（绝对有用）考研英语阅读长难句应对技巧
有些考生把生词也作为阅读中的一个难点，但在阅读过程中，由考纲范围所限，生词在掌握本书推荐的词汇书后，这一难点完全可以忽略不计。一般来说，考生在阅读时通常会遇到以下几大难点，下面对阅读中长句的理解作为重点进行逐一分析。由于考研本身所具有的局限性，以及西方的语言习惯（简单、直接、重心突出），这就决定了文章中结构非常复杂的长句出现的机率很小。即使有，也只占极小部分，用于区分选拔出那些英语非常优秀的考生。对于普通考生来说，如在考试中由于这种难度而有一两道题目做不出来的话是很正常的。考生首先要做的，就是拿下那些绝大部分属于常规性试题的分数，拿下自己该得到的分数。对于大多数考生来说，考研英语阅读文章中有些语句较长，但结构并不复杂，考生对这类句子的理解，关键在于掌握一定的技巧，形成连贯的语义理解。其基本应对策略是先抓句子的主干，把握句子的重心，再对插入成分或并列结构进行理解。
这类句子可分为两类：一类是由一些固定的词组搭配所构成的长句，如 so（such）...that（如此……以致……），not only...but also（不仅…… 而且…… ）， not...but（不是…… 而是…… ），so as...to（如此…… 以致…… ），transform...from...into...（把…… 从…… 改变为……），not so much...as...（不是…… 而是…… ）as...as...（像…… 一样）等；另一类是由多个插入成分或并列结构过多构成的长句。对于前者我们只需抓住固定搭配所连接的主干，分步理解；后者则直接抓住句子的主干，分步理解。
下面就近23年来阅读真题文章中所出现的“长难句”逐一进行分析（“/” 表示断句标示，适当的断句可以帮考生很好地理解句意）。
C.R.Darnes has suggested that / it is as proper to term the plant a water structure / as to call a house composed mainly of brick / a brick building. (1991年真题)
【分析】这里是由as...as...（像……一样，正如……一样）连接两个并列成分构成的长句。该句的主干为：C.R.Darnes has suggested that / it is as proper to term the plant a water structure / as to call a house a brick building.“composed mainly of brick”是分词作状语修饰“a house”。这里把“砖与房子的关系比做水与植物的关系说明水对于植物的重要性”。
【· 译】C.R.Darnes认为，正如把一栋主要由砖建造的建筑称为砖瓦建筑一样，我们可以把植物看作一种水体结构。
To be promoted or to fall behind / is not a matter of salary but /even more a matter of self-respect. This constant need to prove / that one is as good as or better than one's fellow-competitor / creates constant anxiety and stress, the very causes of unhappiness and illness. (1993年真题)
【分析】第一句主要是not...but...（不是……而是…… ）的理解。第二句主干：This constant need to prove creates constant anxiety and stress.句子主干中“This constant need to prove”是不定式短语作主语。 “that one is as good as or better than one's fellow-competitor”是对This constant need to prove的同步说明。“the very causes of unhappiness and illness”是对“constant anxiety and stress”的同步说明。
【· 译】晋升与贬职不仅仅是薪水的改变，更多的是有关自尊的事情。这种不断地证明一个人和自己的对手一样优秀或者比其更优秀的需要，使人产生了一种长久的焦虑和压力，正是这种焦虑和压力导致了人的不快乐和疾病。
I suggest / transforming our social system from a bureaucratically managed industrialism /in which maximal production and consumption are ends in themselves into / a humanist industrialism / in which / man and full development of his potentialities——those of love and of reason——are the aims of all social arrangements.(1993年真题)
【分析】本句是由transform...from...into...（把……从……改变为…… ）固定词组搭配所构成的长句。transform...from...into...连接的短语作“suggest”后面所接的宾语从句的主语，主语较长妨° 了对句意的理解。句子主干为：I suggest transforming our social system from a bureaucratically managed industrialism into a humanist industrialism are the aims of all social arrangements.句中“in which maximal production and consumption are ends in themselves”是对a bureaucratically managed industrialism的描述。“in which man and full development of his potentialities——those of love and of reason”是对a humanist industrialism的描述。
【· 译】我建议，把我们的社会体系从一种以追求最大产值和消费的官僚工业化体系转变成为一种人性化的工业体系。在这种人性化工业体系当中，人及人潜能（情感和理性）的充分发展才是我们社会组织的目标。
If its message were confined merely to information—and that in itself would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, for even a detail such as the choice of the color of a shirt is subtly persuasive—advertising would be so boring that / no one would pay any attention.(1995年真题)
【分析】对于由较长的插入成分所构成的长句，我们可以首先跳过破折号内的插入内容，直接抓住破折号以外的主体内容来理解句子主干部分。本句主干为：If its message were confined merely to information, advertising would be so boring that no one would pay any attention.再把插入部分“and that in itself would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, for even a detail such as the choice of the color of a shirt is subtly persuasive”代入主句中，并结合前后句意理解。
【· 译】如果广告所传递的信息仅限于告知，那么广告将变得让人厌烦以至于不会有人去注意它。当然，即使有可能的话广告本身要做到这一点（广告仅仅传递一种告知信息而不带任何劝诱成份）也是有困难的。因为，即使是一个小小的细节，如对衬衣颜色的选择也是一种隐性的诱导。
The change met the technical requirements of the new age / by engaging a large professional element and / prevented the decline in efficiency that / so commonly spoiled the fortunes of family firms in the second and third generation / after the energetic founders. (1996年真题)
【分析】本句是由两个并列成分构成的长句。句子主干为：The change met the technical requirements of the new age and（这里省略掉了共同的主语the change）prevented the decline . 介词短语“by engaging a large professional element”作状语修饰整个主句。介词短语“in efficiency”作状语修饰 “the decline”（这里要学会如何结合句意区分介词短语作状语是修饰整个句子还是修饰其中的一部分，这里and之后是一省略主语的独立句子，状语不可能跃过一个句子去修饰另外一个句子，因此这里的 in efficiency修饰的是 the decline）。“so commonly spoiled the fortunes of family firms in the second and third generation after the energetic founders”是定语从句修饰“the decline in efficiency”，对其具体内容的说明。
【· 译】这种革新通过雇佣大量的职业人士，满足了新时代工艺的需要，同时也阻止了效率的下降。而这种效率的下降，通常在富有活力的创始人之后的第二代或第三代领导时期对家族企业产生不利的影响。
The paid manager / acting for the company / was in more direct relation with the men and their demands, but even he had seldom that familiar personal knowledge of the workmen / which the employer had often had / under the more patriarchal system of the old family business / now passing away. (1996年真题)
【分析】句子的主干为：The paid manager was in more direct relation with the men and their demands, but even he had seldom that familiar personal knowledge of the workmen. 现在分词短语“acting for the company”作定语修饰“the paid manager”。“which the employer had often had under the more patriarchal system of the old family business”是修饰familiar personal knowledge of the workmen的定语从句。“now passing away”是现在分词短语作状语，也是修饰familiar personal knowledge of the workmen。这里要学会...business与 now passing away之间的断句。前句到business已¾ 结束（因为该句结构已十分完整，已不可能再接其他成分），now passing away则是一个独立的状语。
【· 译】作为代表公司一方的职业¾ 理人，他们和工人以及工人的需求方面（比起企业的所有者）有着更加直接的联系，但他们很少有他们雇主在传统家族体制下曾¾ 对工人有过的熟悉程度，这种熟悉情况现在也不再存在了。
At Time Warner, however, such questions are simply the latest manifestation of the soul searching that has involved the company ever since the company was born in 1990. (1997年真题)
【分析】句子主干为：Such questions are simply the latest manifestation of the soul searching.定语从句“that has involved the company ever since the company was born in 1990”修饰“manifestation of the soul searching”。
【· 译】但是，在时代华纳，这种问题仅仅是内心自我探究的一种最新的表现。而这种探究自公司1990年诞生以来就一直伴随着企业的成长。
What is harder to establish /is whether the productivity revolution / that businessmen assume they are presiding over / is for real. (1998年真题)
【分析】本句不长，但结构却较复杂。句子主干为：What is harder to establish is whether the productivity revolution is for real.句子主干的主语由主语从句“what is harder to establish”构成，而表语从句由“where”引导的从句“what is harder to establish”构成，整个句子仍然是系表结构。“that businessmen assume they are presiding over”是修饰“the productivity revolution”的定语从句。
【· 译】难以确定的是，商界人士认为他们所主导的生产力[被过滤]是否真的产生效果了。
There is, as Robert Rubin, the treasury secretary, says, a “disjunction” between the mass of business anecdote / that points to a leap in productivity / and the picture reflected by the statistics. (1998年真题)
【分析】句子主干部分是由between...and...（在¡ 之间）固定搭配连接而成。句子主干为：There is a “disjunction” between the mass of business anecdote and the picture.“that points to a leap in productivity”是定语从句修饰“the mass of business anecdote”的。“reflected by the statistics”过去分词作定语修饰“the picture”。
【· 译】正如财长Robert Rubin所说，在商界传言的生产力进步与政府统计数据所反映的情况存在着脱节。
An invisible border divides those arguing for computers in the classroom / on the behalf of students' career prospects and those arguing for computers in the classroom for broader reasons of radical educational reform.（1999年真题）
【分析】句子主干是由divides...and...（使……对立）搭配连接而成。两个those后面的分词短语作定语修饰those。句子主干为：An invisible border divides those and those.
【· 译】一种看不到的鸿沟，把那些主张为了学生有更好的职业前景而把电脑引入课堂的人和那些主张为了获得彻底教育革新更广泛理由而把电脑引入课堂的人的观点对立起来。
Very few writers on the subject have explored this distinction——indeed, contradiction——Which goes to the heart of what is wrong with the campaign / to put computers in the classroom.(1999年真题)
【分析】句子主干为：Very few writers have explored this distinction. “on the subject”介词短语作状语修饰“very few writers”,“which goes to the heart of what is wrong with the campaign to put computers in the classroom”是定语从句修饰“this distinction”的。
【· 译】很少有作者在这个问题上去探究这种差异，实际上，他们是互相矛盾的。而这种差异正是探究把计算机引入课堂运动问题的关键。
But, for a small group of students, professional training might be the way to go since well-developed skills, all other factors being equal, can be the difference between having a job and not. (1999年真题)
【分析】本句不难，重在对since引导从句的理解，这里since是表示因果关系的连词，表示“因为……”，诸如此类比较隐蔽的因果关系的连词还有as, as表示原 因,可译为“由于，鉴于”，如：As he was not well, I decided to go without him（因为他病了，我决定一个人去）。
【· 译】但是，对于一小部分学生而言，职业培训也许是一种很好的途径，因为，在其他条件相同的情况下，拥有良好的技能对他们找工作结果的影响是不一样的。
It is entirely reasonable for auditors to believe that scientists / who know exactly where they are going and how they will get there /should not be distracted by the necessity of keeping one eye on the cash register while the other eye is on the microscope. (1999年真题)
【分析】句子主干为：It is entirely reasonable for auditors to believe that scientists should not be distracted by the necessity of keeping one eye on the cash register while the other eye is on the microscope.“who know exactly where they are going and how they will get there”是定语从句修饰“scientists”的。
【· 译】审记员们完全有理由相信，那些确切地知道他们的目标和实现方法的科学家不应该由于一边做着科学试验一边需要盯着经济利益而分心。
The grand mediocrity of today—everyone being the same in survival and number of off-spring—means / that natural selection has lost 80% of its power in upper-middle-class India / compared to the tribes. (2000年真题)
【分析】句子主干为：The grand mediocrity of today / means that / natural selection has lost 80% of its power in upper-middle-class India. “everyone being the same in survival and number of off-spring”是插入部分，是对the grand mediocrity of today的一个补充说明。“compared to the tribes”分词短语作状语，修饰“that”引导的宾语从句，表示that引导从句所说明的情况在the tribes同样地发生了。（这里注意compared to与compared with的区别。compared to侧重于表达“相当于、等同于”的含义；compared with侧重于表达“与…… 相比较”的含义。）
【· 译】今天的普通大众，每个人有着同样生存机会和同样数量的后代，这意味着，自然选择在印度上流社会已¾ 失去了80%以上的影响，在一些部落里情况也是一样。
In the twentieth century, local studies have increasingly become acceptable to professionals only if they incorporate, and reflect on, the wider geological picture.（2001年真题）
【分析】对于if引导的状语从句的理解方法，我们可以采用两遍法。首先从主句到从句顺读一遍，然后先从if从句开始，再由从句到主句逆读一遍，含义自然就明了（increasingly 越来越¡ ）。
【· 译】在20世纪，区域地质学研究只有在包含并思考范围更广泛的地质学问题时，才会越来越被专业人员所接受。（注：picture，这里是引申用法，指情况或研究的问题。）
For the women of my generation / who were urged to keep juggling through the 80s, downshifting in the mid-90s / is not so much a search / for the mythical good life——growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one /——as a personal recognition of your limitations. （2001年真题）
【分析】本句主干由not so much...as...（其准确的· 译应为“与其……不如…… ”，而这种· 译成中文之后通常让人产生理解上的障碍。这种搭配出现在客观试题的阅读文章中，通常可以直接把它理解成“不是…… 而是…… ”，让句意更加清晰）固定搭配连接构成的一个长句。定语从句“who were urged to keep juggling through the 80s, downshifting in the mid-90s”修饰“the women of my generation”。插入部分“growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one”，是对“the mythical good life”的具体说明。句子主干为：For the women of my generation is not so much a search for the mythical good life as a personal recognition of your limitations.
【· 译】对于我们这一代曾在整个80年代为生活奔波的女性来说， 90年代中期过着放慢生活节奏的生活，与其说是追求神话般的美好生活——自已种有机蔬菜，冒着变得毫无生机的危险——倒不如说我们都认识到了自己的局限。（注：one指代vegetable，引申是精神上象植物一样没有生气的人。）
Downshifting——also known in America as “voluntary simplicity”—— has, ironically, even bred a new area of / what might be termed / anti-consumerism.（2001年真题）
【分析】由于插入成分，句子显得稍长。对于有插入成分构成的长句，首先要忽略插入成分，直接理解主句，然后再理解插入成分。插入成分通常是对紧邻的前一句内容的进一步说明，在理解插入成分时，应该结合所说明的内容一起理解。句子主干为：Downshifting has bred a new area of / what might be termed / anti-consumerism.
【· 译】颇具讽刺意义的是，“放慢生活节奏”，在美国被称为“甘愿简朴”的生活方式居然产生出一个可称为“反消费主义”的新领域。
I have discovered, as perhaps Kelsey will / after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She / after a build up of stress, /that abandoning the doctrine of “juggling your life”, /and [被过滤] the alternative move into “downshifting” brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and / social status. (2001年真题)
【分析】本句状语较多，再加上多个并列动名词短语充当宾语从句的主语，导致句式较长，难以形成连贯的语义。理解方法是学会断句和抓主干。本句主干是由discovered后面带一个宾语从句构成。主干为：I have discovered that / abandoning the doctrine of “juggling your life”, /and [被过滤] the alternative move into “downshifting” brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and / social status.“as perhaps Kelsey will”是伴随状语从句的主干，“after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She / after a build up of stress”是两个并列介词短语作状语修饰“as perhaps Kelsey will”，“abandoning the doctrine of ‘juggling your life’, /and [被过滤] the alternative move into ‘downshifting’”是两个并列动名词短语充当宾语从句的主语。
【· 译】我发现，放弃那种“忙碌地应付生活”的信念而选择“放慢生活节奏”会带来比金钱和社会地位更大的回报。经 受过长期巨大压力，¿ 尔西从《女性》杂志编¼ 部退下来之后，恐怕她也将与我有同样的发现。
The American spymaster / who built the Office of Strategic Services in the World War II / and later / laid the roots for the CIA / was fascinated with information. (2003年真题)
【分析】句子主干为：The American spymaster was fascinated with information. “who built the Office of Strategic Services in the World War II / and later / laid the roots for the CIA”是定语从句，修饰“The American spymaster”。
【· 译】这位在第二次世界大战中建立了战略情报局且后来为中央情报局奠定基础的美国间谍头子对信息收集非常痴迷。
John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counter-culture as responsible for the decline of formal English. (2005年真题)
【分析】本句主干由see...as...（把……看作……）连接构成。句子主干：John McWhorter sees the triumph of 1960s counter-culture as responsible for the decline of formal English.“mixed liberal and conservative views”分词短语作定语，修饰controversialist。
【· 译】约翰·麦克沃特是位喜欢争辩的语言学家，他的观点混杂着保守派与自由派的看法，他认为，20世纪60年代反文化传统的得势是造成正式英语水平下降的原 因。
It’s not obvious / how the capacity to visualize objects and to figure out numerical patterns / suits one to answer questions / that have eluded some of the best poets and philosophers.（2007年真题）
【分析】本句是一个结构比较复杂的表语从句。句中“how the capacity to visualize objects and to figure out numerical patterns / suits one to answer questions”充当主句的主语，主语中的几个不定式均是修饰the capacity，定语从句“that have eluded some of the best poets and philosophers”修饰“questions”。本句的理解难点是one指定的判定。指代的判断通常可以从两个方面着手：一、指代前面的中心词，二、与指代所在句子的并列结构。本句中我们可以确定one之前的中心词是the capacity，两者都是不定式结构，属并列结构，因此，这里的one指代的是capacity。
【· 译】对目标事物进行形象思维和推断数字模型的能力，如何与解答那些难倒最有才气的诗人和哲学家的问题的能力相匹配，这点并不明显。
Even demographics are working against the middle class family, as the odds of having a weak elderly parent--and all the attendant need for physical and financial assistance--have jumped eightfold in just one generation. （2007年真题）
【分析】本句难点在于几个词汇的理解：work against表示“对¡ 不利”、as作连词可以表示因果关系，这里表示“因为”，odds表示“可能性、概率”。通常这些貌似熟悉的词汇，一旦在句中出现其确切的含义会让许多考生难以理解，因此考生在记单词的时候一定要彻底弄懂这些熟悉但具体词义不好把握的词汇，这个可参看海文《2009考研英语易混超难词汇（组）特训手册》。
【· 译】就连人口统计数据也对中产阶级不利，因为家庭成员中有一个年老体弱的父母——以及其他需要物质和经济救助的人——的可能性，在一代人的时间里就猛增了八倍。
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以上为部分内容摘录，更多分析请参见《考研英语阅读理解技巧标准全书》6—15页
【小结】从以上近20年来的阅读真题中出现的长难句，我们可以看出，所谓的长难句其实并不难，它们基本上是由少数几个常见的句型或固定搭配连接而成的。对于绝大部分考生来说，由于自身心态问题，以至于对长句产生恐惧，他们看到字数多一点的句子就不知所措。实际上，我们只需冷静头脑，从容应对，读懂这些句子是不会有问题的。
以上选自《考研英语技巧标准全书》应试技巧分析篇章。
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