1. Women’s work has changed considerably in the past 200 years, moving from the household to the office or the factory, and later becoming mostly white-collar instead of blue-collar work.
解析:此句信号语为逗号和“and”。两个逗号为我们清晰地划出了句子脉络。“and”前后分别连接“moving”和“becoming”两个分词结构。因此,很容易判断出此句为一个单句,包含起修饰作用的两个并列分词结构。
句意:近200年来,妇女的工作发生了巨大的变化,(办公场所)从家庭转变为办公室或工厂,继而主要从事白领工作。
2. It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the lives of the people who operate the new machines and on the society into which the machines have been introduced.
解析:此句信号语为“that”、“and”、“who”和“which”。It is frequently assumed that为固定搭配,即“通常认为”,我们把that后面的成分理解为主语从句的后置,“it”为形式主语。由“and”可以判断出两个“on”短语为并列结构。由“who”和“which”我们得知“on”短语的宾语又分别包含一个定语从句。
句意:通常认为,工作实现机械化后,无论是操作机器的人或是使用机器的社会,其生活都会深受影响。
3. It was not the change in office technology, but rather the separation of secretarial work, previously seen as an apprenticeship for beginning managers, from administrative work that in the 1880’s created a new class of “dead-end” jobs, thenceforth considered “women’s work”。
解析:此句信号语为逗号、“but”和“that”。通过逗号,可以清晰地看出句子的几个意群。通过 “that”,则可以明确此句为“it was…that”强调句型。“but”提示我们,在强调句中,强调的成分为“not…but”固定结构,重心在but之后。理出主要脉络之后,可以进一步确认各个修饰成分,如“previously”这个意群为插入语,“thenceforth considered”这个意群修饰“jobs”,起到补充说明的作用。
句意:到了19 世纪80年代,秘书工作——之前被视为刚起步的管理者的学徒训练——则与管理工作相剥离。于是就出现了一类新工作,一种“没前途”的工作,后来被视为“妇女所从事的工作”。这绝非办公技术变化的必然结果。
4. Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women work have changed little since before the Industrial Revolution: the segregation of occupations by gender, lower pay for women as a group, jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and offer women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while women’s household labor remains demanding.
解析:此句信号语为逗号、冒号、“while”、“which”、“that”和“and”。逗号同样起到划分意群的作用。冒号的作用为解释说明,引起下文的并列结构。“while”分句与前半句是并列关系。“which”和“that”引导意群内部的定语从句。“and”则连接从句内部的并列谓语。
句意:但与工业革命前的情况相比,妇女的工作状况并发生质的变化,例如,目前仍根据性别分工,妇女工资总体偏低,工作技能要求不高,晋升机会很少,与此同时,她们仍要负责料理家务。
5. The increase in the numbers of married women employed outside the home in the twentieth century had less to do with the mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women than it did with their own economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool of single women workers, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.
解析:此句信号语为“and”、“that”和逗号。由于标点符号较少,增加了分析的难度。首先判断出固定搭配“less…than”,之后明确两个“and”分别连接“with”的并列介词宾语。“that”引导定语从句修饰“marriage rates”。逗号则让我们清晰地判断出插入语“previously”、“in many cases”。“the only women…”为“single women workers”的同位语。
句意:到了 20 世纪,越来越多的家庭妇女参加了工作,其原因并不是实现了家务机械化,或闲得太无聊,而是经济所迫,再加上结婚率上升,可供雇用的单身女工越来越少。