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 pronunciation 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
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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
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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
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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
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with them the next morning! It's hard to know
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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
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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