Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks. ⇱
According to Vietnamese legend, (1) _____ giant turtle in Hanoi's Hoan Kiem Lake reclaimed a magic sword given to King Le Loi in the 15th century that he used to win independence (2) _____ China's Ming Dynasty. The lake was thereafter named 'Ho Hoan Kiem', or 'Lake of the Returned Sword', and Hanoi has been built up (3) _____ it.
Margie Mason of Associated Press wrote: "(4) ____ once was a magic golden turtle that lived in Hanoi's most enchanted lake. The giant turtle was believed so powerful, it snatched a divine sword from a warrior king and returned it to the gods of the depths nearly six centuries (5) ____ That tale has long been a (6) _____ among young and old Vietnamese living in the capital city, but folklorists soon may have to rewrite the story to (7) _____ a very sad ending. In real life, the last giant soft-shell turtle (8) _____ in Hoan Kiem Lake probably will die alone, and at least one biologist says the species (9) _____ then be extinct. The elusive creature - with a shell as big as a desk - occasionally pokes its wrinkled head out of the murky waters of the downtown lake to (10) _____ a breath, but few Vietnamese are lucky enough to glimpse it. And certainly no one knows its age."