想了很久了,在总体逻辑理解上没有遇到什么大麻烦,就是想不通材料后那段问题的句式。如果有人看到了希望能帮我解解惑,分解一下这个句子。真的谢谢大家! 以下放出全题:
M: It is almost impossible to find a person between the ages of 85 an 90 who primarily uses the left hand.
Q: Seventy to ninety years ago, however, children were published for using their left hands to eat or to write and were forced to use their right hands.
Q's response serves to counter any use by M of the evidence about 85 to 90 year olds in supports of which one of the following hypotheses?
(A) Being born right-handed confers a survival advantage.
(B) Societal attitudes toward handedness differ at different times.
(C) Forcing a person to switch from a preferred hand is harmless.
(D) Handedness is a product of both genetic predisposition and social pressures.
(E) Physical habits learned in school often persist in old age.
答案是A
这道题目的问题Q's response serves to counter any use by M of the evidence about 85 to 90 year olds in supports of which one of the following hypotheses? 到底是说Q的假设还是M的假设? 如果是后者, 正常的语序应该是怎样的?
M: It is almost impossible to find a person between the ages of 85 an 90 who primarily uses the left hand.
Q: Seventy to ninety years ago, however, children were punished for using their left hands to eat or to write and were forced to use their right hands.
Q's response serves to counter any use by M of the evidence about 85 to 90 year olds in supports of which one of the following hypotheses?
(A) Being born right-handed confers a survival advantage.
(B) Societal attitudes toward handedness differ at different times.
(C) Forcing a person to switch from a preferred hand is harmless.
(D) Handedness is a product of both genetic predisposition and social pressures.
(E) Physical habits learned in school often persist in old age.
为了理解,我把M 和Q 的对话,以及问题,翻译成汉语:
M:现在,几乎不可能找到年龄在85岁到90岁之间主要使用左手的人了。
Q:然而,早在七十至九十年前,儿童因左手拿筷子吃法或写字而受到惩罚,被迫使用右手。
问题:Q 的回答,是为了反驳M 使用85岁到90岁之间的这些人作为证据,M的这个证据支持了下面的哪一个假说?
(注:in support of 不是 in suports of)
(a)生来就惯用右手,赋予了生存的优势。
(b)不同时代,对习惯使用一只手的偏手倾向的社会态度各不相同。
(c)强迫一个人从喜欢使用的那只手转换为另一只手是无害的。
(d)惯用手是遗传素质和社会压力的产物。
(e)在学校里学到的体态习惯,往往在老年时持续存在。
根据M说的“现在,几乎不可能找到年龄在85岁到90岁之间主要使用左手的人了”,说明使用右手(不是左手)的人长寿,有生存优势,所以,选择A项。
为了网友理解这个提问,我重新改写一下句子:
Q's response aims to counter M’s use of the evidence about 85 to 90 year olds. Which one of the following hypotheses does M’s evidence support?
翻译:Q 的回答旨在反驳M 使用85岁到90岁之间的这些人作为证据;M的这个证据支持了下面哪一个假说?
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刘老师对句子的理解和翻译以及对正确答案的选择理由的解释都很精彩!对原文问题的改写也是正确的,而且思路也更清晰。但原文的问句却没有错,是个正确的问句。
通常特殊疑问句中如果疑问词不是主语或主语的定语,疑问词则前置于主语之前,并且导致部分倒装。这是最常见的特殊问句形式。但是,特殊问句中的疑问词前置以及由此导致的倒装并不是必须的。疑问词可以保留在动词之后的原来位置。这主要见于两种情况:
1 回声问句(echo question)
当听话人没有听清楚说话人所说的话中的某一部分,而希望说话人重复时,采用回声问句。例如:
A:Tom has bought a new car.
B: Tom has bought what?
2 原位/非倒装特殊问句(in situ/non-inversion open interrogatives):
这种问句疑问词保留在原处,问句也不倒装(倒装是疑问词前置导致的)。主要用于悬而未决的问题(sustained question),例如竞猜活动中主持人使用的问句,以及法庭上律师对证人的交叉询问。例如:
And those senses are located where?
And the results of that examination were what?
以上两个例句是生成语法书中引用的实际法庭调查记录。
以上内容见Huddleston著 the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language P.873
因此,我们讨论的原题的问句就属于上述第二类特殊问句---非倒装特殊问句,用于竞猜类活动。(阅读理解的提问采用了这种问句形式)。因此问句本身没有错误,只是使问句显得很复杂,没有分成两个句子。我将原问题的疑问词换成序数词,再还原为疑问词,大家就可以理解原位特殊疑问句的含义及用途了。
Q's response serves to counter any use by M of the evidence about 85 to 90 year olds in supports of which one of the following hypotheses?
Q's response serves to counter the use by M of the evidence about 85 to 90 year olds in supports of the first of the following hypotheses.
此句中的use为名词,后接三个定语。这三个定语分别是use作为动词时的主语、宾语和状语。试比较:M uses the evidence about 85 to 90 year olds in support of the first of the following hypotheses. 当use改为名词,作不定式to counter的宾语时,其主语、宾语及状语均需以介词短语的形式作定语修饰use。得到一个结构复杂的陈述句。这个陈述句无疑是正确的。再将the first改为疑问代词which,则构成原位特殊疑问句。由于疑问词没有前置,因此句子也没有理由倒装,就得到这个非倒装特殊问句。
只要原来的陈述句没有错误,问句就没有错误。只不过这种问句形式比较少见,用于特殊的场合而已。
而且这个句子似乎只有采用原位问句(非倒装特殊问句)才是最自然的。疑问词如果移至句首,部分倒装,则in support of which...会被误以为是句子谓语serves的状语了。因此这个句子没有相应的倒装问句。
并非所有的原位特殊问句都有对应的普通特殊问句,就像并非所有的被动语态的句子都有相应的主动语态句子一样。例如,下面的被动语态句子就没有完全对应的主动语态形式:
Tom is said to have died in an accident.
这个句子如果要改为主动句,结构就需要调整:
People/They say that Tom died in an accident.
因此,上述的原位问句若要改为普通特殊问句,也需做相应的结构调整。例如:
Which of the following hypotheses is countered by Q's responce but may be supported by M's evidence about 85 to 90 year olds?
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