Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately
have political and economical causes: it is not due simply to the bad
influence of this or that individual writers. But an effect can become
a cause, reinforce the original cause and producing the same effect
in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take drink
because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the most
completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is
happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate
because our thoughts are foolish, but the sloven of our language
makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the
process is irreversible. Modern English, especially written English,
is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be
avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets
rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and think clearly is a
necessary first step towards political regeneration: so that the fight
against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concerning
of professional writers. I will come back to this present, and I hope
that by that time the meaning of what I have said here will have become
clearer.
答案及解析:
omical－economic
economical的意思是“節約的，經濟的，省錢的”，而此處應選擇economic表示“經濟的，有關經濟的”。
ers－writer
this or that後面應接單數名詞，因爲從意思上來看應是二選一的，所以是單數。
force－reinforcing
“an effect can become a cause”和“reinforce the original cause”兩個分句並不是並列的關係，應該說是主句和從句的'關係，應該將reinforce變爲-ing形式，這也與後面的“producing the same effect”保持形式上的一致。
^－to
take to 表示“養成習慣，沉湎於”。
－more
all the more 表示“更加”，如：
The living room is decorated in pale colors which make it all he more airy.
en－slovenliness
sloven作名詞表示“懶散的人，散漫的人”，這裏顯然語義不對，所以應改爲slovenliness表示“懶散，邋遢”。
versible－reversible
reversible（可逆的），irreversible（不可逆的）
如上文所述，語言和思維的關係是相互影響的；由於我們思想的愚蠢，我們的語言變得醜陋，不準確；同時我們的語言的不精確也使我們的思維變得更加愚蠢。所以這個過程是能倒退的。
8.^think－to
動詞原形本身無法作主語，必須將它變成-ing形式或不定式，由於這裏有將要發生的含義，所以選用不定式 to think。
erning－concern
concern本身既可以做動詞也可以作名次。
ent－presently
presently表示“不久，一會兒”。present在這裏講不通。
