历年考研英语阅读理解难点及长句解析（2）

    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。
    
    翻译：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。
    
    翻译：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 railway companies, though/still private business managed for the benefit of shareholders, were very unlike old family business.（1996年真题）
    
    分析：首先理解句子主干：The railway companies were very unlike old family business.再把插入成分“though still private business managed for the benefit of shareholders”代入句中理解，形成连贯的语义。
    
    翻译：尽管一些铁路公司仍然是私有的，而且是为了其股东利益而管理，但他们已经-和传统的家族企业有很大的不同了。
    
    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已经结束（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。
    
    翻译：作为代表公司一方的职业经-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经-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”。
    
    翻译：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。
    
    翻译：难以确定的是，商界人士认为他们所主导的生产力革命是否真的产生效果了。
    
    There is, as Robert Rubin, the treasury secretary, says,  a disjunctionbetween 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”。
    
    翻译：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。