It took him half an hour to read the newspaper.[改同义句]

It took him half an hour to read the newspaper.
= He spent half an hour (in) reading the newspaper.
第一句中,it是形式主语,真正的主语是后面的不定式短语to read the newspaper.
took是“花费（时间）”的意思.
其句型是：it take sb some time to do sth.
= sb spend some time (in) doing sth.
第二个句型中的in可以省略不写.