1. After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australia’s Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die.

【译文】经过6个月争论和最后16个小时的国会激烈辩论，澳大利亚北部地区(澳北州政府)成为世界上第一个允许医生根据绝症病人个人意愿来结束其生命的合法当局。

【析句】句子的主体结构是Australia’s Northern Territory became the first legal authority。句首成分After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates是作状语的介词词组，动词不定式to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die相当于定语从句which allows doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die，修饰the first legal authority。

【讲词】to take the life of sb和to take sb’s life意思是“结束某人的生命”。A car bombing took the life of a 61-year-old man.(汽车炸弹夺去了一位61岁老头的生命。)I didn’t understand how you could take the life of an innocent animal.(我不明白你怎么能杀死一个无辜的动物。)

2. The full import may take a while to sink in. The NT Rights of the Terminally I’ll law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications.

【译文】充分理解这一法案的深刻意义可能需要一段时间。《澳北州晚期病****利法》实施以后，无论是内科医生还是普通市民同样都在试图把握法案的道德及实际意义。

【析句】第一句一个简单句。第二句较为复杂，实际上这句话可以这么解释：With the NT Rights of the Terminally I’ll law in place, physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications。我们可以把The NT Rights of the Terminally I’ll law理解成一种原因。

【讲词】deal with意为“安排;处理;涉及”。The book deals with this problem.(这本书论述了这个问题。)The teacher deals fairly with his pupils.(这个教师公平地对待他的学生。)How to deal with the fact that many students can not find jobs?(怎样解决学生的就业问题?)

3. Some have breathed sighs of relief, others, including churches, right-to-life groups and the Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage. But the tide is unlikely to turn back.

【译文】一些人如释重负，另一些人，包括教会、生命权利组织以及澳大利亚医学会成员都对这一决议及其仓促的通过进行了猛烈抨击。但是这一潮流已经不可能逆转。

【析句】第一句由两个表示对比的句子组成：Some have breathed… others… bitterly attacked…，其中others之后是介词词组(including churches，right-to-life groups and the Australian Medical Association)，作others的同位语。 its passage中的its指代前面提到的the bill。第二句与第一句是转折关系。

【讲词】tide本意是“潮水，潮汐”，句中的含义是“趋势，趋向”。turn the tide意为“使形势转变，改变局面”。We are going in the wrong direction and need the government to help turn the tide.(我们犯了方向性错误，我们需要政府改变这一形势。)4、 In Australia—where an aging population, life-extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part—other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia.

【译文】在澳大利亚，出于人口老龄化、延长寿命技术和公众态度的变化等原因，其他的州也在考虑通过类似的法律来解决安乐死的问题。

【析句】这个句子的主体结构是other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia。句首的In Australia是地点状语，后面跟了一个定语从句(where an aging population, life-extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part)，进一步解释Australia的具体情况。

【讲词】play a part意为“发挥或起到作用”。The US must play its part in abolishing tariffs or the earth summit will fail.(美国必须采取行动废除关税，否则地球峰会就将失败。)France is ready to play its part in enhancing India’s nuclear status.(法国正准备尽力加强印度的核地位。)

5. For Lloyd Nickson, a 54-year-old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer, the NT Rights of Terminally I’ll law means he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering: a terrifying death from his breathing condition.

【译文】对于居住于达尔文现年54岁的肺癌患者利奥德·尼克森来说，这个法律意味着他可以平静地生活下去，无须整天惧怕即将来临的苦难：因呼吸困难而痛苦地死去。

【析句】注意句子的主干是the NT Rights of Terminally I’ll law means，全句的宾语是he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering。For Lloyd Nickson,a 54-year-old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer作句子的状语，其中a 54-year-old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer是Lloyd Nickson的同位语。句末的a terrifying death from his breathing condition是his suffering的同位语。

【讲词】haunt除了表示“闹鬼”之外，常用的词义有“困惑;经常光顾”。I was haunted by the idea that she might die any time.(我的心头老是想到她随时都会死去。)I was haunted by his last words to me.(他向我说的最后的话萦绕在我的心头。)This is the bar he used to haunt.(他过去常到这个酒吧来。)

6. But even more important, it was the farthest that scientists had been able to look into the past, for what they were seeing were the patterns and structures that existed 15 billion years ago.

【译文】但更为重要的是，这是科学家们所能观测到的最遥远的过去的景象，因为他们看到的是150亿年前的形状和结构。

【析句】这是一个主从复合句。主句是一个it强调句，从句表示原因。在从句中， what they were seeing是主语，从句that existed 15 billion years ago为the pattern and structures的定语。

【讲词】pattern虽有“模式”的意思，但在句中应理解为“形状，形态”。see的意思当然是“看，看见”，但由于科学家并非是用肉眼看到宇宙云，所以应该译成“观测”。