作者：遲本文
1. 【原文】 It seems they have been on earth for thousands of years, and have changed very little. (L. 24) 它們（鯊魚）在地球上似乎已生存了數千年了，但是它們幾乎沒有什么變化。
【精析】 "It seems (that) +從句"意為"（看來）好像......，似乎......"，此句型可以轉化為"主語+seem+動詞不定式"。再如：It seems that he is late for school. = He seems to be late for school. 他似乎上學遲到了。
2. 【原文1】 No matter how hard it was, he never gave up. ( L. 26 ) 無論有多大困難，他從不放棄。
【原文2】 Wherever you live, you can do something around your neighbourhood. ( L. 10) 無論你住在哪兒，你都可以為你所在的社區（環境）做些事情。
【精析】 " no matter + 疑問詞" 相當于疑問詞加上ever，引導讓步狀語從句，意為"無論......"。因此，上面兩個課文中的句子可改為：
However hard it was, he never gave up.
No matter where you live, you can do something around your neighbourhood.
3. 【原文】 The boy's father was so thankful that he taught Edison how to send messages by telegraph.（L. 26）男孩的父親非常感激愛迪生，以致于教他學習如何用電報發送信息。
【精析】 so ... that ...句型，表示"如此......以致于......"，that引導的是結果狀語從句。so ... that ...有時可以轉換成such ... that ... ，但so修飾的是形容詞或副詞，而such須修飾一個名詞。只有當such后面跟單數可數名詞，并有形容詞修飾時，方可轉換成so ... that ... （注意冠詞a / an的位置）。如：The boy is so clever that he can work out the maths problem.= He is such a clever boy that he can work out the maths problem. = He is so clever a boy that he can work out the maths problem. 這個男孩如此聰明，他都能算出這道數學題。
4. 【原文】 Mount Emei is over three thousand metres high. (L. 43) 峨嵋山有三千多米高。
【精析】 "主語+be +度量單位(metre, kilometre等)+形容詞（tall, high, wide, deep, away等）"表示人或物體的高、長、寬、深、遠等。這一句型中的形容詞也可寫成in height, in length, in width, in depth, in distance等形式。如：My brother is 1.80 metres tall. = My brother is 1.80 metres in height. 我哥哥身高是1.80米。