og 43

wubin

43. In the minds of many people living in England, before Australia was Australia, it was the antipodes, the opposite pole to civilization, an obscure and unimagin-able place that was considered the end of the world.
(A) before Australia was Australia, it was the antipodes
(B) before there was Australia, it was the antipodes
(C) it was the antipodes that was Australia
(D) Australia was what was the antipodes
(E) Australia was what had been known as the antipodes
Choice A is best, for A alone makes clear that the land now known as Australia was considered the antipodes before it was developed. In B, it has no logical referent, because the previous clause describes a time when there was no Australia. Nor does it have a referent in C: substituting Australia for it produces a nonsensical statement. D is wordy, with the unnecessary what was, and imprecise in suggesting that Australia was considered the antipodes after it became Australia. E similarly distorts the original meaning, and the past perfect had been is inconsistent with the past tense used to establish a time frame for the rest of the sentence.
Explanation 的最后一句话说是太不对，可是我觉得讲的通啊：澳大利亚就是以前被称为antipodes 的地方，一个用过去时，一个用过去完成时没错啊，我倒是对antipode 为plural有异议。

light

1.澳大利亚(現在的澳大利亚)就是以前被称为antipodes的地方(過去被称为antipodes)
所以不需要用到过去完成.

2. Australia was what had been known as the antipodes,
   the opposite pole to civilization,
   an obscure and unimagin-able place that was considered the end of the world.

三句應是同位語性質,屬於同一個time frame,但畫線部分時態卻不一致.

不知道理解有沒有錯......題外話,如果WHAT聽得懂,我很想對他說,
請WHAT兄弟你不要在gmat考題裡出現了,你那摩複雜,這裡不適合你的.....

wubin

lightMM我很感动，听完你的讲解我有豁然开朗的感觉，但还有一问：B 中的it指带Australia不行吗？那A 中的it 不就指的是Australia吗？前面没有任何其他的现成的词可供it 指代。请指教。MM好辛苦啊1点多还在复习，要不就是妹妹在国外。

light

B中的it有歧义,(B) before there was Australia, it was the antipodes.
it可以代替there(a unknown place),也可以代替Australia.

MM好辛苦啊1点多还在复习

我也希望是这样的,可惜不是   

wubin

what does the "it" in A refer to?

light

(A) before Australia was Australia, it was the antipodes

   三個都是指Australia.

braveMBA

MM该换照片了，很长时间了，不象你的风格。