一．（23-24九年级上·河南许昌·期末）

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Have you ever heard of an old British saying “as useful as a chocolate teapot(茶壶)?” It    1     that someone or something is useless. However, a chocolate teapot is not as useless as the old saying suggests.

Scientists have    2     that it’s possible to use the chocolate teapot to make tea. They’ve created a    3     chocolate teapot that can be filled with boiling water. People can drink the tea after putting boiling water into it and waiting patiently for two minutes.

The scientists discovered the    4     of making a chocolate teapot that wouldn’t melt (熔化) through their hard work. It was to use dark chocolate and build up many layers (层) to make it hard and    5    . Making such a teapot took about two and a half    6    .

When the scientists first tried to put water into the teapot, they wondered    7     the teapot might end up with chocolate tea. They found that some of the chocolate    8     the inside of the teapot would melt. But if people poured the water into it    9    , the teapot would be OK. When they tried the tea, all of    10     agreed it was lovely with a taste of chocolate.