TOEFL阅读常见难句结构分析
在本节中,重点分析了十种难句结构,并分别给出了十五个左右的句子实例,希望借此让同学们通过对这些句子实例的分析,把握住这些难句结构的特点和找准突破口。众所周知,文章是由句子有机堆积而成的,所以在做阅读试题时,所谓的读不懂文章在说些什么其实就是指读不透那些难句,以至于一旦一篇阅读文章的难句数量稍微多一点,很多同学就云里雾里了。所以本节的目的就是要同学们不要雾里看花,而是要含大局于胸中,拨云见日将难句彻底掰扯明白。
2.2.1 定语从句结构
定语从句结构是阅读文章中常见的句式结构,但是由于出题者有意地将几个简单的句子,通过定语从句这种结构来构成一个复杂的长句,使得定语从句所修饰的对象变得不是非常明朗,这就使得找准其修饰的对象成了一个常常遇到却又难以把握的问题,更令人讨厌的是阅读文章的考点又往往在这里,如2001年5月、8月的阅读考题就出了不少这样的找定语从句修饰对象的题目。一般而言,找准其修饰的对象,一是要靠扎实的阅读功底,而就是要根据上下文进行的逻辑来判断。定语从句有限定性和非限定性的区别,所谓限定性就是说从句部分是主句意义中不可或缺的部分,如:There is one point where I’d like your advice.(有一点想征求你的意见.)这类从句如果拿掉剩下的部分就会意义不明.如上句将变为:There is a point.使人不明其意.在译成汉语时这类从句一般译为从句(如上句).而非限定性是说从句部分只是对主句部分起到附加说明的作用,拿掉之后其他部分仍然可以成立.如:I have many friends, some of whom can play guitar very well.(我有很多朋友,其中有些能弹一手好吉他.)这类从句译为汉语时可译为一个并列的句子(如上句)。记住定语从句和主句之间还存在着状语关系,所以其最为重要的作用就是用来表达原因、让步、目的、假设、定义等某一种关系。所以在遇到这样的句子结构,不妨慢下速度来仔细分析一下其含义,这对把握句子所在的段落的大意是非常重要的,因为定语从句所表示的状语关系,很有可能是作者要表达的行文意图。
1. Studies of the Weddell seal in the laboratory have described the physiological mechanisms that allow the seals to cope with the extreme oxygen deprivation that occurs during its longest dives, which can extend 500 meters below the ocean’s surface and last for over 70 minutes.
句子解析:这个句子当中出现了由两个that和一个which引导的定语从句。第一个that用于修饰physiological mechanisms,表明后面的句子部分都是用于说明这是一个怎样的机制,而第二个that出现在第一层从句部分当中用于修饰extreme oxygen deprivation,而由which引导的非限定性定语从句出现在第二层从句当中用于修饰its longest dives并且which引导的从句主要就是为了说明这个最长的下潜到底有多长。
句子翻译:关于威德尔海豹特殊的生理机制,在实验室里对其进行的研究已做过详细的描述。该生理机制使海豹可以适应长时间的潜水时出现的极度缺氧。海豹长时间潜水时最深可达水面以下500米,时间可持续70多分钟。
2. Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries: the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound-interest law, which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing.
句子解析:这个句子当中只出现了一个有which引导的非限定性定语从句,但要注意的是这里修饰的不是compound-interest law而是the growth of knowledge,因为从句说的是印刷术的发明对修饰的东西起了促进的作用,促进的意思就是加速的意思而通过判断我们发现只有growth能被加速,而law规则则不能被加速,所以只能是修饰the growth of knowledge。
句子翻译:图书馆的出现使教育的发展成为可能,而教育的发展又反过来使图书馆不断扩大充实。知识的增长遵循了一种复利法则。由于印刷术的发明,这一知识增长过程得以大大加速。
3. The renaissance of the feminist movement began during the 1950’s led to the Stasist school, which sidestepped the good bad dichotomy and argued that frontier women lived lives similar to the lives of women in the East.
句子解析:这个句子中只有一个由which引导的非限定性定语从句,并且这个从句是由两个并列的从句组成,从句中出现了两个关键的动词sidestepped和argued并且argued还引出了一个由that引导的宾语从句。这两个动词说明了修饰部分的两个特点:一个是避免走不是好就是坏的二分法的学术研究方法,另一个是提出了一个学术观点,由此可以看出其修饰的是Stasist school,斯塔西学派,因为女权运动的复兴不可能有这样的学术特点。
句子翻译:20世纪50年代女权运动的复兴产生了斯塔西学派,这一学派回避了好与坏的二分法,认为边境地区妇女和东部妇女过着同样的生活。
4. Tom, the book’s protagonist, took issue with a man who doted on his household pet, as a slave merchant, thought “nothing of separating the husband from the wife, the parents from the children”.
句子解析:这个句子中只有一个由who引导的定语从句,并且很容易看出其修饰的是a man,这个句子一开始就用the book’s protagonist 作为Tom的同位语,并将其主语与谓语took issue with分开造成了一定程度上阅读的不便,而as a slave merchant作为说明这个man的性质和thought后的句子内容是相辅相成的,所以从句的内容很容易通过这样的相辅相成的逻辑关系理解无误。
句子翻译:书中的主人公汤姆与一个人发生了争执。这人虽然爱家中的宠物,但作为一个奴隶贩子,却认为“拆散夫妻,让骨肉分离算不了什么”。
5. Thus, the unity that should characterize the strong system is developed by affording opportunity for diversity, which appears to be essential if education is to develop in consideration of the needs of children and youth.
句子解析:这个句子当中出现了两个定语从句,一个是以that引导的,其修饰的部分显而易见是the unity,第二个是由which引导的非限定性的定语从句,其从句说的是其修饰的部分对于如果发展教育要考虑儿童和青年的需要来说是至关重要的。我们知道儿童和青年的特点就是其兴趣爱好广泛,其需要也就多种多样了,所以由此可以知道affording(提供)不是which修饰的部分而应该是diversity(多样性)。
句子翻译:因此,强大的教育体系所应具备的统一性这一特点是通过提供各种机会来达到的。如果发展教育要考虑儿童和青年的需要,多种机会就显得至关重要。
6. Behaviorists suggest that the child who is raised in an environment where there are many stimuli which develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will experience greater intellectual development.
句子解析:这个句子由三个嵌套的定语从句构成,who引导的是第一层从句,容易看出其修饰的是the child,而where引导的是第二个从句而它本身是处于第一层从句当中,其修饰的部分也很容易看出是environment,用于说明这是一个怎样的环境,而which引导的是第三个从句而它本身处于第二层从句当中,其修饰的部分也显而易见是stimuli,通过这样的分析我们可以清楚地看到由that引导的宾语从句就是experience greater intellectual development这才是suggest的核心内容。
句子翻译:行为主义者的看法是:如果一个儿童在有许多刺激物的环境中长大,而这些刺激物又能培养其作出适当的反应能力,那么他就会有比较高的智力发育水平。
7. While there are almost as many definitions of history as there are historians, modern practice most closely conforms to one that sees history as the attempt to recreate and explain the significant events of the past.
句子解析:在这个句子中,while引导的是一个让步状语从句,而不是通常引导的时间状语从句,表示的是“虽然”、“尽管”的意思。而且在TOEFL的考试中,while也是大多数表示的是让步状语从句,所以在遇到while时一定要根据上下文好好判断其表示的意思。另外在这个句子中还有一个that引导的定语从句,它所修饰的是one。
句子翻译:虽然有多少历史学家,就差不多有多少种历史学的定义,但现代史学家的实践大都趋向于这样一种定义,即历史学是旨在重现和解释过去重大事件的学科。
8. While this boundary does not mark the outer limit of a State’s territory, since in international law the territorial sea forms part of a State’s territory, it does represent
the demarcation between that maritime area(internal waters)where other States enjoy no general rights, and those maritime areas(the territorial sea and other zones)where other States do enjoy certain general rights.
句子解析:在这个句子中有四个从句,第一个是由while引导的让步状语从句;第二个是由since引导的表示原因的状语从句,并且它是属于由while引导的让步状语从句的,即它是其从句;第三个和第四个都是由where引导的定语从句并且用法也都是一样的,都是对不同的maritime area的进一步说明解释。
句子翻译:尽管这条分界线并不算是国家领土的外缘边界,但是,因为在国际法中领海也是国家领土的组成部分,它的确是其他国家在其内不享有一般权利的海区(内水域)与其他国家在其中享有某些一般权利的那些海区(领海及其他区域)之间的分界线。
9. He finds that students who were easy to teach because they succeeded in putting everything they had been taught into practice, hesitate when confronted with the vast untouched area of English vocabulary and usage which falls outside the scope of basic textbooks.
句子解析:在这句话中,首先是一个由that引导的宾语从句,接着在其从句部分中又出现了由who引导的一个定语从句,其修饰的部分是that students;hesitate是从句中 students的谓语,其后面跟了一个由when引导的时间状语从句,并且在这个状语从句中又出现了由which引导的定语从句,其修饰的部分是area of English vocabulary and usage。
句子翻译:他发现原先比较容易教的学生现在踯躅不前了:原先比较容易教是因为他们能把交给他们的所有东西都付诸实践;现在踯躅是因为他们面对着大量的在基础教科书上所没有接触过的英语词汇和惯用法。
10. The public is unhappy about the way society is going, and its view, fueled in part by the agendists and the media, seems to be that judicial decisions unacceptable to them, regardless of the evidence or the law, will slow or change social directions.
句子解析:在这个句子中society is going是其the way的定语从句,只是这里省略了指示代词,而and后面的its其实等于的是The public’s,fueled in part by the agendists and the media是view的后置定语,在一定程度上表示原因;之后that是be的表语从句,它用于说明公众的观点是什么。
句子翻译:公众对社会发展的前景不乐观,在议事人士和新闻媒体的某种鼓励下,公众的观点似乎是:不管证据或法律,司法判决对他们来说是不可接受的,这些判决将会是延缓或者改变社会的走向。
11. The reader who peruses with some attention to the following pages will have occasion to see that both operational and mental aspects of physics have their place,
but that neither should be stressed to the exclusion of the other.
句子解析:在这个句子中,一开始就用who引导了一个定语从句,它修饰的是The reader;在动词see后面跟了两个由that引导的宾语从句,并且这两个从句之间存在着因果联系的逻辑关系,而neither指代的是operational and mental aspects of physics。
句子翻译:读者如果略微仔细地阅读以下几页就会有理由认为,实验操作和思维在物理学中都有一定的地位,因而不能强调一方而忽略另一方。
12. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing.
句子解析:在这个句子中,by引导了一个状语表示方式方法,接着用which引导了一个从句用于作者演讲的地点,而dedicated to the same anguish and travail用于修饰the young men and women,之后又用了一个由among whom引导的定语从句,用于说明the young men and women中的一些人会怎么样;后面用that引导了be的表语从句,用one指代青年男女中的一些人,用who引导了一个定于从句修饰one用于进一步解释说明这些人会怎么样。
句子翻译:我愿意利用这个时刻,利用这个举世瞩目的讲坛,向那些听到我讲话并已献身同一艰苦劳动的男女青年致敬。他们当中肯定有人迟早也会站到我现在所站的地方。
13. From the very day of the capitulation, by which Bismark’s prisoners had signed the surrender of France but reserved to themselves a numerous bodyguard for the express purpose of cowing Paris, Paris stood on the watch.
句子解析:这个句子的主干部分是From the very day of the capitulation, Paris stood on the watch. 而这个句子用by which作为一个定语从句用于修饰capitulation。
句子翻译:从法国投降那一天起,巴黎就严加戒备,因为屈从于俾斯麦的法国政府签约投降时,保留了一支相当庞大的军事力量,目的是为了威胁恐吓巴黎。
14. When I’m having trouble with a story and think about giving up, or when I start to feel sorry for myself and think things should be easier for me, I roll a piece of paper into that cranky old machine and type, word by painful word, just the way my mother did.
句子解析:这个句子一开始用了两个when来引导时间状语从句,它们之间是并列的逻辑关系,都表示作者的一种境遇,而my mother did用来修是the way
说明这种方式到底是怎么样的,但是这里省略了指示代词。
句子翻译:每当我写文章遇到困难想放弃时,或是自叹不走运时,我就往那台破旧的打字机里卷进一张纸,像妈妈当年一样,一个字一个字吃力地打着。
15. What should doctors say, for example, to a 46-year-old man coming in for a routine physical check up just before going on vacation with his family who, though he feels in perfect health, is found to have a form of cancer that will cause him to die within six month?
句子解析:在这个句子当中coming in ?with his family用于修饰a 46-year-old man的,之后紧跟着用who引导了一个定语从句用于修饰a 46-year-old man,而用though引导了一个让步状语从句,作为插入语;而后面的that引导了一个定语从句修饰a form of cancer,用于说明这个癌症将会怎样。其实这个句子最为主要的部分最短,即What should doctors say。
句子翻译:举例说吧:一个46岁的男子,在与家人外出度假之前进行常规体格检查。虽然他自我感觉非常健康,但医生发现他患有某种癌症,在6个月之内他将会死去。这时,作为一个医生该怎么对他说呢?
16. Between midnight and dawn, when sleep will not come and all the old wounds begin to ache, I often have a nightmare vision of a future world in which there are billions of people, all numbered and registered, with not a gleam of genius anywhere, not an original mind, a rich personality, on the whole packed globe.
句子解析:在这个句子中,when引导了一个时间状语从句,而in which引导了一个定语从句,它修饰a future world用于说明其情况,在in which引导的从句中,其主干结构为there are billions of people on the whole packed globe,其余部分都是用于形容这些亿万人民的,其中包括了用with引导的两个not后的短语。
句子翻译:在午夜和黎明之间,每当我不能入睡,一切旧的伤口开始疼痛的时候,我常常想象未来世界的噩梦般的情景,在所有登记入册的亿万人民生活的这个拥挤不堪的世界上,没有一处有一线天才的光芒、独创性的头脑和丰富多彩的个性。
17. Americans who stem from generation which left their old people behind and never closed their parents’eyelids in death, and who have experienced the death provided by two world wars fought far from our shores are today pushing away from them both a recognition of death and a recognition of the way we live our lives.
句子解析:在这个句子中用了两个who来引导了两个定语从句,他们都是修饰Americans的,并且这两个从句的逻辑关系是并列的,都是说明怎样的美国人,而在第一个who引导的从句中又有了which引导的定语从句用于修饰
generation;后面的them与both a recognition of death and a recognition of the way we live our lives其实是同位语;其实这个长句的主干是Americans are today pushing away from them both a recognition of death and a recognition of the way we live our lives。
句子翻译:上溯到美国人的先辈,他们都有撇下的亲人,不能替逝去的父母合上眼睑的痛楚。而如今的美国人在体验了远离我们的大陆的两次世界大战造成的死亡之后,不论是对死亡的认识,还是对我们的生活方式的认识,都一概不在意了。
18. Certainly the humanist thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who are our ideological ancestors, thought that the goal of life was the unfolding of a person’s potentialities;what mattered to them was the person who is much, not the one who has much or uses much.
句子解析:在这个句子中,分号表示这个句子有两个并列的部分,在前一部分中用who引导了一个定语从句用于修饰the humanist thinkers,其这部分的主干是the humanist thinkers thought that the goal of life was the unfolding of a person’s potentialities;而后一部分中them指代的是the humanist thinkers,what 是后一部分的主语,为了便于理解可以在was后面加一个that,因为后面跟了一个表语从句,而在这个从句中的两个who都是各自引导了一个定语从句用于修饰the person(因为one指代的也是the person)。
句子翻译:当然,18、19世纪的人文思想家们,他们是我们意识形态领域的前辈,他们认为人生的目的就是充分展示个人潜在的能力。对于他们来说,重要的是人本身的价值,而并非占有和使用才是人的价值。
19. If marriage exists only as an intimate relationship that can be terminated at will, and family exists only by virtue of bonds of affection, both marriage and family are relegated to the marketplace of trading places, with individuals maximizing their psychological capital by moving through a series of more or less satisfying intimate relationships.
句子解析:在这个句子中,由if引导了一个条件状语从句,这个条件状语从句当中有两个有着并列关系的部分,这一点可以从and看出,并且在其第一部分还有一个用that引导的定语从句用于修饰an intimate relationship,而后面的with引导的介词短语用于修饰the marketplace of trading places
句子翻译:如果婚姻只是一种可以任意终结的亲密关系,而家庭只是靠爱情的纽带来维持,那么婚姻和家庭则沦为了可以自由买卖的市场,每个人都可以穿梭于一系列或多或少会让自己心满意足的亲密关系,从而使自己的心理资本得到最大的增值。
2.2.2 倒装句结构
倒装句的产生是为了平衡句子结构,或者是为了强调句子的某一部分特意将其提前,让其放置在引人注目的首要地方。倒装结构可分为主谓倒装和非主谓倒装。而主谓倒装又可分为完全倒装和部分倒装,完全倒装顾名思义指整个谓语全部放在主语的前面,而部分倒装通常指只将谓语的一部分,通常是助动词,系动词或情态动词放置于主语之前。
1. Odd though it sounds, cosmic inflation is a scientifically plausible consequence of some respected ideas in elementary-particle physics, and some astrophysicists have been convinced for the better part of a decade that it is true.
句子解析:Odd though it sounds这是一句让步状语从句,由于其省略了although或though所以它以语序倒装的形势构成让步,当然这里也有强调的意思,把表语提到主语前面来,这种用法常出现在有as,though,however的句型中。
句子翻译:宇宙膨胀说尽管听似奇特,但它是由基本粒子物理学中的一些公认理论推论而来,从科学角度看有其可信度,而且许多天体物理学家七八年来一直确信这一理论是正确的。
2. Coupled with the growing quantity of information is the development of technologies which enable the storage and delivery of more information with greater speed to more location than has ever been possible before.
句子解析:这句话将Coupled with the growing quantity of information放在了前面,这是因为主语部分比较长,其中还有一个由which引导的用于修饰the development of technologies的定语从句,所以出于对句子平衡的考虑,将其提前。
句子翻译:与日益增加的信息量相提并论的是使以下情况得以实现的技术的发展,即空前快速的储存和传输更多的信息到比以前任何时候都夺得地方。
3. The inner working of our own brains we feel to be uniquely worthy of investigation, but custom, we have a way of thinking, is behavior at its most commonplace.
句子解析:这个句子将The inner working of our own brains这个作为feel的宾语的短语提前,这里提前是为了和句子后面的分句的custom(它作为后一分句的主语)进行位置上的平行比较以实现其内容上的比较的强调。
句子翻译:我们自己大脑的内部活动我们认为是非常值得研究的;但是对于风俗我们却认为那不过是最寻常的行为举止。
4. Of the intrinsic differences that separate American from English the chief have their roots in the obvious disparity between the environment and traditions of the American people since the seventeenth century and those of the English.
句子解析:这个句子将Of the intrinsic differences that separate American from English提前,这是因为它作为修饰chief的短语比较长,将chief与其谓语分割的太开了,为了避免这种情况,所以将其提前。
句子翻译:美语区别于英语是由其内在的本质差异所决定的。而主要差异主要是因为两个不同的社会环境和不同的文化传统。并且从17世纪开始,美国人和英国人在这两方面的差异就十分明显。
5. Especially was this importance impressed on me when I realized how much Hollywood was involved in exporting American life to the world, and how much Broadway with all its theatres meant to the modern drama.
句子解析:这个句子将especially放在句首,并使主句的主语倒装以达到强调的目的,强调了importance。
句子翻译:当我认识到好莱坞把多少美国生活介绍到国外,以及百老汇戏剧对现代戏剧有多大意义时,我特别深刻地感到其重要性。
6. Not only was man now able to see with measured precision independently of visibility, but he could now “see” such objects as aircraft at ranges far in excess of those possible even under ideal optical conditions with normal vision.
句子解析:not only?but (also)这种结构通常都会使用倒装的形式,所以Not only was man now其实正常的语序应该是man now was not only。
句子翻译:人不仅可以不受视线的限制而看得很精确,并且可以“看见”诸如远方的飞机等物体,其距离远远超过用正常的视力并借助于最理想的光学仪器所能达到的。
7. Forgotten is any idea that naval air power is not power unto itself, but part and parcel of naval power-trained, supported, operated, and commanded by people well-versed in the intricacies of war at sea and war from the sea.
句子解析:这个句子的Forgotten is any idea是个倒装结构其正常的语序结构为 any idea is forgotten,这里提前是为了强调forgotten,同时也是因为that引导的定语从句用于修饰idea的部分太长,如果不到装,其主语部分会显得太长。
句子翻译:海军空中力量不是一支单独的兵力,它是海军力量的重要组成部分,是由对海战中和从海上发起的战争中的那些错综复杂的情况了如指掌的人训练、支援、管理和指挥的,对于这些观点,他们早已置之脑后。
8. Slap-slap-slap-slap…Around and around a submariner goes, the soft-soled shoes
beating a rhythm on the hard, shiny floor in a Trident submarine. People on shore might grasp the instant irony of a man jogging to prolong his life around weapons capable of destroying two hundred cities.
句子解析:这句话的Around and around a submariner goes是采用了倒装结构,其正常的语序应该是a submariner goes around and around,其象声词和the soft-soled?Trident submarine都是用于形容这一艇员的慢跑过程的。
句子翻译:“啪哒-啪哒-啪哒-啪哒,”一位潜艇艇员一圈又一圈地跑着,软底鞋在三叉戟潜艇坚硬明亮的甲板上有节奏地敲击着。在岸上生活的人们可能立即会发现其中的讽刺意味:一个人围绕着足以摧毁二百座城市的武器慢跑,借以延长自己的生命。
9. Friends who are near to me I know well, because through the months and years they reveal themselves to me in all their phases; but of casual friends I have only an incomplete impression, an impression gained from a handclasp, spoken words.
句子解析:在这个句子中,who引导了一个定语从句用于修饰friends,并且Friends who are near to me I know well这一句话将宾语提前了,这是因为修饰宾语的是一个从句比较长,为了平衡结构将其提前,其正常的语序是I know well friends who are near to me,而后一个分句也采用了类似的倒装形式将一介词短语放在了其分句的句首其正常的语序应该是I have only an incomplete impression of casual friends。
句子翻译:我了解与我亲近的朋友,因为经过漫长的岁月,他们在多方面向我揭示了他们自己;而对于偶尔认识的朋友,我只有一种不完全的印象-这是一种通过握手和说话而获得的印象。
10. Closely related with this is the capacity to be tolerant-not, indeed, of what is wrong, but of the frailty and immaturity of human nature which induce people, and again especially children, to make mistakes.
句子解析:Closely related with this is the capacity to be tolerant是个倒装结构,由于修饰主语the capacity的成份太长了,为了平衡句子结构采用了倒装结构。
句子翻译:与这一点紧密相关的是能容忍-当然不是容忍错误,而是能宽恕由人性中意志薄弱和不成熟而导致人们尤其是儿童犯错。
11. Only now that I’ve struggled to find patience in myself when Matthew insists he help me paint the house or saw down dead trees in the back yard am I able to see that day through my father’s eyes.
句子解析:这个句子的主干部分是Only now that?am I able to see that day
through my father’s eyes.这是一种常见的将only放在句首后而引起的主谓倒装句。
句子翻译:只有现在,当马修坚持要帮我油漆房子,或者锯掉后院的枯树杈时,我强压了自己的性子,在此之后才能用我父亲的眼光去看那一天发生的事。
12. Among the advantages that future biochips, or “living computers”, would have over conventional semiconductor chips are that they are smaller, they do not generate as much heat, and they allow for the parallel processing of information, making them faster than today’s semiconductor devices.
句子解析:这个句子的第一个that引导了一个定于从句用于修饰the advantages,用于说明谁拥有的优势,而第二个that引导了的一个从句是真正的主语;making them faster than today’s semiconductor devices是一个动词短语作状语用于修饰advantages。
句子翻译:与普通半导体晶片相比,未来的生物芯片或者说“活计算机”具有的一些特点是:它们体积较小,产生的热量少,并能并行处理信息,从而使其速度快于当今的半导体元件。
13. From each of books goes out its own voice, as inaudible as the streams of sound conveyed by electric waves beyond the range of our hearing, and just as the touch of a button on our stereo will fill the room with music, so by opening one of these volumes, one can call into range a voice far distant in time and space, and hear it speaking, mind to mind, heart to heart.
句子解析:From each of books goes out its own voice这是一个完全的倒装句其正常的语序是its own voice goes out from each of books,而as?as引导的部分用于修饰its own voice。
句子翻译:每本书发出好像无线电波传出的声音,由于超出我们的听觉范围而无法听见;正如我们按一下立体音响上的按钮,整个房间立即回荡着乐曲声一样,我们翻阅其中一本书就仿佛步入了一个遥远时空的音域。我们听见一个声音在侃侃而谈,那么倾心,那么坦诚。
14. A nice example is that dreaded polar ice cap, which some scientists say isn’t starting to melt at all but instead will shortly begin to enlarge rapidly, giving birth to a new ice age that soon will cover the entire United States.
句子解析:A nice example is that dreaded polar ice cap这是个倒装句,其正常的语序是that dreaded polar ice cap is a nice example,而which引导的一个定语从句用于修饰dreaded polar ice cap,而在这个句子中还有一个由that引导的定语从句用于修饰a new ice age。
句子翻译:那个令人害怕的地极冰帽就是一个最为恰当的例子。一些科学家声称它根本根本就没开始融化,而是很快就会开始迅速扩大,不久将覆盖整个美国,从而发生一个新冰河时期。
15. Nearly all our clothes are made from fibres of one sort or another, be they derived from plants, animals, coal or petroleum and all these fibres, when they are carefully examined, are seen to consist of long chain molecules.
句子解析:be they derived from plants, animals, coal or petroleum and all these fibres是不用连词的让步状语从句,由于没有使用连词所以将其使用倒装语序来实现其让步的作用;而when引导了一个时间状语从句。
句子翻译:我们所有的衣服几乎都是由某种纤维制成的—不论这种纤维来源于动物、植物,还是来源于煤或石油;我们若仔细研究这些纤维,就会知道它们都是由长链分子组成的。
2.2.3 分割结构
在英语中常常出现这样的现象:语法关系密切的两个句子成分被其他句子成分所分割开来,而有这种现象的句子结构我们称之为分割结构。它的种类十分繁多,但我们常常遇到这样的情况,即在主语与谓语之间插入介词短语或是从句等比较长的结构用于描述一个状态,或是修饰说明主语,在这种情况下,其目的往往是为了保持语义的严密,结构的紧凑。 例如:
Most novelists and historians writing in the early to mid-twentieth century who considered women in the West, when they considered women at all, fell under Turner’s spell.这句话的中文意思是从本世纪初到本世纪中叶从事写作的小说家和历史学家只要描写妇女,就会描述西部妇女,而且都被特纳迷住。这句话的主干是Most novelists and historians fell under Turner’s spell.其主语和谓语间被writing引导的修饰用的短语,一个由who引导的用于修饰Most novelists and historians的定语从句,和在这个由who引导的定语从句中的状语从句所分割开来。
当然有时还会存在这样的情况,即同位语或同位语从句与先行词的分割是为了照顾句子结构平衡或突出强调的需要。 例如:
After Galileo’s work the feeling grew that there were universal laws governing the motion of bodies and that these laws might apply to motion in the heavens as well as on earth.这句话的中文意思是在伽利略著作之后,这样的认识加强了,即认为存在着支配物体运动的普遍规律,这些规律不仅支配着地球上的而且也支配着天体上的物体的运动。在这句话中the feeling和that引导的从句被分割。
此外,还有定语(或定语从句)与中心词被分割;某些词与其所要求的介词被分割;动词与其宾语被分割等等许多情况。总之,英语的分割遵循的是尾重原则,即将长而复杂的成分放在句末,从而使结构平衡均匀,以避免主语部分太长,谓语部分太短),和句尾信息焦点原则,即把新信息(往往是语义的重点)
放在句子末尾。所以阅读时一定要注意先找出句子主干来,再来分析句子的其他部分。
1. Those unaware of what is happening in philosophy today may be surprised to learn that few academic philosophers address the sort of problems once studied in college: death, the existence of God, the cardinal virtues, the external world, or the prospects for the happiness.
句子解析:在这句话中,主语those与谓语部分may be surprised to learn that?被一个用于修饰主语those的短语unaware of?所分割开来。
句子翻译:不知道哲学家现状的人也许会惊奇地发现:现在大学的哲学家中很少有人去研究过去在大学曾经探讨过的问题:死亡、上帝的存在、基本道德、客观世界或对幸福的期望。
2. In the last eight years there were difficult, almost non-stop negotiations and reported threats of failure, ultimately overcome by a combination of creative compromise and stubborn determination—indeed, some call it unprecedented determination—to succeed.
句子解析:这个句子的主干其实就是there were difficult, almost non-stop negotiations and reported threats of failure。其余的部分都是用于修饰和进一步说明这些无休止的谈判和失败怎么发展下去的,在stubborn determination to succeed中间插入了一段话,用于进一步说明这是怎样的一种顽强决心,这里就是一个分割结构。
句子翻译:在最后的8年中,进行了艰苦卓绝的、几乎是不间断的谈判,其间屡经失败之虞,但最终通过创造性地协调和要取得成功的顽强决心—确实有人称之为前所未有的决心—而度过难关,取得了胜利。
3.It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in, and parts of , the United States—a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer.
句子解析:这句话的主干部分是It is the insistence upon the interdependence of the various elements in the United States。在insistence和upon这个动词短语间被as a first consideration所分割,而在in和the United States之间被and parts of所分割,而the United States后的部分主要是为了进一步阐述上面的句子的意思。
句子翻译:我们首先应考虑的是,坚持美国国内各个因素之间、各个部分之间的相互依赖关系—即承认体现传统的和永远重要的美国开拓精神。
4. The atom bomb has merely brought home to us, harshly, as a matter of life and
death, what has long been growing: our failure to face, our refusal to face, as individuals and as nations, the place of science in our world.
句子解析:这句话的主干是The atom bomb has merely brought home to us what has long been growing。在us和what引导的宾语从句之间被harshly, as a matter of life and death所分割开来,而句子后面的部分作为what引导的宾语从句的同位语部分是为了进一步说明这个what指的是什么,而在这个同位语部分中as individuals and as nations又将其分割为两部分。
句子翻译:原子弹只是无情地使我们深切地认识到一个长期来日益增长的生死攸关的问题:作为个人或国家,我们未能正视或拒绝正视科学在我们这个世界上的地位。
5. Now Congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms filed with the government.
句子解析:这句话的主句是Now Congress has required by law that?而短语in apparent agreement分割了主语和谓语部分,起着对主语说明的意图,that引导的是require的宾语从句,它包含了两个并列的动作。
句子翻译:显然,现在国会已经同意,通过法律形式要求联邦政府签署价值50万美元以上合同的企业要尽量尽最大努力找少数民族分承包商,并呈请政府将上述情况登记在案。
6. No really satisfactory photograph has ever been taken of one in a wild state, no zoologist, however intrepid, has been able to keep the animal under close and constant observation in the dark jungles in which he lives.
句子解析:这句话由并列的两个句子构成,共同说明了在对于大猩猩的研究的现实情况,在第二个分句中,其让步作用的短语however intrepid将主语no zoologist和谓语部分has been able to keep?分割开来,并且在第二个分句中还有一个用于修饰jungles的in which引导的定语从句。
句子翻译:至今还没有拍摄过一张真正令人满意的处于野生状态的大猩猩的照片。迄今还没有一位动物学家,不管他多么勇敢,曾在大猩猩所生活的丛林里对这种动物进行不间断的近距离观察。
7. The organization of districts that meet the criteria suggested would make it possible to resolve the small-school problem in all except isolated and sparsely populated areas where such schools may have to be continued regardless of higher costs.
句子解析:这句话的主干部分是The organization of districts would make it
possible to resolve the small-school problem in all except?而主语部分与谓语部分被that引导的定语从句所分割,而在except后的还有一个由where引导的定语从句用于修饰isolated and sparsely populated areas。
句子翻译:按照提出的标准进行校区的划分可能会解决地区内学校规模小的问题,但在与外界隔绝、人口稀少的地区,尽管花费比较大,规模小的学校可能还得继续办下去。
8. I forget which was the first distemper I plunged into—some fearful, devastating scourge, I know—and, before I had glanced half down the list of “premonitory symptoms”, it was borne in upon me that I had fairly got it.
句子解析:这句话有由and分开的两个分句,前一句有一个由which引导的forget的宾语从句,在这两个分句之间插入一段说明性的文字用于修饰the first distemper,在第二个分句中再before引导的时间状语之后就是其主干,并且这里的主干的主语用it指代其真正的主语是that引导的从句部分。
句子翻译:我已忘记当时哪种病是我患的第一种病—我知道,是某种可怕的、折磨人的疾患—我还没把《疾病先兆》表浏览一半,便认为我确实得过那种病。
9. A contiguous zone is an area extending seaward from the territorial sea in which the coastal or island nation may exercise the control necessary to prevent or punish infringement of its customs, along with its fiscal, immigration, and sanitary laws and regulations that occur within its territory or territorial sea (but not for so-called security purposes).
句子解析:这句话的主干部分十分简单就是A contiguous zone is an area。后面的extending引导的短语是用来定义和解释area的,而再后面的in which引导的定语从句部分也是用来修饰它的,而在这个定语从句中还有一个由that引导的定语从句,用于修饰其前面的infringement但它被一起修饰作用的介词短语所分割。
句子翻译:毗连区是从领海向外海一侧伸延的一片海区,沿海国或岛国在这一海区内可行使必要的管制,以防止或惩罚在其领土或领海内违反其海关、财政、移民和卫生法律与规章的行为(而不是所谓的安全目的)。
10. while warnings are often appropriate and necessary—the dangers of drug interactions, for example—and many are required by state of federal regulations, it isn’t clear that they actually protect the manufactures and sellers from liability if a customer is injured.
句子解析:这句话有两个部分,一个是以while引导的让步状语从句,并且在这个从句中还有两个并列的部分,它们被the dangers of drug interactions, for example这个起举例说明作用的短语所分割;后一部分分句的主干的主语由
it指代其真正的主语是由that引导的从句,并且这后一部分还有一个由if引导的起假设作用的状语从句。
句子翻译:虽然警告常常恰当而且必要—例如,药品相互作用的危险—并且不少还是州或联邦条例所要求的,但是如果顾客受伤,它们是否确能保护制造商和销售商免于法律责任还不一定。
11. If its message were confined merely to information—and that in itself would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, for even a detail such as the choice of the color of a shirt is subtly persuasive—advertising would be so boring that no one would pay any attention.
句子解析:这个句子虽然长,但其实它的主干部分就是一个有着一个由if引导的假设作用的状语从句的句子,其余部分都是为了做进一步的解释分析说明,并且它将状语从句部分和主句部分分割开来,在这个起进一步说明的部分中的主语that又被in itself和谓语部分分割,而difficult for这个结构也被if not impossible to achieve所分割。
句子翻译:如果广告的词句仅限于提供信息--而且,这本身即便不是不可能,也是难以做到的,因为即使衬衣颜色的选择这样一个细节也有微妙的说服作用—广告就会枯燥乏味,无人愿意去注意它。
12. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
句子解析:这句话的主干部分的主语The marvelous new militancy和谓语部分被which引导的定语从句所分割,而后面的for引导了一个原因状语从句,其从句的主语many of our white brothers和谓语部分也被as引导的起修饰说明原因作用的短语所分割,在这个从句后面还有一个由that引导的宾语从句。
句子翻译:从未有过的这一奇迹般的战斗精神席卷了黑人社会。但是这种精神绝不会导致我们对全体白种人的不信任,正如许多白人兄弟今天参加示威游行的事实所证实的那样,他们很多人已经认识到了,他们的命运与我们的命运休戚相关,他们的自由和我们自己的自由已不可分割地联系在一起。
13. Anyone considering taking part in a work of transformation of those forms of older art which seem to us in many ways unsatisfactory, so that they should be more in turn with the changing timers, and anyone who does not quail at the prospect of seeking out new forms of expression for new materials and new building function, will find spiritual kinship, observing Borromini’s buildings.
句子解析:这句话很长但这句话的主干很简单就是Anyone and anyone will find
spiritual kinship,在两个并列的主语之间加入了一大段的用于解释说明第一个anyone,并且在这一大段中还有which引导的定语从句用于修饰those forms of older art,而在第二个主语同谓语部分之间还被一个由who引导的用于修饰第二个anyone的定语从句所分割,observing Borromini’s buildings只是这个主干部分的状语部分用于进一步说明。
句子翻译:旧艺术形式在许多方面似乎不能令我们满意,这就有待于我们去变革这些形式以更好地跟上变化多端的时代步伐,任何考虑参加这项工作的人,任何勇于为新材料和新建筑功能探索新表现形式的人,观察一下博罗里尼的建筑,都会发现精神上的类似。
14. If there is a characteristic that distinguishes the scientist from the others, it is perhaps his independence of mind, which demands demonstrable evidence to enable him to form his own judgment, and his unwillingness to accept uncritically the views of authorities on matters within his speciality.
句子解析:这个句子可以分为两大部分,一个是if引导的表假设的状语从句部分,在这一部分中,有一个由that引导的用于修饰characteristic的定语从句,而第二部分的主干部分是由and连接的两个内容,在第一个内容处,还有一个由which引导的非限定性的定语从句用于修饰说明independence of mind。
句子翻译:如果说,科学家和其他人之间有区别的话,那也许就是科学家会独立思考,用可证实的论据来形成自己的判断,以及他不愿意毫无批判地接受权威们对于他专业范围内的某些问题的观点。
15. In the Middle Ages widespread use was made of arguments from analogy, on the belief that the universe formed an ordered structure that the macrocosmic pattern of the whole is reproduced in the microcosmic pattern of parts so that it is possible to draw inferences by analogy from one to the other.
句子解析:这句话中第一个that引导的定语从句用于修饰belief而在这个从句中出现的两个that也引导了一个定于从句用于修饰ordered structure,他们作为其的同位语,而so that引导的是一个状语从句,表示结果。
句子翻译:在中世纪,广泛采用类推法的各种论点,这些论点基于下述观点,即宇宙形成了一个有序的结构,整体的宏观格局是部分微观格局的再现,因此,有可能通过类推法作出由此及彼的推断。
2.2.4 省略结构
在英语的行文中,大家常常被其中的词的省略造成的麻烦所困扰。其实这种困扰主要出自我们对其英文行文表达习惯和修辞手法的不了解。一般说来,英语文中的省略需遵守两个原则:一是这个词可有可无,或者是多余的,总之就是少了它之后不会改变原文的意思,二是省略的词义已经在上下文中得到了充分的体现。这里举个简单的例子让大家,先吃个开胃餐:
Someone traveling alone, if hungry, injured, or ill, often had nowhere to turn except to the nearest cabin or settlement.这句话的中文意思是独自旅行的人,要是饿了、受伤了或者生病了,除了最近的小木屋或居民点,常常无处求援。这个句子在if后面省略了he is,这是因为在时间,地点,条件,让步,方式状语从句中,如果从句的主语与主句的主语相同(或为it),而从句的谓语又含有be(包括联系动词be和助动词be),则可把“主语+be”省略掉。但要注意有一类句子和省略句有相似的地方,如:You must get out of the city,and that quickly.(你得出城,而且得快.)这样的句子并不是省略句,因为后一句中有that代表了要表示的意思。
1. As families move away from their stable community, their friends of many years, and their extended family relationship, the informal flow of information cut off, and with it the confidence that information will be available when needed and will be trustworthy and reliable.
句子解析:这句话分为两个部分,第一部分是由as引导的分句,它表示某种条件,后一部分讲的是在这一条件下发生什么样的情况,在第二部分分句中的that引导了一个定于从句用于解释说明confidence,在这个从句中when后面省略了it is,这里的it指代的是information。
句子翻译:当家庭离开长期居住的社区、多年拥有的朋友和广泛的家庭关系而搬走时,他们就失去了获取信息的非正式渠道。随之失去的,还有他们的信心,即相信信息会不是会应需而至,并且可信、可靠。
2. Relational feminists, while agreeing that equal educational and economic opportunities outside the home should be available for all women, continued to emphasize women’s special contributions to society as homemakers and mothers.
句子解析:连词while在句中表示:在?同时,它分割了主语Relational feminists和谓语continued to emphasize?部分,并且在while后面省略了they are。
句子翻译:关系女权主义者在同意所有妇女在家庭以外平等地享有教育和经济发展的机会的同时,还强调妇女作为家庭主妇和母亲对社会的特殊贡献。
3. Even now, when the continents have been mapped and their interiors made accessible by road, river and air, most of the world’s people live no more than 200 miles from the sea and relate closely to it.
句子解析:这句话中,when引导了一个状语从句,而在made前面省略了have been将其后面的部分一起作为了修饰their interiors的定语部分。
句子翻译:时至今日,大陆已在地图上标出,内地已由道路、河流和空中航线
沟通,然而世界上大多数的人仍然生活在距离海洋不超过200英里的区域内,并与其保持密切的关系。
4. A missile with an imaging seeker could send images back to the laugh platform, allowing an operator to positively identify targets, to command the missile to switch from one target to another or to reacquire the true target, if seduced by a decoy.
句子解析:这句话的主干部分十分简单,即A missile could send images back to the laugh platform.主干的主语和谓语之间被一个介词短语所分割,而allowing an operator?是表示结果的状语,后面是三个并列的由to引导的动词不定式短语在第三个to后面的if后面省略了it (指代的是missile)was。
句子翻译:装备了成像导引头的导弹可将图像回送到发射平台,从而使操作手可以有把握地识别目标,控制导弹从一个目标转向另一个目标,或者导弹在被(假目标)引诱时,重新获取真正的目标。
5. The top Presidential appointees include high-level appointees who—though often requiring clearance through political or interest group channels, or both—must have known scientific or technical competence.
句子解析:这个句子中的who引导了一个定语从句,并且who作为主语和它的谓语部分被一个插入的让步状语部分所分割,在其连词though后面省略了high-level appointees are。
句子翻译:总统任命的最高级官员包括被任命的高级人员—虽然通常要有政治集团或利益集团允许其参与机密工作的许可—还必须具备公认的科学技术方面的能力。
6. Fighting means killing, and civilized peoples ought to be able to find some way of settling their disputes other than by seeing which side can kill off the greater number of the other side, and then saying that that side which has killed most has won. And not only has won, but, because it has won, has been in the right.
句子解析:这一段话,有着两个句子,前一个句子有两个并列的部分,其后一部分在other than后面省略了settling their disputes,在seeing后面有一个由which引导的宾语从句,在then后面也有一个由that引导的宾语从句。而后一个句子是典型的省略句,在not only has won和has been in the right前面都省略了“胜利的一方”。
句子翻译:打仗意味着残杀。文明的民族应该能够找到某种解决争端的方法,而不是通过看哪一方能消灭另一方更多的人,然后说杀人最多的一方获胜来解决争端。胜者不仅胜了,而且还因为胜利而有理。
7. A robot slave can be trained to the requirements of a particular home and can be programmed to carry out half a dozen or more standard operation(for example, scrubbing, sweeping and dusting, washing up, laying tables, making beds),when so switched by the housewife.
句子解析:这句话在when后面省略the robot slave is,而这里的so 指得是上面的介绍的标准操作。
句子翻译:人们可以按照家庭的需要对一部机器人进行训练,并给它编好程序,使之能进行六种或六种以上的标准操作(如擦洗,打扫和除尘,洗餐具,摆桌子,铺床),家庭主妇只需按上述操作要求按电钮就可以了。
8. He believes, although perhaps he does not know he believe it, that the more extensive verifications are, that the more frequently experiments have been made and results of the same kind arrived at, that the more varied the conditions under which the same results have been attained, the more certain is the ultimate conclusion, and he disputes the question no further.
句子解析:在这句子由and连接的两部分构成,第一部分中although引导的其让步作用的状语从句将believes与其宾语部分分割开来,believe后面的宾语部分包括三个that引导的从句,和后面and前的部分,需要注意的是这里用了the more?the more?的结构,其中第二个the more子句中,arrived at省略了have been,而第三个the more子句中包含了一个由which引导的定语从句。
句子翻译:他相信,尽管他或许不知道自己相信,验证范围越广泛,试验做得越多且得出的结果相同,而且得出同一结果的条件越是多样化,则最终的结论就越肯定无疑,他再也不对这个问题提出质疑了。
9. Piaget has gone from rotary research to jewelry watch-making, mechanical timepieces to quartz design, a workshop with only six craftsmen to a factory with more than two hundred workers, but still the company Piaget strives for perfection, a principle that drove its founder, George, over a hundred years ago.
句子解析:这个句子有两个并列的部分由but连接,说明了有一些转折的意思,在mechanical timepieces前省略了from,而在a workshop前也省略了from,而a principle that是对前面追求完美的进一步解释和说明。
句子翻译:从轮齿研究到钻石轴承表制作,从机械钟表到石英钟表,从只有六名工匠的作坊到拥有二百多名工人的工厂,伯爵表厂虽然历经无数转变,但却仍然精益求精,美更求美,这也正是百余年前激励其创始人乔治向前的一条原则。
10. When a good independent school in Memphis recently closed, some thoughtful citizens urged that it be taken over by the public school system and used for boys