10 高考难句分析：How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?
老师，您好！我最近在刷高考真题，下面一句是 2021 年高考英语全国乙卷（全国卷Ⅰ）阅读理解文章中的一个句子，理解有难度：
How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?
我的疑问如下：
1. How long until…是什么句式？
2. gas street lamp 是什么意思？gas street lamps 与 morning milk deliveries 是什么关系？为什么要这样说？
3. 全句应该如何翻译？
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为便于理解，附高考阅读理解原文如下（问题中的句子是文章最后一句）：
When almost everyone has a mobile phone, why are more than half of Australian homes still paying for a landline (座机)?
These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Australia over the age of 15 who doesn’t own a mobile phone. In fact plenty of younger kids have one in their pocket. Practically everyone can make and receive calls anywhere, anytime.
Still, 55 percent of Australians have a landline phone at home and only just over a quarter (29%) rely only on their smartphones, according to a survey (调查). Of those Australians who still have a landline, a third concede that it’s not really necessary and they’re keeping it as a security blanket—19 percent say they never use it while a further 13 percent keep it in case of emergencies. I think my home falls into that category.
More than half of Australian homes are still choosing to stick with their home phone. Age is naturally a factor (因素)—only 58 percent of Generation Ys still use landlines now and then, compared to 84 percent of Baby Boomers who’ve perhaps had the same home number for 50 years. Age isn’t the only factor; I’d say it’s also to do with the makeup of your household.
Generation Xers with young families, like my wife and I, can still find it convenient to have a home phone rather than providing a mobile phone for every family member. That said, to be honest the only people who ever ring our home phone are our Baby Boomers parents, to the point where we play a game and guess who is calling before we pick up the phone (using Caller ID would take the fun out of it).
How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?
最佳答案 2021-06-29 07:02
1. How long until… 是什么句式？
答：这里的How long until…可视为 How long will it be until…的省略形式，这里的 until 与 before 同义。如：
Son, you are too young. It will be a long time until (=before) you can make big money.
对上面句子的 a long time 提问变成疑问句就是：
How long will it be until (=before) I can make big money?
再如：
How long will it be until / before they can move me up? 他们还要多久才会升我的职？
How long will it be until / before the world’s fuel supplies are exhausted? 再过多长时间地球上的燃料就会耗尽？
省略一下就是：
How long until / before they can move me up? 他们还要多久才会升我的职？
How long until / before the world’s fuel supplies are exhausted? 再过多长时间地球上的燃料就会耗尽？
2. gas street lamp 是什么意思？gas street lamps 与 morning milk deliveries 是什么关系？为什么要这样说？
答：文中的 gas street lamp 需结合全文来理解，文章大意说的是：人们虽然大都有手机（mobile phone），但有的人家里仍装有电话座机（landline, home phone）。但事实上，许多人家里装的座机很少使用。你的句子：
How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?
第一句中 attached 是形容词，意思是“依恋的”“喜欢的”，be attached to 的意思是“对……的喜欢或依恋”，所以 How attached are you to your landline? 的字面意思就是“你对家里的座机有多依恋？”，也就是说“家里的座机你用得多吗？”
后半句中的 gas street lamp（煤气路灯）和 morning milk delivery（早晨送牛奶）有一个共同特点，就是历史上曾经有过，但现在基本上都不用了（消失了或淘汰了），作者认为现在的“座机”也跟过去的 gas street lamp（煤气路灯）和 morning milk delivery（早晨送牛奶）一样，有一天可能会完全消失或淘汰。
句子中的 go the way of 的字面意思是“走……的老路”，they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries 的字面意思就是“走煤气路灯和早晨送牛奶（最终会消失）的老路”，所以 How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries? 的意思其实就是（结合上下文）：还要过多久它们（指座机）才会像煤气路灯以及早晨送牛奶那样最终消失呢？又如：go the way of the dinosaur（走恐龙灭绝的老路，即像恐龙一样灭绝）
3. 全句应该如何翻译？
答：上面已翻译过了，再重复一下：
How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries? 家里的座机你用得多吗？还要过多久它们（指座机）才会像煤气路灯以及早晨送牛奶那样最终消失呢？
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