難句分析：
難句1 Alateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress promoted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming “I wanted to spend more time with my family”.
［分析］此句主干是“a lateral move promoted me to...”。其中that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress是a lateral move的定語(yǔ)，although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming “I wanted to spend more time with my family”是狀語(yǔ)，其中逗號(hào)之間的in the manner of a disgraced government minister是插入語(yǔ)。
［譯文］一次平級(jí)的人事調(diào)動(dòng)傷了我的自尊心，并阻斷了我的事業(yè)發(fā)展，這促使我放棄自己地位較高的職業(yè)，盡管就像面子掃盡的政府部長(zhǎng)那樣，我也掩飾說(shuō)“我只想與家人更多的呆在一起”。
難句2 Curiously, some twoandahalf years and two novels later, my experiment in what the Americans term “downshifting”has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality.
［分析］此句主干是“... my experiment... has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality”。注意其謂語(yǔ)是一個(gè)turn sth. into sth.的結(jié)構(gòu)。前面兩個(gè)逗號(hào)之間的是時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)。
［譯文］奇怪的是，大約兩年半的時(shí)間我寫(xiě)完兩部小說(shuō)后，我這個(gè)被美國(guó)人稱為“放慢生活節(jié)奏”的試驗(yàn)，卻使我老掉牙的借口變成了現(xiàn)實(shí)。
難句3 I have discovered, as perhaps Kelsey will after her muchpublicized resignation from the editorship of She after a buildup of stress, that abandoning the doctrine of “juggling your life”, and making the alternative move into “downshifting”brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status.
［分析］此句中I have discovered是主句的主謂結(jié)構(gòu)，that abandoning the doctrine of “juggling your life”, and making the alternative move into “downshifting”brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status是主句的賓語(yǔ)，其中abandoning the doctrine of “juggling your life”, and making the alternative move into “downshifting”為該賓語(yǔ)從句的主語(yǔ)，brings為謂語(yǔ)。as perhaps Kelsey will after her muchpublicized resignation from the editorship of She after a buildup of stress既是伴隨狀語(yǔ)，又是插入語(yǔ)，其主語(yǔ)為Kelsey，謂語(yǔ)為will，而after her muchpublicized resignation from the editorship of She after a buildup of stress是本插入語(yǔ)中的時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)。
［譯文］我已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)（由于壓力過(guò)大，凱茜已公開(kāi)宣稱辭去《她》雜志編輯的職務(wù)，在這之后她也許會(huì)有同樣發(fā)現(xiàn)），放棄“忙忙碌碌”的生活哲學(xué)，轉(zhuǎn)而過(guò)一種“放慢生活節(jié)奏”的生活所帶來(lái)的回報(bào)，比經(jīng)濟(jì)成功和社會(huì)地位更有價(jià)值。
難句4 Downshifting—also known in America as “voluntary simplicity”—has, ironically, even bred a new area of what might be termed anticonsumerism.
［分析］此句主干是“Downshifting has bred a new area...”，破折號(hào)之間的是插入結(jié)構(gòu)，ironically也是插入語(yǔ)，可放在句首，what相當(dāng)于thought which。
［譯文］具有諷刺意味的是，“放慢生活節(jié)奏”——在美國(guó)也稱“甘愿簡(jiǎn)樸”——甚至孕育了一個(gè)嶄新的、可稱之為反消費(fèi)主義的生活方式。
難句5 For the women of my generation who were urged to keep juggling through the ’80s, downshifting in the mid’90s is not so much a search for the mythical good life—growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one—as a personal recognition of your limitations.
［分析］此句主干是“... downshifting in the mid’90s is not...”。其中who were urged to keep juggling through the ’80s是修飾the women of my generation的定語(yǔ)從句。growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one既是插入語(yǔ)，又是the mythical good life的同位語(yǔ)。本句中not so much A（a search for the mythical good life）as B（a personal recognition of your limitations）的句式含義，即“與其說(shuō)是A，不如說(shuō)是B”。
［譯文］對(duì)我們這一代女性來(lái)說(shuō)，整個(gè)80年代我們?cè)黄让β档厣睿?0年代中期的簡(jiǎn)化生活與其說(shuō)是尋找那種自己種有機(jī)蔬菜并試圖與之合一的神話般美好生活，還不如說(shuō)是對(duì)我們自身局限性的認(rèn)識(shí)。
文章類型：人文科學(xué)——生活態(tài)變的轉(zhuǎn)變
本文的主題是慢節(jié)奏（downshifting）的生活方式。作者以第一人稱的口吻敘述了自身生活方式轉(zhuǎn)變的過(guò)程，談及慢節(jié)奏的生活方式在美國(guó)的發(fā)展情況，并剖析了這種現(xiàn)象背后的原因。
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