作者：迟本文
1. 【原文】 It seems they have been on earth for thousands of years, and have changed very little. (L. 24) 它们（鲨鱼）在地球上似乎已生存了数千年了，但是它们几乎没有什么变化。
【精析】 "It seems (that) +从句"意为"（看来）好像......，似乎......"，此句型可以转化为"主语+seem+动词不定式"。再如：It seems that he is late for school. = He seems to be late for school. 他似乎上学迟到了。
2. 【原文1】 No matter how hard it was, he never gave up. ( L. 26 ) 无论有多大困难，他从不放弃。
【原文2】 Wherever you live, you can do something around your neighbourhood. ( L. 10) 无论你住在哪儿，你都可以为你所在的社区（环境）做些事情。
【精析】 " no matter + 疑问词" 相当于疑问词加上ever，引导让步状语从句，意为"无论......"。因此，上面两个课文中的句子可改为：
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）男孩的父亲非常感激爱迪生，以致于教他学习如何用电报发送信息。
【精析】 so ... that ...句型，表示"如此......以致于......"，that引导的是结果状语从句。so ... that ...有时可以转换成such ... that ... ，但so修饰的是形容词或副词，而such须修饰一个名词。只有当such后面跟单数可数名词，并有形容词修饰时，方可转换成so ... that ... （注意冠词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. 这个男孩如此聪明，他都能算出这道数学题。
4. 【原文】 Mount Emei is over three thousand metres high. (L. 43) 峨嵋山有三千多米高。
【精析】 "主语+be +度量单位(metre, kilometre等)+形容词（tall, high, wide, deep, away等）"表示人或物体的高、长、宽、深、远等。这一句型中的形容词也可写成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。