2．
In 1608， Thomas Coryate， an Englishman， visited Italy. He liked the country and noted down every interesting thing ____1____ he had found. But there was one thing he found more interesting than the others. In his diary， Thomas wrote， “When the Italians eat meat， they use small forks instead ____2____ their hands. As they say， people do not always have clean hands.”
Before ____3____ (leave) for England， Thomas bought a few forks. At home he gave a dinner party to show the invention to his friends. When the servant brought the steak， he took out a fork and began to eat as people ____4____ in Italy.
Everybody looked at him in surprise. When he told his friends what it was， they all wanted ____5____ (take) a good look at the strange thing. They said that the Italians were very strange people， for the fork was not very ____6____ (convenience).
Thomas tried to prove the opposite. He said ____7____ was not nice to eat meat with one’s fingers because they were not always clean. He wanted to show ____8____ easy it was to use the fork. But the first piece of meat he took with the fork ____9____ (fall) to the floor. His friends began to laugh and he had to take the fork away.
____10____ fifty years later did people in England begin to use forks.