Question

一句英文的理解

Answer 1

you have raised a very challenging question. i don't think there will be a definite or absolute wer to it only by reading the quotation alone. perhaps we should look at it this way; if i am not wrong
the quotation is extracted from a piece of text. hence
to determine which is a more accurate way to interpret it (as”是“当…时 or 解作“作为) depends on which one can conform to the meaning of the text as a whole. in other words
the meaning (or function) of this sentence MUST be in accordance with the purpose of the text. therefore
you are not giving sufficient information for evaluation and it is very difficult to reach an objective conclusion while there could be many perspectives. however
i think there is nothing wrong with your understanding (将“as”解作“作为”) by reading this sentence alone. in fact
i think YOUR WAY is even BETTER and more REASONABLE than the first one (as”是“当…时). there are 3 main reasons to support my opinion
1) inappropriate usage of the articles- if the actual meaning of the quotation is 因而当一个设施被代替时
整个世界最终将变成寺院和教会
it should be THE INSTITUTION rather than an institution; 2) inappropriate usage of tense and conjunction- this reason is even more solid and obvious. if AS used here me WHEN
then THE ACTION of superseding the institution HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE at that particular point of time. the use of WOULD (meaning 会 in chinese) me the action has NOT YET happened. in simpler words
the grammar does NOT allow WHEN (or in this case AS) and WOULD (or WILL
etc) being used at the same time. let me explain this with an example
e.g. when (or as) i turned around
i saw mary. (当我转身的时候
我看见mary) if WOULD is used
it will be
e.g. when i would turn around
i saw mary. (当会我转身的时候
我看见mary) do you see that the contradiction here? WHEN me that both actions (turned around & saw) happened simultaneously. WOULD me BEFORE turning around (because not yet happened). but the conjunction me AT THE SAME TIME AS! 2008-05-20 03:44:36 补充： so is it before or at the same time as? to conclude
the tense used and the conjunction contradict one another. 2008-05-20 03:45:32 补充： however
it is pletely acceptable to express an idea like this
WHEN you turn around
you WILL see mary
or WHEN you grow up (condition)
you WILL understand (possible result). 2008-05-20 03:46:06 补充： back to your quotation
you may see my point if i rearrange the sentence like this
AS (WHEN) an institution WOULD be superseded
so the whole world would eventually bee the temple and the church. 2008-05-20 03:46:29 补充： 当一个设施会被代替时
(当还没有发生时) 整个世界最终将变成寺院和教会。(可能发生 or 预期中的结果) 2008-05-20 03:46:54 补充： that is why i DO NOT think it should be understood this way
in contrast
YOU ARE GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT. 2008-05-20 03:47:34 补充： 3) if AS me WHEN
it is a CONJUNCTION; if it me LIKE (作为)
it is a PREPOSITION. using 2 conjunctions ( AS & SO) in this clause is grammatically UNACCEPTABLE 2008-05-20 03:48:15 补充： (e.g. either ALTHOUGH or BUT can be used in a clause
you can never use both)
but a preposition is no problem at all ( to relate the church to an institution; the use of articles also seems reasonable). that is why i think there is nothing wrong with your understanding 2008-05-20 03:48:46 补充： of course
the *** ysis above can be quite subjective without any references to the original text. i honestly think you do need to take the differences to heart because EVERYBODY DECODES A MESSAGE DIFFERENTLY and DEVIATION happens all the time. 2008-05-20 03:49:08 补充： IT IS A FACT THAT WE ALL THINK DIFFERENTLY AS WE DO NOT SHARE THE SAME BRAIN! as long as you do not distort the meaning as a whole
and your way of thinking does not hinder yourself from understanding others
a little deviation is no big deal at all! 2008-05-20 03:54:08 补充： sorry
i mean you do not need to take the differences to heart. there is a typing error.