在本專欄中，我會從英文外刊中選取一些適合參考和背誦的句子或段落。本期摘選了兩句關於學歷和就業的描述。
1⃣️A degree is a signal to employers of general qualities, such as intelligence and diligence, that someone has in order to get into a university. 2⃣️But a degree is not always the best measure of the skills and knowledge needed for a job.
譯文：學位向僱主表明了某人具備的進入大學所需的一般品質，比如智力和勤奮。但是學位並不總是一個工作所需的技能和知識的最佳衡量標準。先來看第1⃣️句話。第一句話有個詞很地道：signal，在這裡表示標誌；信號。這裡同時用了a signal to sb(向某人發出的信號)/a signal of sth(某事的標誌)，為了保持結構平衡，較短的放前，較長的放後。再比如：Obsession with social media is sometimes a signal of mental problems.(沉迷社交媒體有時是心理問題的標誌)。signal後面也可以加接同位語從句，即：a/the signal that+句。比如將原文改寫一下：A degree is a signal to employers that someone is possessed of general qualities that are necessary in order to enter university.不管是同位語從句還是賓語從句，都可以在that前面加一個較短的狀語，大家在外刊中，應該能經常看到類似下面這樣的句子：XX said in the conference(狀語) that....。再來看general qualities後面：such as intelligence and diligence是插入語，不影響前後句子成分的連接，後面的that...依然是限制性定語從句。原句就相當於general qualities that..., such as...如果要對一個名詞中心詞舉例，同時這個名詞中心詞又被一個較長的限制性定語從句修飾，則可以採用這種寫法，將例子成分提前到中心詞與定語從句之間作插入語。再比如外刊例句：Facial expression is one of a number of non-verbal cues, such as body posture, that people use to communicate with each other.{面部表情是人們用來與彼此交流的眾多非言語信號(比如身體姿勢)的其中一個}1 measure在這裡表示衡量；判斷。表示某事的衡量標準，不要按照中式思維翻譯成了the standard to measure sth，我在學生的作文中看到不下5次這樣寫的。直接寫成(be) a measure of sth就行了，原文中前面有best，所以a要變成the。measure前面經常會加上poor/good/accurate/reliable，表示衡量程度的好壞。比如：Material wealth is not a reliable measure of one's happiness.物質財富不是衡量一個人幸福的可靠指標。2 needed for a job在這裡是過去分詞作後置定語，修飾前面的名詞，相當於the skills and knowledge that are needed for a job。從中可以提取出一個實用結構：N needed for sth(做)某事所需的N，這裡的for sth也可以改為to do sth。比如：It is advisable for universities to equip students with the skills needed to adapt to the fast-changing labour market.(大學最好使學生具備適應快速變化的勞動力市場所需的技能）