Question

--It ________ the Chinese people eight years to build the Three Gorges Dam（三峡大坝）.

--How great!

1. A.
   spends
2. B.
   costs
3. C.
   paid
4. D.
   took

Answer 1

D
四个选项都有“花费”的意思，spend和pay的主语都是人，其中spend常用于“sb. spends some money/time in doing sth.（其中介词in可以省略）”和“sb. spends some money/time on sth.”两种句型，表示“某人花了多少钱买某物/时间做某事”；而pay常与介词for连用；cost的主语是物，常用于Sth. costs sb. some money.句型；take常用于It takes sb. some time/money to do sth.句型，其中it为形式主语，真正的主语是动词不定式。故本题由关键词it和后面的动词不定式短语to build…可直接选出正确答案为D。