请教 OG139

booker

139. The extraordinary diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King, prime minister of Canada for over twenty years, revealed that this most bland and circumspect of men was a mystic guided in both public and private life by omens, messages received at seances, and signs from heaven.
A.    that this most bland and circumspect of men was a mystic guided in both public and
B.    that this most bland and circumspect of men was a mystic and also guided both in public as well as
C.    this most bland and circumspect of men was a mystic and that he was guided in both public and
D.    this most bland and circumspect of men was a mystic and that he was guided in both public as well as
E.    this most bland and circumspect of men to have been a mystic and that he guided himself both in public as well as

这道题的正确答案很容易找出来，不过有个问题还是很让我头疼：
this most bland and circumspect of men 的中心词是什么？是bland and circumspect么？形容词可以做主语么？如果most band and circumpsect 是主语那么为什么谓语是单数was?  若不然着是一个倒装的句子么？主语是a mystic?

ExBai_07

这道题我也不明白：除了你说的形容词作主语和谓语单数的问题，我感觉还有一个逻辑问题，应该是King was a mystic, 而不应该是this most bland and circumspect, 形容词前面加the可以表示一类人，但这里是这种用法吧？或者是类似于the professor and physician is这样的用法，表示一个人具有两种身份？盼解答。

siebel

a small tip, hopefully (it:-) can solve the problems above:

... this most bland and circumspect (man) of men was a mystic guided in both public ...

booker

我试着翻译了一下这句话：
做了二十多年加拿大首相的King的特别的日记揭示了这个最平和最谨慎的人是一个在公共和私人生活中被来自天堂的征兆(omens,message received at seances)和预示(signs)指引的神秘主义者。

在翻译过程中似乎明白了一些，部分同意ExBai_07 的意见,认为the most bland and circumspect of men （最平和最谨慎的人，  待确认）作为从句主语应该是指KING。如此一来似乎解决了一些疑问，但强烈请求大牛们确认。
另外：message received at seances 中的seance是指什么意思，用降神会来翻译过于抽象吧？

ExBai_07

seance这里应该译为“降神会”，短语意思为“从降神会上得到的预言”。
siebel的解释确实很有技巧，我在Gre100难句中见过类似的省略，不过要在考试中识别出来可太难了，我早就把它当错误选项排除了！

booker

发了上面的帖子才看到siebel的小技巧。多谢！很有用，普遍性待逐步考察，呵呵

booker

seance 是象咱们老祖宗当年在天灾之时拜台子请神保佑么？我的词霸没有这个词的英文解释所以搞搞不清楚为什么会seance里得到omens.
ExBai_07所言极是，the+adj 是初中就学过的，但是我看到 this most + adj of n 立刻就蒙了。即使猜出怎么会事也不敢肯定。还是读的东西太少。

ruthere

以下是引用booker在2003-5-30 8:09:00的发言：
seance 是象咱们老祖宗当年在天灾之时拜台子请神保佑么？我的词霸没有这个词的英文解释所以搞搞不清楚为什么会seance里得到omens.
ExBai_07所言极是，the+adj 是初中就学过的，但是我看到 this most + adj of n 立刻就蒙了。即使猜出怎么会事也不敢肯定。还是读的东西太少。

"seance" -- meeting, especially of spiritualists, at which people try to talk with the spirits of the dead. (fm Oxford Dictionary)

[此贴子已经被作者于2003-5-30 17:47:34编辑过]

booker

谢谢ruthere的解释，那场景让我想起了《人鬼情未了》

phoebe2009

以下是引用booker在2003-5-30 7:43:00的发言：
我试着翻译了一下这句话：
做了二十多年加拿大首相的King的特别的日记揭示了这个最平和最谨慎的人是一个在公共和私人生活中被来自天堂的征兆(omens,message received at seances)和预示(signs)指引的神秘主义者。

在翻译过程中似乎明白了一些，部分同意ExBai_07 的意见,认为the most bland and circumspect of men （最平和最谨慎的人，  待确认）作为从句主语应该是指KING。如此一来似乎解决了一些疑问，但强烈请求大牛们确认。
另外：message received at seances 中的seance是指什么意思，用降神会来翻译过于抽象吧？

139. The extraordinary diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King, prime minister of Canada for over twenty years, revealed that this most bland and circumspect of men was a mystic guided in both public and private life by omens,
        messages received at seances, and signs from heaven.

按照上面的翻译， 是omen 和sign平行，中间的messages received at seances是插入语，

 可是偶觉得是这 三个 并列啊  1）omens, 2）messages received at seances, 3）signs from heaven.

谁能解答一下呢？谢谢