復雜的賓語從句以及表語從句的拆分和理解 例54

例54　Rather than concluding that children make parents either happy or miserable, Senior suggests we need to redefine happiness: instead of thinking of it as something that can be measured by moment-to-moment joy, we should consider being happy as a past-tense condition.

【結構分析】這句話開頭是個介詞短語Rather than concluding...，后面是賓語從句that children make parents either happy or miserable，后面是句子的主干，又是個是個賓語從句Senior suggests we need to redefine happiness。冒號后面表示補充說明，先是個介詞短語instead of thinking of it as something...，后面是定語從句that can be measured by moment-to-moment joy，再后面是冒號后面的句子的主干we should consider being happy as a past-tense condition。

【亮點回放】此句話的亮點在于冒號前后都有很長的介詞短語，前面的介詞短語里面有賓語從句，后面的介詞短語里面有很長的定語從句，兩個介詞短語都不簡單。

【核心詞匯】

either happy or miserable　快樂呢還是痛苦呢

redefine happiness　重新定義幸福

measured by moment-to-moment joy　個個瞬間的快樂組合的可以被衡量的東西

a past-tense condition　一種過去式的狀態(tài)

【參考譯文】Jennifer Senior沒有指出養(yǎng)孩子到底是使得父母快樂呢還是痛苦呢，她倒是認為，我們需要重新定義幸福：幸福不應該是一個個瞬間的快樂組合的可以被衡量的東西；我們應該把幸福視為一種過去式的狀態(tài)。