英語專業八級改錯練習題及答案解析

　　Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately

　　have political and economical causes: it is not due simply to the bad 

　　influence of this or that individual writers. But an effect can become 

　　a cause, reinforce the original cause and producing the same effect 

　　in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take drink 

　　because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the most 

　　completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is

　　happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate

　　because our thoughts are foolish, but the sloven of our language 

　　makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the

　　process is irreversible. Modern English, especially written English, 

　　is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be

　　avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets

　　rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and think clearly is a 

　　necessary first step towards political regeneration: so that the fight

　　against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concerning 

　　of professional writers. I will come back to this present, and I hope 

　　that by that time the meaning of what I have said here will have become

　　clearer.

　　答案及解析:

　　1.economical－economic

　　economical的意思是“節約的，經濟的，省錢的”，而此處應選擇economic表示“經濟的，有關經濟的”。

　　2.writers－writer

　　this or that后面應接單數名詞，因為從意思上來看應是二選一的，所以是單數。

　　3.reinforce－reinforcing

　　“an effect can become a cause”和“reinforce the original cause”兩個分句并不是并列的關系，應該說是主句和從句的關系，應該將reinforce變為-ing形式，這也與后面的“producing the same effect”保持形式上的一致。

　　4.take^－to

　　take to 表示“養成習慣，沉湎于”。

　　5.most－more

　　all the more 表示“更加”，如：

　　The living room is decorated in pale colors which make it all he more airy.

　　6.sloven－slovenliness

　　sloven作名詞表示“懶散的人，散漫的人”，這里顯然語義不對，所以應改為slovenliness表示“懶散，邋遢”。

　　7.irreversible－reversible

　　reversible（可逆的），irreversible（不可逆的）

　　如上文所述，語言和思維的關系是相互影響的；由于我們思想的愚蠢，我們的語言變得丑陋，不準確；同時我們的語言的不精確也使我們的思維變得更加愚蠢。所以這個過程是能倒退的。

　　8.^think－to

　　動詞原形本身無法作主語，必須將它變成-ing形式或不定式，由于這里有將要發生的含義，所以選用不定式 to think。

　　9.concerning－concern

　　concern本身既可以做動詞也可以作名次。

　　10.present－presently

　　presently表示“不久，一會兒”。present在這里講不通。