It is difficult to the point of impossibility for the average reader under the age of forty to imagine a time when high-quality arts criticism could be found in most big-city newspapers.

　　【长难句分析图解】

　　篇章超精读

　　①It is difficult to the point of impossibility for the average reader under the age of forty to imagine a time when high-quality arts criticism could be found in most big-city newspapers.

　　②Yet a considerable number of the most significant collections of criticism published in the 20th century consisted in large part of newspaper reviews.

　　③To read such books today is to marvel at the fact that their learned contents were once deemed suitable for publication in general-circulation dailies.

　　参考译文

　　①我怀疑，年龄在 40 岁以下的普通读者无法想象那样一个能够在大部分的大城市报纸上找到高质量的文艺评论的时代。

　　②然而有大量在 20 世纪出版的具有最重要意义的评论作品在报纸评论中占据了很大部分。

　　③如今去读这种书籍会使人们对这样一种事实感到大为惊讶，那就是这些书籍广博的内容曾经被人们认为很适合在面对大众发行的日报上刊登。