我们先来看一篇演说词，James Ramsay McDonald(1866-1937)曾经两度任英国首相，又是工党领袖。第一次世界大战中反对英国参战，1919年大战结束后他在英国工党会议上作了如下的演说:

　　Today, as I read about the Peace, as I hoped and prayed about the Peace, I thought of the almost countless graves scattered in the centre of Europe. Many of our children are lying there. It must be in the hearts of all of us to build a fair monument to those men who will never come back to bless us with their smiles. Do they not want a grand and magnificent monument built for them so that the next generations, even if they forget their names, shall never forget their sacrifice? That is what I want. I almost felt I heard the grass growing over them in a magnificent, soothing harmony, and that simple soothing peace of the growing grass seemed to grow louder and more magnificent until the riot and distractive sound of the guns were stifled and stilled by it. Can we not have that sentiment today, that feeling in our hearts? Can we not go in imagination to where our children lie, and feel that, in Europe, in our own hearts, that same peace shall rule, and through sorrow and through sacrifice we shall obtain that wisdom and light which will enable Europe to possess peace for ever? (James Ramsay MacDonald)

　　要读懂这篇演说词，我们先要知道段落中生词的意思：

　　scatter撒布 monument纪念碑 bless使幸福

　　grand庄严的 magnificent宏伟的 generation一代

　　sacrifice牺牲 soothe抚慰 harmony和声

　　riot混乱的 distrative混乱的 stifle扑灭

　　still使安静 sentiment感情 imagination想像

　　sorrow忧伤 obtain得到 wisdom智慧

　　possess得到

再有不懂的单词请查金山词霸。基本上，这样之后本段中已经没有生词了，不过平心而论，似乎这样也帮助不大。段中的几句长句还是让人束手无策的。相信现在有不少人都认得上面的单词，可是要说这段话的意思，却仍然茫无头绪的。在这个时候，我们就要做语法分析了。譬如第一句：

　　Today, as I read about the Peace, as I hoped and prayed about the Peace, I thought of the状语 主语 谓语

　　almost countless graves scattered in the centre of Europe.宾语

　　如此，句子的结构豁然开朗，其大概意思也能够掌握了。

　　我们甚至可以分析得更细。Today是副词作句子的状语;两个as引导两个状语从句;

　　the almost countless graves scattered in the centre of Europe是主句的长宾语。副词almost修饰countless，almost countless修饰graves;scattered in the centre of Europe分词短语修饰graves，而介词短语in the centre of Europe修饰scattered。

　　这样，句子的意思就非常明白了：“今天，当我阅悉和平已经到来，就像我当初盼望和平，为和平祈祷之时一样，想到了遍布中欧各地几乎数不清的坟墓。”其实这句话仅仅是一简单句，去除修饰成分，也就是：I thought of graves,而已。