英语的句子太长,读不懂怎么办呢?

下面我结合一个具体例子,给各位介绍一下.下面这个长句子,是美国作家Hendrik Willem van Loon的名著《Tolerance》第二章的第一段,对于这个长句子,我估计初学者如果只读一篇,很难理解这句话的全部含义.\x0d　　How it happened that a little rocky peninsula in a remote corner of the Mediterranean was able to provide our world in less than two centuries with the complete framework for all our present day experiments in politics,literature,drama,sculpture,chemistry,physics and Heaven knows what else,is a question which has puzzled a great many people for a great many centuries and to which every philosopher,at one time or another during his career,has tried to give an answer.\x0d　　遇到这种长句子,我首先认真读一遍,对整个句子的结构有一个大概了解,然后用红笔,在每个从句的前面,以及我认为需要引起注意的地方,划一条竖线,不过为便于读者观察,我下面没有划竖线,而是加入①②③等数字,请看：\x0d　　① How it happened ② that a little rocky peninsula in a remote corner of the Mediterranean was able to provide our world ③ in less than two centuries ④ with the complete framework for all our present day experiments in politics,literature,drama,sculpture,chemistry,physics ⑤ and Heaven knows what else,⑥ is a question ⑦ which has puzzled a great many people for a great many centuries ⑧ and to which every philosopher,⑨ at one time or another during his career,⑩has tried to give an answer.\x0d　　这样分隔之后,句子结构就比较明显了,此时我可以把每个部分的意思分别翻译出来,请看：\x0d　　最后,将各个部分的意思合并起来,就构成整个句子的意思：\x0d　　上面这句话,我分隔成十个部分,这主要是为了便于读者理解,实际上并不需要分隔这么多(五部分足够了).希望这种方法能够对您有所帮助.\x0d推荐一本书《2005考研英语长难句过关演练》中国石化出版社出版