· 长难句 ·

They were, by far, the largest and most distant objects that scientists had ever detected: a strip of enormous cosmic clouds some 15 billion light-years from earth. But even more important, it was the farthest that scientists had been able to look into the past, for what they were seeing were the patterns and structures that existed 15 billion years ago.

· 词的处理 ·

by far 迄今为止

object / ˈɔbdʒikt/ n. 物体

detect / diˈtekt / vt. 发现

a strip of … 一条/块(狭长的)……

enormous / iˈnɔ:məs/ adj. 巨大的

cosmic / ˈkɔzmik/ adj. 宇宙的 (cosmos n. 宇宙)

lligte-year n. 光年

look into 调查，观察

pattern / ˈpætn / n. 模式

· 句子翻译分析 ·

They were, by far, the largest and most distant objects that scientists had ever detected: a strip of enormous cosmic clouds some 15 billion light-years from earth. But even more important, it was the farthest that scientists had been able to look into the past, for what they were seeing were the patterns and structures that existed 15 billion years ago.

译：迄今为止，科学家所发现的最大、最遥远的物体是：离地球大约150亿光年的一块狭长的巨大宇宙云系。更为重要的是，这是科学家们能够观测到的最遥远的过去的景象，因为他们看到的是150亿年前宇宙云的形状和结构。

一句

1. 本句主干为主系表结构，即：they/ were / the largest and most distant objects.

2. by far 为插入语，表时间状语

3. that scientists had ever detected 为定语从句，修饰 objects.

4. 分号之后的“a strip of enormous cosmic clouds some 15 billion light-years from earth”为objects 的同位语，起解释说明作用。

二句

1. but even more important 为句子的状语成分

2. 句子主干为主系表结构，即：it /was /the farthest;其中it 指代上文中的a strip of enormous cosmic clouds

3. that 引导定语从句修饰 the farthest

4. for +从句，表原因。从句主干为主系表结构：what they were seeing/ were / the patterns and structures; that existed 15 billion years ago. 为定语从句修饰the patterns and structures.