Question

请问这两个介词的意思与用法

“It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.”

此句中by people的by，是什么意思？我知道不是被动。
many for first time的for，请问for在这里的意思和用法，前面那个应该是代词指代人对吧....

语出08年奥巴马就职演讲稿
by...好像是被动那个..

Answer 1

by people 和 by lines 是并列跟在 told后面，也就是完整的 It's the answer told by people，理解成“这就是被人们说出来的答案”，是被动句。

many 完整的应该是many of those people，意思是前面 “by people” 的 people 中有很大一部分。
many for the first time in their lives，完整的应该是 many of those people do this（do this 就是整句话前面说的，人们等了三四个小时，说出自己的答案） for the first time in their lives
许多人可能在一生中第一次这样等待很长时间，表达出自己的答案、真实心意。

从下面because后面的两句更可以证明。“因为他们相信这个时候不同以往，而他们的声音会如此不同（潜台词是，他们终于也能勇敢地表达自己的真实心意，不再像以前那样需要隐藏自己的真实想法。）”

这类演讲中经常省略句子成分，语句简短，更易引领听众情绪。

Answer 2

此处的by是被动句里的用法，表示“由”的意思。