CET-6中的综合改错题(Error Correction)是运用语言心理学原理设计的一种题型,该题型采用语段错项改正式设计,目的在于测试考生的语言基础及综合运用语言的能力。这就要求考生仔细阅读全文,特别要从语法、词汇或逻辑推理上仔细推敲标有题号的语句,指出并改正错误,以使短文内容和结构正确、完整。

　　综合改错题的错项类型可分为三类,即语法性错误、词汇性错误和逻辑性错误。在该题的10个错项中,其中语法性和词汇性错误约占70%,而逻辑性错误约占30%。

　　1. 语法性错误:该题中出现的语法错误,主要是一些结构搭配和常见的基本用法错误。

　　1)固定句型搭配错误。英语中有不少句型已形成固定结构,其用词搭配都有一定的句式,不可随意变动。

　　(1) Although most people in the United States no longer live in farms, but the ideal of home ownership is just as strong in the twentieth century as it was in the nineteenth. (2003. 9第6题)

　　该句是一个含有由although引出的让步状语从句的复合句,根据语法规则,复合句中的主句句首不可用but。因此,but一词必须去掉。

　　(2) No sooner had the lecture begun before the audience heard the sound of fighting in the hall outside.

　　该句中no sooner... than... 是一个固定句型结构,before应改为than。这一固定句型结构意思为"一……立刻……"。还应注意:在这一固定句型中动词时态上有固定的要求,no sooner后用过去完成时,而than后用一般过去时,而且当no sooner置于句首时,句子主谓要倒装;若不置于句首则为自然语序,与该句型类似的还有Hardly (Scarcely)...when (before)...。

　　2)动词的及物和不及物用错。这方面尤以动宾关系搭配错误出现的频率最高。

　　(1) His Arab host, who had been watching, said of nothing, but immediately copied the action of his guest. (2000. 6 第80题)

　　(2)You may have noticed about how people who live or work closely together come to believe.... (95. 1 第72题)

　　以上两个例句中出现的动词said和noticed都属及物动词,其后可直接跟宾语,不需要加任何介词,因此 (1)句中的of和(2)句中的 about都属多余,应删除。在这类错误类型中,错项多落在动词上,名词宾语则成为解题线索。

　　(3) But perhaps we should look at both sides of the coin before arriving hasty conclusion. (2000. 1 第80题)

　　该题中arrive为不及物动词,不可直接跟宾语,根据固定搭配,需在其后加上at 才符合要求。

　　3)时态、语态、虚拟语气用错。

　　(1) Now he had the capability to leave that planet and move out into the universe to those worlds.... (2000.1 第71题)

　　根据句意,now在此处意为"如今、现在",故句中谓语动词应为一般现在时,had应改为has。

　　(2) In Africa, for instance, improved seed, more fertilizer and advanced growing practices have more than double corn and wheat yields in an experiment. (2003. 12 第8题)

　　句中double为动词,谓语是现在完成时态,所以,double应该用过去分词doubled。

　　(3) A proposal came from the board of directors that those who violated the rules would be fined $1,000, but there was strong opposition on the part of workers.

　　句中would应去掉或改为should, 根据语法规则, 表示 "建议、请求、命令" 等含义的名词后出现同位语从句时, 从句中的谓语动词应用虚拟语气, 形式为 "should + 动词原形" 或直接用动词原形。 该句的谓语既要求用虚拟语气又得用被动语态, 故谓语应为should be fined或be fined。

　　4) 主谓一致方面的错误。

　　(1) The whole monstrous growth rests on

　　economic prosperity, but behind it lies two myths: the myth of the city as a promised land, that... (2002. 6 第7题)

　　该句中的第二个分句是主谓倒装句,主语是two myths, 谓语lies应改为lie,这样才能使主谓保持一致。

　　(2) ...perhaps one in every seven deaths in Europe's crowded cities were caused by the disease. (2001. 6 第73题)

　　该句的主语为one是单数。因此, 句子的谓语应将were改为was。

　　5) 代词用错。代词是否用错, 主要看后面出现的代词和其指代的名词或代词是否保持了"性、数、 人称"上的一致; 代词是否重复使用; it, this, that, these, which等是否指代错误。

　　(1) ... papers must reflect the diversity of the communities to which they provide information. It must reflect that diversity with their news coverage or risk losing their readers' interest and their advertisers' support. (2003. 6 第1 题)

　　该句的意思为:"……报纸必须反映接受它们信息的公众的多样性。报纸必须通过它们新闻的覆盖面来反映这一多样性,否则,它们就要冒失去读者兴趣和失去广告商赞助的风险。"根据上下文,第二句中的主语应和上一句的主语相同,都是papers。 因此,It应改为They。

　　(2) And if he does notice the matching of his gestures or movements, he finds it pleasing that he is influencing people: they are drawn to them. (95. 1 第78题)

　　该句的意思为:"如果他确实知道其手势或动作是协调的,他就会发现,他在影响着人们,即人们被他所吸引,是令人高兴的。"根据句意,句末的them应改为him。

　　6)其他语法错误。

　　(1) ... he will feel comfortably in its presence. (95. 1 第77题)

　　该句中feel起了系动词的作用,其表语应为形容词,所以应将comfortably改为comfortable。

　　(2) ... and winning affection and respect in this way without aware of their methods. (95. 1 第80题)

　　该句中without 为介词,故作其宾语的应是名词或动名词,因此应在without之后加be的动名词形式being。

　　(3) In addition, the paper instituted a content audit(审查)that evaluates the frequency and manner of representation of woman and people of color in photographs. (2003.6 第7题)

　　根据句意,该句中woman应为复数名词,故应改为women。

　　(4) With occasional breaks for war, the rates of death and infection in the Europe and America dropped steadily through the 19th and 20th centuries. (2001. 6 第75题)

　　该句中Europe为专有名词,专有名词前不能用冠词。所以the应去掉。

　　2. 词汇性错误:这类错项的设计大多涉及固定词组、同义词或近义词、同根异义词、形近异义词等方面的错误。

　　1)词语搭配错误。

　　(1) In every home a stereo or television will fill the rooms sound.(95. 6 第72题)

　　(2) But we must keep in head the billions of dollars we might spend in carrying out the project. (2000. 1 第76题)

　　(3) However, a second person thought that this was more a question of civilized behavior as good manners. (2000. 6 第73题)

　　显而易见, 以上例句中出现的错误都属于固定词组搭配错误。例(1)中"fill +名词 + with + 名词"为固定的动词词组,其意为"使……充满……",因此,在rooms之后加上with。根据句意,例(2)中keep in head应为"记住、牢记"之意,而表达此意的固定词组应为keep in mind, 所以,应将head改为mind。例(3)中,按照词语搭配原则,句中的as应改为than, 以便与前面的more构成合理的搭配。more... than... 在此句中意为"与其说……不如说……"。

　　2)同义词或反义词错误。

　　(1) You can pass any factory or construction area and the roar of its machinery will make your ears ring. (95. 6 第74题)

　　(2) We asked a lady, who replied that she thought you could tell a well-mannered person by the way they occupied the space around them -for example, when such a person walks down a street he or she is constantly unaware of others. (2000. 6 第72题)

　　以上例句中,例(1)中machinery一词和machine为同义词,但在词义上并不完全等值,machinery是指机器或机械的总称,而句中所说的是指那家工厂或建设工地所属的具体的机器的轰鸣声。所以,该句中的machinery应改为machines。例(2)的错项是反义词用错,根据上下文语境的要求,只有将unaware改为aware,句意才能合乎逻辑,be aware of...意为"意识到……"。

　　3)同根异义词用错。

　　(1) If his aim is inaccurate and he scores a goal, he enjoys the hunter's triumph of killing his prey. (2002. 1 第2题)

　　(2) If those who argue against economical growth are correct, the problems they mention cannot be ignored.

　　以上两个例句的错项都属于同根异义词用错。例(1)中inaccurate词义为"不准确的",而accurate词义为"准确的",只有将inaccurate改为accurate ,句子意思才能符合逻辑。例(2)中economical词义为"节约的、节俭的",而根据句意,此处单词的含义应为"经济上的",因此,该句中的economical应改为economic。

　　4)形近异义词用错。

　　(1) The football match was televised alive from the Workers' Stadium.

　　(2) Many of the earliest emigrants into the United States established large plantations.

　　(3) He issued a commend that each of them come at eight o'clock.

　　(4) The raising cost of living is as hard on country families as on city families.

　　上面各例句中,所有错项设计均属形近异义词用错。例(1)中alive与live两个单词仅一个字母之差,而在该句中,不仅各自表示的词义不同,而且词性也不一样。alive为形容词,意为"活着的、存在的",常用作表语;而live既可用作形容词也用可作副词,作副词时,词义为"实况、在表演现场"。根据句意应将alive改为live。全句意为:"这场足球赛从工人体育馆进行实况转播。" 例(2)中emigrants和immigrants从书写形式到读音方面都极为相似,而词义却存在着差异。emigrants意为"(移居国外的)移民",而immigrants则意为"(从外国移入的)移民"。根据句意,这里只有将emigrants改为immigrants, 全句意义才能符合逻辑。例(3)中commend是动词,词义为"把……交托给……",而command为名词,词义为"命令"。在该句中只有将commend改为command,句意才能通顺。全句意为:"他下了一道命令,要求他们中的每一个人都要在八点钟来到。"例(4)中的raising和rising都是动词变来的现在分词,都可以起形容词的作用,但词义不同,raising意为"举起的、提高的",而rising为"上涨的、上升的",根据句意,这里应将raising改为rising才能使句意顺畅。

　　3. 逻辑性错误:这类错误不同于语法、用词、句型搭配等错误,而主要是从上下文、从全文看,出现的一些前后内容矛盾、概念混乱、或意义恰好相反等错误。因此判断这类错误,必须联系错行的上下文,甚至要从全文内容进行考虑,一般不应仅仅局限于一个句子。

　　这种错项往往分两种情况:第一种是逻辑矛盾,即由于词汇使用不当而导致句中某种逻辑关系发生逆反,从而引起句子甚至整个语段的语义悖反或前后矛盾;第二种情况是逻辑混乱,由于词汇使用不当,使句子的逻辑关系改变,从而造成句子语意阻塞。连词、副词、介词的错用常常会导致这种错误。

　　1)逻辑矛盾。

　　(1) Until the very latest moment of his existence, man has been bound to the planet on which he originated and developed. Now he has the capability to leave that planet and move out into the universe to some worlds which he has known previously only directly. (2000. 1 第72题)

　　该句由于误用了反义副词,造成句子语意上的逻辑矛盾。经过仔细分析得知,人类从未离开过地球,不可能对其他星球有直接地了解,如果说有所了解的话,也只能是"间接地了解"。因此,句中的directly应改为indirectly, 句子语意才能符合逻辑。

　　(2) They were wrong. In the mid-1980s the frequency of infections and deaths started to pick up again around the world. Where tuberculosis had vanished, it came back; in many places where it had never been away, it grew better. (2001. 6 第79题)

　　从上下文来看,不是变得越来越好,而是变得越来越糟糕,所以必须把better改为worse,才能使句子语意符合逻辑。

　　2) 逻辑混乱。

　　(1) Then, about ten thousand years ago, when this immensely long formative period of hunting for food, they became farmers. (2002. 1 第78题)

　　该句中由于用了连词when, 而使整个句子的意思变得模糊不清。为了使句意表达清晰,符合逻辑,必须将连词when改成after。全句意思为:"后来,大约一万年前,经过漫长的为获取食物而狩猎的初始阶段之后,他们成了农民。"

　　(2) There are many arguments for and

　　against television. The poor quality of its programs is often criticized and TV commercials are also boring. So television is undoubtedly a great comfort to many lonely and elderly people.

　　该句的意思为:"对电视有许多褒贬的看法:质量低劣的电视节目常常受到人们的批评,电视上的商业广告也令人生厌。但是,毫无疑问,对孤独年迈的老人来说,电视是一种极大的慰藉。"从上下文来看,句中表示因果关系的So应改为表示转折关系的But,这样才能符合逻辑。

　　(文/李德煜 张会欣；英语通大学英语六级考试版 03～04学年第5期； 版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)