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When President Obama took the stage here Wednesday to address a community — and a nation — traumatized by Saturday’s shootings rampage in Tucson, Arizona, it invited comparisons to President George W. Bush’s speech to the nation after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the memorial service President Bill Clinton led after the bombing of a federal office building killed 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995.
点评：抛开生词，这个很长的句子的结构其实不难，很容易看出就是一个简单的“主-谓-宾(S-V-O)”结构，难在这个句子的宾语部分的从句，如“and the memorial service（President Bill Clinton led）after the bombing （of a federal office building）killed 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995. ”。要在考场内神情紧张的状态理清从句的成分，对考生而言，难度不小！
But Obama’s appearance presented a deeper challenge, reflecting the tenor of his times. Unlike those tragedies---which, at least initially, united a mournful country and quieted partisan divisions---this one has, in the days since the killings, had the opposite effect, inflaming the divide.
点评：这段话有较多的独立状语，翻译的时候可以先把句子的主体结构（主谓宾）搞顺，再添加相应的状语信息，如“Unlike those tragedies---which, at least initially, united a mournful country and quieted partisan divisions---this one has, in the days since the killings, had the opposite effect, inflaming the divide”这句话按常规写法理顺之后可以这样排列（供参考）“In the days since the killings，this one (tragedy) has had the opposite effect, (i.e.)inflaming the divide--unlike those tragedies which united a mournful country and quieted partisan divisions at least initially。”
It was a political reality Mr. Obama seemed to recognize the moment he took the stage. He directly confronted the political debate that erupted after the rampage, asking people of all beliefs not to use the tragedy to turn on one another. He called for an end to partisan recriminations, and for a unity that has seemed increasingly elusive as each day has brought more harsh condemnations from the left and the right. It was one of the more powerful addresses that Mr. Obama has delivered as president, harnessing the emotion generated by the shock and loss from Saturday’s shootings to urge Americans “to remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together”.
点评：这一大段依葫芦画瓢——重点还是理清句子的结构。
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