例259 The casual friendliness of many Americans should be interpreted neither as superficial nor artificial, but as the result of a historically developed cultural tradition.
【结构分析】这句话的主语是The casual friendliness of many Americans,动词是should be interpreted as,第一个宾语是superficial,第二个宾语是artificial, but后面是介词短语做状语,也就是as the result of a historically developed cultural tradition。
【亮点回放】此句话的亮点在于neither...nor...的精彩使用,表示“既不是,也不是”,是个很好的句子,写作可以用到。
【核心词汇】
casual friendliness 不经意间的礼貌
interpreted as 被称之为
superficial 肤浅的
artificial 做作的
cultural tradition 文化传统
【参考译文】很多美国人不经意间所透露出的礼貌举止应该不能解释为肤浅和矫揉造作,而是历史积淀下来的文化传统。