如下:
1)The more expensive kind of antique shop where rare objects are beautifully displayed in glass cases to keep them free from dust is usually a forbidding place.
高檔壹點的古玩店為了防塵,把文物漂亮地陳列在玻璃櫃子裏,那裏往往令人望而卻步。
分析:該句話所描述的對象是“the more expensive kind of antique shop”即“相對比較高檔的古玩店”,作者想表述的重點信息是“(這些古玩店)令人望而卻步”,而“令人望而卻步”即“is usually a forbidding place”這個重點信息作者遲遲沒讓它出現,直到句末。
2)Why people are prepared to tolerate a four-hour journey each day for the dubious privilege of living in the country is beyond me.
人們為什麽情願每天在路上奔波4個小時去換取值得懷疑的鄉間的優點,我是無法理解的。
分析:該句話的主要信息“be beyond me”在句尾出現。讀者在閱讀前面的信息“why……living in the country”的時候,壹邊在讀,壹邊在好奇,到底這句話要表達什麽意思,直到最後才恍然大悟。
3)Though my aunt pursued what was, in those days, an enlightened policy, in that she never allowed her domestic staff to work more than eight hours a day, she was extremely difficult to please.
姑媽待傭人在當時算是開明的,從來不讓傭人每天工作超過8小時,但他們很難使她稱心如意。
分析:該句話所作者想強調的重點是“我姑姑很難感到滿意”即“she was extremely difficult to please”,而在這個重點信息出現之前,作者在前文安排了大量次要信息,以制造懸念。
4)The self-discipline required to drag myself out of bed eleven minutes earlier than usual was considerable.
這就要求我比平時早11分鐘把自己從床上拽起來,這種自我約束是很艱苦的。(新概念第三冊,L50)
分析:該句話所作者想強調的重點是“(自我約束)是很艱苦的”即“was considerable”,而在這個重點信息出現之前,作者卻在緩緩地描述“這是怎麽樣的壹種自我約束”,以制造懸念。
5)Movements actually only shifting from one habitat to another for the purpose of avoiding seasonal climatic variations, the annual migrations of wildfowl and many other animals certainly cannot be regarded as a form of exploration.
野生禽類和許多其他動物每年的遷徙,當然不能被看做是壹種探險行為,因為,這些遷徙活動實際上只是從壹個棲息地轉移到另壹個棲息地,以躲避氣候的季節性變化。
分析:這句話的描述對象是“the annual migrations of wildfowl and many other animals”即“野生禽類和許多其他動物每年的遷徙”,重點敘述信息是句末的“cannot be regarded as a form of exploration(這些遷徙活動)不能被看成是探險行為”。
而讀者看到開頭“movements”引導的部分會感到不知所雲,其實這個“movements”指代的就是“動物的遷徙”,這個成份是以“獨立結構”的形式,充當後半句話的原因狀語。作者就是這樣在句子的前面部分給讀者制造疑團,隨著句子的發展,再壹點點闡明意思。