However, many people, either refusing to accept the new date or not having heard about it, continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1.
(然而許多人,有的不願接受新的日期,有的根本沒聽說過這件事,仍然繼續在四月一日慶祝新年。)
➜ Many people continued to celebrate New Year's Day. (許多人繼續慶祝新年。)
💡 主詞和動詞之間隔了 19 個字。
There are two kinds of heroes: heroes who shine in the face of great danger, who perform an act in a difficult situation, and heroes who live an ordinary life like us.
(英雄有兩種:一種在極大的危險面前發光發熱,在艱難的處境中挺身而出;另一種則像我們一樣過著平凡的日子。)
➜ There are two kinds of heroes. (英雄有兩種。)
💡 後面 50 個字全都在回答「哪兩種」。
Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, is a very beautiful city.
(布拉格,捷克的首都,是一座非常美麗的城市。)
➜ Prague is a very beautiful city. (布拉格是一座非常美麗的城市。)
💡 逗號中間那一塊是同位語,在說明布拉格是什麼,拿掉句子照樣完整。
The pineapple, long a symbol of Hawaii, was not a native plant.
(鳳梨長久以來是夏威夷的象徵,卻不是當地的原生植物。)
➜ The pineapple was not a native plant. (鳳梨不是原生植物。)
💡 native 不能拿掉。剝成「鳳梨不是植物」句子更短,但那是錯的——骨幹要留下句意成立所必需的部分。
Aesop, the Greek writer of fables, was sitting by the roadside one day when a traveler asked him what sort of people lived in Athens.
(希臘寓言作家伊索有一天坐在路邊,這時有個旅人問他雅典住著什麼樣的人。)
➜ Aesop was sitting. (伊索坐著。)
💡 by the roadside 是地點、one day 是時間、when 帶的是子句,三種都是修飾,都可以拿掉。
The pineapple, a delicious tropical fruit, has been valued for centuries not only for its distinct and unique taste, but also for its miraculous health benefits.
(鳳梨這種美味的熱帶水果,數百年來備受重視,不只因為它獨特的風味,也因為它驚人的保健功效。)
➜ The pineapple has been valued. (鳳梨備受重視。)
💡 同一個主詞 The pineapple 出現過兩次:98年只夾了幾個字,這一句夾了一整段,骨幹卻是一樣的。
An eye stye is a small bump, resembling a pimple, that develops when an oil gland at the edge of an eyelid becomes infected by bacteria.
(針眼是一個小突起,長得像青春痘,當眼瞼邊緣的皮脂腺受到細菌感染時就會長出來。)
➜ An eye stye is a small bump. (針眼是一個小突起。)
💡 small 留著,跟中譯的「小突起」對得起來。剝掉的是後面的分詞片語和關係子句。
An area code is a section of a telephone number which generally represents the geographical area that the phone receiving the call is based in.
(區碼是電話號碼的一部分,通常代表接聽電話的那支電話所在的地理區域。)
➜ An area code is a section of a telephone number. (區碼是電話號碼的一部分。)
💡 後面還有 21 個字,而且關係子句裡面又套了另一個關係子句。
It was predicted that there would be a decrease of 20 percent in the pigeon population in the first year and between 70 and 80 percent in four or five years.
(當時預測鴿子的數量第一年會減少兩成,四到五年內會減少七到八成。)
➜ It was predicted that ... (當時預測……)
💡 開頭的 It 不是「它」,只是先占著主詞的位置。後面 29 個字都是預測的內容。