今日长难句：

选自《经济学人》

A follow-up study, however, produced the astonishing suggestion that the binder in question was chimpanzee blood—astonishing because chimps are African, not American animals.

然而，一项后续研究得出了一个令人咋舌的结论，即所讨论的粘合剂是黑猩猩的血液，令人惊讶的是，黑猩猩是非洲动物，而不是美洲动物。

第一步 简单划分句子成分，进行初步断句

A follow-up study, however, /produced/ the astonishing suggestion/ that the binder in question/ was chimpanzee blood—astonishing/ because chimps are African/, not American animals.

第二步 抓动词，看主语，确定一下句子的基本框架，先看主句再看从句

A follow-up study, however, /produced/ the astonishing suggestion/ that the binder in question/ was chimpanzee blood—astonishing/ because chimps are African/, not American animals.

主语是study 谓语动词produce 宾语 suggestion

A study produced the suggestion that...后面是一个宾语从句

一项研究得出了这样的一个结论...

从句里的主语是the binder粘合剂 was为 be动词的过去时态 chimpanzee blood做表语，一个很清晰的主系表结构。

第三步把刚才跳读和略读的修饰性成分（形容词、介词短语等）信息还原，细节补充回去，得到句子清晰完整的全貌

看到句子里有两个astonishing

一个是对得出的研究结论的一种惊讶和难以置信the astonishing suggestion

另一个是解释为什么难以置信的原因astonishing because chimps are African, not American animals.

follow- up后续的 in question所探讨的 however 表转折

这回我们再从头到尾梳理下，加深一下对这句话的理解。

A follow-up study, however, produced the astonishing suggestion that the binder in question was chimpanzee blood—astonishing because chimps are African, not American animals.

然而，一项后续研究得出了一个令人咋舌的结论，即所讨论的粘合剂是黑猩猩的血液，令人惊讶的是，黑猩猩是非洲动物，而不是美洲动物。

核心要点：

1. follow up 跟进 v. follow-up后续的

Follow-up visits were arranged to see what the city has done to alleviate the serious pollution of its local rivers.

As a professional journalist, you should always be ready to follow up any lead.

2. in question 在讨论中的 所研究的

With an effort, he dragged his mind back to the matter in question.

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