Aesop replied, “Tell me where you come from and what sort of people live there, and I’ll tell you what sort of people you’ll find in Athens.” 16 , the man answered, “I come from Argos, and there the people are all friendly, generous, and warm-hearted.
答案：(B) Smiling
現在分詞片語作插入語，描述說話時的表情動作「微笑著回答」；Amazing（令人驚訝的，是形容詞不是描述動作的分詞）、Deciding（正在決定，這裡沒有要做決定的情節）、Praying（祈禱）都不合。
空格後面是逗號接 the man answered，你直覺想找一個副詞，結果四個選項全是 -ing 結尾，一時不知道該用什麼標準挑，只好比較哪個字義唸起來順，或者選了最眼熟的 Amazing。
這是分詞構句，還原成完整子句就清楚了：Smiling, the man answered... 等於 The man smiled and answered...，也可以還原成 As he smiled, the man answered...。分詞在意義上的主詞必須是主要子句的主詞，也就是 the man，所以把四個選項代進 The man ______. 檢驗最快：the man smiled 說得通。更關鍵的線索在同一篇後半段，出題者用完全相同的句構寫第二位旅人：But frowning, the man answered, ...（那人皺著眉回答）。frowning 對 Smiling，一個皺眉一個微笑，兩位旅人一負一正，結構完全對稱。讀到後面那句回頭看，這一格填的是表情動作就沒有懸念了。語意上也合：這位旅人接著說家鄉的人 friendly, generous, and warm-hearted，講的全是好話，配的自然是微笑。
Amazing 是主動形式，意思是「令人驚訝的」，主詞要是引起驚訝的那個事物；人做主詞得用 Amazed（感到驚訝的）。這與國中學過的 interesting 對 interested、boring 對 bored 是同一組道理。何況這裡沒有任何人被嚇到。Deciding：decide 後面要接受詞或 to 加原形動詞，這位旅人沒有在做什麼決定。Praying（祈禱）與情境無關。
smile at somebody（對某人微笑）、frown at somebody（對某人皺眉）、warm-hearted（熱心的、親切的）、be generous with（在…方面大方）、be amazed at（對…感到驚訝）、amazing（令人驚訝的）。
Aesop, the Greek writer of fables, was sitting by the roadside one day when a traveler asked him what sort of people lived in Athens. Aesop replied, "Tell me where you come from and what sort of people live there, and I'll tell you what sort of people you'll find in Athens." 16 , the man answered, "I come from Argos, and there the people are all friendly, generous, and warm-hearted. I love them." 17 this, Aesop answered, "I'm happy to tell you, my dear friend, that you'll find the people of Athens much the same."
A few hours later, 18 traveler came down the road. He too stopped and asked Aesop the same question. 19 , Aesop made the same request. But frowning, the man answered, "I'm from Argos and there the people are unfriendly, 20 , and vicious. They're thieves and murderers, all of them." "Well, I'm afraid you'll find the people of Athens much the same," replied Aesop.