BBC news 2009-12-21 加文本 (额外篇)

1.The switching on of a town’s Christmas lights has become an increasingly competitive event over the years, with some councils spending lots of money to attract A-list celebrities to do the honours.

switch on打开，开(电灯,机器等)

例句：He switched it on so that he may wake up his roommate.
      他打开灯是为了叫醒他的同室同学。

with some councils spending 介词with +名词短语 + 分词。这是英文里非常重要的一个结构，就是常说的“独立主格结构”的一种，因为是由分词构成的，所以也叫“独立分词结构”。这种结构主要是用作状语，它可以表达的意义主要有两类：一是表示伴随状况、补充说明、具体举例等；二是表示原因。下面具体说明。

(1)London was found to be the least punctual city, with 41 per cent of respondents admitting that they were hardly ever on time, compared with the national average of 28 per cent.

这句话的主句部分说“London was found to be the least punctual city(伦敦是最不守时的城市)”，接下来就采用了独立分词结构“with 41 percent of respondents admitting…”来为这一结论提供数据支持，即分词短语起着补充主句的作用。

(2)Mobile phones have broken many social taboos, with people answering calls in the middle of a conversation or chatting away on the toilet.

这句话的主句部分得出“Mobile phones have broken many social taboos(手机打破了很多社会禁忌)”这一结论，然后采用独立分词结构“with people answering calls in the middle of a conversation or chatting away on the toilet”来为这一结论提供具体的例证，比如人们在和别人谈话过程中接听手机，或在上厕所是也接手机，而这些行为以前都是被认为不文明、礼貌的。

(3)Good timekeeping is becoming a forgotten social etiquette, with a new generation considering lateness the norm rather than a faux pas that should be avoided.

这句话主句部分“Good timekeeping is becoming a forgotten social etiquette(良好的守时习惯正在成为被遗忘的社交礼节)”是得出一个结论，然后采用独立分词结构“with a new generation considering lateness the norm rather than a faux pas that should be avoided”来表示得出此结论的原因，即新的一代人都认为迟到很正常，并不是失礼行为而应该避免。

2.However, some celebrations do not go according to plan as was seen in Birmingham when dozens of people were injured in a crowd surge as the famous British boy band JLS took the stage.

according to根据,按照,随…而定

例句：Please cut out my overcoat according to this pattern.
      我这件大衣请你照这个式样裁剪。

      They pay differential rents according to their income.
       他们根据收入多少付级差房租。

3.Not all towns can afford to bring in an internationally-known star, so many switch-on ceremonies are handled by ex-TV talent show contestants.

Not all部分否定

Not all sounds…这里否定的是其中一部分，叫部分否定句。all，every，both，always等用于否定结构时不是全部被否定，而是表示其中的一部分被否定。而且英语多半将not置于谓语中。

例如：

All is not a gold that glitters.（即Not all that glitters is gold.）
闪闪发光物，未必尽黄金。

Every one cannot write novels.（即Not every one can write novels.）
不是所有的人都能写小说。