写了个英语学习小工具

In the course of conducting research in a number of industries and working directly with companies, we have discovered that managers often fail to recognize the less obvious but profound ways these trends are influencing consumers' aspirations, attitudes, and behaviours.

定语从句these trends ... and behaviors，修饰前面的名词ways
"ways" 后面既可以加 "that"，也可以省略 "that"。这是因为 "that" 在这里引导的是一个限制性定语从句，而在某些情况下，尤其是当 "that" 引导的从句中主语或宾语的位置不是特别复杂时，"that" 可以被省略。
具体来说，"ways that these trends are influencing..." 和 "ways these trends are influencing..." 都是正确的表达。省略 "that" 不会改变句子的意义

What we've decided to present today is information about just three species -- because we felt these gave a good indication of the processes at work in rural and urban settings as a whole.
“at work” 在这里调了某些过程正在起作用或正在发生。这个短语常用于描述某种力量、机制、或过程在背后起作用、产生影响。因此，句子中的 “at work” 表明这些过程正在农村和城市环境中发挥作用或产生影响

In the course of conducting research in a number of industries and working directly with companies, we have discovered that managers often fail to recognize the less obvious but profound ways these trends are influencing consumers' aspirations, attitudes, and behaviours.
后半句可以改成
fail to recognize that these trends are influencing consumers' aspirations, attitudes, and behaviours in less obvious but profound ways.
course 在这里是“过程”的意思

The conviction that historical relics provide infallible testimony about the past is rooted in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when science was regarded as objective and value free.


在英文中，`regarded as` 后面通常跟名词或名词短语，但跟形容词也是可以的。  
不过，需要理解的是，这种用法通常会省略了`something`或`being`等词汇。

例如：  
- `Science was regarded as objective and value-free.`  
这句话中的`objective`和`value-free`是形容词，但句子的结构可以理解为：  
- `Science was regarded as something that is objective and value-free.`  
或  
- `Science was regarded as being objective and value-free.`

这种省略的用法在英语中是很常见的，所以在这个句子里跟形容词也是可以的。

还不错，闲的没事随便背背

a1195992737 发表于 2024-9-2 07:47
还不错，闲的没事随便背背

我目前背了 60/100

After this, many researchers switched to autoganzfeld tests -- an automated variant of the technique which used computers to perform many of the key tasks such as the random selection of images.
这里的 technique 前面为什么加 the？

ChatGPT said:
在这个句子中，"the technique" 前面的 "the" 是特指之前已经提到过的某个具体的技术（technique）。在上下文中，"the technique" 指的是之前讨论的某种特定方法或实验技术。这里的 "the" 起到明确指代的作用，表明这个技术是已经被提及或已经为读者所知的，而不是随便指任何技术。

如果前面没有提到过某个具体的技术，那么这里就会使用 "a technique"（一种技术）。但是由于前面已经讨论过某个具体的技术，所以这里用 "the" 来特指它。

感谢分享

We tend to think of climate -- as opposed to weather -- as something unchanging, yet humanity has been at the mercy of climate change for its entire existence, with at least eight glacial episodes in the past 730,000 years.

“as opposed to”是一个固定表达，意思是“与……相对”或“相对于……”。在这里，“as opposed to weather”这部分的意思是“与天气相对”，引出了“climate”和“weather”之间的对比

It's true that the actual construction of the house was harmful to the environment, mainly because they had to use massive amounts of concrete—one of the biggest sources of carbon dioxide in manufacturing.

"Actual construction" 的意思是“实际的建造”或“实际的施工”。在你提供的句子中，它指的是房屋的实际建造过程。

amounts 为什么用复数？

"Amounts" 用复数是因为在句子中指的是**大量的混凝土**，即混凝土的多个部分或大量的体积。使用复数“amounts”可以强调所需混凝土的数量非常庞大。如果只用“amount”单数，则更强调总的一个整体数量，而复数则表示有很多不同的量或不同类型的混凝土被使用。