Yet it is hard to imagine that the merger of a few oil firms today could re-create the same threats to competition that were feared nearly a century ago in the U.S., when the Standard Oil Trust was broken up.（Text4. 2001）
merger / ?m?:d??(r) / n.(機(jī)構(gòu)或企業(yè)的)合并，歸并
firm / f?:m / n.公司；商行；商號(hào)
threat? / θret / n.威脅；恐嚇
fear? / fi?(r) / v.害怕；畏懼
break up 破碎；結(jié)束；解散
結(jié)構(gòu)分析（圖片可點(diǎn)擊放大）
翻譯
不過，很難想象如今幾家石油公司的兼并會(huì)再次對(duì)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)構(gòu)成近100年前美國(guó)人擔(dān)心的那種威脅，那時(shí)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)石油托拉斯被迫解體。
你需要知道
when the Standard Oil Trust was broken up是定語(yǔ)從句，修飾nearly a century ago，when為關(guān)系副詞。若把它理解為時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)對(duì)理解句子含義無(wú)影響，不需要深入?yún)^(qū)分哦。
預(yù)告明日長(zhǎng)難句
A lateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress prompted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming “I wanted to spend more time with my family”.（Text5. 2001）
