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【练习】
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 __1
influence of this or that individual writers. But an effect can become __2
a cause, reinforce the original cause and producing the same effect __3
in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take drink __4
because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the most __5
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 __6
makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is irreversible. Modern English, especially written English, __7
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 __8
necessary first step towards political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concerning __9
of professional writers. I will come back to this present, and I hope __10
that by that time the meaning of what I have said here will have become clearer.
