复杂的比较级的拆分和理解 例175

例175　The increase in the number of married women employed outside the home had less to do with the mechanization and convenience of the housework and an increase in spare time for these women than with their own unavoidable economic requirements and with high marriage rates that decrease the available number of single women workers.

【结构分析】这句话是典型的less...than...，表示不是……而是……，主语是The increase，后面加上介词短语in the number of married women，修饰前面的主语，再加上分词定语employed outside the home，修饰前面的名词，动词是had to do with，其中最难的是宾语，than前面的宾语是两个，分别是the mechanization and convenience of the housework和an increase in spare time for these women, than后面的宾语也是两个，分别是their own unavoidable economic requirements和high marriage rates...，最后这个宾语后面还有定语从句that decrease the available number of single women workers。

【亮点回放】此句话的亮点在于字数多，信息点杂，less...than...，表示不是……而是……，否定前面，强调后面，比如I am less a teacher than a scholar（我不是老师，而是学者），而且宾语很复杂，四个大宾语，很有气势。

【核心词汇】

had to do with　取决于

mechanization　自动化

spare time　休息时间

unavoidable economic requirements　不可避免的经济需求

【参考译文】结婚女性在外面工作人数的增加并不是取决于家务活的自动化和方便性和女人休息时间的增加，而是取决于他们自身不可避免的经济需求和比较高的降低单身女性数量的离婚率。