四、完形填空
Mezzofanti was an Italian. He lived between 1774 and 1849. He was the best language learner ever. He 1 hours every day practising pronounciation and grammar. He never left Italy, but could speak more than 30 foreign languages well. People from all over the world came to 2 him in their mother tongue(母语). How could Mezzofanti do that? All of them were 3 .
At the age of 12, Mezzofanti spoke German, Greek, Latin, and at least five other languages as well as his native Italian. His teachers couldn’t 4 that he could master(掌握) every new language so fast. Then he learned Arabic, Russian, Hindi, Old English, Maltese and Chinese. Chinese was the 5 language for him to study: it took him four months.
Mezzofanti’s special 6 made him famous and his stories spread widely. According to(根据) one of them, he also spoke 30 other languages very well and he could understand another 20 languages. Visitors would 7 him by suddenly changing between different languages.
According to another story, he heard there were two foreigners in a prison(监狱) in Rome. A guard(警卫) told him they spoke a dialect no one else understood. He studied their language in one night and had 8 with them the next morning! It’s hard to know 9 all these stories are true. Some people, for example, ask,“How did he learn Old English without meeting anyone who spoke it?” or“Did he really learn a language just in a few 10 or in one night?” We don’t know for sure, but we are sure that he was a language-learning legend(传奇人物).
(
A
) 1. A. spent B. took C. cost D. managed
(
D
) 2. A. look up B. take away C. depend on D. talk with
(
A
) 3. A. surprised B. tired C. worried D. bored
(
B
) 4. A. mean B. believe C. check D. support
(
C
) 5. A. worst B. easiest C. hardest D. cheapest
(
D
) 6. A. secret B. character C. drive D. talent
(
C
) 7. A. trust B. attack C. test D. invite
(
C
) 8. A. chances B. problems C. conversations D. stories
(
C
) 9. A. when B. how C. if D. where
(
B
)10. A. centuries B. weeks C. years D. seasons