I took three hours...
下面是《英语常用词用法词典》(北大西语系编,商务印书馆出版,修订版,p.481)中的一段话：
“我用了三小时才写成这篇作文。
应说: It took me three hours to write this composition.
或: The composition took me three hours.
不要说: I took three hours to write the composition."
请问最后一个说法真的是错误的吗？
前两种说法是正确的,最后一种说法也同样是符合英语惯用法的。请看下面的实例：
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The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts, but he took a long time to send them. (New Concept English, Book 3, L.5) 那位记者立即动身去获取这些重要的数字，但是他费了好长时间才把材料寄出去。
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I took three hours to get home last night. (PEU) 昨天晚上我花了三个钟头才到家。
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She takes all day to get out of the bathroom. (PEU) 她常常花一整天的时间才从浴室里出来。
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He took three years to write the book. (葛传槨《英语惯用法辞典》) 他写这本书用了三年时间。
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He took ten minutes to solve the problem. (《英汉大辞典》) 他解这道题花了十分钟时间。
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The taxi only took ten minutes to get to the hotel. (TOEFL) 出租车只花了十分钟时间就到宾馆了。
由此可见，take three hours 的主语也可以是人或是其他施动者。
在阐述了上述观点之后,我们认为有必要进一步指出,《英语常用词用法词典》的上述说法在我国英语学界甚为流行,几乎被我国出版的所有的英语著作所采纳。例如,1995年出版的《英语正误辨析词典》(上海外语教育出版社,p.340)就进一步发挥了《英语常用词用法词典》的上述观点:
“我每天上下班花两小时乘公共汽车。”
[误] I take two hours to go to work and come back by bus every day.
[正] It takes me two hours to go to work and come back by bus every day.
[说明] take(花费)不能用表示人的名词或代词作主语。例如:The journey took them five days. 这次旅行花了他们5天时间。又如:It took them five days to complete the journey. 他们花了5天时间才完成这次旅行。”