had (23)______ some of her compositions to a friend of hers who was book publisher. The publisher was so (24)______ with Thahirah's writing that he offered Thahirah the chance to write her own novel. Thahirah wasn't so sure at first whether she had the talent to write a novel. But with her teacher's encouragement she agreed. A few months (25)______, Thahira's book was published and put on sale. They sold like hotcakes ! Everyone was proud of her and Thahirah discovered that this was what she wanted to be an author.

_______ we arrived late, we didn't miss the speech