1. Elizabeth did all the things women in 16th-century England weren't supposed to do.
【结构剖析】这是一个含有定语从句的复合句。主句是:Elizabeth did all the things,定语从句是:women in 16th-century England weren't supposed to do。先从词是things(不定代词),关系代词只能用that,不能用which,由于things在定语从句中做宾语,就省略了that这个引导词。
【要点解析】句中的in 16th-century England做定语修饰women,be supposed to do something是习惯用语,意思是“被认为应该做某事”,相当于should do something。
2. He was the public orator at Cambridge University, and it was his outlandish idea to teach the teenage girl a discipline most people thought unsuitable for a woman: the art of the art of public speech.
【结构剖析】这是一个由并列连词and连接的2个分句。第一个分句是:He was the public orator at Cambridge University;第二个分句是: it was his outlandish idea to teach the teenage girl a discipline most people thought unsuitable for a woman: the art of the art of public speech。
第一个分句中的介词短语at Cambridge University修饰前面的名词orator,用介词at,表示在剑桥大学教书的雄辩家。
在第二个分句中使用了形式主语it,那么真是主语是这个很长的动词不定式:to teach the teenage girl a discipline most people thought unsuitable for a woman: the art of the art of public speech。
在这个动词不定式中的谓语使用了直接宾语和间接宾语。直接宾语是:a discipline;间接宾语是:the teenage girl。
直接宾语有一个定语从句修饰它,定语从句是:most people thought unsuitable for a woman,那么先行词是discipline。它指事物,在定语从句中做宾语,具体讲是做thought的宾语,那么关系代词which或者是that可以省略的。
在这个定语从句中有一个动词结构用法:think+宾语+形容词(或形容词短语)。上文中是thought a discipline unsuitable for a woman, unsuitable for a woman是形容词短语做宾语的补足语。
the art of the art of public speech是做discipline的同位语,补充说明这个学科是什么学科。