雅思阅读长难句分析之1.并列结构
1. They based their calendars on three natural cycles: the solar day, marked by the successive periods of light and darkness as the earth rotates on its axis; the lunar month, following the pass of the moon as it orbits the earth; and the solar year, defined by the changing seasons that accompany our planet’srevolution around the sun. (C8T1)
这句话简直是一个可以称之为经典的并列结构，从冒号后面是三个排列超级整齐的并列结构，具体是这样的：太阳日，分词+as从句;农历月份，分词+as从句;and 阳历年，分词+that从句。稍微解释一下这里分词的用法，过去分词和前面名词的关系时被动，现在分词和前面名词关系时主动，因此，这句话的意思是：“他们把日历基于三个自然周期，太阳日，农历月份和阳历年。太阳日被记录为太阳自传时连续的一个白天和晚上的时间段;农历月份跟随的是月亮绕地球旋转的过程;阳历年被定义为变化的季节，这些季节伴随着地球对太阳的公转。翻译的不太像人话，是为了尽量不改变英语的顺序让大家能够看的更明白。
雅思阅读长难句分析之2.定语从句
2. Hence, the calendars that were developed at the lower latitude were influenced more by the lunar cycle than by the solar year. (C8T1)
首先我们需要注意到这里有个定语从句 that were developed at the lower latitude，撇开从句先来看主句内容：因此，和阳历比起来，日历被农历循环影响的更多。日历后出现了定语从句，所以这句话的完整解释为：低纬度地区发明的日历受到阴历的影响比阳历多。
雅思阅读长难句分析之3.however用法
In more northern climes, however, where seasonal agriculture was practiced, the solar year became more crucial. (C8T1)
However, 在中国同学的作文中，however经常出现在句首，但是在阅读中大家经常能够发现，however的地方是在第二句的中间位置，但是这不不影响我们的理解，however仍然是和放在句首的意思一样，用来转折这句话和上句话的。调整however的位置以后这句话顿时清爽了很多：However, in more northern climes where seasonal agriculture was practiced, the solar year became more crucial. 这下大家就不难发现，where引导的是个定语从句，修饰前面的northern climes，值得注意的是，where在定语从句中不做主宾成分，而做状语成分。这句话的意思是：在更靠北的地方，这些地方实行季节更重，太阳年变的很重要。
雅思阅读长难句分析之4.as从句
As the Roman Empire expanded northward,k it organized its activity chart for the most part around the solar year. (C8T1)
这句话超级简单啦，是由as引导的从句，表示当、随着。这句话的意思是：随着罗马帝国向北扩张，它组织了很多活动(表)，大多数根据阳历年制定的。
雅思阅读长难句分析之5.
In oder to track temporal hours during the day, investors created sundials, which indicate time by the length or direction of the sun’s shadow. (C8T1)这句话想对简单一些，当句子很长时，经常会把状语(to)一类的放在句首，并用逗号隔开。在文章中看到sundial这样的单词，如果不认识不要着急，看看它后面有没有什么修饰词来解释它，这句话在后面加上了定语从句。the length or direction of the sun’s shadow是个很长的名词短语，A of B在中文中翻译成B 的A，所以这歌短语的意思是：太阳影子的长度或方向。
