Question

the only problem was that there was nothing much to do the evening but read.为什么？！

Answer 1

唯一的问题是晚上没有什么事可做。

分析：原句The only problem was that there was nothing much to do the evening but read.

这段话表现了晚上比较空闲，没有事情可做。

“do”的例句：

1、The kitchen's always so messy after we've had guests. Give me a hand to do it over,will you.

家里来了客人之后，厨房总是那么乱，请你帮助我们清扫一下好吗？

2、Never link the audio out to the vcr and the monitor by connect them to each other as you will do at.

千万不可象许多人在家里做的那样将音频连接到VCR和监视器上。

Answer 2

The only problem was that there was nothing much to do in the evening but read.这是一个主从复合句。that后面是表语从句，but是介词，意思是“除了……”，当它前面出现do的任何形式时（本句是to do不定式），后面的动词不定式省去to,也就是read前面省去了to。全句汉语意思是：唯一的问题是，晚上除了看书没有别的事情可做。