课程短文

Unluckily, some quality management system failures do make headlines.

不幸的是，一些质 量管理系统的失败确实成了头条新闻。英语中，强调谓语动词时，可以用“助动词 do（does / did）+ 动词原形”的结构。例如：Do be careful when you cross the street. 过马路时，务必（千万） 要小心啊！ To my great joy, the plant did look exactly like what we were looking for. 让我高兴 的是，这个绿植看起来确实正是我们想要的。make headlines 成为媒体的头版头条新闻，这里 headline 通常使用复数形式。

Proper controls that should have been developed as part of routine safety procedures were not in place.

本该开发的作为日常安全程序一部分的恰当的管控措施没有到位。本句中，that引导的定语从句修饰主语 proper controls，其中 should have been developed 为虚拟语气的被动 语态，“should have + 过去分词” 表示与过去事实相反的情况，预期发生但实际上并未发生。 例如： I should have locked the door before I left the classroom. 我应该在离开教室的时候锁上 门（实际情况是我并没有锁门）。

The only new nuclear power stations built since that day were the ones already under construction.

事故之后新建的核电站都是当时已经开工建设的核电站。过去分词短语 built since that day 作后置定语，修饰句子主语 nuclear power stations。又如：The books sold before November had a special discount. 11 月前销售的图书有特别优惠折扣。这句话中的过去分词结 构 sold before November 作后置定语修饰 The books。under construction 正在施工中。

Apparently the entire US auto industry decided to spend the 1970s resting on their laurels after building great cars that sold well during the sixties.

很显然，在 20 世纪 60 年代制造 出质量过硬且销售良好的汽车后，70 年代美国整个汽车工业打定了主意吃老本。spend (time) doing sth. 花（时间）做某事，spend 后接动名词。例如：I spent the whole weekend reading a novel. 我花了整个周末的时间读了一本小说。rest on 依靠；停留在。介词 on 后面接名词。例如： After a long day, he fell asleep resting on the desk. 忙了一整天后，他倚在桌子上睡着了。

Not only were many cars built in the 1970s ugly and poorly designed, they also became very unreliable after 40-50 thousand miles.

20 世纪 70 年代制造的很多汽车不仅外观设计难看，性 能也较差，而且这些汽车在行驶了四五万英里后性能还会变得相当不稳定。not only ... (but) (also) ... 为固定句式，相当于中文的“不仅……而且……”，not only 放在句首接句子时要用 倒装结构，即把谓语提到主语的前面。根据不同句子的语义情况，but 与 also 在使用时可以分 别省略或同时省略，但不影响两个分句间递进语义关系的表达。例如：Not only did she forget my birthday, she also didn't even apologize for forgetting it. 她不仅忘记了我的生日，甚至也没 有道歉。

Apple almost lost its dominance in the smart phone market when it became clear that it was difficult to make a call using the much expected iPhone 4.

当发现期待已久的 iPhone 4 打电 话那么困难时，苹果几乎失去了在智能手机市场的主导地位。在时间状语从句 when it became clear ... 中，it 为形式主语，真正的主语为后面 that 引导的从句。而在这个 that 引导的从句中， it was difficult to make a call ... 中的 it 也是形式主语，真正的主语是后面的动词不定式结构 to make a call ...。用 it 作主语是为了避免主语过长造成头重脚轻，因此将主语放在句末。例如： It is too late to catch up the train. 太晚了，赶不上火车了。

Calls were dropped suddenly and frequently causing wide spread dissatisfaction among loyal customers who had upgraded to the new model early on.

通话会频繁地突然断掉，这引起了刚刚升级到新款手机的忠实客户们的广泛不满。这个句子较长，关键在于理解中间部分 causing wide spread dissatisfaction among loyal customers ...，该部分是现在分词短语作结果状语，指前面提到的 Calls were dropped suddenly and frequently 造成的结果。who had upgraded to the new model early on 是修饰限定 loyal customers 的定语从句，upgrade to ... 提升到……， 升级到……。例如：This tutorial will explain how to upgrade to a newer version of the program. 本次讲座将解释如何将程序升级到更新的版本。

… not a great feature for a handheld device mainly used to make calls. ……

对于一个主要用 于打电话的手持设备来说并不是一个优点。句子开头省略了 It is，it 指上文提到的 touching the left side of the case at a certain spot interrupted the signal and dropped the call，即“触碰手机左 侧某个位置会妨碍信号，导致通话意外中断”。过去分词短语 mainly used to make calls 作为 后置定语修饰 a handheld device。

As the problem continued to make news headlines, Apple eventually agreed to a “voluntary” recall to correct the problem.

由于这个问题连续成为新闻头条，苹果公司终于同意“自 愿”召回并维修问题手机。as 在这里是用作连接原因状语从句的连词，它与同样表示原因的 because 相比语气更弱。as 表示从句中的原因显而易见，或者理由不是很重要，常译为“由于， 鉴于”。

All of the above famous quality management failures could probably have been prevented if the principles of a fully functioning quality management system had been in place.

如果一 套功能完备的质量管理体系的各项准则都落实到位，那么，上述这些众所周知的质量管理事故 可能就不会发生。could probably have been prevented 是虚拟语气的被动语态形式，表示这些 质量管理事故在过去有被阻止的可能性，但并未真正被阻止，后面的 if 从句也表示，这些质 量管理体系的准则并没有落实到位。在 if 引导的条件从句中，谓语动词使用了过去完成式 had been，说明是假设过去的事情，与过去事实不符。例如：I could have finished my homework if I had not been ill last weekend. 如果上周末我没有生病，我就会完成作业了。