1. A cherished tradition has it that when Elizabeth heard the news that she was to become queen on November 17th, 1558, she was seated beneath an ancient oak tree.
【解析1】beneath是文学用语,在诗文中常见,相当于under。
seat在这里做动词用,意思是“使坐下”,那么表示“坐下,坐下”,用被动语态——be seated。
cherish是“持有(观念,想法)”的意思,这里用其过去分词,意思是“被(人们)所认为的,为(众人)所认为的”。
【解析2】A tradition has it that可以视为口语或写作的句型,意思是“据说,传说,相传”,也可以简化为“Tradition has it that...”。
从语法的角度看,that后面的句子为同位语从句,该句子“when Elizabeth heard the news that she was to become queen on November 17th, 1558, she was seated beneath an ancient oak tree”是同位语从句,其同位词是tradition,补充说明“tradition”的具体内容是什么。再如:
Tradition has it that all Confucius's students had planted trees native to their own birthplace here so that there is now a wide variety of trees.(相传,孔子的弟子都将故乡的良种树木移植到这里,因此树木品种甚多。)
【解析3】解析2中的同位语从句“when Elizabeth heard the news that she was to become queen on November 17th, 1558, she was seated beneath an ancient oak tree”又含有一个同位语从句为“that she was to become queen on November 17th, 1558”,其同为词是news,补充说明“news”的具体内容。
2. In fact, it was little short of a miracle that she had made it to that day alive.
【解析】alive在这里的意思是“存在的”,是形容词,做名词day的后置定语,它通常不放在名词前作定语。再如:
He’s the happiest man alive. 他在世界上最幸福的人。
2. She had been only two, after all, when her mother, Anne Boleyn, had gone to the scaffold, her sin in Henry's mind at least being her failure to produce a son.
【解析】her sin in Henry's mind at least being her failure to produce a son是独立主格的结构。独立主格中at least和in Henry’s mind都是修饰名词sin的。
3. It must have been a body possessed by others, by the devil.
【解析】possessed by others, by the devil是过去分词做后置定语,修饰body。
4. Out of her dark Boleyn eyes, she watched herself being watched.
【解析1】句中的有2个watch,一个是“watch”是“看到”的意思,第二个“watch”是“监视”的意思。
【解析2】句中有watch这个词是注意其后的宾语的补足语是动词的话,要使用现在分词形式。上句中herself是翻身代词做宾语,表示“被监视”,watch要使用被动语态,系动词用be,要用现在分词,所以在这里就使用being。
【解析3】out of意思是“从.......”的意思,相当于from,这句中可以改为from her dark Boleyn eyes。Eyes的前面加上了一个姓氏,表示“传承其母亲Boleyn的眼睛的特征”。