译文：Many a way was tried by them.

解析：

“more than one 单数名词（不止一个……）”，“many a（许多）”虽然表示复数含义，但谓语动词与单数名词保持一致，习惯上用单数。如：

（9）More than one person was present at the meeting.

（10）Many a student has passed the exam.

译文：But hard working was in vain.

解析：

不定式（短语）、动名词（短语）或从句做主语，谓语动词用单数。

（11）Seeing is believing. =To see is to believe.

（12）When we’ll go out for an outing has been decided.

译文：99％ of the population were against the king’s ownership of the cart and horse.

解析：

百分数（或分数） of 可数名词单数（或不可数名词），谓语用单数；百分数 （或分数） of 名词复数，谓语用复数。

（13）Twenty percent of the workers in the factory are women.

（14） More than 70 percent of the surface of the earth is covered by water.

译文：Zhang Fei was the only one of the people who had the right to own the cart and horse.

解析：

在定语从句中关系代词做主语时，从句谓语动词要与先行词的数保持一致。在先行词前有one of修饰时，从句谓语动词与复数名词保持一致；在先行词前有the only one of, the very one of 等修饰时，从句谓语动词与one保持一致，用第三人称单数形式。如：

（15）The man who wants to see you is waiting for you at the gate.

（16）He was one of the men in the office who were invited to the ball.

（17）He was the only one of the men in the office who was invited to the ball.

译文：Huge quantities of dirt were raised by the cart as long as the horse ran.

large amounts of 和 huge quantities of 后即使跟的是不可数名词，谓语动词也要用复数形式。

（18）Huge quantities of good earth has been blown away in this area.

意义一致

故事：受伤的人们都戴着眼镜，正在看《一千零一夜》的故事，这时，从远处来了一群牛，牛背上驮着家具，这些家具值3万美元，这可是一大笔钱啊。

译文：The wounded were wearing glasses.

解析：

“the 形容词或过去分词”，如：the rich, the poor, the blind, the old, the injured, the wounded做主语时，表示具体的某类人或事，谓语动词常常用复数形式。如：

The rich make the poor slaves.

The wounded were sent to the hospital at once.

表示由两部分构成的东西，如：glasses （眼镜）trousers,clothes, pincers, tongs 夹钳 shears, sessiors 剪子。使用这些词做主语时，谓语应该用复数。

若表达具体数目，要借助数量词 pair（对，双）；suit（套）；a pair of glasses; two pairs of trousers，这时，谓语动词应该用单数。

A pair of glasses is necessary to the near-sighted.眼镜对近视眼患者很有必要。

译文：They are reading “the Arabian Nights”。