BBC news 2009-09-11 加文本

1.Nearly all the votes were for President Hamid Karzai, but the American envoy to the region Richard Holbrooke told BBC Newsnight it was too early to reject the vote in its entirety.

参考翻译：几乎所有的选票都是投给现任总统卡尔扎伊，但是美国驻阿富汗特使Richard Holbrooke告诉BBC Newsnight节目，现在将投票全盘否定还为时过早。

结构分析：it was too early to这个用法在英语中经常用到，表示做某事为时过早。

2.The President’s spokesman Robert Gibbs, when asked about the conversation, said that President Obama considered it a mistake to release Al Megrahi at the time and he still considered it a mistake.

参考翻译：当记者问到有关该对话的内容时，白宫新闻发言人吉布斯表示，奥巴马总统过去认为释放迈格拉希是错误的，现在仍然认为是错误的。

结构分析：when asked about是省略的用法，完整的形式是：when he was asked about……
因为这里是被动语态，所以省略时也用过去分词。如果是主动语态，如when he is doing sth,省略时也用现在分词形式。

3.The American government has expressed the sentiment before with varying degrees of anger but it is notable that Mr. Obama decided to make the point directly to Gordon Brown.

参考翻译：之前，美国政府已经通过各种方式表达了异议，但是很明显，奥巴马总统希望直接将意见传达给布朗。

结构分析：it is notable that这里的it是形式主语，指代的是后面的整个句子that Mr. Obama decided to make the point directly to Gordon Brown.