1.In large part as a consequence of the feminist movement,historians have focused a great deal of attention in recent years on determining more accurately the status of women in various periods. (3+)
译文:在很大程度上,由于女权主义运动(feminist movement)的缘故,史学家近年来汇聚了大量的注意力,来更为准确地确定妇女在各个历史时期的地位。 Focus A on B;
难句类型:倒装
解释:focus A on B指把A集中于B,本句中介词on的宾语determining/more accurately the status of women invarious periods中有一个小倒装,正常语序应该是determining the status of women in various periods more accurately。
2.If one begins by examining why ancients refer to Amazons , it becomes clear that ancient Greek descriptions of such societies were meant not so much to represent observed historical fact –real Amazonian societies – but rather to offer “moral lessons” on the supposed outcome of women’s rule in their own society . (4)
译文:如果我们先研究一下为什么古人会提到亚马逊人,下面的一点就变得清晰了,那就是古希腊对于这种社会的庙睡不是太多的被用来表达观察的历史事实——真正的亚麻逊社会的——而是为了对于妇女在其社会中的统治的预期后果提供一种“道德教导”。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、抽象词
解释:有两个词汇需要先解释一下:something be meant to represent是use something to mean的被动语态。mean在这里不是常用的"……的意思是"的意思,而是表示做某事所表达的目的、意图,其英文释义为:to serve or intend to convey, show, or indicate。句中的结构为:something be meant not so much to,,, but rather to, 实际上是把be meant to和not rather 的两个固定搭配套在一起,意思是:不是为了...而是为了...
另外,suppose的意思很抽象,不容易理解。此词既有据信、被认为的意思,也有预期的意思,还有表示贬义的假想的被想当然的意思。
本句的supposed用法极其特殊,在此处的意思,用以上任何一个释义来理解居然都可以成立,既是在说一个预期的社会状态,又是在说一个虚构出来的、本来不存在的社会状态,其用法类似于中文中的一语双关,是文章作者自以为文笔精妙之处。
3.Thus,for instance,it may come as a shock to mathematicians to learn that the Schrodinger equation for the hydrogen atom is not a literally correct description of this atom,but only an approximation to a somewhat more correct equation taking account of spin,magnetic dipole,and relativistic effects;and that this corrected equation is itself only an imperfect approximation to an infinite set of quantum field-theoretical equations. (5)
译文:因此,举例来说,对数学家而言,了解到下述情形可能会令其惊愕不已,即薛定谔(Schrodinger)的氢原子方程式并非是对该原子作出的一种绝然正确的描述,而仅仅是个近似值,趋近于一个在某种程度上更为正确的将自旋、磁性偶极子、以及相对论效应考虑在内的方程式;而这个得以纠正的方程式就其本身而言也只是一个不完美的近似值,趋近于无穷无尽的一整套量子场论方程式。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、省略
解释:读到此句时,数学家不见得震惊,晕倒的考生恐怕不在少数。不但句子结构复杂,而且罗列了大量的专有名词。对于不是理科的同学来讲,在阅读这篇文章的现场清楚地明白应该读到什么程度远比研究这些生僻的专有名词更重要。其实是否知道薛定鄂方程对读者来说并不见得重要,
主句中的主语it是一个开工主语,其具体的内容应该是从to learn开始一直到句子结束的长达八行的不定式,但是此不定式实在太长,如果放在句首则句子无法平衡。Learn后面带着两个以that引导的宾语从句,中间以分号和and分开,可以把分号以后的句子看成是and it may come as a shock to mathematicians to learn that的省略形式。