原文：How long did the inventor of oil painting toil with an old process that no longer satisfied certain purposes before he discovered his new process? Bernard Palissy searched half his life for an opaque enamel for his faience before he finally found what he sought. These men knew how to use the invention because they needed it, and because they needed it they searched and found it. In this way, gradual progress in science went hand in hand with the mastery and the awareness of how and to what end the invention could be applied.

参考答案：

在新的方法被发明以前，“油画网”的发明者有多长时间是在用一种老方法作画的？这种老方法已经不能再满足某些用途。在Bernard Palissy最终找到一种不透明的釉彩用以制作他的精致彩陶以前，他花费了半生时间来寻找这种物质。这些人知道如何应用这些发明，因为他们需要这些发明，也正因为他们需要这些发明，他们不停寻找并最终找到。这样，科学的逐步发展就与对新发明的掌握以及对如何应用和为何种目的去应用新发明的认识结合在了一起。

本期句子结构分析：
1、How long（问时间有多长） did the inventor of oil painting toil（“油画网”的发明者） with an old process（用一种老方法作画） that no longer satisfied certain purposes（这个从句修饰old process） before he discovered his new process（在他发明新方法之前）?

2、Bernard Palissy searched half his life for（这里的词组是search for，说这个人花了半生时间寻找，找个什么呢？看后面） an opaque enamel（这就是他要找的东西） for his faience（这个FOR后面带出来的是他寻找的目的） before he finally found what he sought.（这个从句用来说明时间：在他最终找到之前）

3、In this way（固定词组：这样）, gradual progress in science（主语） went hand in hand with（go hand in hand with，固定词组：与...结合在一起，到底与什么结合呢？看后面） the mastery（第一个被结合的东东） and the awareness（第二个要结合的东东） of how and to what end the invention could be applied.（都是对那个awareness的修饰）。