The first English dictionary, called an Alphabetical Table of Hard Words, was published in

1604. The dictionary was actually【C1】______a list of about 3 000 difficult words, each followed by a one word【C2】______. The author, Robert Cawdrey,【C3】______to include everyday words in his dictionary.【C4】______, he reasoned, would ever have to look up a word in a dictionary if he already knew the meaning of the word. During the 1600' s more dictionaries were published. Each followed Cawdrey' s【C5】______and presented a few thousand【C6】______words. Around 1700 one dictionary maker, John Kersey,【C7】______define easy words as well as hard ones. But until the 1750' s all dictionaries were rather【C8】______and not very valuable.

A man named Dr. Samuel Johnson【C9】______all this. In 1755 Dr. Johnson produced the first modern dictionary. He【C10】______in his dictionary all important words, both easy and hard, and he gave good meanings. He also gave good sentences to show how each word was【C11】______used in speech and【C12】______. By the end of the 1700' s most dictionary makers【C13】______Johnson' s lead. Dictionaries were getting better and better.

The 1800' s【C14】______the greatest improvement【C15】______the quality of dictionaries. In England scholars planned and prepared the Oxford English dictionary, a【C16】______work. One of the most interesting【C17】______of the Oxford Dictionary is its word histories. It【C18】______the history of each word from its earliest【C19】______use【C20】______the time of the printing of the dictionary.

【C1】

A．no less than

B．much less than

C．nothing more than

D．much more than