【问】 《大学英语同义词词典》(P.428)说：“people——人，人们，人类。单复同形”。我怀疑这种说法的正确性。
 【答】 这种说法是不正确的。people应当分三种情况来讨论。
 A.当people指“人(persons)，”或者泛指“人们”，或者指特定场合的人以及家里人时，它是个无标记的复数名词(unmarked plural nouns)，无单数形式，根本谈不上什么“单复同形”：
 1. There are ten people present.
 有10个人出席。
 2. The streets were crowded with people.
 街上挤满了人。
 3. People will laugh at you.
 人们会嘲笑你的。
 4. All my people are in India.
 我家里人都在印度。
 5. Altogether Dateline is the most exciting social advance for single people since the grant-ing of the vote. (Reader’s Digest)
 总而言之，征婚热线对于单身汉来说，是自从授予公民选举权以来最激动人心的社会进步。(读者文摘)(译文引自《现代英语报刊阅读词典》)
 6. By the laws of probability there are certainly people in the world who are physically andmentally right for you，just as there are stars in the universe similar to ours. (Reader’sDigest)
 根据概率法则，世界上一定有在身体上和精神上都适合你的人，这与宇宙中有和我们这颗星球相似的星星是一个道理。(读者文摘)(译文引同上)
 B. people作“民族”解时，其复数形式为peoples。在这里也谈不上什么“单复同形”：
 1. The Chinese are a hard-working people.
 中华民族是一个勤劳的民族。
 2. Ireland was inhabited by two peoples.
 爱尔兰居住着两个民族。 [原书缺损]
 1. Five(one) per cent of the samples were substandard.
 百分之五(一)的样品不符合标准。
 2. Ten per cent of the pupiles are absent today.
 今天有百分之十的学生缺席。
 请做下面的英语试题：
 1. More and more scientists that 80 percent of all cancers inflicted upon man (TOEFL， 75.11)
 2. It that only 21 percent of the and that only 7. 6 percent is actually (TOEFL，83. 11)
 3. Approximately fifty percent of the in the United States are for and (TOEFL， 92.5)