The man 23 everything he could to teach the parrot to say “Catano,” but he never 24 .
答案：(D) succeeded
依照故事情節（男人一直教不會鸚鵡說Catano，直到最後才意外成功），語意上應該是「他從未成功過」，he never succeeded 才符合故事邏輯；failed（他從未失敗過）反而會變成「他總是成功」，跟故事情節矛盾。attempted／changed 都不合。
本題大考中心未公布逐題答對率，以下不談數據，只談觀念。
前面說他想盡辦法教鸚鵡說那個字，後面用 but 一轉，照直覺會覺得「但他失敗了」，於是選了 failed。這一格的關鍵在空格前面那個字——never。
四個選項是四個不同的動詞，可見這一格考的是語意，但在判斷語意之前，一定要先把否定算進去。空格前面是 he never ___，填什麼進去都會被 never 反轉一次：填 failed 就成了「他從未失敗」，也就是「他每次都成功」——可是整個故事講的正是他怎麼教都教不會，方向完全相反。填 succeeded 才對：he never succeeded（他始終沒有成功），接得住前面的 The man did everything he could（他想盡了辦法），也接得住後面「他開始失去耐性、對鸚鵡大吼」的發展。這一招值得記起來：看到 never、hardly、no 這類否定詞，先把它算進去再判斷選項的方向，不要只看選項本身的中文。
failed：見上，被 never 反轉之後語意與故事相反，這是本題最強的陷阱。attempted（嘗試）：he never attempted 是「他從未嘗試」，與前一句「他想盡了辦法」語意矛盾。changed（改變）：語意與「教得會教不會」無關。
succeed in V-ing（成功做到）、fail to V（未能做到）、attempt to V（嘗試做）、give up（放棄）、never succeed（始終沒有成功）、in the end（最後）。
There was once a man in Puerto Rico who had a wonderful parrot. The parrot was 21, there was no other bird like him in the whole world. He could learn to say any word-- 22 one. He could not say the name of his native town, Catano.
The man 23 everything he could to teach the parrot to say "Catano," but he never 24. At first he was very gentle with the bird, but gradually he lost his 25. "You stupid bird! 26 can't you learn to say that one word? Say 'Catano' or I'll kill you!" But the parrot would not say it. Many times the man screamed, "Say 'Catano' or I'll kill you!" But the bird would not 27 the name. Finally the man gave up. He picked up the parrot and threw the bird into the chicken house.
In the chicken house, there were four old chickens, waiting to be killed 28 Sunday's dinner. "You are even more stupid than the chickens," the man said as he was leaving. The next morning, the man went out to the chicken house. When he opened the door, he was 29 by what he saw. He could not believe his eyes and ears! On the floor 30 three dead chickens. The parrot was screaming at the fourth, "Say 'Catano' or I'll kill you!"