1.Science had its beginning when man started asking questions about his environment.

句中的beginning是一个名词，意思是“开始、开端、” 例如：

1）We had too much rain at the beginning of the month. （月初雨水过多。）

2）He has made a good beginning in the field of publishing. （他在出版领域做出了良好的开端。）

在动词start的后面，可以用动名词作宾语，也可以用不定式。一般来说，如果表示有意识地“开始做某事”，多用动名词，否则用不定式更多一些，如：

1）We started working on it in 1999. （我们是1999年开始这项工作的。）

2）Suddenly it started to rain.（突然下起雨来。）

2.He sought answers to these and other questions.

本句中的sought是动词seek的过去分词。seek answers to…“寻找…答案”，to是介词，常与answer这类名词连用。例如：

1）The answer to your question is very simple. （你的问题答案很简单）

2）I haven't found the solution to the problem yet. （我还没找到解决这个问题的办法）

3）He couldn't find the key to the door. （他找不到开这个门的钥匙）

3.Not all his answer were correct， but at least he did want to know.

Not all his answer were correct 这是一个部分否定的句子。部分否定一般用下列三种形式表达；

A.主语中有all/both/every/each， etc＋否定谓语

B.主语中有not + all /both/every/each， etc＋肯定谓语

C.否定谓语+ all /both/every/each， etc

1）All the students are not in the classroom.（学生们并不都在教室里。）

这句话相当于：Not all the students are in the classroom.

2）Every computer is not of high quality. （并非每一台计算机都是高质量的。）

这句话相当于：Not every computer is of high quality.

3）I didn't see both of them. （我只见到了他们两个中的一个。）

这句话相当于：I only saw one of the two men

… but at least he did want to know. 句子中的did是助动词，随人称和时态的变化而变化，用于强调，如

1）He does know the way to the library. （他的确知道去图书馆的路）

2）I do enjoy pop music. （我的确喜欢流行音乐）

3）They did give us a lot of help. （他们的确帮了我们不少忙）

4.The child wants to take apart a watch to see what makes it work.

句子中“to take apart a watch”是不定式做宾语，后面的“to see what makes it work”则是不定式做目的状语。请看下面的例句：

1）He offered to help me. （他提出要帮助我。）

2）I didn't expect to find you here.（没想到在这儿碰到你。）

3）We all want to learn more knowledge. （我们都想学更多的知识。）

4）To do it well， you have to make more efforts. （你得更努力，才能做好。）

5）To protect the child， he laid down his life. （为了保护那个孩子，他献出了自己的生命。）

6）They ran over to welcome the hero. （他们跑过去欢迎那位英雄。）

在上述6个句子中，前3句是不定式做宾语，而后3句则是不定式做目的状语。

take apart 的意思是“拆开”，如：

1）He took the toy apart but found nothing unusual.（他把玩具拆开但没发现任何异常。）

2）I'll have to take the bike apart to see what is wrong.（我得把自行车拆开看有什么毛病。）

5. He combined his curiosity with imagination and carried out his well-known experiment to show that lightening and electric spark are the same thing.

combine with 是一个常用词组，意思为“使结合；使联合”：例如：

1）Experience is fine when it is combined with the right personality.   （经验与健全的人格相结合是很好的。）

well-known是一个复合形容词，意思为“出名的，众所周知的”，例如：

A well-known film critic （有名的影评家），a well-known voice （熟悉的声音）。除了做定语用以外，well-known（或写成well known）也可以做表语，如：

1）It is well known that excessive drinking and smoking can be harmful to one's health.

（众所周知抽烟喝酒过多有害健康。）

2）It is well known that education of young people is vital to the future of a country.

（众所周知年轻人的教育对一个国家的未来至关重要。）

6. Scientifically minded people believe in a “cause-and effect”relationship

句子中的minded是一个形容词，在minded前面常用形容词或副词，组成一个复合形容词，如：a narrow-minded person（一个心胸狭窄的人），the absent-minded young man（心不在焉的年轻人），open-minded people（思想开放的人们），liberally-minded parents（思想开明的父母）， a politically-minded old man（有政治头脑的老人）

cause-and-effect是一个复合形容词，修饰后面的名词relationship.如此构成的复合形容词在英语中很常见，如：

1）a never-to-be-forgotten moment （永远难忘的时刻）

2）an epoch-making event（划时代的大事）

3）a seven-year-old boy（一个七岁男孩）

4）a wait-and-see attitude（等着瞧的态度）

7. …there is a good reason why some leaves turn red and others yellow in the fall

句子中的why是一个关系副词，它所引导的是一个定语从句，请看例句：

1）He didn't give the reason why was absent yesterday （他没有提到昨天缺席的理由）

2） The reason why he missed the train was that he got up late （他没赶上火车的原因是他起床晚了）

3） This is the reason why he did it（这就是他做那件事的原因）

有时，我们也会看到在reason后面用for的情况，用for的时候，后面只能接名词，或动名词短语，不能接句子，如：

1）I don't know the reason for his absence.（我不知道他缺席的理由）

2）One of the reasons for coming to England was to make money.（到英国来的原因之一是挣钱）

3）There is no reason for his poor work.（他的工作干不好是没有理由的）

句子中的fall是一个名词，意思为“秋天”，例如：

1）I met her again in the fall semester .（我在秋学期又见到了她）

2）They moved to Washington in the fall of  1998.（一九九八年秋天他们搬到了华盛顿）