VOA慢速英语:How Can a Country Disconnect Itself From the Internet?

1.A five-day Internet shutdown in Egypt failed to stop the protests that forced President Hosni Mubarak to resign.

fail to未能…

与之相反的：

manage to达成,设法

例句：How did Nemo manage to save Dory?
     尼莫是怎么想办法救多莉的？

2.Mr. Labovitz says the Internet is not as indestructible as people might think.

as…as 结构的基本用法

其基本意思为“与……一样”，其中的第一个as副词，其后通常接形容词或副词(用原级)，第二个as可用作介词(后接名词或代词)或连词(后接从句)。使用时应注意以下几点：
1. 在否定句中，第一个 as 也可换成 so：
He doesn’t study as [so] hard as his brother. 他学习不如他弟弟努力。
2. 在该结构的两个as之间通常接形容词或副词的原级，但若涉及数量或程度，可用“as much+不可数名词+as”和“as many+可数名词复数+as”：
You’ve made as many mistakes as I have.  你犯的错误和我犯的一样多。
I haven’t got as much money as I thought. 我不像原来想像的有那么多钱。(R2/92)
其间接形容词时，有时该形容词还可修饰另一名词，但这个名词应带有不定冠词(注意词序)：
She is as good a cook as her mother. 她和她妈妈一样是位好厨师。
也可说：She is a cook as good as her mother.
但不说：She is as a good cook as her mother. 或They are as good cooks as us.

3.But the engineering realities are a lot more prosaic.

a lot more，alot修饰比较级more。

4.So you really just need to turn off a handful of machines to have this type of disruption.

turn off(把…)关掉

例句：The tap won't turn off and there is water all over the floor.
      水龙头关不上, 满地都是水。

a handful of少数、几个、不多

5.Critics say the bill would give the president too much power.

too much过分；太多

例句：It really is too much of you.
      你太过分了。

much too为习语，其中的much修饰副词too；much too可视为too的加强说法，其语气比单独用too更强。如：

He spoke much too fast. 他说话说得太快了。

This is much too heavy for you to lift. 这东西太重，你拿不起来。

注意：much too与too much词序不同，用法也不同。从句法功能上看，much too的用法与too相同，但比too的语气更强；而too much在用法上则与much相同，但比much 语气更强。