【结构与句法】NCE3 Lesson.3

Some time ago, and interesting discovery was made by archaeologists on the Aegean island of Kea. An American team explored a temple which stands in an ancient city on the promontory of Ayia Irini. The city at one time must have been prosperous, for it enjoyed a high level of civilization. Houses -- often three storeys high -- were built of stone. They had large rooms with beautifully decorated walls. The city was equipped with a drainage system, for a great many clay pipes were found beneath the narrow streets. The temple which the archaeologists explored was used as a place of worship from the fifteenth century B.C. until Roman times. In the most sacred room of temple, clay fragments of fifteen statues were found. Each of these represented a goddess and had, at one time, been painted. The body of one statue was found among remains dating from the fifteenth century B.C. It's missing head happened to be among remains of the fifth century B.C. This head must have been found in Classical times and carefully preserved. It was very old and precious even then. When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments, they were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be a very modern-looking woman. She stood three feet high and her hands rested on her hips. She was wearing a full-length skirt which swept the ground. Despite her great age, she was very graceful indeed, but, so far, the archaeologists have been unable to discover her identity. 1，表示以前，用在故事开始处：some time ago, once upon a time, long long ago ... 2，The city at one time must have been prosperous, for ... at one time 作插入语，这句话的精彩之处就在于完成时的使用，如果用过去时，会变成：the city was prosperous，无法加入must语气。 for表原因，作分句 3，They have large rooms with beautifully decorated walls. 这边有一个副词beautifully作修饰，大多数人在描述这种状态时习惯用定语从句 ... with walls (which are) decorated with many beautiful pictures. 但是这样会显得很啰嗦，而用一个副词代替则显得语句非常简练。 4，The city was even equipped with ... for ... 被动语态，for表原因作分句。 5，In the most sacred room of ... , ... 地点状语前置 6，Each of these represented a goddess and had, at one time, been painted. 这句话是一句组合句，Each of these (pieces)是两句话的主语，用and 连接后第二句话主语省略，加入at one time 这一插入语之后，使得整个句子的节奏感变得很好，不信你把它去掉再读读试试 7，The body ... was found among the remains dating from ... It's missing head happend to be among remains of ... 这两句话是并列的，但并没有用连接词连接，作者使用了另外一种手法——结构上的对应。The body=missing head; was found among=happen to be among; the remains dating from=remains of 。结构对应但表述不同，不重复上一句所使用的手法，非常高明。 8，This head ... and ... 同6。并列句 9，When the archaeologist ... , they were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be ... turn out to be 用的非常好，它表达出了一种reconstruct之后突然发现的状态，仅仅用be无法表达 10，She stood ... and her hands ... She was wearing ... Despite ... , she was ... , but ... have been unable to ... 本文最后用短短三句话描述了goddess的形态，首先注意其中的时态，过去时——过去进行时——过去时——完成时，通过中间was wearing的描述，避免了相邻三句话的时态重复。其次是Despite ... sentence , but ... 的使用，在最后一句使用两个转折，委婉的表示出了archaeologist没能discover her identity的情况，这个情况和之前对goddess的描述其实没什么关系，如果直接把她提出来会显得很突兀，所以作者使用了转接词。