2018考研英语长难句分析指导（十）

These new observational capabilities would result in simply a mass of details were it not for the fact that theoretical understanding has reached the stage at which it is becoming possible to indicate the kind of measurements required for reliable weather forecasting.

结构分析:句子的框架是These new observational capabilities would result in simply a mass of details…。后面紧跟省略了if引导的虚拟条件句were it not for the fact that…，即if it were not for the fact that…;that从句作the fact的同位语从句。此从句中又套嵌一个定语从句，修饰其先行词the stage; required for reliable weather forecasting为过去分词短语修饰the kind of measurements。simply译为“只不过，仅仅”，不应译为“简单地”。

译文：理论上的认识已达到了这样一个阶段,即现在已能指出需要哪种测量方式才能可靠地预报天气。如果做不到这一点，那么上述这些新的观察能力只不过提供了一大堆细节而已。