黑暗版阅读真题解析1999 Text 1

难句解析：

①While warnings are often appropriate and necessary - the dangers of drug interactions, for example - and many are required by state or federal regulations, it isn't clear that they actually protect the manufacturers and sellers from liability if a customer is injured.
▲在这个主从复合句中，前一个分句是由while引导的让步从句，这个从句由两个并列句组成，中间用and连接。破折号之间的部分是举例说明warnings的内容，and后面的many省略了warnings，state与federal共用regulations。主句部分本身也是一个主从复合句，主句用了一个形式主语it，真正的主语是that引导的从句，注意这个从句中有个动词短语protect... from...，后面是一个if引导的条件从句。
△首先要把握这个句子的主旨，那就是主句中所阐明的warnings对manufacturers and sellers的保护作用还很不明朗。注意破折号之间的部分对warnings的解释作用以及it作为形式主语的替代作用。

②As personal injury claims continue as before, some courts are beginning to side with defendants, especially in cases where a warning label probably wouldn't have changed anything.
▲在这个主从复合句中，前一个分句是由as引导的伴随状语从句，注意这里的claims是个名词；主句的时态用的是现在进行时，表示的这种状况正在开始。这个主句有一个较长的状语短语，原因是cases后面跟了一个where引导的定语从句修饰cases，这个定语从句的主干是warning label not change anything，解释的是什么样的cases。
△主句依然是抓住句子大意的关键，该句所要表达的就是some courts beginning to side with defendants，再者要注意cases后面定语从句指出了哪类cases尤为如此。

③In May, Julie Nimmons, president of Schutt Sports in Illinois, successfully fought a lawsuit involving a football player who was paralyzed in a game while wearing a Schutt helmet.
▲这个句子的主干是... president... successfully fought a lawsuit...。句子的主语是Julie Nimmons，后面逗号之间的部分是她的职位，宾语部分a lawsuit有一个较长的动词现在分词involving所引导的短语，involving的宾语是a football player，后面跟了一个who引导的定语从句，这个定语从句中有一个while引导的时间状语，还原成句子就是while he was wearing a Schutt helmet。找出其中的关键部分：... president of Schutt... successfully fought a lawsuit involving a football player... paralyzed... while wearing a Schutt helmet。

④At the same time, the American Law Institute - a group of judges, lawyers, and academics whose recommendations carry substantial weight - issued new guidelines for tort law stating that companies need not warn customers of obvious dangers or bombard them with a lengthy list of possible ones.
▲这个看起来很长的句子其实是一个简单句，主干是... the... Institute... issued new guidelines for tort law...。其中破折号之间的内容说明的是这个Institute的人员构成，并且用一个whose引导的定语从句说明了这些成员的权威。law后面跟的现在分词stating有一个相当长的宾语从句，这个从句的主语是companies，而谓语有两个动词结构，一个是warn... of...，另一个是bombard... with...，叙述了guidelines的内容。
△这个句子的要点是在stating后面的that从句，对其中两个动词结构warn... of...和bombard... with...的正确理解决定了对整个句子的理解。

⑤If the moderate end of the legal community has its way, the information on products might actually be provided for the benefit of customers and not as protection against legal liability.
▲在这个复合句中，if引导的是一个条件从句，主句部分的谓语用了被动形式，谓语动词provide for有两个宾语，一个是the benefits of customers，另一个是protection against legal liability，not决定了两者的取舍关系：取前者，舍后者。
△从句给出了前提条件，注意has its way的意思是can be achieved；理解主句部分的关键在于provide for的两个宾语的取舍关系。

补充: Or so the thinking has gone since the early 1980s中的thinking是一种思想的意思，指的是上面所说过的人们对于通过法律获得赔偿的思想。gone本意是消失，这里可以意译为改变，就是说这种思想已经改变。但是我个人觉得，从前后文看，这个gone不是否定，所以应该是开始的意思，也就是说应该翻译成这种思想已经形成了。