新概念难句解析

1. The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas--legends handed down from one generation of story-tellers to another.
解读:legends作sagas的同位语,后接被动分词短语做定语。
基本结构：主＋定＋谓＋宾＋同位。
翻译:他们保存历史的唯一方法是把历史作为英雄故事讲述--由说书者代代相传。

2.One can tell the difference almost at a glance for the spider always has eight legs and an insect never more than six.
解读:主谓宾+原因状语（省略句）
an insect never more than six 应该理解为昆虫只有六条腿而不是昆虫绝不多于六条腿,全句翻译如下:
翻译:谁都可以一眼就看出蜘蛛与昆虫不同,蜘蛛都是八条腿,而昆虫最多只有六条。

3. Such inns as there were dirty and flea-ridden; the food simply local cheese accompanied by bread ofen twelve months old, all washed down with coarse wine.
解读:第二个分句中,simply是副词，意为“食物只有···”，而accompanied含被动意思，说明人们把陈面包和乳酪搭配着吃，并不是乳酪自己同面包相配。第二句作者把谓语省略了。
翻译：那里的小旅店通常又肮脏，跳蚤又多．吃的食物仅仅是当地产的乳酪加上存放了一年之久的面包，大家只能就着下等酒把它们吞下去．

4.The gorilla is something of a paradox in the African scene.
解读：这里的paradox并不是说猩猩是自相矛盾的动物，而是指人们对其捉摸不透。
翻译：大猩猩是非洲景观中有点让人捉摸不透的家伙。

5.All this and many other things remain almost as much a mystery as they were when the French explorer Du Chaillu first described the animal to the civilized world a century ago.
解读:句子是一个比较复杂的主从复合长句，应该采用分句法，逆序法来译，先将when引导的状语从句译，再译出主句。
翻译：100年前法国探险家Du Chaillu第一次向文明世界叙述过这种动物，如今这一切和其他许多事情几乎像100年前一样，仍然是个谜。

6.I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.
解读:identity指的是与众不同的个性，不是指身份
翻译：假如有人认为我是一个麻烦的话，我一定会感到十分得意。至少，被人看成问题会使别人在某种程度上认识我是谁。这点正是年轻人所热衷追求的事情之一。

7.On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise.
解读：local patriotism是热爱本乡本土之心，注意不要理解成地方主义（localism）
翻译：当你在乡村的草坪上比赛时，随意分为两边，并不存在热不热爱本地区的问题，只有这个时候才有可能为了娱乐和锻炼而进行比赛。

8.In textile areas it has long been customary for mothers to go out to work, but this practice has become so widespread that the working mother is now a not unusual factor in a child's home life, the number of married women in employment having more than doubled in the last twenty-five years.
解读：作为一个复合句，原文包含三个意思，主要应当注意几个动词的不同时态，从而分清楚三层意思之间的关系。
翻译：虽然在那些纺织工业区，母亲出去上班早已司空见惯，但是现在这种现象更为普遍，如今儿童的家庭生活中，母亲去上班已经是习以为常的事情了。因为在最近二十五年中，已婚妇女就业的人数已经增加了一倍多。

9. It is unusual now for father to pursue his trade or other employment at home, and his children rarely, if ever, see him at his place of work.
翻译：现在做父亲的一般都不在家里干本行活计或者其他行当，而他的孩子们即便有可能的话，也很少能在他的工作场所见到他。

10. Everyone knows that if he shouts in the vicinity of a wall or a mountainside, an echo will come back.
翻译：大家都知道，假如一个人在墙壁附近或是山腰里大声呼喊，就会产生一个回音。

11. In our new society there is a growing dislike of original, creative men. The manipulated do not understand them; the manipulators fear them. The tidy committee men regard them with horror, knowing that no pigeonholes can be found for them.
解读:主要考虑"tidy"的讽刺语气。
翻译:在现代社会里，人们对开拓型的有创造力的人有一种与日俱增的厌恶情绪。受人摆布的人不理解他们，摆布别人的人害怕他们。衣冠楚楚的委员们知道不可能使他们就范，因此怀着恐惧的心理看待他们。

12. These days, it is differences in national regulations, far more than tariffs, that put sand in the wheels of trade between rich countries.
强调句型，put sand in the wheels v.妨碍, 捣乱
当前，是各国管理条例上的差异，而不是关税阻碍了发达国家之间的贸易。

13.As it happens, a razor that is safe in Europe is unlikely to electrocute Americans. So, ask businesses on both sides of the Atlantic, why have two lots of tests where one would do?
So......?为直接引语的一种表述方法。
实际上，在欧洲使用安全的剃须刀不大可能使美国人触电身亡，因此，大西洋两岸的企业都在问，当一套测试可以解决问题时，为什么需要两套呢？

14.The Americans would happily reach one accord on standards for medical devices and then hammer out different pacts covering, say, electronic goods and drug manufacturing.
hammer out指经过不断的或艰苦的努力达到，实现；say＝for example
美国人很愿意就医疗器械的标准达成一个协议，然后推敲出不同的合同，用以涵盖 -- 比如说 -- 电子产品和药品的生产。

15.They lived well, on the proceeds of raids on neighbouring regions. There they collected women as well as food and drink, and a life of ease had made them soft.
proceeds:某种活动的收入
他们靠掠夺附近的地区的财物过着舒适的生活。他们不仅搜刮吃的喝的，而且抢掠妇女，安逸的生活已使他们（丹麦军队）变得软弱无力。a life of ease had made them soft. 生于忧患，“死于安乐”。

16.As the time and cost of making a chip drop to a few days and a few hundred dollars, engineers may soon be free to let their imaginations soar without being penalized by expensive failures.
chip:芯片
由于制造一块芯片的时间已缩短至几天，费用也只有几百美元，因此，工程技术人员可能很块就可充分发挥他们的想像力，而不会因失败而造成经济上的损失。

17.Mead predicts that inventors will be able to perfect powerful customized chips over a weekend at the office -- spawning a new generation of garage start-ups and giving the U.S. a jump on its foreign rivals in getting new products to market fast.
perfect：使完美，生产出完美的...
spawing到最后为结果状语。
garage start-ups:车库起家者，戴尔？
米德预言发明者可以在办公室用一个周末的时间生产了完美的、功能很强的、按客户需求设计的芯片 -- 造就新一代从汽车间起家的技术人员，在把产品推向市场方面使美国把它的外国对手们打个措手不及。

18.As the heads of next-generation start-ups, these Asian innovators can draw on customs and languages to forge tighter links with crucial Pacific Rim markets.
draw on 利用 rim 边缘
作为新掘起一代的带头人，亚裔发明家可以凭借他们在习惯和语言上的优势，与关键的太平洋沿岸市场建立起更加牢固的联系。