英语四六级阅读理解：长难句的理解

　　长难句的理解

　　长难句的明显特点就是句子比较长，一个句子往往有三、四行，甚至一个句子就是一段。许多应试者在阅读时经常会陷入一个很长的句子中，不知道它到底讲了些什么。

　　长难句之所以长，主要有下面几个原因：

　　从句较长：一个主句带多个从句，从句中又有从句。

　　应对方法：首先找到主句的主体部分(即主语、谓语和宾语)，再确定从句的主体部分，如果从句中还有从句，在确定下面一层从句的主、谓、宾。注意阅读时一层一层进行，先把同一层次的内容看完，再看下一层次的内容。

　　2. 插入成分较长：插入语的出现有明显标志：用双破折号与主句隔开或者用双逗号与主句隔开。

　　应对方法：读句子时，先不要理会插入语，先把主句的意思看完。然后再看插入部分。

　　例如： Today, stepladders carry labels several inches long that warn, among other things, that you might ― surprise! ― fall off.

　　这个句子的阅读顺序应该是：第一层stepladders carry labels several inches long that，第二层是that warn that you might fall off，最后再看两个插入的部分among other things和surprise!

　　3. 分词状语、独立主格结构的干扰：分词状语就是指用doing或done引导的伴随状语、原因状语等;独立主格结构有时由with引导，看似主谓结构，但实际上并没有真正的谓语部分。

　　应对方法：主句最重要的特征就是有完整的主谓结构，尤其是独立的谓语部分。如果没有独立的谓语部分，那它就不是句子，而是分词短语或者独立主格结构。

　　在实际的阅读过程中，我们常常会碰到包含上面三种情况的超复杂句子，即：一个句子中既有从句又有插入成分，还有分词状语或者独立主格结构。阅读这种句子的正确方法是：抓住独立的谓语部分从而区别出主句和分词状语，再根据从句的连接词(有时无连接词)区分主句和从句，层层理解，插入语插在哪个层次中就放在哪个层次中理解。

　　以下附上一些热点的难句，供大家练习参考：

　　1 The producers of packaged products argue strongly against changing sizes of packages to contain even weights and volumes, but no one in the trade comments unfavorably on the huge costs incurred by endless changes of package sizes, materials, shape, art work, and net weights that are used for improving a product's market position.

　　2 A study of drugstore(杂货店)and supermarket shelves will convince any observer that all possible size and shapes of boxes, jars, bottles, and tins are in use at the same time and, as the package journals show, week by week, there is never any hesitation in introducing a new size and shape of box or bottle when it aids in product differentiation.

　　3 Dying patients especially ---who are easiest to mislead and most often kept in the dark---can then not make decisions about the end of life: about whether or not they should enter a hospital, or have surgery; about where and with whom they should sped their remaining time; about how they should bring their affairs to a close and leave.

　　4 I think that after I spent my time under water, the most important thing that I came back with was the realization that it is now possible for men to live permanently where once they could not even venture for a second, and this is of tremendous importance because if you realize what it means that advancing technology now has peeled off a layer of ocean water 200meters thick and it opens up vast new lands and resources and knowledge which is only 200meters away and which has been there waiting for us for centuries.

　　5 The manufacturer who increases the unit price of his product by changing his package size to lower the quantity delivered can, without undue hardship, put his product into boxes, bags, and tins that will contain even 4-ounce, 8-ounce, one-pound, two-pound quantities of breakfast foods, cake mixes, etc.