Question

Find the only mistake in each line and correct it.

English is the widest used language in the history of                     21. 1.

our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it.

More than half of the world’s books and three quarters of

international mails write in English. Of all languages, English has          22. 2.

the largest vocabulary — perhaps as much as two million words.           23. 3.

However, let’s face it: English is crazy language. There                  24. 4.

is no egg in an eggplant, either pine nor apple in a pineapple              25. 5.

and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, when                26. 6.

sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoxes, (矛盾)

we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,

public bathrooms have no baths in it.                            27. 7.

English shown the creativity of human beings is invented           28. 8.

by creative people. That’s why, when stars are out, they are

visible; but when the light are out, they are invisible.               29. 9.

If you continue to discover more, you find the beauty of            30. 10.

the language.

Answer

1. widest-most widely

2. write – are written

3. much-many

4. ^a

5. either-neither

6. when-while

7. it- them

8. shown- showing

9. light-lights

10. find- will find/ can find

【解析】

本文介绍了英语是我们这个星球上使用的最广泛的语言，而且有最大的词汇量。如果你继续探究，还会发现它的语言的魅力。

1.widest-most widely

修饰过去分词used故用副词widely，因此其最高级为the most widely，故此处把widest改为most widely。

2.write – are written

此处表示书和邮件被用英语书写，故用被动语态，主语More than half of the world’s books and three quarters of international mails是复数形式，故谓语用复数形式，故把write改为are written。

3.much-many

因为words是可数名词，故用many修饰，故把much改为many。

4.^a

language是单数名词，因此用不定冠词a修饰，故在is和crazy之间加a。

5.either-neither

neither, nor“既不，也不”，因此把either改为neither。

6.when-while

结合句意“蜜饯是糖果，杂碎是肉，不是甜的”，此处蜜饯与杂碎进行对比，故用连词while。因此把when改为while。

7.it- them

此处代指的public bathrooms“公共厕所”是复数，因此作为介词in后面的宾语，故用them，因此把it改为them。

8.shown- showing

此处主语English与定语show the creativity of human beings之间是主动关系，故用现在分词showing the creativity of human beings,因此把shown改为showing。

9.light-lights

此处谓语are是复数形式，因此主语用复数形式，因此把light改为lights。

10.find- will find/ can find

if引导的条件状语从句用一般现在时表示一般将来时，主句用一般将来时，因此把find改为will find或can find。