专八练习题：

Why does the idea of progress loom so large in

the modern world? Surely because progress of particu-

lar kind is actually taking place around us and is more

and more manifesting. Although mankind has underg- __1__

one no general improvement in intelligence or morali-

ty, it has made extraordinary progress in the accumu-

lation of knowledge. Knowledge begins to increase as __2__

soon as the thoughts of one individual could be com-

municated to another by mean of speech. With the in- __3__

vention of writing, knowledge could be communicated

and stored. Libraries made education possible, and

education in turn added libraries: the growth of knowl- __4__

edge followed a kind of compound-interest law,

which was greatly enhanced by the invention of print-

ing. All this was comparatively slow until, with the

coming of science, the tempo was suddenly risen. __5__

then knowledge began to be accumulated according to

a systematic plan. However, as soon as new knowl- __6__

edge is acquired, it is now turned to practical ac-

count. What is called “modern civilization” is not the

result of a balanced development of all man’s nature,

but not of accumulated knowledge applied to practical __7__

life. The problem now facing humanity is: what is go-

ing to be done with all this knowledge? Like is often __8__

pointed out, knowledge is a two edged weapon which

could be used equally for good or evil. It is now being __9__

used indifferently for both. Could any spectacle, for

instance, be more grimly whimsical than that gunners __10__

using science to shatter men’s bodies while, close at

hand, surgeons use it to restore them.

参考答案及解析：www.for68.com

1.把manifesting改为manifest

manifesting不能做形容词,而如果把它理解成现在进行词,后面又缺乏宾语,所以应该改为形容词manifest,表示 “显然的,明显的”.

2.把begins改为began

根据下一行出现的could可以判断本句是过去时.

3.把mean改为means. by means of 是固定用法.

4.在added后面加上to

如果add后面不加to,此句就表示 “把图书馆加到某个事物上去”,加上to,表示给图书馆增加了内容,符合句义.

5.把risen改为raised

rise是不及物动词,不能用于被动语态.

6.把However改为Moreover

此句的意思是:新知识一经获得,马上就得到实际应用.这是对上文的追加,不存在转折关系,因此应该用moreover.

7.删除but后面的not

8.把Like改为As

9.把could改为can

主句为现在时,而从句也不表示虚拟,所以应该用现在时.

10.在that后面加上of.

为了避免重复,这里用that指代spectacle,后面的gunner using是that 的内容.因此应该用介词of引出.