阅读里面的有的短语能通过字面意思猜出来，比如give way to让路于，也就是被取代的意思，但还些跟字面意思关系不是很直接，比较难猜，比如trip up，看单词本身比较难看出来是绊倒/使犯错的意思，我甚至感觉它有点帮助的意思，就是引领着你在人生路途向上那么个感觉。对于这种比较离谱的短语，如果咱本身就是文化人，见得多了，积累多，问题不大，但如果不巧不是文化人，确实不认识，就只能看语境来猜，根据上下文的逻辑关系，起码确定一下短语的感情色彩。
我们来看三个例子。
took…so long to
Despite the wealth of textual, structural, and historical evidence supporting the incorporation doctrine, skeptics have raised important questions about the peculiar manner in which the Court eventually came to apply the Bill of Rights to the states—a judicial process that did not begin in earnest until the mid-twentieth century. What took the justices so long to see the light? 比如像这里面的took…so long to到底该理解为“很久就做了这件事”还是“等了很久才做这件事”？关键是第一句说的质疑者提出了一些重要问题，说the court（跟后面的the justices对应）最终转变为把权利法案适用于州，这个司法过程到了二十世纪中叶才正经开始。可见讲的是大法官们比较保守，拥抱变革很缓慢，所以后面的took so long应该是说等了很久时间才去做一件事情的意思。如果是老早就see the light，就跟前面说的很晚开始矛盾了。另外这里的the light就是启发的意思，see the light明白过来。阅读里面有时候也会出现shed light on这个短语，把光打在一个东西上面，就是阐释、阐明的意思。
took so long这个短语，还曾出现在一篇关于法律的文章里。
Historian F. W. Maitland observed that legal documents are the best—indeed, often the only—available evidence about the economic and social history of a given period. Why, then, has it taken so long for historians to focus systematically on the civil (noncriminal) law of early modern (sixteenth- to eighteenth-century) England? Maitland offered one reason: the subject requires researchers to “master an extremely formal system of pleading and procedure.”…
第一句说一个历史学家认为法律文件是最好甚至通常是唯一可利用的关于经济和社会史的资料。第二句作者就问了，那为什么历史学家花了这么久时间才去系统性地关注在早期现代英国的民事法律上。这个历史学家给了一个原因，就是民事法律相关的研究需要大家掌握很复杂的辩护体系。概括一下就是一个东西很重要，但一直被忽视，很久之后才被注意，有人认为是因为这玩意儿太复杂了，大家一开始搞不定。
left much to be desired
类似的还有 left much to be desired这个短语，直接看字面的话，可能理解为“很被追捧”，也可能理解为“有很大进步空间，现在很垃圾”的意思。看看语境会比较明显。As an interpretation of the Constitution, Pollock left much to be desired, as the four dissenters in the case made clear. （首先这是案件少数派意见对整个案件判决的看法，都是异议了，所以很难是正面的表达。）Justice Harlan’s dissent went so far as to describe the Pollock ruling as “a disaster to the country.” （其次这句话明确说了这是个灾难，可见left much to be desired不是在夸判例。）所以尽管字面上怎么都可以，多读读上下文，根据顺承展开这样一个逻辑关系比较容易判断出来这个短语是在委婉骂人的意思。
它还出现过在阅读文章里。In the lands around the Mediterranean, with light rains and mild winters, this had been fine, but in the wetter terrain north and west of the Danube and the Alps, such a plow left much to be desired, and it is to be wondered if it was used at all.
but前面说还行，可见后面是说不行。and it is后面说甚至怀疑到底有没有备用过，也就是比较垃圾的意思，and前面很可能也是说比较垃圾。所以通过前后信息的分析也可以确定这个left much to be desired是说在一些特定地方，某种犁比较差。
hard to overstate
有一个托福长难句是这样的：The importance of this in a world that usually lived at the margins of sufficient diet is hard to overstate. 很多同学对hard to overstate的理解是，“实在太烂，难以拔高”；但还有另一种理解是“实在太好，怎么高估都算不上高估”。仅从字面意思看好像都合理，这时候就需要看上下文。
Another indicator of how compelling and important was the new horse agriculture was its sheer cost. Unlike oxen and other cattle, horses cannot be supported exclusively on hay and pasturage; they require, particularly in northern climates where pasturing seasons are short, cropped food, such as oats and alfalfa. Unlike grass and hay, these are grown with much of the same effort and resources applied to human nourishment, and thus their acquisition represents a sacrifice, in a real sense, of human food. The importance of this in a world that usually lived at the margins of sufficient diet is hard to overstate.
第一句说新的有马农业到底有多重要和紧迫，看它的成本就明白了。后面大概意思就是说马很挑，给它弄吃的很费劲，同样的精力本来可以给人类弄吃的，也就是说为了给马吃，人吃得少了。可见前面都是在强调马的成本高，马很重要。相应最后一句跟前面没有明显的转折词，优先理解为顺承，所以正确的理解应该是“实在太好，怎么高估都不算高估”。具体到语境里的意思是，人类自己也才刚刚够得上充足营养就愿意为了马而牺牲自己的利益，这种环境下，这么操作的意义怎么高估都不为过。
在一篇新闻里也有一个“hard to overstate”。
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the rural vote to Bolsonaro. Agriculture increased to 27% of gross domestic product in 2021 vs. 20% in 2018, the year before he took office, according to researchers at the University of São Paulo. And farm revenue, boosted by soaring commodity prices, last year reached a record high of $230 billion. “Agribusiness supports Bolsonaro because of his conservative agenda and the legal security his government has provided,” says Tereza Cristina, who served as his agriculture minister for more than three years. “Titles granted by Bolsonaro have given hope to thousands of Brazilians who can now have land in their name.”
跟上面的例子相反，hard to overstate不在段尾，在段首了。其实在段首可能更好理解，因为段首的句子很多时候是观点句，负责任的作者一般后面都会有个具体的展开。我们看到后面都在说农业发展了，收入创纪录，农业界的人都支持现任巴西总统。所以就算在字面意思上不是很确定，通过句子之间的论点论据关系，我们可以比较明确地知道段首是为了强调乡村选民对于巴西现任总统具有很大的意义。
做阅读题的时候也是一样，多根据上下文来理解句意/短语意义，这样正确率会更高。
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