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Being great at Scrabble typically requires an extensive vocabulary. After all, you may need to come up with obscure words and make do with the odd letters you’re given. However, a recent Scrabble championship seems to suggest that you don’t need to be well versed in a language to win; you may not even need to speak it at all. Just take a look at what a New Zealand man named Nigel Richards did. He recently won the Spanish World Scrabble Championships despite not speaking a word of Spanish.

Though this sounds abnormal, this isn’t the first time that Richards has achieved something like this. In 2015 and 2018, he defeated native French speakers to win the French-language Scrabble world championship. Naturally, he is also a master of English Scrabble, having won the World Championship in 2007, 2011, 2013, 2018, and 2019, the latter being the last year he competed. All these accolades have led to him being regarded as the greatest tournament-Scrabble player of all time.

But how does one win a world Scrabble tournament without speaking a word of the language at play? For both championships, 57-year-old Richards studied and memorized the dictionary over nine weeks. This, along with his three decades of experience in Scrabble, turned out to be good enough to get him through the 24 rounds that make up the competition.

“This is someone with very particular, incredible abilities; he’s a gifted guy,” contestant Benjamín Olaizola, who came second to Richards in the tournament, told Cadena Ser. “We are talking about a New Zealander who has won multiple championships in English — at least five of them.” Meanwhile, world champion Scrabble player Eric Salvador Tchouyo has described his style as “playing against a computer,” and that fellow competitors know they are playing for second place at best when he shows up.

For Antonio Álvarez, Spanish World Scrabble Championship ambassador, Scrabble is like “medicine for memory problems.” “You have to work on mental agility (敏捷), sums, look for words, and decide which ones are worth more,” he says. “That is why it is good for the development of intellect in children, like chess, and for getting the work on memory with senior people.”

1.1.Which of the following words can best describe Nigel Richards’s winning?

A Out of plan.

B Against the rules.

C By accident.

D Beyond expectation.

解析：选D。D 推理判断题。根据第一段中的“Being great at Scrabble typically requires an extensive vocabulary.”“However, a recent Scrabble championship seems to suggest that you don’t need to be well versed in a language to win; you may not even need to speak it at all.”可知，通常拼字游戏需要丰富的词汇量，然而最近的一场拼字比赛表明，你可以不需要精通一门语言就能获胜，由此可推知，理查兹的获胜不同寻常，即出于人们的意料。故选D。

2.2.What does the underlined word “accolades” refer to?

A Richards’s usual behavior in Scrabble competitions.

B Richards’s victories and achievements in Scrabble.

C The French-language Scrabble world championship.

D The number of times Richards has competed in Scrabble.

解析：选B。B 词意指代题。根据第二段中的“In 2015 and 2018, he defeated native French speakers to win the French-language Scrabble world championship.”“he is also a master of English Scrabble, having won the World Championship in 2007, 2011, 2013, 2018, and 2019”可知，accolades指的是理查兹赢得的一系列比赛。故选B。

3.3.Why does the author mention “playing against a computer”?

A To emphasize Tchouyo’s mechanical and uncreative approach to the game.

B To highlight Richards’s exceptional skill, making him seem almost unbeatable.

C To suggest that Tchouyo uses computer assistance during his Scrabble matches.

D To illustrate that Richards plays like a machine, with no emotions involved.

解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据“playing against a computer”后文的“that fellow competitors know they are playing for second place at best when he shows up”当他出现的时候，其他参赛者知道他们最多只能获得第二名。由此可推知，playing against a computer意在强调理查兹在拼字游戏中的高超技艺。故选B。

4.4.What does Antonio Álvarez try to convey?

A Scrabble is only suitable for children.

B Scrabble can improve physical health.

C Scrabble is beneficial for memory exercise.

D Scrabble is a game that requires no strategy.

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据最后一段中的“medicine for memory problems”“it is good for the development of intellect in children”可知，Antonio Álvarez主要想表达的是拼字游戏可以提高记忆力，锻炼思维。故选C。