改错练习

I came to Africa with one purpose: I wanted to see the world outside the perspective of European egocentricity. I could have chosen Asia or South America I ended up in Africa because the plane ticket there was cheapest.

I came and I stayed. For nearly 25 years I have lived off and on Mozambique.(1)____ Time has passed, and I'm no longer young; in fact, I'm approaching to old age.(2)____ But my motive for living this straddled existence, with one foot in African sand and the another in European snow, in the melancholy region of Norrland in Sweden that I grew up, has to do with wanting to see clearly, to understand.(3)____(4)____

The simplest way to explain what I've leamed from my life in Africa is through a parable about why human beings have two ears and only one tongue.(5)____ Why is this? Probably so that we have to listen twice as much as we speak.

In Africa listening is a guided principle.(6)____ It's a principle that has lost in the constant chatter of the Western world, where no one seems to have the time or even the desire to listen to anyone else.(7)____ From my own experience, I've noticed how much faster I have to answer a question during a TV interview than what I did 10, maybe even 5, years ago.(8)____ It's as if we have complete lost the ability to listen.(9)____ We talk and talk, and we end up frightening by silence, the refuge of those who are at a loss for an answer.(10)____

答案解析

文章大意

本文讨论的是非洲聆听的艺术。大约26年前，作者从瑞典诺尔兰来到非洲大陆的莫桑比克。从那以后，他就一直在非洲和欧洲两地交替居住，为什么他会来到非洲，答案只有一个：他想从不同于欧洲中心论的视角来看看这个世界。在非洲，聆听是一个指导原则，它让作者懂得了人为何有两只耳朵而只有一张嘴巴，而在欧洲，人们好像已经失去了聆听的能力，他们没有时间也没有欲望去聆听其他任何人的声音。

答案详解

1．on∧→bin词汇错误。此处off and on是固定词组，意为“断断续续地，时不时地”，在句中作状语，而动词live与其宾语Mozambique之间缺少介词，应补上相应的介词in。
2．to→to词汇错误。当approach后接宾语，表示在时间或空间上接近某物时，通常用作及物动词，所以删掉介词to。
3．another→other词汇错误。根据常识判断，此处应特指另一只脚，所以用表示“特指两者中另外一个”的词组the other。
4．that→where语法错误。此处是一个定语从句，其先行词是表示地点的名词短语，引导词在从句中作状语，所以用表示地点的关系副词where引导从句。
5．and→but语篇错误。下文提到人粪倾听是说话的两倍，由此可推断此处是人类有两只耳朵和一条舌头的对比，两者间应该是转折关系，才符合倾听多于开口的语义，only一词也提示了此处应改为but。
6．guided→guiding词汇错误。guiding principle是固定短语，意为“指导原则”，符合上下文的意思。而guided principle表示“被指导的原则”，不符合文意。
7．∧lost→been语法错误。此处lose的主语that指代的是先行词principle，而principle与lose之间应该是被动关系，所以动词应改为被动语态形式。整句的意思为“在喋喋不休的西方世界中，人们已经丢失了这一原则”。
8．what→what语法错误。此处than连接两个比较对象，than前半部分，即第一个比较对象是一个句子，所以后半部分也应该是一个句子，而what引导的从句在语法上相当于一个名词，前后比较对象在结构上不一致，所以删掉what。
9．complete→completely语法错误。此处修饰动词lost，应该选用副词形式completely。
10．frightening→frightened语法错误。由介词by可以看出，此处并非end up doing sth结构。根据句意，frightening在此应作伴随状语。由于frighten跟主语we之间存在逻辑上的被动关系，故需要将frightening改为frightened。介词by也印证了这一点。