「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(80)

　「つまらない勉強でも継続すれば力がつきます」という趣旨の記載をある英語学習サイトで見つけました。それは一面の真理にしても、楽しいに越したことはないと思います。
　そんなわけで著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。コロンで区切られているのが四語選択問題、スラッシュで区切られているのが四語整序問題です。＊印は難易度の目安で、＊印が多いほど難しい単語になっています。無印は語法・文法等の問題です。

※(79)の解答①(began to speak in)②(recited)③(waving his hand towards)④(deeds)⑤(what)⑥(appearance)⑦(took it from him) ⑧(splendid)⑨(content)⑩(die away as it)⑪(topple)⑬(legend)⑭(standing up looking at)⑮(anxiety)⑯(creep)⑰(come to rest on)⑱(matter)⑲(land sinking beneath them) ⑳(to do him honor)

(80)
PART SIX
THE FIRST CHAPTER. NEW POPSIPETEL
JONG THINKALOT had not ①*(praised : ruled : injured : tackled) over his new kingdom for more than a couple of days before my notions about kings and the kind of lives they led changed very considerably. I had thought that all that kings had to do was to sit on a throne and ②(down / have / bow / people) before them several times a day. I now saw that a king can be the hardest-working man in the world—if he attends ③*(ultimately : properly : merely : barely) to his business.

From the moment that he got up, early in the morning, till the time he went to bed, late at night—seven days in the week—John Dolittle was busy, busy, busy. First of all there was the new town to be built. The village of Popsipetel had disappeared: the City of New Popsipetel must be made. With great care a place ④(chosen / it / was / for)—and a very beautiful position it was, at the mouth of a large river. The shores of the island at this point formed a lovely wide bay where canoes—and ships too, if they should ever come—could lie peacefully at anchor ⑤(danger / without / storms / from ).

In building this town the Doctor gave the Indians a lot of new ideas. He showed them what town-sewers were, and how ⑥*(council : garbage : bribe : nutrition) should be collected each day and burnt. High up in the hills he made a ⑦(by / large / damming / lake) a stream. This was the water-supply for the town. None of these things had the Indians ever seen; and many of the sicknesses which they had ⑧*(respected : filled : suffered : failed) from before were now entirely prevented by proper drainage and pure drinking-water.

Peoples who don't use fire do not of course have metals either; because without fire it is almost impossible to ⑨*(search : digest : shape : cram) iron and steel. One of the first things that John Dolittle did was to search the mountains till he found iron and copper mines. Then he set to work to teach the Indians how these metals could be melted and made into knives and plows and water-pipes and ⑩(manner / things / all / of).

In his kingdom the Doctor tried his hardest ⑪(with / do / to / away) most of the old-fashioned pomp and grandeur of a royal court. As he said to Bumpo and me, if he must be a king he meant to be a ⑫*(anxiously : thoroughly : curiously : superficially) democratic one, that is a king who is chummy and friendly with his subjects and doesn't put on airs. And when he drew up the plans for the City of New Popsipetel he had no palace shown of any kind. A little cottage in a back street was all that he had ⑬*(clarrified : worried : provided : congraturated) for himself.

But this the Indians would not permit on any account. They had been used to having their kings rule in a truly grand and kingly manner; and they ⑭*(insisted : blowed : owed : reflected) that he have built for himself the most magnificent palace ever seen. In all else they ⑮(have / let / his / him) own way absolutely; but they wouldn't allow him to wriggle out of any of the ceremony or show that goes with being a king. A thousand servants he had to keep in his palace, night and day, to wait on him. The Royal Canoe had to be kept up—a gorgeous, polished mahogany boat, seventy feet long, inlaid with mother-o'-pearl and paddled by the hundred strongest men in the island. The palace-gardens covered a square mile and ⑯*(proceeded : employed : accorded : lectured) a hundred and sixty gardeners.

Even in his dress the poor man was ⑰**(compelled : expanded : incorporated : abided) always to be grand and elegant and uncomfortable. The beloved and battered high hat ⑱(in / put / was / away) a closet and only looked at secretly. State robes had to be worn on all occasions. And when the Doctor did once in a while manage to sneak off for a short, natural-history ⑲*(sin : coward : expedition : mammal) he never dared to wear his old clothes, but had to chase his butterflies with a crown upon his head and a scarlet cloak ⑳(him / flying / in / behind) the wind.
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