GRE閱讀長難句解析：古希臘人的道德教育

　　1. If one begins by examining why ancients refer to Amazons , it becomes clear that ancient Greek descriptions of such societies were meant not so much to represent observed historical fact –real Amazonian societies – but rather to offer "moral lessons" on the supposed outcome of women's rule in their own society .

　　如果我們先研究一下為什么古人會提到亞馬遜人，下面的一點就變得清晰了，那就是古希臘對于這種社會的廟睡不是太多的被用來表達(dá)觀察的歷史事實——真正的亞麻遜社會的——而是為了對于婦女在其社會中的統(tǒng)治的預(yù)期后果提供一種“道德教導(dǎo)”。

　　難句類型：復(fù)雜修飾、插入語、抽象詞

　　解釋：有兩個詞匯需要先解釋一下：something be meant to represent是use something to mean的被動語態(tài)。mean在這里不是常用的"……的意思是"的意思，而是表示做某事所表達(dá)的目的、意圖，其英文釋義為：to serve or intend to convey, show, or indicate.句中的結(jié)構(gòu)為：something be meant not so much to,,, but rather to, 實際上是把be meant to和not rather 的兩個固定搭配套在一起，意思是：不是為了……而是為了……

　　另外，suppose的意思很抽象，不容易理解。此詞既有據(jù)信、被認(rèn)為的意思，也有預(yù)期的意思，還有表示貶義的假想的被想當(dāng)然的意思。

　　本句的supposed用法極其特殊，在此處的意思，用以上任何一個釋義來理解居然都可以成立，既是在說一個預(yù)期的社會狀態(tài)，又是在說一個虛構(gòu)出來的、本來不存在的社會狀態(tài)，其用法類似于中文中的一語雙關(guān)，是文章作者自以為文筆精妙之處。

　　意群訓(xùn)練：If one begins by examining why ancients refer to Amazons, it becomes clear that ancient Greek descriptions of such societies were meant not so much to represent observed historical fact- real Amazonian societies- but rather to offer"moral lessons" on the supposed outcome of women's rule in their own society.

　　2. Thus,for instance,it may come as a shock to mathematicians to learn that the Schrodinger equation for the hydrogen atom is not a literally correct description of this atom，but only an approximation to a somewhat more correct equation taking account of spin，magnetic dipole，and relativistic effects;and that this corrected　equation is itself only an imperfect approximation to an infinite set of　quantum field-theoretical equations.

　　因此，舉例來說，對數(shù)學(xué)家而言，了解到下述情形可能會令其驚愕不已，即薛定諤(Schrodinger)的氫原子方程式并非是對該原子作出的一種絕然正確的描述，而僅僅是個近似值，趨近于一個在某種程度上更為正確的將自旋、磁性偶極子、以及相對論效應(yīng)考慮在內(nèi)的方程式;而這個得以糾正的方程式就其本身而言也只是一個不完美的近似值，趨近于無窮無盡的一整套量子場論方程式。

　　難句類型：復(fù)雜修飾、插入語、省略

　　解釋：讀到此句時，數(shù)學(xué)家不見得震驚，暈倒的考生恐怕不在少數(shù)。不但句子結(jié)構(gòu)復(fù)雜，而且羅列了大量的專有名詞。對于不是理科的同學(xué)來講，在閱讀這篇文章的現(xiàn)場清楚地明白應(yīng)該讀到什么程度遠(yuǎn)比研究這些生僻的專有名詞更重要。其實是否知道薛定鄂方程對讀者來說并不見得重要，GRE考試的出題者也不見得知道它;關(guān)鍵是要讀懂句子的主要意思;數(shù)學(xué)家不能理解不精確和近似值的偉大意義。不過在本書中，出現(xiàn)的句子均以閱讀訓(xùn)練為目的，所以讀者仍要把句子的結(jié)構(gòu)讀清楚。

　　主句中的主語it是一個開工主語，其具體的內(nèi)容應(yīng)該是從to learn開始一直到句子結(jié)束的長達(dá)八行的不定式，但是此不定式實在太長，如果放在句首則句子無法平衡。Learn后面帶著兩個以that引導(dǎo)的賓語從句，中間以分號和and分開，可以把分號以后的句子看成是and it may come as a shock to mathematicians to learn that的省略形式。

　　意群訓(xùn)練：Thus, for instance, it may come as a shock to mathematiians to learn that the Schrodinger equation for the hydrogen atom is not a literally correct description of this atom, but only an approximation to a somewhat more correct equation taking account of spin, magnetic dipole, and relativistic effects; and that this corrected equation is itself only an imperfect approximation to an infinite set of quantum field-theoretical equations.