GRE閱讀考試長難句實例分析2

　　It was possible to demonstrate by other methods refined structural differences amongneuron types:however,proof was lacking that the quality of the impulse or its conditionwas influenced by these differences,which seemed instead to influence the developmentalpatterning of the neural circuits .(5) 有可能通過其他方法來證明神經元種類間的細微的結構差異;可是，這樣的證據是缺乏的，即神經沖動的性質或者狀態(tài)是受這些差異所影響的，而這些差異看起來卻能影響神經網絡的發(fā)育模式。

　　難句類型：復雜修飾、倒裝

　　解釋：與很多人的印象相反，lack從來就不能作形容詞，它只有動詞或名詞的詞性。其形容詞的形式是lacking，意思是缺乏的、不足的。

　　本句的在however 之前和之后的兩個分句，是兩個倒裝結構，前一個是小倒裝，正常語序是：todemonstrate refined structural differences among neuron types by other methods： however后面是個大倒裝，lacking之后的that引導的同位語人名是修飾主語proof的，但是因為它太長，所以為了避免頭重腳輕，被放到lacking之后，正常的語序應該是proof that the quality of ……was lacking

　　意群訓練：It was possible to demonstrate by other methods refined structural differencesamong neuron types; however,proof was lacking that the quality of the impulse or itscondition was influenced by these differences,which seemed instead to influence thedevelopmental patterning of the neural circuits.

　　2. Such variations in size， shape，chemistry，conduction speed,excitation threshold,and the like as had been demonstrated in nerve cells remained negligible in significance forany　　possible correlation with the manifold dimensions of mental experience.(5)

　　難句類型：復雜修飾

　　譯文：類似于這些已經被在神經細胞中證明的在大小、形狀、化學過程、產生的速度、興奮閾值及其類似的方面上所發(fā)生變化，當他們被用來與大腦的體驗以可能的方式聯系起來的時候，他們在重要性上仍然是微不足道的。

　　解釋：即使是初練難免的人其實也很熟悉such thing as something這樣的語言方式，可是當中間的小東西thing居然變成了一個長達十二個單詞的大東西的時候，實在令人搞不清后面的as及其后的something 到底為哪方神圣。再加上以such as 為中心的長主語距離系動詞remain太遠，更增加了本句的難度。請讀者反復閱讀，直到讀出這樣的感覺：順序閱讀原文時，原文似乎就是幾大塊，就好像是such things as a remainnegligible in a certain sense.

　　意群訓練：Such variations in size， shape， chemistry， conduction speed，excitationthreshold， and the like as had been deomnstrated in nerve cells remained negligible insignificance for any possible correlation with the manifld dimensions of mental experience.