1.经典长难句解析：

Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than byviolent and sudden usurpations; but, on a candid examination of history, we shall find that turbulence, violence, and abuse of power, by the majority trampling on the rights of the minority, have produced factions and commotions, which, in republics, have, more frequently than anyother cause, produced despotism.

(---The passage is excerpted from aspeech delivered by James Madison. He believed that the Articles of Confederation, the current form of government at that time, should be replaced by the U.S. Constitution.)

单词扫盲：

abridgement 删节;

encroachment 侵占(相关词汇补充：infringe v.侵犯);

usurpation 篡权、侵占;

candid 率直的;

turbulence 动荡;

abuseof power 滥用权力;

trample 踩/践踏、侵犯;

faction 派系派别(相关词汇补充：讲到宗教方面的派系用的比较多的是：sect);commotion 喧嚣、骚乱;

despotism 专制主义;

despot 专制君主(相关的词汇补充：tyranny暴政、专制国家tyrant 暴君)

剖析句子结构：

Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there aremore instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations; but, on a candid examination of history, we shall find that turbulence, violence, and abuse of power, by the majority trampling on the rights of the minority, have produced factions and commotions, which, in republics, have, more frequently than any other cause, produced despotism.

对单词和句子结构都有了把握之后就不难看出，理解作者看法的关键在于把握这句话中的两个”more”:

1)侵犯公民自由的过程往往不是violent and sudden，更多的是gradual and silent。

2)abuse of power by the majority trampling on the rights of the minority 导致专制的情况，远胜于其他任何原因。

总结一下，即 the author claims that pubic liberty is threatened by the majority’s abuse of power。

上面这个句子的风格是新SAT阅读(History类)文章中的典型代表。历史类文章不是考察学生世界历史，说白了基本都是 founding document(建国文献)，比如联邦党人文集，女权类文章中的节选。这些文章往往有高阶单词和复杂的句型。

但让很多同学在备考过程中头疼的问题却往往是：这句话我单词都(查)认识了，为什么还是不知道作者要说什么?

2.再来一句：

Those who have quitted the world, and those who are not yet arrived at it, are as remote from each other, as the utmost stretch of mortal imagination can conceive.

这句话首先是比较短，其实是基本没有什么难词生词。但是大家真的读明白了吗?

Quit the world的人是哪样的人? Recluse? Not yet arrived at it的人呢?

句子解析：

SAT的阅读并非是对文本字面意思的考察，而是对于文本的深度理解。美国高中生的英文阅读量是中国学生的10倍，而正是这些平时的阅读量决定了阅读的理解深度。

所以，我们重新回到上面的句子来分析(当然，大家也不妨联系阅读上下文来帮助理解)：

文章一开始就说到了：Every age and generation mustbe as free to act for itself, in all cases, as the ages and generationswhich preceded it. The vanity and presumption of governing beyond the grave, isthe most ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies.

粗糙版译本：在任何情况下，每一代人都理应如他们的前人一样，拥有自由行事的权利。目空一切地推定自己在死后也可以治理(后人的)事务是最荒谬蛮横的暴政。

Back to our question: quit the world 的人和 not yet arrived at it 的人指的就是已经死去和未出生的两类人。

最后reiterate下，词典和谷歌翻译能帮大家搞定的文本字面意思，那都不是英语学习的难点。要从容应对SAT考试，学会剖析文本并深入理解才是关键。