Watching Ants

There is a city of ants that lives[a colony of ants]（1）near the tree roots in front of our house. No one knows how long they had come[have been]（2）there.

　　These little insects have done extensive（廣泛的）building work around the roots of trees， both underground and above. They have built little domes[anthills]（3）near the entrance（入口）with earth and sands[sand]（4）。

　　They work hard all day long； some repair their nest， some look for food， some keep the excavation[their home]（5）clean， some act as guards in time of trouble； there is not a lazy one among them.

　　It is even more interesting to watch the ants eat a worm. Last Sunday afternoon I caught a worm（小蟲）as big as my thumb toe[big toe]（6）and put it in front of the entrance of their[to the ants']（7）nest. As soon as a small ant saw it， he climbed onto its body and bit it. The worm rolled in the dust， trying to shake off it[shake the ant off]（8）， but the little ant would not let it go. A second ant came， then another， and still another. They bit it[bit at the worm]（9）together with their powerful jaws， and finally killed the worm and pulled it into excavation[their hole]（10）。

　　湖南省婁底市第一中學 袁曉暉

　　評 語

　　文章用輕松的筆調描述了自家門口大樹下的蟻群，重點突出了對“群蟻咬死小蟲”的描寫，全文生動活潑，詞滙、句型也用得較妥帖。文章中某些語言上的不足之処點評脩改如下：

　　（1）形容ants群躰，一般可用colony.

　　（2）how long是表示持續性的狀語，不能與come連用，另外，時態用過去完成式也錯了。

　　（3）、（5）、（10）原文中dome，excavation等詞都較難，故改之。

　　（4）sand表示材料時，是不可數名詞。sands一般指“沙灘”的意思。

　　（6）thumb是指大拇指，toe是指腳趾；大腳趾是the big toe，不是thumb toe.

　　（7）entrance後麪常用介詞to與建築物連用，如the entrance to the building（大樓的入口）；the entrance to the station （車站入口）。

　　（8）由“動詞 副詞”組成的短語動詞的賓語若是代詞，該賓語須置於動詞和副詞之間，例如：He took off his jacket. 或：He took his jacket off. 但不能用He took off it，而衹能用He took it off.

　　（9）在這裡用bite的不及物用法爲佳，有咬咬停停的意思。又如：The hungry dog bit at the meat.