十种破解难句子的语法结构.doc

TOEFL阅读常见难句结构分析在本节中，重点分析了十种难句结构，并分别给出了十五个左右的句子实例，希望借此让同学们通过对这些句子实例的分析，把握住这些难句结构的特点和找准突破口。众所周知，文章是由句子有机堆积而成的，所以在做阅读试题时，所谓的读不懂文章在说些什么其实就是指读不透那些难句，以至于一旦一篇阅读文章的难句数量稍微多一点，很多同学就云里雾里了。所以本节的目的就是要同学们不要雾里看花，而是要含大局于胸中，拨云见日将难句彻底掰扯明白。2.2.1 定语从句结构定语从句结构是阅读文章中常见的句式结构，但是由于出题者有意地将几个简单的句子，通过定语从句这种结构来构成一个复杂的长句，使得定语从句所修饰的对象变得不是非常明朗，这就使得找准其修饰的对象成了一个常常遇到却又难以把握的问题，更令人讨厌的是阅读文章的考点又往往在这里，如2001年5月、8月的阅读考题就出了不少这样的找定语从句修饰对象的题目。一般而言，找准其修饰的对象，一是要靠扎实的阅读功底，而就是要根据上下文进行的逻辑来判断。定语从句有限定性和非限定性的区别，所谓限定性就是说从句部分是主句意义中不可或缺的部分，如:There is one point where Id like your advice.(有一点想征求你的意见.)这类从句如果拿掉剩下的部分就会意义不明.如上句将变为:There is a point.使人不明其意.在译成汉语时这类从句一般译为从句(如上句).而非限定性是说从句部分只是对主句部分起到附加说明的作用,拿掉之后其他部分仍然可以成立.如:I have many friends, some of whom can play guitar very well.(我有很多朋友,其中有些能弹一手好吉他.)这类从句译为汉语时可译为一个并列的句子(如上句)。记住定语从句和主句之间还存在着状语关系，所以其最为重要的作用就是用来表达原因、让步、目的、假设、定义等某一种关系。所以在遇到这样的句子结构，不妨慢下速度来仔细分析一下其含义，这对把握句子所在的段落的大意是非常重要的，因为定语从句所表示的状语关系，很有可能是作者要表达的行文意图。1. Studies of the Weddell seal in the laboratory have described the physiological mechanisms that allow the seals to cope with the extreme oxygen deprivation that occurs during its longest dives, which can extend 500 meters below the oceans surface and last for over 70 minutes.句子解析：这个句子当中出现了由两个that和一个which引导的定语从句。第一个that用于修饰physiological mechanisms，表明后面的句子部分都是用于说明这是一个怎样的机制，而第二个that出现在第一层从句部分当中用于修饰extreme oxygen deprivation，而由which引导的非限定性定语从句出现在第二层从句当中用于修饰its longest dives并且which引导的从句主要就是为了说明这个最长的下潜到底有多长。句子翻译：关于威德尔海豹特殊的生理机制，在实验室里对其进行的研究已做过详细的描述。该生理机制使海豹可以适应长时间的潜水时出现的极度缺氧。海豹长时间潜水时最深可达水面以下500米，时间可持续70多分钟。2. Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries: the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound-interest law, which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing.句子解析：这个句子当中只出现了一个有which引导的非限定性定语从句，但要注意的是这里修饰的不是compound-interest law而是the growth of knowledge，因为从句说的是印刷术的发明对修饰的东西起了促进的作用，促进的意思就是加速的意思而通过判断我们发现只有growth能被加速，而law规则则不能被加速，所以只能是修饰the growth of knowledge。句子翻译：图书馆的出现使教育的发展成为可能，而教育的发展又反过来使图书馆不断扩大充实。知识的增长遵循了一种复利法则。由于印刷术的发明，这一知识增长过程得以大大加速。3. The renaissance of the feminist movement began during the 1950s led to the Stasist school, which sidestepped the good bad dichotomy and argued that frontier women lived lives similar to the lives of women in the East.句子解析：这个句子中只有一个由which引导的非限定性定语从句，并且这个从句是由两个并列的从句组成，从句中出现了两个关键的动词sidestepped和argued并且argued还引出了一个由that引导的宾语从句。这两个动词说明了修饰部分的两个特点：一个是避免走不是好就是坏的二分法的学术研究方法，另一个是提出了一个学术观点，由此可以看出其修饰的是Stasist school，斯塔西学派，因为女权运动的复兴不可能有这样的学术特点。句子翻译：20世纪50年代女权运动的复兴产生了斯塔西学派，这一学派回避了好与坏的二分法，认为边境地区妇女和东部妇女过着同样的生活。4. Tom, the books protagonist, took issue with a man who doted on his household pet, as a slave merchant, thought “nothing of separating the husband from the wife, the parents from the children”.句子解析：这个句子中只有一个由who引导的定语从句，并且很容易看出其修饰的是a man，这个句子一开始就用the books protagonist 作为Tom的同位语，并将其主语与谓语took issue with分开造成了一定程度上阅读的不便，而as a slave merchant作为说明这个man的性质和thought后的句子内容是相辅相成的，所以从句的内容很容易通过这样的相辅相成的逻辑关系理解无误。句子翻译：书中的主人公汤姆与一个人发生了争执。这人虽然爱家中的宠物，但作为一个奴隶贩子，却认为“拆散夫妻，让骨肉分离算不了什么”。5. Thus, the unity that should characterize the strong system is developed by affording opportunity for diversity, which appears to be essential if education is to develop in consideration of the needs of children and youth.句子解析：这个句子当中出现了两个定语从句，一个是以that引导的，其修饰的部分显而易见是the unity，第二个是由which引导的非限定性的定语从句，其从句说的是其修饰的部分对于如果发展教育要考虑儿童和青年的需要来说是至关重要的。我们知道儿童和青年的特点就是其兴趣爱好广泛，其需要也就多种多样了，所以由此可以知道affording（提供）不是which修饰的部分而应该是diversity（多样性）。句子翻译：因此，强大的教育体系所应具备的统一性这一特点是通过提供各种机会来达到的。如果发展教育要考虑儿童和青年的需要，多种机会就显得至关重要。6. Behaviorists suggest that the child who is raised in an environment where there are many stimuli which develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will experience greater intellectual development.句子解析：这个句子由三个嵌套的定语从句构成，who引导的是第一层从句，容易看出其修饰的是the child，而where引导的是第二个从句而它本身是处于第一层从句当中，其修饰的部分也很容易看出是environment，用于说明这是一个怎样的环境，而which引导的是第三个从句而它本身处于第二层从句当中，其修饰的部分也显而易见是stimuli，通过这样的分析我们可以清楚地看到由that引导的宾语从句就是experience greater intellectual development这才是suggest的核心内容。句子翻译：行为主义者的看法是：如果一个儿童在有许多刺激物的环境中长大，而这些刺激物又能培养其作出适当的反应能力，那么他就会有比较高的智力发育水平。7. While there are almost as many definitions of history as there are historians, modern practice most closely conforms to one that sees history as the attempt to recreate and explain the significant events of the past.句子解析：在这个句子中，while引导的是一个让步状语从句，而不是通常引导的时间状语从句，表示的是“虽然”、“尽管”的意思。而且在TOEFL的考试中，while也是大多数表示的是让步状语从句，所以在遇到while时一定要根据上下文好好判断其表示的意思。另外在这个句子中还有一个that引导的定语从句，它所修饰的是one。句子翻译：虽然有多少历史学家，就差不多有多少种历史学的定义，但现代史学家的实践大都趋向于这样一种定义，即历史学是旨在重现和解释过去重大事件的学科。8. While this boundary does not mark the outer limit of a States territory, since in international law the territorial sea forms part of a States territory, it does represent the demarcation between that maritime area（internal waters）where other States enjoy no general rights, and those maritime areas（the territorial sea and other zones）where other States do enjoy certain general rights.句子解析：在这个句子中有四个从句，第一个是由while引导的让步状语从句；第二个是由since引导的表示原因的状语从句，并且它是属于由while引导的让步状语从句的，即它是其从句；第三个和第四个都是由where引导的定语从句并且用法也都是一样的，都是对不同的maritime area的进一步说明解释。句子翻译：尽管这条分界线并不算是国家领土的外缘边界，但是，因为在国际法中领海也是国家领土的组成部分，它的确是其他国家在其内不享有一般权利的海区（内水域）与其他国家在其中享有某些一般权利的那些海区（领海及其他区域）之间的分界线。9. He finds that students who were easy to teach because they succeeded in putting everything they had been taught into practice, hesitate when confronted with the vast untouched area of English vocabulary and usage which falls outside the scope of basic textbooks.句子解析：在这句话中，首先是一个由that引导的宾语从句，接着在其从句部分中又出现了由who引导的一个定语从句，其修饰的部分是that students；hesitate是从句中 students的谓语，其后面跟了一个由when引导的时间状语从句，并且在这个状语从句中又出现了由which引导的定语从句，其修饰的部分是area of English vocabulary and usage。句子翻译：他发现原先比较容易教的学生现在踯躅不前了：原先比较容易教是因为他们能把交给他们的所有东西都付诸实践；现在踯躅是因为他们面对着大量的在基础教科书上所没有接触过的英语词汇和惯用法。10. The public is unhappy about the way society is going, and its view, fueled in part by the agendists and the media, seems to be that judicial decisions unacceptable to them, regardless of the evidence or the law, will slow or change social directions.句子解析：在这个句子中society is going是其the way的定语从句，只是这里省略了指示代词，而and后面的its其实等于的是The publics，fueled in part by the agendists and the media是view的后置定语，在一定程度上表示原因；之后that是be的表语从句，它用于说明公众的观点是什么。句子翻译：公众对社会发展的前景不乐观，在议事人士和新闻媒体的某种鼓励下，公众的观点似乎是：不管证据或法律，司法判决对他们来说是不可接受的，这些判决将会是延缓或者改变社会的走向。11. The reader who peruses with some attention to the following pages will have occasion to see that both operational and mental aspects of physics have their place, but that neither should be stressed to the exclusion of the other.句子解析：在这个句子中，一开始就用who引导了一个定语从句，它修饰的是The reader；在动词see后面跟了两个由that引导的宾语从句，并且这两个从句之间存在着因果联系的逻辑关系，而neither指代的是operational and mental aspects of physics。句子翻译：读者如果略微仔细地阅读以下几页就会有理由认为，实验操作和思维在物理学中都有一定的地位，因而不能强调一方而忽略另一方。12. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing.句子解析：在这个句子中，by引导了一个状语表示方式方法，接着用which引导了一个从句用于作者演讲的地点，而dedicated to the same anguish and travail用于修饰the young men and women，之后又用了一个由among whom引导的定语从句，用于说明the young men and women中的一些人会怎么样；后面用that引导了be的表语从句，用one指代青年男女中的一些人，用who引导了一个定于从句修饰one用于进一步解释说明这些人会怎么样。句子翻译：我愿意利用这个时刻，利用这个举世瞩目的讲坛，向那些听到我讲话并已献身同一艰苦劳动的男女青年致敬。他们当中肯定有人迟早也会站到我现在所站的地方。13. From the very day of the capitulation, by which Bismarks prisoners had signed the surrender of France but reserved to themselves a numerous bodyguard for the express purpose of cowing Paris, Paris stood on the watch.句子解析：这个句子的主干部分是From the very day of the capitulation, Paris stood on the watch. 而这个句子用by which作为一个定语从句用于修饰capitulation。句子翻译：从法国投降那一天起，巴黎就严加戒备，因为屈从于俾斯麦的法国政府签约投降时，保留了一支相当庞大的军事力量，目的是为了威胁恐吓巴黎。14. When Im having trouble with a story and think about giving up, or when I start to feel sorry for myself and think things should be easier for me, I roll a piece of paper into that cranky old machine and type, word by painful word, just the way my mother did.句子解析：这个句子一开始用了两个when来引导时间状语从句，它们之间是并列的逻辑关系，都表示作者的一种境遇，而my mother did用来修是the way说明这种方式到底是怎么样的，但是这里省略了指示代词。句子翻译：每当我写文章遇到困难想放弃时，或是自叹不走运时，我就往那台破旧的打字机里卷进一张纸，像妈妈当年一样，一个字一个字吃力地打着。15. What should doctors say, for example, to a 46-year-old man coming in for a routine physical check up just before going on vacation with his family who, though he feels in perfect health, is found to have a form of cancer that will cause him to die within six month?句子解析：在这个句子当中coming in with his family用于修饰a 46-year-old man的，之后紧跟着用who引导了一个定语从句用于修饰a 46-year-old man，而用though引导了一个让步状语从句，作为插入语；而后面的that引导了一个定语从句修饰a form of cancer，用于说明这个癌症将会怎样。其实这个句子最为主要的部分最短，即What should doctors say。句子翻译：举例说吧：一个46岁的男子，在与家人外出度假之前进行常规体格检查。虽然他自我感觉非常健康，但医生发现他患有某种癌症，在6个月之内他将会死去。这时，作为一个医生该怎么对他说呢？16. Between midnight and dawn, when sleep will not come and all the old wounds begin to ache, I often have a nightmare vision of a future world in which there are billions of people, all numbered and registered, with not a gleam of genius anywhere, not an original mind, a rich personality, on the whole packed globe.句子解析：在这个句子中，when引导了一个时间状语从句，而in which引导了一个定语从句，它修饰a future world用于说明其情况，在in which引导的从句中，其主干结构为there are billions of people on the whole packed globe,其余部分都是用于形容这些亿万人民的，其中包括了用with引导的两个not后的短语。句子翻译：在午夜和黎明之间，每当我不能入睡，一切旧的伤口开始疼痛的时候，我常常想象未来世界的噩梦般的情景，在所有登记入册的亿万人民生活的这个拥挤不堪的世界上，没有一处有一线天才的光芒、独创性的头脑和丰富多彩的个性。17. Americans who stem from generation which left their old people behind and never closed their parentseyelids in death, and who have experienced the death provided by two world wars fought far from our shores are today pushing away from them both a recognition of death and a recognition of the way we live our lives.句子解析：在这个句子中用了两个who来引导了两个定语从句，他们都是修饰Americans的，并且这两个从句的逻辑关系是并列的，都是说明怎样的美国人，而在第一个who引导的从句中又有了which引导的定语从句用于修饰generation；后面的them与both a recognition of death and a recognition of the way we live our lives其实是同位语；其实这个长句的主干是Americans are today pushing away from them both a recognition of death and a recognition of the way we live our lives。句子翻译：上溯到美国人的先辈，他们都有撇下的亲人，不能替逝去的父母合上眼睑的痛楚。而如今的美国人在体验了远离我们的大陆的两次世界大战造成的死亡之后，不论是对死亡的认识，还是对我们的生活方式的认识，都一概不在意了。18. Certainly the humanist thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who are our ideological ancestors, thought that the goal of life was the unfolding of a persons potentialities；what mattered to them was the person who is much, not the one who has much or uses much.句子解析：在这个句子中，分号表示这个句子有两个并列的部分，在前一部分中用who引导了一个定语从句用于修饰the humanist thinkers，其这部分的主干是the humanist thinkers thought that the goal of life was the unfolding of a persons potentialities；而后一部分中them指代的是the humanist thinkers，what 是后一部分的主语，为了便于理解可以在was后面加一个that，因为后面跟了一个表语从句，而在这个从句中的两个who都是各自引导了一个定语从句用于修饰the person（因为one指代的也是the person）。句子翻译：当然，18、19世纪的人文思想家们，他们是我们意识形态领域的前辈，他们认为人生的目的就是充分展示个人潜在的能力。对于他们来说，重要的是人本身的价值，而并非占有和使用才是人的价值。19. If marriage exists only as an intimate relationship that can be terminated at will, and family exists only by virtue of bonds of affection, both marriage and family are relegated to the marketplace of trading places, with individuals maximizing their psychological capital by moving through a series of more or less satisfying intimate relationships.句子解析：在这个句子中，由if引导了一个条件状语从句，这个条件状语从句当中有两个有着并列关系的部分，这一点可以从and看出，并且在其第一部分还有一个用that引导的定语从句用于修饰an intimate relationship，而后面的with引导的介词短语用于修饰the marketplace of trading places句子翻译：如果婚姻只是一种可以任意终结的亲密关系，而家庭只是靠爱情的纽带来维持，那么婚姻和家庭则沦为了可以自由买卖的市场，每个人都可以穿梭于一系列或多或少会让自己心满意足的亲密关系，从而使自己的心理资本得到最大的增值。2.2.2 倒装句结构倒装句的产生是为了平衡句子结构，或者是为了强调句子的某一部分特意将其提前，让其放置在引人注目的首要地方。倒装结构可分为主谓倒装和非主谓倒装。而主谓倒装又可分为完全倒装和部分倒装,完全倒装顾名思义指整个谓语全部放在主语的前面，而部分倒装通常指只将谓语的一部分，通常是助动词,系动词或情态动词放置于主语之前。1. Odd though it sounds, cosmic inflation is a scientifically plausible consequence of some respected ideas in elementary-particle physics, and some astrophysicists have been convinced for the better part of a decade that it is true.句子解析：Odd though it sounds这是一句让步状语从句，由于其省略了although或though所以它以语序倒装的形势构成让步，当然这里也有强调的意思，把表语提到主语前面来,这种用法常出现在有as,though,however的句型中。句子翻译：宇宙膨胀说尽管听似奇特，但它是由基本粒子物理学中的一些公认理论推论而来，从科学角度看有其可信度，而且许多天体物理学家七八年来一直确信这一理论是正确的。2. Coupled with the growing quantity of information is the development of technologies which enable the storage and delivery of more information with greater speed to more location than has ever been possible before.句子解析：这句话将Coupled with the growing quantity of information放在了前面，这是因为主语部分比较长，其中还有一个由which引导的用于修饰the development of technologies的定语从句，所以出于对句子平衡的考虑，将其提前。句子翻译：与日益增加的信息量相提并论的是使以下情况得以实现的技术的发展，即空前快速的储存和传输更多的信息到比以前任何时候都夺得地方。3. The inner working of our own brains we feel to be uniquely worthy of investigation, but custom, we have a way of thinking, is behavior at its most commonplace.句子解析：这个句子将The inner working of our own brains这个作为feel的宾语的短语提前，这里提前是为了和句子后面的分句的custom（它作为后一分句的主语）进行位置上的平行比较以实现其内容上的比较的强调。句子翻译：我们自己大脑的内部活动我们认为是非常值得研究的；但是对于风俗我们却认为那不过是最寻常的行为举止。4. Of the intrinsic differences that separate American from English the chief have their roots in the obvious disparity between the environment and traditions of the American people since the seventeenth century and those of the English.句子解析：这个句子将Of the intrinsic differences that separate American from English提前，这是因为它作为修饰chief的短语比较长，将chief与其谓语分割的太开了，为了避免这种情况，所以将其提前。句子翻译：美语区别于英语是由其内在的本质差异所决定的。而主要差异主要是因为两个不同的社会环境和不同的文化传统。并且从17世纪开始，美国人和英国人在这两方面的差异就十分明显。5. Especially was this importance impressed on me when I realized how much Hollywood was involved in exporting American life to the world, and how much Broadway with all its theatres meant to the modern drama.句子解析：这个句子将especially放在句首，并使主句的主语倒装以达到强调的目的，强调了importance。句子翻译：当我认识到好莱坞把多少美国生活介绍到国外，以及百老汇戏剧对现代戏剧有多大意义时，我特别深刻地感到其重要性。6. Not only was man now able to see with measured precision independently of visibility, but he could now “see” such objects as aircraft at ranges far in excess of those possible even under ideal optical conditions with normal vision.句子解析：not onlybut (also)这种结构通常都会使用倒装的形式，所以Not only was man now其实正常的语序应该是man now was not only。句子翻译：人不仅可以不受视线的限制而看得很精确，并且可以“看见”诸如远方的飞机等物体，其距离远远超过用正常的视力并借助于最理想的光学仪器所能达到的。7. Forgotten is any idea that naval air power is not power unto itself, but part and parcel of naval power-trained, supported, operated, and commanded by people well-versed in the intricacies of war at sea and war from the sea.句子解析：这个句子的Forgotten is any idea是个倒装结构其正常的语序结构为 any idea is forgotten，这里提前是为了强调forgotten，同时也是因为that引导的定语从句用于修饰idea的部分太长，如果不到装，其主语部分会显得太长。句子翻译：海军空中力量不是一支单独的兵力，它是海军力量的重要组成部分，是由对海战中和从海上发起的战争中的那些错综复杂的情况了如指掌的人训练、支援、管理和指挥的，对于这些观点，他们早已置之脑后。8. Slap-slap-slap-slapAround and around a submariner goes, the soft-soled shoes beating a rhythm on the hard, shiny floor in a Trident submarine. People on shore might grasp the instant irony of a man jogging to prolong his life around weapons capable of destroying two hundred cities.句子解析：这句话的Around and around a submariner goes是采用了倒装结构，其正常的语序应该是a submariner goes around and around，其象声词和the soft-soledTrident submarine都是用于形容这一艇员的慢跑过程的。句子翻译：“啪哒-啪哒-啪哒-啪哒，”一位潜艇艇员一圈又一圈地跑着，软底鞋在三叉戟潜艇坚硬明亮的甲板上有节奏地敲击着。在岸上生活的人们可能立即会发现其中的讽刺意味：一个人围绕着足以摧毁二百座城市的武器慢跑，借以延长自己的生命。9. Friends who are near to me I know well, because through the months and years they reveal themselves to me in all their phases; but of casual friends I have only an incomplete impression, an impression gained from a handclasp, spoken words.句子解析：在这个句子中，who引导了一个定语从句用于修饰friends，并且Friends who are near to me I know well这一句话将宾语提前了，这是因为修饰宾语的是一个从句比较长，为了平衡结构将其提前，其正常的语序是I know well friends who are near to me,而后一个分句也采用了类似的倒装形式将一介词短语放在了其分句的句首其正常的语序应该是I have only an incomplete impression of casual friends。句子翻译：我了解与我亲近的朋友，因为经过漫长的岁月，他们在多方面向我揭示了他们自己；而对于偶尔认识的朋友，我只有一种不完全的印象-这是一种通过握手和说话而获得的印象。10. Closely related with this is the capacity to be tolerant-not, indeed, of what is wrong, but of the frailty and immaturity of human nature which induce people, and again especially children, to make mistakes.句子解析：Closely related with this is the capacity to be tolerant是个倒装结构，由于修饰主语the capacity的成份太长了，为了平衡句子结构采用了倒装结构。句子翻译：与这一点紧密相关的是能容忍-当然不是容忍错误，而是能宽恕由人性中意志薄弱和不成熟而导致人们尤其是儿童犯错。11. Only now that Ive struggled to find patience in myself when Matthew insists he help me paint the house or saw down dead trees in the back yard am I able to see that day through my fathers eyes.句子解析：这个句子的主干部分是Only now thatam I able to see that day through my fathers eyes.这是一种常见的将only放在句首后而引起的主谓倒装句。句子翻译：只有现在，当马修坚持要帮我油漆房子，或者锯掉后院的枯树杈时，我强压了自己的性子，在此之后才能用我父亲的眼光去看那一天发生的事。12. Among the advantages that future biochips, or “living computers”, would have over conventional semiconductor chips are that they are smaller, they do not generate as much heat, and they allow for the parallel processing of information, making them faster than todays semiconductor devices.句子解析：这个句子的第一个that引导了一个定于从句用于修饰the advantages，用于说明谁拥有的优势，而第二个that引导了的一个从句是真正的主语；making them faster than todays semiconductor devices是一个动词短语作状语用于修饰advantages。句子翻译：与普通半导体晶片相比，未来的生物芯片或者说“活计算机”具有的一些特点是：它们体积较小，产生的热量少，并能并行处理信息，从而使其速度快于当今的半导体元件。13. From each of books goes out its own voice, as inaudible as the streams of sound conveyed by electric waves beyond the range of our hearing, and just as the touch of a button on our stereo will fill the room with music, so by opening one of these volumes, one can call into range a voice far distant in time and space, and hear it speaking, mind to mind, heart to heart.句子解析：From each of books goes out its own voice这是一个完全的倒装句其正常的语序是its own voice goes out from each of books，而asas引导的部分用于修饰its own voice。句子翻译：每本书发出好像无线电波传出的声音，由于超出我们的听觉范围而无法听见；正如我们按一下立体音响上的按钮，整个房间立即回荡着乐曲声一样，我们翻阅其中一本书就仿佛步入了一个遥远时空的音域。我们听见一个声音在侃侃而谈，那么倾心，那么坦诚。14. A nice example is that dreaded polar ice cap, which some scientists say isnt starting to melt at all but instead will shortly begin to enlarge rapidly