GRE閱讀長(zhǎng)難句解析：美國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)發(fā)展會(huì)導(dǎo)致土地枯竭

　　1. The historian Frederick J. Turner wrote in the 1890's that the agrarian discontent that had been developing steadily in the United States since about 1870 had been precipitated by the closing of the internal frontier——that is, the depletion of available new land needed for further expansion of the American farming system.

　　史學(xué)家弗雷德里克.杰.特納(Frederick J.Turner)于十九世紀(jì)九十年代著述道，美國(guó)約自18世紀(jì)70年代以來(lái)一直在持續(xù)不斷發(fā)展的農(nóng)民不滿，由于國(guó)內(nèi)邊遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)(internal frontier)的封閉而更趨加劇——亦即是說(shuō)，美國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)系統(tǒng)進(jìn)一步擴(kuò)展所必需的可資利用的新土地幾近耗竭。

　　難句類型：復(fù)雜修飾

　　解釋：典型的句子套句子。主句是F.J.T. wrote that，賓語(yǔ)從句中主干是the agrarian discontent had been precipitated by the closing of the internal frontier,在從句的主語(yǔ)the agrarian discontent后面又來(lái)了一個(gè)定語(yǔ)從句。

　　意群訓(xùn)練：The historian Frederick J. Turner wrote in the 1890's that the agrarian discontent that had been developing　steadily in the United States since about 1870 had been precipitated by the closing of the internal frontier——that is, the depletion of available new land needed for further expansion of the American farming system.

　　2. In the early 1950's, historians who studied preindustrial Europe (which we may define here as Europe in the period from roughly 1300 to 1800) began, for the first time in large numbers, to investigate more of the preindustrial European population than the 2 or 3 percent who comprised the political and social elite: the kings, generals, judges, nobles, bishops, and local magnates who had hitherto usually filled history books.

　　難句類型：復(fù)雜修飾、插入語(yǔ)

　　譯文：二十世紀(jì)五十年代早期，研究前工業(yè)化時(shí)代歐洲(此處我們可將其界定為約自1300年至1800年這一時(shí)期的歐洲)的史學(xué)家，首次以眾多的人數(shù) (楊鵬的書中：第一次以大量的數(shù)據(jù))，開(kāi)始調(diào)查前工業(yè)化時(shí)代歐洲人口中的大多數(shù)，而非那些構(gòu)成了政治與社會(huì)精英階層的百分之二或三的人口，即國(guó)王、將軍、法官、貴族、主教、以及地方上的達(dá)官顯貴，而正是這部分人一直到那時(shí)為止普遍充斥于史學(xué)著作。

　　解釋：句子中有兩個(gè)插入語(yǔ)，一個(gè)是跟在preindustrial Europe之后的which we may define here as Europe in the period from roughly 1300 to 1800,這個(gè)插入語(yǔ)的直接作用是解釋前面的preindustrial Europe的年代，而起到的客觀作用則是把主句中的主語(yǔ)和謂語(yǔ)分割得很遠(yuǎn);第二個(gè)插入語(yǔ)是在began,for the first time in large numbers, to investingate中間，把一個(gè)好好的began to斬為兩段。

　　這句話另外一個(gè)難以理解的地方是more of the preindustrial European population than the 2 or 3 percent,表示的是在工業(yè)化以前的歐洲人口中超過(guò)了那2%到3%的人，亦即占97%到98%的人民群眾。

　　意群訓(xùn)練：In the early 1950's, historians who studied preindustrial Europe (which we may define here as Europe in the period from roughly 1300 to 1800) began, for the first time in large numbers, to investigate more of the preindustrial European population than the 2 or 3 percent who comprised the political and social elite: the kings, generals, judges, nobles, bishops, and local magnates who had hitherto usually filled history books.