【问】 Some of the most important concepts in physics________ their success to these mathematicalsystems.

A. oblige B. owe C. contribute D. attribute(攻读硕士学位研究生入学考试英语试题，94)

查英汉词典，owe... to和attribute... to都作“把……归因于……”解。因此，不知哪个答案是正确的。

【答】 owe... to与attribute... to有一个很重要的区别：在主动句中owe... to的主语可以是人，也可以是物，attribute... to的主语则只能是人。因此，上面的试题(主语是表物的)不能用attribute... to。两者之间的其他区别是：owe... to只用于主动句，大都与含褒义的词连用。请分析下面的实例：

1. He owes his success to his father. (AHD)

他把他的成功归功于他的父亲。

2. The development of socialism as both an intellectual current and socio-political movement owed much to the influence of Saint-Simon's followers.

作为思潮兼社会政治运动的社会主义的发展，在很大程度上归功于圣西门的追随者的影响。

3. Jim attributes his success to hard work. (LDCE)

吉姆把他的成功归功于努力工作。

4. Economists attributed the lack of progress to poor cooperation.(EED)

经济学家把缺乏进步归咎于合作不好。

请做下面的英语试题：

The prison riot was____.

A. brought about by the guards，whose severity was an extreme

B. attributed to the unnecessary roughness of the guards

C. blamed on the guards，whose harshness caused it to originate

D. originated from the extreme guard severity (TOEFL，77. 5)