GRE阅读文章中句子的分析

会计考友

GRE的阅读难，除了难在出题角度多样，更难在文章本身的句式复杂。一篇文章，连句子结构都看不懂，又何谈文章结构，作者态度，回头定位出题点等等“技术”层面的问题呢？大体说来，GRE阅读句子的复杂体现在长的从句做句子成分（包括插入语），倒装和省略。
一：长的从句充当句子成分
: _' [2 @  u" Q' _# ^从句类型分为：
① 名词性从句，包括主语从句，如：Who will be our monitor hasn't been decided yet.
宾语从句，如：I wonder whether Jack can swim in such a wide river.
# U9 R- H! o# ^+ D, y( }表语从句，如：The question is when he can arrive at the hotel.
同位语从句，如：I have no impression how he went home，perhaps by bike.
②形容词性从句，主要指定语从句，如：A prosperity which had never been seen before appears in the countryside.
$ m1 V: G! H6 h7 M③状语从句，如：　Wherever you go, you should work hard.
) m7 h/ Q2 w6 f1 }: Z1 O/ s2 v0 ]二：倒装，包括全倒装，如：Out rushed a missile from under the bomber.
         半倒装：Nor did he let the disease stop him from living the kind of life he has always dreamt about.
; L; m2 z% L& n三：省略
& ]7 W. y- j( `  k+ Y包括句子成分（主、谓、宾、定、状、补）的省略，重复成分的省略，以及一些固定的省略结构。
GRE阅读就是把以上的元素糅合进一个句子，按照语法句法规则来“组装”。其实无论是GRE的填空题也好，阅读题也罢，再长再难的句子，首先要做的就是：“抓主干”。
) x9 P  H( P2 L( J) X' J3 Y& ]# b例1：The converse observation, of the absence of grazers in areas of high phytoplankton concentration, led Hardy to propose his principle of animal exclusion, which hypothesized that phytoplankton produced a repellent that excluded grazers from regions of high phytoplankton concentration.
译文：对相反情形的观察，即在浮游植物高度密集的区域食草动物荡然无存，致使哈代（Hardy）提出动物被驱逐的原理，该原理假设，浮游植物会制造出一种驱避物质（repellent），将食草动物从浮游植物高密集的区域驱赶出去。
解析：全句的主干是：converse observation+ led Hardy to propose+ his principle
2 A- C1 Y( r3 V+ D; C& {) T
/ a: k$ ^7 ^8 j- `; B  g  干扰成分为：插入语“of the absence of grazers”（后面的in areas of high phytoplankton concentration做grazers后置的限定成分）；which引导的非限制性定语从句“which hypothesized that phytoplankton produced a repellent that excluded grazers from regions of high phytoplankton concentration.”用来补充说明该principle的特性，这个从句本身内部结构稍有复杂，含有一个that宾语从句，该从句内又嵌套一个定语从句“that excluded grazers from regions of high phytoplankton concentration”来修饰repellent。
3 R; U: k6 C) J例2：Although Gutman admits that forced separation by sale was frequent, he shows that the slaves' preference, revealed most clearly on plantations where sale was infrequent, was very much for stable monogamy.
/ V$ J6 t) H% o1 p译文：虽然古特曼承认，由于奴隶买卖而造成的被迫离散甚为频繁，但他还是证明，奴隶的偏爱——在那些奴隶买卖并不频繁的种植园上被最为显著地揭示出来——在很大程度上侧重于稳定的一夫一妻制。
解析：找主干。全句是一个让步状语从句和一个主句，主句内包含一个非限制性的补充成分（其实是非限制性定语从句省略引导词后变来的，which was revealed most clearly on plantations …）状语从句的主干：Gutman + admits +that宾语从句；主句的主干he+ shows +that宾语从句（从句内部的主干为slaves' preference+ was +very much）。中间的非限定成分revealed most clearly on plantations where sale was infrequent内含一个定语从句where sale was infrequent来修饰plantations。
例3：Perhaps the fact that many of these first studies considered only algae of a size that could be collected in a net (net phytoplankton), a practice that overlooked the smaller phytoplankton (nannoplankton) that we now know grazers are most likely to feed on, led to a de-emphasis of the role of grazers in subsequent research.
译文：或许基于这一事实，即许多这些早期的研究仅仅考虑了一种其尺寸可用网兜收集起来的水藻（网浮游植物，net phytoplankton），而正是这一做法，忽略了我们现在所已知的食草动物最有可能赖以为生的较小浮游植物（纤浮游植物，nannoplankton），故而导致科学家在随后的研究中贬低食草动物的作用。

解析：这个句子相对来说更复杂一些，内含插入成分。句子的主干是：the fact +led to+ de-emphasis. fact后面是一个that引导的同位语从句，主干为studies + considered + algae（后面带有一个that引导的定语从句限定algae of a size），接下来是一个同位语性质的插入语“a practice that overlooked the smaller phytoplankton(nannoplankton) that we now know grazers are most likely to feed on,”a practice指代前面的“这一做法”其后又带了一个that引导的定语从句来限定practice, 内嵌一个that引导的定语从句修饰phytoplankton，这个定语本身还包含一个省略引导词的宾语从句“grazers are most likely to feed on”

会计考友

</p>例4：Jack London poured into his writings all the pain of his life, the fierce hatred of the bourgeoisie that it had produced in him, and the conviction it had brought to him that the world could be made a better place to live in if the exploited would rise up and take the management of society out of the hands of the exploiters.
译文: 杰克&#8226;伦敦在作品中倾注了他一生中所遭受过的一切痛苦，倾诉了这种痛苦在他心中产生的对资产阶级的刻骨仇恨以及由此产生的这样的信念：如果被剥削者起来反抗，从剥削者手中夺回社会管理权，那么世界就会变成一个人人有好日子过的地方。
' ]* [. p0 P% y9 {0 ^解析：这个长难句采用了宾语后置的倒装结构。正常的结构应该是Jack London poured all the pain of his life, the fierce hatred of the bourgeoisie that it had produced in him, and the conviction it had brought to him that the world could be made a better place to live in if the exploited would rise up and take the management of society out of the hands of the exploiters, into his writings.
3 N$ m/ g7 m7 _& m" i% w这个句子的主干：Jack London+ poured+后置的宾语有3个（all the pain+ the fierce hatred+ the conviction）。然后每一个宾语后面都有限定成分，要么是of结构的定语（…of his life; …of the bourgeoisie其后带个定语从句that it had produced in him修饰bourgeoisie），要么是定语从句和同位语从句(it had brought to him,同时还带有that引导的conviction的同位语从句，带有一个if引导的条件状语从句：that the world could be made a better place to live in if the exploited would rise up and take the management of society out of the hands of the exploiters。)
; g3 e6 ^* I, k. ]例5：Along with them goes social mobility, ambition to rise in the urban world, a main factor in bringing down the births in Europe in the nineteenth century.
* T& A* C6 S6 P译文： 伴随他们而来的是社会的流动性，人们强烈地希望在城市里发展，这是19世纪欧洲出生率下降的主要因素。
解析：这个句子虽然不太长，却包含复杂的句法结构。包含一个全倒装结构。正常的语序应该是：Social mobility goes along with them…; 然后ambition to rise in the urban world和a main factor in bringing down the births in Europe in the nineteenth century都可以看做是mobility的同位语，作为插入成分进行补充说明；或者看做是非限制性定语从句省略引导词变来的，可以还原为“which is a main factor in bringing down the births in Europe in the nineteenth century”
以上我通过五个典型的长难句的解析帮助理解从句，倒装和省略在句子中的语意功能。希望大家不要被这些现象“干扰”，通过多次训练来快速抓住句子主干，再分层次的理解从属成分。