英语专业八级改错练习题及答案解析
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“节约的，经济的，省钱的”，而此处应选择economic表示“经济的，有关经济的”。
2.writers－writer
this or that后面应接单数名词，因为从意思上来看应是二选一的，所以是单数。
3.reinforce－reinforcing
“an effect can become a cause”和“reinforce the original cause”两个分句并不是并列的关系，应该说是主句和从句的关系，应该将reinforce变为-ing形式，这也与后面的“producing the same effect”保持形式上的一致。
4.take^－to
take to 表示“养成习惯，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作名词表示“懒散的人，散漫的人”，这里显然语义不对，所以应改为slovenliness表示“懒散，邋遢”。
7.irreversible－reversible
reversible（可逆的），irreversible（不可逆的）
如上文所述，语言和思维的关系是相互影响的；由于我们思想的愚蠢，我们的语言变得丑陋，不准确；同时我们的语言的不精确也使我们的思维变得更加愚蠢。所以这个过程是能倒退的。
8.^think－to
动词原形本身无法作主语，必须将它变成-ing形式或不定式，由于这里有将要发生的含义，所以选用不定式 to think。
9.concerning－concern
concern本身既可以做动词也可以作名次。
10.present－presently
presently表示“不久，一会儿”。present在这里讲不通。