考研英语（一）长难句解析系列——2007年阅读Text1

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(本文作者为中公考研辅导名师——张玉环)　
　　本文选自2006年The New York Times上一篇名为A Star Is Made: The Birth-month Soccer Anomaly的文章，主要通过优秀足球运动员出生月份上的异常现象引发讨论，并得出：人的优秀成就并非取决于先天遗传，而是后天练习。全文中在长难句方面，难度并不是非常大。作为2007年考研英语试卷的第一篇阅读，句子难度虽然较前面题型有所提升，但是仍处于中级难度。阅读做题时只需静下心来，再辅之以词汇和语法基础，即可理解和解题。下面就其中的典型例句进行分析：
　　【典型例句1】：If you then examined the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you would find this strange phenomenon to be even more pronounced.
　　【例句解析】：本句主句为you would find this strange phenomenon to be even more pronounced。If you then examined the European national youth teams是由if引导的条件状语从句，修饰主句。that feed the World Cup and professional ranks是that引导的定语从句，修饰the European national youth teams。
　　【难点点拨】：pronounced：显著的;
　　【例句释义】：如果你再去检查一下为世界杯和其它职业排名输送球员的欧洲各国青年队，你会发现这种奇怪的现象更加显著。
　　【典型例句2】：Ericsson grew up in Sweden, and studied nuclear engineering until he realized he would have more opportunity to conduct his own research if he switched to psychology.
　　【例句解析】：本句主句为Ericsson grew up in Sweden, and studied nuclear engineering。until he realized是until引导的时间状语从句，修饰主干。he would have more opportunity to conduct his own research是省略that的宾语从句，作realized的宾语。if he switched to psychology是if引导的条件状语从句，修饰前面的宾语从句。
　　【难点点拨】：nuclear engineering：核能工程;
　　【例句释义】：艾瑞克森在瑞典长大，起初学习核能工程，后来他意识到自己如果转学心理学，将会有更多机会去进行个人研究。
　　【典型例句3】：This success, coupled with later research showing that memory itself is not genetically determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is more of a cognitive exercise than an intuitive one.
　　【例句解析】：本句主干为This success led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is more of a cognitive exercise than an intuitive one;其中包含一个that引导的宾语从句。coupled with later research作为后置定语，修饰success。showing that memory itself is not genetically determined是现在分词短语作后置定语，修饰research;其中that引导宾语从句，作showing的宾语。
　　【难点点拨】：coupled with：加上;cognitive：认知的;intuitive：直觉的;
　　【例句释义】：后来有研究显示，记忆本身并不是由基因决定的。艾瑞克森将上述实验的成功与这些后来的研究相结合，得出记忆这种行为与其说是一种直觉行为，不如说是一种认知练习。
　　【典型例句4】：In other words, whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are swamped by how well each person “encodes” the information.
　　【例句解析】：本句主干为 those differences are swamped by how well each person “encodes” the information，其中how引导宾语从句。whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize是由whatever引导的让步状语从句，修饰主干。
　　【难点点拨】：inborn：天生的;exhibit：展出，显示;swamp：淹没;encode：编译;
　　【例句释义】：换句话说，无论两个人在记忆能力方面展现出怎样的天生差异，都能通过个人“编译”信息的能力抵消。
　　【典型例句5】：They gather all the data they can, not just performance statistics and biographical details but also the results of their own laboratory experiments with high achievers.
　　【例句解析】：本句主干为 They gather all the data。they can是省略that的定语从句，其中还省略了gather。not just…but also…引导并列的两组名词短语：performance statistics and biographical details和the results of their own laboratory experiments with high achievers，作同位语，解释data。
　　【难点点拨】：biographical：传记的;high achievers：取得高成就的人;
　　【例句释义】：他们尽可能收集所有的资料，不仅仅是这些人的表现信息和生活细节，还有他们对优秀之人所做实验的结果。
　　总之，由于本文中对于后置定语、定语从句、状语从句以及结果状语等知识点考查较多，因此对此大家课下需要多多复习。此外，如果时间充足的话，可以多读一些外国核心期刊文章，如《纽约时报》、《经济学人》等，积累英语国家新闻中常用到的表达。