復雜的定語從句的拆分和理解 例38

例38　Towns like Bournemouth and Eastboune sprang up to house large "comfortable" classes who had retired on their incomes, and who had no relation to the rest of the community except that of drawing dividends and occasionally attending a shareholders' meeting to dictate their orders to the management.

【結構分析】主語中心語是Towns like Bournemouth and Eastboune，謂語動詞是sprang up to house，賓語中心語是large "comfortable" classes, who had retired on their incomes和who had no relation to the rest of the community...兩個并列的定語從句修飾前面的"comfortable" classes, except that...是個介詞短語修飾前面的定語從句，that指代的是前面的relation, drawing dividends和attending a shareholders' meeting...是兩個分詞短語修飾前面的that。

【亮點回放】此句話的亮點在于兩個并列的定語從句who修飾前面的“comfortable classes”，后面套上介詞短語except that...，后面又通過of套上兩個分詞定語drawing和attending，這是典型的多個定語連環(huán)修飾結構，定語從句套介詞短語，介詞短語套分詞短語，難度很大。

【核心詞匯】

sprang up　拔地而起

house為……　提供住房

large "comfortable" classes　大批隱退的享樂階層人士

retire on their incomes　靠自己的收入

draw dividends　分取紅利

dictate their orders　發(fā)號施令

【參考譯文】像Bournemouth和Eastboune這樣的城市興起了，大批隱退的享樂階層人士靠自己的收入，在這里過著悠閑的生活。他們與群體之外的人沒有聯(lián)系，只是分取紅利，偶爾參加股東會議，對管理人員發(fā)號施令。