1. The enemy attempted to win over uncle Chen, but it was in vain. 敵人企圖把陳大叔拉過去，但是徒然無效。
【分析】in vain = uselessly; without a successful result. 表示“徒然，枉然，沒有結(jié)果”。
2. It is no use trying to persuade him to accept the gift. 設法說服他去接受這份禮物是徒勞的(白費心機的)。
【分析】①“It is no use ~ing”中，~ing是動詞形式，它表示的是“做…是徒勞的”的意思;② 此外it也可以連接由疑問詞所引導的從句。
3. It is not till they lose it that people know the value of health. 直到失去健康，人們才知道健康的價值。
【分析】“It is not till (until)…that…”是not till (until)的強調(diào)句型，它就是讓it is…that…的一種變化，表示“直到”的意思。
4. It is with life as with a dream. 人生就像是一場夢。
【分析】It is with… as with…= It is in… as in…，表示“…就像是…”之意，前面的詞語是句子的重點，as with緊跟的詞語則是它的比喻。
5. It will be some time before it returns to its original shape. 到它恢復到原來的形狀為止，是要花上一些時間的。
【分析】“It will be…before…”表示“到…為止，要花…的時間”，它除了將來時的形式出現(xiàn)外，還可以用其他的形式來表達。
第二步：練習與進步
A. 翻譯
1. 我在這兒干死干活的，可是根本就沒有機會漲工資，更別說升職了。
2. 當火車啟動時，設法趕上那趟車是徒勞的。
3. 夏天到了，直到19:00，天才開始逐漸黑下來。
4. 人生就像是一次遠行，經(jīng)歷喜怒哀樂，同時積累經(jīng)驗。
5. 人類就像土地一樣，有時會存在著所有人都沒有發(fā)覺的金礦。
6. 花了八年多時間，軍隊才擊敗敵人獲得全面勝利。
7. 不管你說什么，我和那件事無關(guān)。
8. 總統(tǒng)和這起賄賂案沒有關(guān)系。
9. 老師聽到那個男孩小聲地說了些什么，她讓他高聲重復。
10. 他們完成這項工程的監(jiān)理工作需要花半年的時間。
【參考答案】
1. I am just spinning my wheels here—there’s no chance to get a pay raise, much less a promotion.
2. It is no use trying to catch up with the train once it starts.
3. Summer is coming, now it was not until 7:00 p.m. that the sky starts getting dark.
4. It is in life as in a long journey: going through difficulties, as well as pleasant times, and at the same time, concentrated experiences.
5. It is in man as in soil that there is sometimes a vein of gold that the owner is unaware of.
6. It was more than 8 years before the army defeated the enemy completely
7. Whatever you may say, I have no concern with that issue.
8. The president had no concern with the bribery case.
9. The teacher heard the boy say something under his breath and she asked him to repeat it aloud.
10. It will be about another half a year before they finish the engineering construction supervision.
B. 改錯
1. We protested on vain. The government still insisted on
demolishing the building.
2. All he has done is vain. It won’t save our company.
3. It is absurd think about a plan that is impossible to implement.
4. Discipline can be relaxed until the last day of school has passed.
5. The country did not became a real democracy unless the middle
of last century.
6. It is with read books as with receiving education in social sciences.
7. It is with researching historic characters as with communicate with
persons of that time.
8. I thought it is with accepting the task as with putting it into
practice before I assimilated into the society.
9. It will be about half a year after you finish the engineering
construction supervision.
10.It will be about three years of getting to know each other
before they decided to marry.
【參考答案】
1. on―in 2. is―is in 3. think―thinking 4. can―cannot
5. unless―until 6. read―reading 7. communicate―communicating
8. is―was 9. after―before 10. will be―took
第三步：偉人偉招
1. 克己復禮式
The greater the man, the more restrained his anger. (Ovid )
人越偉大，越能克制怒火。(奧維德)
【點評】通過這句話我們要進一步學習兩個類似句型：
The + ~er + S. + V., … the + ~er + S. + V. …
The + more + adj. + S. + V., … the + more + adj. + S. + V. …(愈…愈…)
The harder you work, the more progress you make. 你愈努力，你愈進步。
The more books we read, the more learned we become. 我們書讀愈多，我們愈有學問。
2. 聰明易糊涂難式
It is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them. (A. E. Stevenson)
為原則而斗爭容易，按原則的要求活著難。(史蒂文森)
【點評】“it is +比較級+to do sth. than to do sth.”是另外一個重要的比較級的句型。
第四步：實踐與提高
將下面的句子補充完整：
1. There is little doubt that serious attention must be called to the problem of …
2. It is necessary that effective action be taken to prevent the situation .
3. It is hoped that great efforts be taken to control the growth of…
4. It is hoped that great efforts will be directed towards finding …
5. It remains to be seen whether…, but the prospects are (not) very encouraging .
6. At any rate, wider attention should be given to the possible consequences of…
7. To reverse the trend is not a light task , and it requires a different state of mind towards …
8. For these reasons, I strongly recommend that…
9. For the reasons given above, I feel that…
10. Taking into account the reasons mentioned above, we can confidently come to a conclusion that….
