托福阅读备考之长难句分析：动物生存能力

 　　托福阅读长难句：动物生存能力

　　If it were not for this faculty¹, they would devour² all the food available in short time and would probably starve themselves out of existence.

　　(虚拟语气)

　　【译句】如果不是具有这种能力，它们就会在短时间内吞掉所有能得到的食物，而且很可能会因饿死而灭绝。

　　分句1. If it were not for this faculty

　　分句2. they would devour all the food available in short time

　　分句3. would probably starve themselves out of existence

　　分句1 是虚拟语气的条件从句

　　分句2、3是并列关系，并且是主句。

1 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

2 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。