第十八篇： Error Correction (15 minutes)

　　Today we take for granted that the mail will be delivered --71--daily at our door. But many years ago it might have been placed in a tree trunk and underneath a rock. In the early --72--days of the mail no one could be sure about where or when it will arrive. --73--At the southern tip of Africa there was once a post office --74--under a rock. At the old days the route from England to India was around the Cape of Good Hope. The journey was stormy and danger. It took six long months. Sailors often --75--wished to send mail home, but they seldom met ships bound back to England. So at the cape the sailors would go on ashore. They headed for a certain large stone. On the --76--stone scratched the words “Look hereunder for letters.” --77--They would leave their letters there, knowing that the next homeward ship would stop and pick it up. --78--There was another post office like this at the southern tip of South America. During the golden rush days, boats --79--sailed around Cape Horn to California. At Cape Horn was a keg(小桶) nailed to a post. Boats coming from the east coast would send some sailors to this post office. They picked up any letters in the keg. At the same time they mailed letters home that boats sail east could pick up.--80--

　　答案：

　　71.take for granted 改為take it for granted. take it for granted that: 想當(dāng)然認(rèn)為…，在該結(jié)構(gòu)中，it為形式賓語(yǔ)，that引導(dǎo)的從句才是真正賓語(yǔ)。如：Don’t take it for granted that you are bond to win. 別想當(dāng)然地以為你注定會(huì)贏。��

　　72.and 改為or,根據(jù)句意知，此處應(yīng)是選擇關(guān)系，而非并列關(guān)系。��

　　73.will改為would。根據(jù)句中In the early days和could 知此句主句時(shí)態(tài)為一般過(guò)去時(shí)，故其賓語(yǔ)從句中的將來(lái)時(shí)應(yīng)為過(guò)去將來(lái)時(shí)，用would。��

　　74.At改為In。at表時(shí)間點(diǎn)，如幾時(shí)幾刻：at five o’clock, at 10∶30表一段時(shí)間用in, 如：in two years, in a week, in a few days,自然此處the old days 前應(yīng)用in。��

　　75.danger 改為dangerous. 由于本句是系數(shù)結(jié)構(gòu)，故應(yīng)用形容詞;況且從修辭上看既然stormy 有“風(fēng)暴的”是形容詞，后面and 并列的詞性也應(yīng)是形容詞。故應(yīng)將danger 名詞改為其形容詞dangerous。��

　　76.go on ashore 改為go ashore 或go on shore, ashore 是副詞，意為“上岸，在岸上”。此處“上岸”可用go ashore或go on shore來(lái)表達(dá)。��

　　77.scratched 改為were scratched或they scratched。若用were scratched，則此句為倒裝句，主語(yǔ)是words,用過(guò)去時(shí)和被動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)。若用they scratched，則words是賓語(yǔ)，該句缺主語(yǔ)，根據(jù)上下文，加上they即可。��

　　78.it改為them。句中的pick it up 中“it”指的是主句中的letters。根據(jù)單復(fù)數(shù)一致的原則，應(yīng)用them指代letters。��

　　79.golden改為gold。golden 是形容詞，意為“金色的”，“黃金般的”，gold 作名詞，意為“黃金”，作形容詞，意為“全制的”。故“淘金熱”應(yīng)為“gold rush”。��

　　80.sail 改為sailing。根據(jù)boats sail east could pick up 中could為謂動(dòng)詞，到sail 應(yīng)變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)在分詞，作定語(yǔ)，修飾boats。若無(wú)字?jǐn)?shù)限制，改成boats which sailed east 這樣的定語(yǔ)從句也可以。