1. For most people the sea was remote, and with the exception of early intercontinental travellers or others who earned a living from the sea, there was little reason to ask many questions about it, let alone to ask what lay beneath the surface. (1990. 閱讀. Text 1)
【譯文】除了早期漂洋過海的旅行者或靠海謀生的人之外，對大多數(shù)人來說，大海是遙遠的，沒有必要提出太多問題，更別說思考大海海底的東西了。
【析句】復合句，本句主干為the sea was remote and there was little reason to...，and連接兩個并列句子，兩個句子之間又有with the exception of...作伴隨狀語，伴隨狀語中又包含who earned a living from the sea定語從句修飾others。最后是習慣let alone...,注意let alone后的動詞形式與前面主句動詞形式相同。
2. The first time that question "What is at the bottom of the oceans?" had to be answered with any commercial consequence was when the laying of a telegraph cable from Europe to America was proposed. (1990. 閱讀. Text 1)
【譯文】當有人建議鋪設一條從歐洲到美洲的海底電報光纜的時候，出于商業(yè)動機，人們才不得不首次回答這個問題“海底有什么東西”。
【析句】本句話的難點在于主從句成分的區(qū)分。主句為The first time was when the laying...was proposed, when引導表語從句，而that question had to be answered with...則是定語從句修飾the first time。
3. At the early attempts, the cable failed and when it was taken out for repairs it was found to be covered in living growths, a fact which defied contemporary scientific opinion that there was no life in the deeper parts of the sea. (1990. 閱讀. Text 1)
【譯文】在早期的嘗試中，光纜鋪設失敗，不得不取出來維修。這時人們發(fā)現(xiàn)上面覆蓋有生物，這推翻了當時科學界認為深海沒有生命的理論。
【析句】句子主干為the cable failed and it was found to be covered in living growths, and連接兩個并列句子，中間插入了when it was taken out for repairs為時間狀語從句.it was found to be covered in...中，it指代the cable, found為find的過去分詞相當于形容詞，后面接不定式。之后a fact作同位語，which defied contemporary secientific opinion為定語從句修飾a fact, 最后that there was no life...是opinion的同位語從句。
(本文來自滬江網）
