Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world? Surely because progress of particular 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 morality, it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge. Knowledge begins to increase as __2__soon as the thoughts of one individual could be communicated 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 printing. 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 account. 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 going 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：

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.