OG 17

17. Native American burial sites dating back 5,000 years indicate that the residents of Maine at that time were part of a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people.

(A)              were part of a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people

(B)              had been part of a widespread culture of people who were Algonquian-speaking

(C)             were people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking

(D)             had been people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking

(E)              were a people which had been part of a wide­spread, Algonquian-speaking culture

Choice A is best because it correctly uses the simple past tense, the residents... at that time were, and because it is the most concise. In B and D, the replacement of were with the past perfect had been needlessly changes the original meaning by suggesting that the Native Americans had previously ceased to be part of the widespread culture. All of the choices but A are wordy, and in C, D, and E the word people redundantly describes the residents rather than the larger group to which the residents belonged. These choices are also imprecise because they state that the culture, rather than people, spoke the Algonquian language. Choice E displays inconsistent tenses and an error of pronoun reference, people which.

这个题我选对了，可是有些不明白，题目到底是什么意思呢？怎么能说“人是一部分文化呢？”后面的那个什么语的人，更是连接不上了？请那位NN帮我翻译一下？

说Algonquian语的人的文明。好比是：玛雅人的文明；中国人的文明

culture - 文明；文化

那这样翻译对吗？

5000前的印第安埋葬地显示，玛雅人在那个时候是说Algonquian语的人的文明的一部分。

怎么觉得，人是文明的一部分，这么不舒服啊？还是我理解错了？

五个选项全如此:  人是文明的一部分.         

没有其他选择

所以, 这样理解是可以的. 如果不习惯, 记住它.

给个点子  想成 一脉 / 一支

ex.汉族 是中华民族/中华文化的 一支/一脉

这个题目的意思是

可以追溯到5000年的北美埋葬地显示那时候缅因州的居民是说阿尔冈琴语的人文化传播的一个分支.

and in C, D, and E the word people redundantly describes the residents rather than the larger group to which the residents belonged.

这一句看的云里雾里的，究竟指什么，能解释一下吗？

用中文解釋好了

假設這一題我們可以翻譯為：追溯到5000年的北美埋葬地显示那时候缅因州的居民是说阿尔冈琴语的人文化传播的一个分支.　

那麼很明顯的，AB選項的people是指说阿尔冈琴语的人，而CDE的people，則是指那时候缅因州的居民。

OG的解釋說的很清楚，CDE是把people錯誤當成residents，而不是當成residents所屬的那些大多數說阿爾格琴語的人

有點像繞口令，但希望能幫得上忙

不知道理解的对不对，请XDJM指正．

我认为还是指说阿尔冈琴语人的一个部分，可以这样翻译：5000年的土著美洲人的埋葬地显示，那时候缅因州的居民是文化广泛传播的说阿尔冈琴语人的一个部分．

a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people中of就象lots of ...中的用法一样

为便于理解，可将句子简化如下：residents of Maine at that time were part of of Algonquian-speaking people.

而a widespread culture of 是用来修饰 people，理解把它重新加进去即可．

关于of在此处的用法的根据请参照：LONGMAN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH-CHINESE DICTIONARY中of的解释：

of:4,(that is)part in relatoin to (a whole or all)

        Cbefore mass nouns)（在不可数前）： lots of sugar,a blade of grass