例204　Thus it happened that when the new factories that were springing up required labor, thousands of homeless and hungry agricultural peasants were flooding into the cities in search of work that would keep them alive.

【结构分析】主干是形式主语it happened...，后面是that引导的主语从句，这个句子中刚开始用了状语从句when the new factories that were springing up required labor，这个状语从句中间有定语从句that were springing up, that引导的主语从句的主干是thousands of homeless and hungry agricultural peasants were flooding into the cities，后面加上介词短语in search of work，后面再加上定语从句that would keep them alive，修饰前面的名词work。

【亮点回放】此句话的亮点在于it形式主语引导的句子，中间有状语从句，状语从句套有定语从句，后面还有介词短语套上定语从句，非常有气势。

【核心词汇】

it happened that　紧跟着出现的是

spring up　拔地而起

homeless　无家可归

agricultural peasants　农民

flood into　涌入

in search of work　找工作

【参考译文】所以，紧跟着出现的情况是当拔地而起的工厂需要劳动力时，数以千计的无家可归和饥饿的农民涌入大城市，为了寻找能够让他们活下来的工作。