大学英语六级：短文改错(四十五)

会计考友

Prolonging human life has decreased the dependency load. In all societies ___1___
3 g, y8 v  Y# dpeople are disable or too young or too old to work are dependent on the ___2___
% r$ q8 Y! P3 N2 ]rest of society to provide them. In hunting and gathering cultures old people ___3___
who could keep up might be left behind and die. In times of famine infants ___4___
might be allowed to die because they could not survive when their parents
& o5 ?4 H+ v' C& @) l* k, w" qstarved; whereas when their parents survived they could have another child.
In most contemporary societies people feel it a obligation to keep people
4 Z2 `" O  E1 V' q3 E3 S7 I  Ulive whether or not they can work. There are a great many people who live ___5___
the past age in which they want to work or are able to work; there are rules ___6___
' }2 J9 R& o$ j: \# o5 Lthat require people to retire at a certain age. If these people are able to save ___7___
' M$ [  W" r; A. P* k4 Rmoney from their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the Unite
states many people live on social security checks, which are so considerable ___8___
that they must live in near poverty.
Elder people are more liable to become ill than young or middle-aged people; ___9___
therefore they are wealthy or provided with private or government insurance, ___10___
they must often “go on welfare” if they fall seriously ill.


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( N* X/ }/ C$ D4 R5 \  K- S答案及解析:
! _% H2 Z4 p$ u) x8 x4 g* X1. decreased -> increased
根据下文提示，退休的老年人由工作的壮年人为其提供生活补助，可知此处地意思是“人类寿命的延长会增加社会负担”，所以此处应该用increased。
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& N) \! C( h. f8 U3 W7 `2. people后加who或that
" c1 W+ `+ U8 x0 @4 [分析句子结构，此句出现了两个谓语（系动词）are，故有一个必是从句。根据句子的主干可知，前部分are disable or too young or too old to work应该是定语从句，且缺少了引导词，又因为先行词是people，故加上相应的引导词that或who。

& P8 O5 R7 X$ ^$ ~8 C3. provide后加for
此处从句的意思是“没有工作能力的人由有工作能力的人来养活”。provide for sb是“养活某人”的意思。
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/ R  A: s: k8 n; s6 p4. could后加not
根据上下文理解，此处的意思应该是“老年人跟不上时代步伐，将被弃之不管或死去”。故要在could后加not。
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% U2 v4 ^' }; ^5. live -> alive
这里是词组keep sb alive。
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3 w- `7 p0 @, y! S6. in -> at
此处的意思是“今天还有很多人超过了能够工作的年龄…..”。定语从句的先行词是age，复原后的词组是at the age。故用at which。
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" b: H; T7 Y2 ]1 V" q) y% h7. If -> Unless
意思是“除非人们能位退休后的生活存钱，否则必须由别人来养活他们”。
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/ K/ u' y: j; q( T5 z% N$ {4 s8. considerable -> little
根据上下文的理解，在美国，许多人靠社会救济生存，这笔钱很少，以至于人们生活在贫困的边缘。
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' a2 M2 q# J) C. L4 B9. Elder -> Older
elder意为“年龄较长的；资格老的，地位高的”，older意为“上年纪的”。此处指的是老年人，故用older。
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10. therefore -> unless
意思是“除非他们富有或有政府或私人的保险，否则生病时只能依靠救济金”。故将therefore改为unless。