四级阅读基本功--长难句过关（第十八期）

ExerciseIt’s an activity you turn to for pleasure, not something that you have to do, like helping with the dishes.

While I was waiting to enter university, I saw advertised in a local newspaper a teaching post at a school in a suburb of London about ten miles from where I lived.

I launched into a variation of the speech I had made for years, about how excessive tax rates can take away the incentive to produce, and how cutting taxes can generate growth.

要点分析和参考译文

要点：“an activity”及”not something”在句中作并列表语。介词短语”like helping…” 与 “that” 从句共同作定语，修饰”something”，此定语被that ”从句分割”。
参考译文：这是一种使你寻求快乐的活动，而不是诸如帮助刷盘子那种你非做不可的事情。

要点：此句的宾语” a teaching post” 之所以放在” in a local newspaper” 之后是因为它带有较长的后置定语，其目的是为了避免句子“头重脚轻”。
参考译文：在我等待进入大学期间，我在一份地方报纸上看到一则广告，说是在离我住处大约10英里的伦敦某郊区有所学校要招聘一名教师。

要点：the speech本应紧连着介词about的短语，即the speech about how…and how…，但由于定语从句I had made for years 与 speech在意义连接上更为密切，所以把speech和about短语分隔开了。介词about后面跟的是两个并列的介词宾语从句” how excessive tax rates can take away……”和” how cutting taxes can generate……”
参考译文：我发表了一篇内容与几年前不同的讲话，谈的是税率过高会使生产失去刺激以及减税会使经济得到增长。