第014句

Conversation becomes weaker in a society that spends so much time listening and being talked to that it has all but lost the will and the skill to speak for itself.

译文：在一个人们花很多时间听他人说话和听他人对自己说话的社会，社会已经失去了为自身说话的意愿和技巧，这时会话的力量就变弱了。

点睛：第一个that引导的是以society为先行词的定语从句。so和第二个that构成so...that...句型，表示“太…以至于／以致”．that引导的是结果状语从句。spend time( in) doing sth.表示“花时间做某事”。介词but出现在all之后表示“除…之外什么都没有”，用以表示强调。

考点归纳：以下两种搭配均可以表示“花时间做某事”：

*spend some time on sth.／(in) doing sth.

He spent two hours on computer games.
他花了两个小时玩电脑游戏。
I spent half a day( in) doing the homework.
我花了半天的时间做家庭作业。

*it takes sb. some time to do sth.

It took me half a day to wash my clothes.
洗衣服花了我半天的时间。