练习

【练习】

A history of long and effortless success can be a dreadful handicap, but, if properly handling, it may become a driving force. When __1

the United States entered just such a glowing period after the end of　the Second World War, it had a market eight times larger than any other　competitor, given its industries unparalleled economies of scale. Its __2

scientists were the world’s best, its workers the most skilled. America　and Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Europeans　and Asians whose economies that the war had destroyed. __3

It was inevitable that this primacy should have narrowed as　other countries grew richer. Just as inevitably, the retreat from predominance proved painful. By the mid-1980s Americans found __4

themselves at a loss over their fading industrial competition. Some __5

huge American industries, such as consumer electronic, had shrunk __6

or vanished in the face of foreign competition. Foreign-made cars　and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market and America’s　machine-tool industry was on the rope. For a while it looked as __7

though the making of semiconductors, which America had sat at the __8

heart of the new computer age, was going to be the next casualty.
All of this caused a crisis of confidence. Americans stopped talking　prosperity for grant. They began to believe that their way of doing __9

business was failing, and that their incomes would therefore shortly　begin to fall as well. The mid-1980 brought one inquiry after __10

another into the causes of America’s industrial decline. Their sometimes　sensational findings were filled with warnings about growing competition　from overseas.

答案

【答案】

1.handling改为handled

这里handle和主句的主语it是被动关系。

2.given改为giving

动词give的主语是前面整个分句“it had a market eight times larger than any competitor”，它和give的关系是主动的，所以用giving。

3.去掉that

whose在这里引导关系从句修饰the Europeans and Asians，因此这里不能再出现一个关系代词that了。

4.found前加上had

by引导的时间状语出现在一个句子里，它的主句动词往往是完成体。

5.competition改为competitiveness

fading在这里表示“日益丧失的”，后面的名词短语应该表示“ 工业竞争力”，而competition表示“竞争”，并不表示“竞争能力”。

6.electronic改为electronics

electronic是形容词表示“电子的”，这里应该用electronics，表示“ 电子装置和组件”、

7.rope改为ropes

on the ropes 表示“濒于失败或崩溃”，其中rope是以复数形式出现的，所以应该为ropes。在另一个短语 the end of one’s rope，rope则是单数，表示“某人耐心，耐力的限度”。

8.had后面加上which/that

这句话里面有两个关系从句，而且一个之中套另一个：which America had 是第一层关系从句，which sat at the heart of the new computer age 是第二层，它们所修饰的都是semiconductors，所以如果看不出两层关系从句就很难找出错误来。

9.grant改为granted

take for granted 是一个短语表示“ 想当然”。

10.mid-1980 改为 mid-1980s