sentences Flashcards
That sex ratio will be favored which maximizes the number of descendants an individual will have and hence the number of gene copies transmitted.
That sex ratio which maximizes the number of descendnts an individuall will have and hence the number of gene copies transmited will be favored.
(This is )A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give away abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower .
(这是一种)照亮现实的欲望,此欲望从来就不会唐突的取代后面的那种欲望,后者是我 们可以将其部分的理解为一个兼任小说加和科学家的人想要去准确并具体的记录下一朵花 的结构和文理的那种意义上的欲望。
解释:本句子的难度在一切 GRE、GMAT 包括 LSAT 考试中所出现的难句中堪称登峰造极,可 以确定地讲,类似此句子的难度的语言,在计算机考试的现场绝无可能出现。如果对此句话不 感兴趣,可以把其废掉不读。
A、 这句话读起来别扭的第一个原因,是因为它根本就不是一个句子。句首省略了 this is 。这 种用一个词代替一个句子的方式如果在书面语中出现,只能出现在高级英语中,因此我们以前 的英语学习中从未遇到过。其形式类似于我们中文的“精彩”是“这句话真是精彩”的省略形式。 B、 desire 后跟着两个大的修饰成分,一个是 to throw over reality a light,其中的 a light

是被倒装到了 over reality 之后,正常应是 throw a light over reality.不过这个便装部分与 throw 距离不远,读者看得还算懂。关键是第二个修饰成分。注意:从 that 开始直到句尾结束 的长长的定语从句不是修饰其前的 light 的,而是修饰一开始的 desire 的。
C、 第二个修饰成分中又来了一个倒装,由于作者为了强调 never,所以将其提前,引发了定语 从句中的倒装:正常语序应该是 that might never be given away,倒装后系动词 was 被 提前,given 因为在情态动词 might 之后所以变成了原型 give。A give way to B,是 A 让位 于 B,而 A be given way to B, 则是 A 取代 B。on the part of 之后的部分修饰后面的 desire,what 引导的从句现场阅读时可以看成一个名词。What 从句中的不定式 to recored exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower 中又有一个避免头重脚轻 的倒装,正常语序应该是 to recored the structure and texture of a flower exactly and concretely。
D、 就算能够看懂这句话的结构,可能仍然理解不了意思。本句的意思是,哈代(注:人名老的 冲动是一种简单的、说明现实的欲望,新冲动是一种即是小说家又像科学家的仔细研究一个东 西的特点那样的欲望(新冲动),前一种欲望是永远也不能取代后者的。
Hardy’s weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones.
难句类型:复杂修饰、省略、抽象词
译文:哈代的缺陷一方面缘起于他的某种明显的无能,无法控制好那结不尽相同的创作冲 动的穿梭往来;另一方面缘起于他不愿意去培养和维持那些富于生机活力和风险性强的创 作冲动。
解释:介词 from 的宾语有两个并列的部分,由 and 所连接,在 and 之后的第二个 from 前, 省略了前面一样的谓语动词 derive。本句之所以难,有两个原因,一是 derived from 后面的 成分太长,初学者难以一下子看下来;二是作为一篇文科文章,用词抽象,难以迅速理解。
Virginia Woolf’s provocative statement about her intentions in writing Mrs. Dalloway has regularly been ignored by the critics , since it highlights an aspect of her literary interests very different from the traditional picture of the “poetic” novelist concerned with examining states of reverie and vision and with following the intricate pathways of individual consciousness.
难句类型:复杂修饰、省略、抽象词 译文:弗吉尼亚.伍尔夫(Virginia Woolf)在创作《黛洛维夫人》(Mrs. Dalloway)时 有关其创作意图的这番发人深思的陈述,迄今为止一贯为文学评论家们所忽略,因为它突 出反映了她诸多文学兴趣中某一方面,而这一方面则与人们对“诗性”小说家( poetic novelist)所形成的传统见解大相径庭。所谓的“诗性”小说家,所关注的是审视想入非非 和白日梦幻的诸般状态,并致力于追寻个体意识的通幽曲径。 解释:本句逗号以前只有复杂修饰的长主语有些难,但总的来讲比较好懂,since 引导的原因 状语从句较难。
A、 since 之后的 it 指前面的 statement,highlight 的宾语 an aspect 之后有两个修饰成分, 一个是 of her literary interests, 另一个是以 that 引导的定语从句 that is very

different from the traditional picture of the poetic novelist,都是修饰 an aspect 的。 Novelist 后面又有由 and 连接的两个介词结构 concerned with doing 修饰 novelist.
B、 句中有两处省略,一是在 her literary interests that is very different from 当中,修 饰 interests 的定语从句中引导词+be that is 一起省略了。第二处在 and 之后,由于 concerned with 与前面的 concerned with 重复,所以 concerned 被省略。
C、 本句另外一个难懂的地方,就是使用了大量的抽象词。这是文学市评论题材的文章的一个 特点。
As she put it in The Common Reader , “It is safe to say that not a single law has been framed or one stone set upon another because of anything Chaucer said or wrote ; and yet , as we read him , we are absorbing morality at every pore .”
抽象词、抽象词组、比喻 就像她在《致普通读者》一书中所表达的那样,“尽管可以毫无疑问的说,没有任何法律被 指定出来,也没有任何高楼大厦被建立起来是因为乔叟说了什么或者写了什么;然而,当 我们读它的书的时候,我们身上每一个毛孔都充满了道德” 这句话不但用了词抽象,还用了比喻的修辞手法。是指没有因为乔叟的言论而产生任何实 际的行为规则或政治机构,但我们受其影响之深,以及其影响力之大。
As she put it in The Common Reader , “It is safe to say that not a single law has been framed or one stone set upon another because of anything Chaucer said or wrote ; and yet , as we read him , we are absorbing morality at every pore .”
With the conclusion of a burst activity , the lactic acid level is high in the body fluids , leaving the large animal vulnerable to attack until the acid is reconverted , via oxidative metabolism , by the liver into glucose , which is then sent (in part )back to the muscles for glycogen resynthesis .
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、专有名词 译文:随着爆发出来的运动的结束,再体液中乳酸含量会变得很高,使得大型动物处于容 易受到攻击的状态,直到乳酸通过有氧新陈代谢,被肝脏转化成(convert into)葡萄糖, 而葡萄糖接下来又会(部分)传送回肌肉中重新合成糖原 。 解释:本句中修饰成分极多,以分词修饰和介词结构修饰为主,作各种类型的状语。前面的状 语和主句还好理解,从 leaving 开始句子变难;leaving 引导的直到句末的结构来做整个句子 的状语;分词中又包含了三个状语,其中的两个 via oxidative metabolism by the liver 又 起到了插入语的作用,把 be converted into 拆成两段。
本句的另外一个特征是其中充斥着专有名词。其中的 body fluids, oxidative 和 resynthesis 通过字面的意思或者根据词头、词根我们还是应该猜出其意思的,lactic acid, metabolism 和 muscle 这三个词在生物类文章中极其常用,大家应该背下来;而 glycogen 这种东西则没办法,只能作一个首字母提炼。但是请记住,GRE 和 GMAT 文章中只要出现了 这种专有名词,出题者是一定会在文章中把它在文章中所乃至的词义解释清楚的,所以读者遇 到文章中做了解释的专有名词,应该力求把解释看懂。意群训练:With the conclusion of a burst activity , the lactic acid level is high in the body fluids , leaving the large animal vulnerable to attack until the acid is reconverted , via oxidative metabolism , by the liver into glucose , which is then sent (in part )back to the muscles for glycogen resynthesis .
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.
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(monogamy)。
解释:本句中插入语的使用 revealed most clearly on plantations where sale wa infrequent, 后半个分句中的主语 that slaves’ preference 与系动词 was 离得太远,造成阅 读的困难。
意 群 训 练 : 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.
Gutman argues convincingly that the stability of the Black family encouraged the transmission of-and so was crucial in sustaining-the Black heritage of folklore,music,and religious expression from one generation to another , a heritage that slaves were continually fashioning out of their African and American experiences.
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语 译文:古特曼人令人信服地论辨道,黑人家庭的稳定有助于包括民间传说、音乐、及宗教 表达在内的黑人文化遗产一代一代传递下去,因而在维持文化遗产方面也起着至关重要的 作用,而对于这种文化遗产,黑奴们不断地从其非洲和美洲的经历中予以丰富发展。 解释:由 that 引导的宾语从句中,encouraged 的宾语 the transmission of the Black heritage 被同时表示并列和转折的 and so 分开,给读者造成了阅读上和理解上的困难。最后 一个逗号后面的部分是修饰前面的 black heritage 的同位语。
意群训练:Gutman argues convincingly that the stability of the Black family encouraged the transmission of-and so was crucial in sustaining-the Black heritage of folklore,music,and religious expression from one generation to another,a heritage that slaves were continually fashioning out of their African and American experiences.
This preference for exogamy , Gutman suggests , may have derived from West African rules governing marriage , which , though they differed from one tribal group to another,all involved some kind of prohibition against unions with close kin.
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语 译文:古特曼表示,这种对于外部通婚的偏爱很有可能缘起于西部非洲制约着婚姻的规定 , 尽管这些规定在一个和另一个部落群体之间不尽相同,但都涉及到某种对近亲联姻 (union with close kin)的禁止。
解释:本句有两个插入语,第一个插入语 Gutman suggests 割裂了主句的主语和谓语。
West African rules 后跟着两个修饰成分,第一个是分词修饰(governing marriage), 第二 个是以 which 引导的非限定性定语从句,从句中出现了第二个插入语 though they differed from one tribal group to another,又割裂了从句引导词与谓语之间的联系。
意 群 训 练 : This preference for exogamy , Gutman suggests , may have derived from West African rules governing marriage,which,though they differed from one tribal group to another , all involved some kind of prohibition against unions with close kin.
His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States,but his definition of racial prejudice as “racially-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition,” can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe.
译文:该社会学家的命题当被应用于针对美国黑人的歧视时,相对而言尚能适用,但他对 种族偏见所下的定义——即“以种族为基础的、针对某个群体的消级的先入之见,而该群体 在任何特定的种族竞争地区则被普遍认作一种族”——可被理解成同样也襄括了针对加利福 尼亚州的中国人以及中世纪的犹太人这样一些种族群体的敌视态度。 解释:本句长度惊人,插入部分比较长,再加上不乏抽象词,所以较为难懂,在表示转折的后 半个分钟中,长长的插入语 as raciallybased negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of thnic competition 作为主语 his definition of racial prejudice 的同位语,使分句中的主谓相隔千山万水。除此之外,本句用 词抽象,语义难以理解,对读者的词汇功底要求较高。考试现场如无法读懂,宜用合理化原则 中的取非读法,but 之前的分句说的是其论点对美国黑人的种族歧视是较为管用,转折后的内 容就应该说其理论对华人和犹太人相对无用。
意 群 训 练 : His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States,but his definition of racial prejudice as “racially-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition,” can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe.
