In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. At Ferney, Voltaire entered one of the most active (1) _____ of his life. Both patriarch and lord of the manor, he developed a modern estate, sharing in the movement of agricultural reform in which the aristocracy was interested at the time. He (2) _______ not be true to himself, however, without stirring up village feuds before the magistrates on a question of tithes, as well as about the beating of one of his workmen. He renovated the church and had Deo erexit Voltaire (3) ________ on the facade. At Easter Communion, 1762, he delivered a sermon on stealing and drunkenness and repeated this sacrilegious offence in the following year, flouting the prohibition by the bishop of Annecy, in whose jurisdiction Ferney lay. He meddled in Genevan politics, taking the side of the workers, and installed a stocking factory and watchworks on his estate in order to help them. He called for the liberation of serfs in the Jura but without success, though he did succeed in suppressing the customs barrier on the road between Gex in the Jura and Geneva, the natural outlet for the produce of Gex. Such generous interventions in local politics (4) _______ him enormous popularity. In 1777, he received a popular acclamation from the people of Ferney. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna halted the annexation of Ferney to Switzerland in his honour. His fame was now worldwide. ‘Innkeeper of Europe’—as he was called—he welcomed such literary figures as James Boswell, Giovanni Casanova, Edward Gibbon, the prince de Ligne, and the fashionable philosophers of Paris. He kept up an (5) ________ correspondence— with the philosophes, with his actresses and actors, and with those high in court circles, such as the duc de Richelieu (grandnephew of the cardinal de Richelieu), the duc de Choiseul, and Mme du Barry, Louis XV’s favourite. He renewed his correspondence with Frederick II and exchanged letters with Catherine II of Russia.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 5.
enormous
The correct answer is enormous.
The sheer volume and breadth of his letters provide invaluable insights into 18th-century society, politics, intellectual life, and Voltaire's own thoughts and activities. Many of these letters were later collected and published, becoming a crucial source for understanding his life and the Enlightenment era. The description of his network in the passage underscores why words like 'goodly' or 'considerable' are less impactful than 'enormous' in capturing the scale of this aspect of his life.
Similar Questions
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank no. 1.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank no. 2.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank no. 3.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank no. 4.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blank no. 5.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 1.
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Important Questions from Cloze Test
What would come in place of 1
What would come in place of 2
What would come in place of 3
What would come in place of 4
What would come in place of 5
