Question

We know our friends by their defects ______ by their merits. A．than B．in the place of C．ra

We know our friends by their defects ______ by their merits. A．than B．in the place of C．rather than D．instead of

Answer 1

C

此题考查并列连词。[A]项than是用来连接比较分句或词组的；B.项in the place of是介词短语，均应排除；[C]项和D.项都可以用来连接两个并列的成分，instead of连接的两个部分为取舍关系，表示单纯的替代。rather than不完全表示替代，多了层个人意愿或倾向。如果在这里填入instead of，那么该句意为“我们是通过朋友的缺点而不是优点来了解他们”，这就是单纯的替代，非此即彼。而用 rather than的话，该句意为“与其说我们是通过朋友的优点来了解他们不如说是通过他们的缺点来了解他们”，这就意味着不完全排除优点，只不过他们的缺点更能使我们了解他们。故从整句的意义上看应选[C]。