有一读者问： 有这样一道填空题：
(1)His father_________（die）the disease caused by water pollution.
应填die of还是填die from?
大致说来，die of多用于内因，如：
(2)He died of hunger.
(3)She died of cancer.
(4)My aunt died of grief.
die from多用于外因，如：
(5)He died from overwork.
(6)He died from a wound.
但实际上，二者相互通用的情况并不罕见，兹举少数几例如下：
(7)die of/from pneumonia
(8)die of/from snake bites
(9)die of/from a cold
(10)die of/from a fall over a cliff
有不少辞书说die from常代之以die of。但有时也有相反的情况，如disease是内因，一般应与die of连用，但也可用die from，实例如：
(11)The disease from which he died was at that time incurable.
根据以上分析，上述句（1）既可填以died of，也可填以died from。
