The Painter. Use of English B1

On 25 October 1881 a little boy was born in Malaga, Spain. It was a difficult birth and to help him breathe, cigar smoke …            (blow) into his nose!

But despite …       (be)the youngest ever smoker, this baby grew up to be one of the 20th century's greatest painters— Pablo Picasso.

Picasso showed his …       (true) exceptional talent from a very young age.

His first word …      (be) lapiz (Spanish for pencil) and he learned to draw before he could talk. He was the only son in the family and very good-looking, so he was …             (thorough) spoilt.

He hated school and often refused to go unless his doting parents allowed him to take one of his …           (father) pet pigeons with him!

Apart from pigeons, his great love was art, and when in 1891 his father, who was an amateur artist, got a job as a … teacher at a college, Pablo went with him to the college.

He often watched his father paint and sometimes …              (allow)to help.

One evening his father was painting a picture of their pigeons when he …      (have)to leave the room.