Working the land
①asked about the date of the election, the prime minister (發表意見) no decision had yet been made.
②she was asked about the pay increase but
(不進行評論) on it.
答案:(1)to make
(2) ①commented that ② made no comment
重點短語
7. thanks to
由于；多虧（有時用作反語）;因為
thanks to your help, we were successful.
由于你的幫助，我們成功了。
thanks to you, i was saved from drowning.
多虧你，我才沒被淹死。
thanks to the bad weather, the match had been cancelled.
多虧了這倒霉的天氣，比賽被取消了。（反語）
聯想拓展
表示“因為，由于”的短語還有：
because of，owing to，on account of，due to，as a result of。
溫馨提示
以上這些都是介詞短語，因此后面可以跟名詞或動名詞而不可以跟從句。
高手過招
單項填空
①it was your timely help that we accomplished the task on time. （•01•山西運城檢測）
a. because b. thank c. thanks to d. as
② the new policy, we are now having a happy life. （•01•安徽亳州檢測）
a. thanks to b. because
c. for d. thanks for
①解析：選c。because 和as 雖然也表示“因為，由于”，但后面需接句子，而句中是短語，故應用thanks to。句意為： 幸虧你及時幫忙，我們才按時完成了任務。
②解析：選a。考查近義詞辨析。thanks to意為“多虧了”；because后應加句子;for 表示補充說明的原因。
8. rid ...of
擺脫；除去
you should rid yourself of that bad habit.
你應該改掉那個壞習慣。
聯想拓展
be rid of 擺脫
get rid of 擺脫；除掉；去掉