四级阅读长难句分析（5）

 　　28. Conflict, defined as opposition¹ among social entities² directed against one another is distinguished³ from competition, defined as opposition among social entities independently striving for something which is in inadequate⁴ supply. (1996. 阅读. 1. Text 2)

　　【译文】冲突的定义是社会实体与另一实体间的对抗，而竞争的定义是不同社会实体间独立争夺供应不足的资源而发生的对抗。这两者的性质是截然不同。

　　【析句】主句是Conflict is distinguished from competition,主语conflict后，defined as oppostion among social entities directed against one another为过去分词作定语，相当于which is defined as...。同样，介词宾语competition后也有相同的结构，使得句子前后对称。而后一句中，social entities后又有striving for some thing现在分词作定语修饰social entities,而something后是which引导的定语从句。

　　29. While it is true that this competition may induce efforts to expand territory at the expense of others, and thus lead to conflict, it cannot be said that war-like conflict among nations is inevitable⁵, although competition is. (1996. 阅读. 1. Text 2)

　　【译文】这种竞争可能真得会导致国家竭力侵占他国以扩大本国领土，冲突随之产生，但是即使国家之间的竞争是不可避免的，也不能说发生类似战争的冲突同样无法避免。

　　【析句】复合句。首先是while作连词引导的与主句含义相反的句子，while it is true that this competition may induce efforts to expand...and thus lead to conflict,it is true that从句中，it作形式主语，真正的主语是后面的that引导的主语从句。主句在句中，同样是it作形式主语，真正的主语是后面的that从句，而that从句中，主句是war-like conflict is inevitable，后面是although引导的让步状语从句。

　　30. Having evolved when the pace of life was slower, the human brain has an inherent defect that prevents it from absorbing several streams of information simultaneously⁶ and acting⁷ on them quickly. (1996. 阅读. 1. Text3)

　　【译文】人脑在生活节奏更慢的过去得到进化，因此人脑内部存在着缺陷，使它不能同时理解多条信息流并迅速采取行动。

　　【析句】复合句。主句是the human brain has an inherent defect,defect后是定语从句that prevents it from absorbing...and acting...。主句前，having evolved...是现在分词作原因状语，同时句子中又包含了时间主语从句when the pace of life was slower表明having evolved的时间。

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

3 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

4 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

5 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

6 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。