英语专业八级改错练习题及答案解析19
not too many decades ago it seemed “obvious” both to the
general public and to sociologists that modern society has
changed people’s natural relations, loosed their responsibilities __1__
to kins (亲戚) and neighbors, and substituted in their place __2__
for superficial relationships with passing acquaintances. __3__
however, in recent years a growing body of research has
revealed that the “obvious” is not true. it seems that if you are a
city resident, you typically know a smaller proportion of your
neighbors than you if you are a resident of a smaller community. __4__
but, for the most part, this fact has a few significant consequences. __5__
it does not necessarily follow that if you know few of your
neighbors you will know no one else.
even in very large cities, people maintain close social ties within
small, private social worlds. indeed, the number and quality of
meaningful relationship do not differ between more and less urban __6__
people. small-town residents are more involved with kin than do big __7__
city residents. yet city dwellers compensate by developing friendships
with people who share similar interests and activities. urbanism may
produce a different style of life, but the quality of life does not
differ between town and city. or are residents of large communities __8__
any likely to display psychological symptoms of stress or alienation __9__
than are residents of smaller communities. however, city dwellers do
worry more about crime, and this leads them to a distrust for strangers. __10__
答案及解析:
1.loosed改为loosened
尽管loose也可作及物动词，但它的含义是“松开，解开，发射，释放”等具象的含义，在这里语义不符，而loosen则往往与tie、control、discipline、restriction这样的词连用表示抽象含义。
2.kins改为kin
kin是集体名词，用单数表达复数概念，相当于relatives，另外，kin作主语的话，谓语动词也应用复数形式。（记得上次的machinery么，也是这个改法）
3.去掉for
在substitute a for b 的用法中，for引导的是被代替项而不是代替项。
4.(than you)^ do
两个比较分句如果谓语部分相同则可以省略后一个分句的谓语，或者用do来代替。
5.去掉a
6.relationship改为relationships
relationship既可以作可数名词又可以作不可数名词。由于前面有 the number of 这样分词修饰，这里relationship应该当作可数名词。
7.do改为are
两个比较分句的谓语动词应该同是be involved，如果将后一个比较分句里的动词部分省略，保留下来的也应该是be动词，而不是do。
8.or改为nor
前句话是否定结尾的，本句也应是否定的含义。
9.likely改为likelier
由于有than出现，这里是一个比较句。
10.for 改为of
distrust 后往往跟of，不跟for，如：a distrust of the media。
it does not necessarily follow that if you know few of your
neighbors you will know no one else.
这话初看有点别扭。follow有这么个意思，：
必然是…的后果，必然有…后果，所以这里大概意思是：不认识什么邻居并不意味着你也不认识其他人。例如：he is good，it does not follow that he is wise。