【真题例句】

　　The issue of whether life ever existed on the planet, and whether it persists to this day, has been highlighted by mounting evidence that the Red Planet once had abundant stable, liquid water and by the continuing controversy over suggestions that bacterial fossils rode to Earth on a meteorite from Mars.

　　【解析】

　　句子可拆分为：The issue of //whether life ever existed on the planet, and whether it persists to this day, //has been highlighted //by mounting evidence //that the Red Planet once had abundant stable, liquid water and //by the continuing controversy over suggestions //that bacterial fossils rode to Earth on a meteorite from Mars.

　　主句为：The issue of whether life ever existed on the planet, and whether it persists to this day, has been highlighted by… and by…。主句主语的结构为: The issue of whether…and whether…。of 短语修饰the issue, of 短语较长一般译在后面；that the Red Planet…是evidence的同位语从句，（即是evidence的具体内容）。that bacterial fossils…是suggestions的同位语从句，说明suggestions的具体内容。）第一个同位语从句可以直接翻译在所修饰词后面。第二个同位语可以放在所修饰的名词前面，充当定语。

　　【参考译文】

　　越来越多的证据表明，这个红色行星上曾经有稳定而丰富的液态水，而且人们对从火星落到地球上的细菌化石陨石的说法一直有争论，使火星上是否存在过生命和是否至今仍有生命的问题成为了引人注目的重点。