Day 5

英文重現

The basements of museums are simply not large enough to store the artifacts that are likely to be discovered in the future. There is not enough money even to catalog the finds; as a result, they cannot be found again and become as inaccessible as if they had never been discovered.

——GMAT OG 2015, Reading Comprehension, Passage 3

解析

1.“that are likely to be discovered in the future”是“that”引導的定語從句，用來修飾名詞“artifacts”，“that”在從句中作主語。

2.“as...as”是表示程度相當的結構，意為“和……一樣……”，“as if”意思是“猶如；好像”，此處將這兩種用法結合了起來，表示在真實的“沒有編成目錄”的情況下和“比喻/假設的（好像）從來沒有被發現過”的情況下，工藝品都同樣“難以接近”。

3.“as if they had never been discovered”用的是虛擬語氣，這一點可以從過去完成時結構“had been discovered”看出來，“as if/as though”引導的從句用虛擬語氣時有以下三種情況：

a. 表示與現在事實相反，謂語動詞用一般過去時。

b. 表示與過去事實相反，謂語動詞用過去完成時。

c. 表示與將來事實相反，謂語動詞用“would/might/could +動詞原形”。

詞義辨析

參考翻譯

博物館的地下室實在沒有足夠空間去儲存將來可能被發現的（所有）手工藝品。甚至沒有足夠的錢將（所有的）發現編成目錄；結果是，這些發現無法被再次找到，并且變得難以接近，就好像它們從來沒有被發現過一樣。

實戰演練

The basements of museums are simply not large enough to store the artifacts that are likely to be discovered in the future. There is not enough money even to catalog the finds; as a result, they cannot be found again and become as inaccessible as if they had never been discovered. Indeed, with the help of a computer, sold artifacts could be more accessible than are the pieces stored in bulging museum basements. Prior to sale, each could be photographed and the list of the purchasers could be maintained on the computer. A purchaser could even be required to agree to return the piece if it should become needed for scientific purposes.

Which of the following is mentioned in the passage as a disadvantage of storing artifacts in museum basements?

(A) Museum officials rarely allow scholars access to such artifacts.

(B) Space that could be better used for display is taken up for storage.

(C) Artifacts discovered in one excavation often become separated from each other.

(D) Such artifacts are often damaged by variations in temperature and humidity.

(E) Such artifacts often remain uncataloged and thus cannot be located once they are put in storage.

答案：E

答案解析

根據“storing artifacts in museum basements”的意思可定位到文中的句子“The basements

of museums are simply not large enough to store the artifacts that are likely to be discovered in the future”，該句子講的是在博物館地下室儲存手工藝品的一個缺點“not large enough”，另一個缺點在隨后的句子中“not enough money even to catalog the finds”，而第二個缺點還有深一層的缺點“they cannot be found again and become as inaccessible as if they had never been discovered”（這些發現無法被再次找到，而且變得難以接近，就好像它們從來沒有被發現過一樣），理解這句話，重點是要看懂“as…as”結構的意思。那么我們來分析選項：選項A“博物館官員很少允許學者接觸這些手工藝品”錯誤，博物館官員不是不允許學者接觸，而是因為沒有目錄，難以找到。選項B“本來能夠用于展覽的空間被用于存儲”和第一個缺點“空間不夠大”也是不一致的。選項C“同一批出土的手工藝品常常被分開”和選項D“這些手工藝品經常因為溫度和濕度的變化被毀壞”原文均未提及。所以正確答案應該是選項E“這些手工品經常沒有被編入目錄，因此一旦被存儲起來就無法被找到”，對應第二個缺點。