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（广泛的）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（小虫）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）。

　　湖南省娄底市第一中学 袁晓晖

　　评 语

　　文章用轻松的笔调描述了自家门口大树下的蚁群，重点突出了对“群蚁咬死小虫”的描写，全文生动活泼，词汇、句型也用得较妥帖。文章中某些语言上的不足之处点评修改如下：

　　（1）形容ants群体，一般可用colony.

　　（2）how long是表示持续性的状语，不能与come连用，另外，时态用过去完成式也错了。

　　（3）、（5）、（10）原文中dome，excavation等词都较难，故改之。

　　（4）sand表示材料时，是不可数名词。sands一般指“沙滩”的意思。

　　（6）thumb是指大拇指，toe是指脚趾；大脚趾是the big toe，不是thumb toe.

　　（7）entrance后面常用介词to与建筑物连用，如the entrance to the building（大楼的入口）；the entrance to the station （车站入口）。

　　（8）由“动词+副词”组成的短语动词的宾语若是代词，该宾语须置于动词和副词之间，例如：He took off his jacket. 或：He took his jacket off. 但不能用He took off it，而只能用He took it off.

　　（9）在这里用bite的不及物用法为佳，有咬咬停停的意思。又如：The hungry dog bit at the meat.