Dr. Peter Spence, headmaster of the school, told us, “a fifth of pupils here go on to study at Oxford and Cambridge.”

【高考试题】

Dr. Peter Spence, ______ headmaster of the school, told us, “______ fifth of pupils here go on to study at Oxford and Cambridge.” (2011四川卷)

A. 不填; A               B. 不填; The            C. the; The               D. a; A

【答案解析】

此题答案为A。

第一空不填冠词，是因为其后的headmaster在此为表示独一无二的职位。又如：

We elected him chairman. 我们选他当主席。

They elected Nixon President. 他们选尼克松当总统。

第二空填不定冠词，是因为a fifth of pupils 在此表示“五分之一的学生”，若填定冠词，则表示“学生中的第五个”，不符合句意。又如：

A third of the American forces were involved. 美国军队的三分之一卷了进去。

有时也可用one代替a。如：

One third of the population here are farmers. 这里三分之一的人口是工人。

One-tenth of the population are elderly people. 十分之一的人口是老年人。