难句解析：
①A lateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress promoted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming "I wanted to spend more time with my family".
▲本句中a lateral move是主语，promoted是谓语，that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress是a lateral move的定语，although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming "I wanted to spend more time with my family"是状语，其中逗号之间的in the manner of a disgraced government minister是插入语。
△注意找准主句主谓结构。
②Curiously, some two-and-a-half years and two novels later, my experiment in what the Americans term "downshifting" has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality.
▲本句主干是... my experiment... has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality。注意其谓语是一个turn sth. into sth.的结构。前面两个逗号之间的是时间状语。
△注意抓句子的主干，其中主语的修饰部分in what the Americans term "downshifting"看不懂可以跳过去。当然，如果我们对英语的预感较好，就可以猜测downshifting一词的意思与驾驶骑车有关，在这里，作者把生活比喻为开车，因此放弃对物质生活的热衷追求就像在开车时减档减速一样。
③I have discovered, as perhaps Kelsey will after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She after a build-up of stress, that abandoning the doctrine of "juggling your life", and making the alternative move into "downshifting" brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status.
▲I have discovered是主句的主谓结构，that abandoning the doctrine of "juggling your life", and making the alternative move into "downshifting" brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status是主句的宾语，其中abandoning the doctrine of "juggling your life", and making the alternative move into "downshifting"为该宾语从句的主语，brings为谓语。as perhaps Kelsey will after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She after a build-up of stress既是伴随状语，又是插入语，其主语为Kelsey，谓语为will，而after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She after a build-up of stress是本插入语中的时间状语。
△注意一些词汇的含义：much-publicized十分张扬的；She是杂志的名字，因此首字母须大写；build-up积聚；juggling忙碌；brings with it far greater rewards than带来的利益远远不止……。
④Downshifting — also known in America as "voluntary simplicity" — has, ironically, even bred a new area of what might be termed anti-consumerism.
▲本句的句子结构是Downshifting has bred a new area，破折号之间的是插入结构，ironically也是插入语，可放在句首，what相当于thought which。
△重点是抓住句子的主干成分。
⑤While in America the trend started as a reaction to the economic decline — after the mass redundancies caused by downsizing in the late '80s — and is still linked to the politics of thrift, in Britain, at least among the middle-class downshifters of my acquaintance, we have different reasons for seeking to simplify our lives.
▲本句首先应该从in Britain的前面一分为二，前面讲的是在美国的情况，其中破折号之间的是一插入成分，而后面讲的是在英国的情况。
△注意英美两国的差异。
⑥For the women of my generation who were urged to keep juggling through the '80s, downshifting in the mid-'90s is not so much a search for the mythical good life — growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one — as a personal recognition of your limitations.
▲本句主谓结构为... downshifting in the mid-'90s is not...。who were urged to keep juggling through the '80s是修饰the women of my generation的定语从句。growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one既是插入语，又是the mythical good life的同位语。
△注意not so much A(a search for the mythical good life) as B(a personal recognition of your limitations)的句式含义，即“与其说是A，不如说是B”。