求教：难句分析！

以下是引用JerryGuan在2004-3-9 22:46:00的发言：
The order of reality that interests the scientists is the empirical order, that is, the order of data and phenomena revealed to us through observation or experience. To be precise or explicit about what is, and is not, revealed by observation is not always easy, to be sure. And often it is necessary for our natural powers of observation to be supplemented by the most intricate of mechanical aids for a given object to become "empirical" in the sense just used. That the electron is not as immediately visible as is the mountain range does not mean, obviously, that it is any less empirical. That social behavior does not lend itself to as quick and accurate description as, say, chemical behavior of gases and compounds does not mean that social roles, statuses, and attitudes are nay less emprical than molecules and tissues.



我给你们的讨论弄糊涂了：（         Anyway, 我还是以我自己对本句子的理解。to become 是修饰to be supplemented ，后者是it 的指代对象。不过还是不太肯定，：（