OG17

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.

A到底怎么翻译,突然觉得看糊涂了

the residents of Maine （at that time） were part of （a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking） people.

M的居民（在那个时候）是一个广泛分布说A语文化的一部分人

古镯斑竹分析的很有道理：

另人气愤的是：ets总是强调表达意思要清晰，不要产生歧义，但是自己出的题目，很容易让人们误以为residents是culture。

我觉得这个表达可以算做og里面经常提到的awkward的那种类型了。（尽管它是正确答案）

哎！这年头，人在屋檐下，不得不低头。

可我觉得挺别别扭的的

昨天仔细看了og的解释，才明白5楼的理解是正确的。

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.

从上面这句话可以看出，B 和D的错误在于suggesting that the Native Americans had previously ceased to be part of the widespread culture. 所以从ceased to be可以看出，og的本意应该是说native americans一直都是，而不是以前是part of the widespread culture。

所以，我认为古镯斑竹的解释不正确。

In sum, residents is a part of the culture rather than ....speaking people.

不明白你说的。不认为古镯理解有误。

A里面没有用过去完成时，没有说这个Agonquian-speaking现在不是。（没有强调过这个意思）。而B和Ｄ的错就是过去完成时时态的特征，表示已经完成了的东西。

所以我认为古镯的解释和OG不矛盾的。

OG在这里表达的意思是，如果用了过去完成时态，就表明一种暗示，曾经是或拥有一种状态，但是后来没有了，“ceased to be”，表明，BD暗示native Americans曾经是part of the widespread culture，但后来ceased to be了，所以changes the original meaning ！

对啊，og认为B和D错误的原因是：had been的使用方法的错误，而不是residents of Maine ware part of the widespread culture的错误。所以，我认为

那么下面这种化句子的方法，就不是很正确。

the residents of Maine （at that time） were part of （a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking） people.

M的居民（在那个时候）是一个广泛分布说A语文化的一部分人

而应该是

the residents of Maine （at that time） were part of a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people.

culture是中心词，后面的of是属于所有格结构。

那么意思就是m的居民是。。。Algonquian-speaking people的文化的一个部分。

Tobediscussed...

我也觉得应该是这样的！

the residents of Maine （at that time） were part of （a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking） people.

M的居民（在那个时候）是一个广泛分布说A语文化的一部分人。

读起来实在拗口！