Obama had just returned to his office for an hour or so after voting on the floor of the Senate.

【翻译】奥巴马在参议院投票后回到办公室刚刚一个小时左右。

这句话包含3层意思：投票结束→回到办公室→在办公室呆了一个小时。

【简析】本句没错。“终止性动词（return） + 一段时间 （for an hour or so）”  表示： “终止性动词所表示动作结束之后的状态，也就是回到办公室之后持续的时间。”

这跟我们汉语的表达十分相似：“我要去海边一个星期。” I’ll go to the seaside for a week. 意思是说：I’ll go to the seaside and stay there for a week.

这两种语言在此表达上，可以说是“异曲同工”。其特点是：简练而不产生歧义。

感谢“语法探讨”老师，提供一些可供讨论的英语语法问题。

我有一个想法，分享一下，不知对否：

其实，蒋老师(JXW168)的最后一个句子与前面两个句子有所不同，它用的是stop doing（停止做某事）。“停止做某事”其实就是“不做某事”，比如 stop beating，它的意思是“（心脏）停止跳动”，而“（心脏）停止跳动”，其实就是“（心脏）不跳动”，而“（心脏）不跳动”其实是一种状态，而状态是可以持续的。即：

The patient’s heart stopped beating for a few seconds. 病人的心跳停顿了几秒钟。

= The patient’s heart didn’t beat for a few seconds. 病人的心脏有几秒钟没有跳动。

又如我们通常不说：The rain had stopped for days.

但可以说：The rain had not stopped for days. 雨好多天未停过。（动作一旦被否定，即成为一种状态，而状态是可以持续的）

我觉得这里的 return 与 for an hour or so 连用，倒没什么问题。

但我觉得这里的 just 与for an hour or so 连用，倒还有点问题——因为 just 放在动词 return 之前，说明它是修饰动词return 的，那 just return 的意思就是“刚刚返回”，这与 for an hour or so 是相矛盾的。

如果要表示“返回刚刚一个小时左右”，那 just 就应该放在 an hour 之前，如 for just an hour or so。如：

Complete set of garden tools for just ￡15.99! 全套园艺工具仅售 15.99 英镑!

Other theatre-goers complained Joan was on stage for just half an hour.  其他剧院观众抱怨说，琼在台上只呆了半个小时。

Each manager had responsibility for just under 600 properties.  每位经理对差一点不到六百处房产负责。

美国“纽约人报”上的这句话有错吗？

Obama had just returned to his office for an hour or so after voting on the floor of the Senate. (NEWYORKER)

My answer to the mentioned-above question is as follows:

The English sentence mentioned above is thought to be false because the verb used as a predicate belongs to a transient verb and it can't be used with "for some time" together.

继续补充回答如下：

Obama had just returned to his office for an hour or so after voting on the floor of the Senate.

如果说已经句子为正确，那么下面句子也正确

He has just joined the army for two years

=He has just joined the army and stayed in the armyfor two years.

The train has stopped for half an hour.

=The train has stopped and stayed there for half an hour

汉语可以说：他已经死了20年了

但是英语不可数说:He has died for 20 years.(错误）

He has been dead for 20 years。（正确）

It is /has been 20 years since he died.(正确）

He died 20 years ago.(正确）

按照蒋老师这个逻辑

I will go to the beach for 10 days.

本句相当于：I will go to the beach and stay there for 10 days. (for 10 days 修饰隐含的 stay there)

他将要去当兵/参军3年

He will join the army for 3 years

本句相当于:He will join the army and stay in the army for 3 years (for 3 years 修饰隐含的 stay in the army)

很显然，句子逻辑是说不通的。

最后总结：我赞同语法老师-曹老师语法解析观点。

曹老师的推断应该很有道理。我搜了下原文http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/05/07/the-conciliator，把下文补充如下，供大家参考：

Obama had just returned to his office for an hour or so after voting on the floor of the Senate. He had spent the morning shuttling between the Senate and his office, being briefed on his schedule, chewing gum as he walked.

在参议院投票后, 奥巴马刚回到办公室一个小时左右。他花了一上午穿梭于参议院和办公室之间 ----- 听取着自己的日程安排，边走边嚼着口香糖。（以上为本人试译，仅供参考。）