怎樣突破GRE考試難句

省略結構

在英語的行文中，大家常常被其中的詞的省略造成的麻煩所困擾。其實這種困擾主要出自我們對其英文行文表達習慣和修辭手法的不了解。一般說來，英語文中的省略需遵守兩個原則：一是這個詞可有可無，或者是多余的，總之就是少了它之后不會改變原文的意思，二是省略的詞義已經在上下文中得到了充分的體現。這里舉個簡單的例子讓大家，先吃個開胃餐：

Someone traveling alone, if hungry, injured, or ill, often had nowhere to turn except to the nearest cabin or settlement.這句話的中文意思是獨自旅行的人，要是餓了、受傷了或者生病了，除了最近的小木屋或居民點，常常無處求援。這個句子在if后面省略了he is，這是因為在時間，地點，條件，讓步，方式狀語從句中，如果從句的主語與主句的主語相同(或為it)，而從句的謂語又含有be(包括聯系動詞be和助動詞be)，則可把“主語+be”省略掉。但要注意有一類句子和省略句有相似的地方,如:You must get out of the city, and that quickly.(你得出城,而且得快.)這樣的句子并不是省略句,因為后一句中有that代表了要表示的意思。

He believes, although perhaps he does not know he believe it, that the more extensive verifications are, that the more frequently experiments have been made and results of the same kind arrived at, that the more varied the conditions under which the same results have been attained, the more certain is the ultimate conclusion, and he disputes the question no further.

句子解析：在這句子由and連接的兩部分構成，第一部分中although引導的其讓步作用的狀語從句將believes與其賓語部分分割開來，believe后面的賓語部分包括三個that引導的從句，和后面and前的部分，需要注意的是這里用了the more…the more…的結構，其中第二個the more子句中，arrived at省略了have been，而第三個the more子句中包含了一個由which引導的定語從句。

句子翻譯：他相信，盡管他或許不知道自己相信，驗證范圍越廣泛，試驗做得越多且得出的結果相同，而且得出同一結果的條件越是多樣化，則最終的結論就越肯定無疑，他再也不對這個問題提出質疑了。

What is questioned is whether a country like Britain has a chance, assuming it has the will, to succeed where so many have failed, and even assuming that it has, should make the tremendous effort and take substantial financial risk of trying to leap-frog into leadership in entirely new technology, or whether it should take the softer option of merely catching up with the rest of the industrialized world.