1. His colleague, Michael Beer, says that far too many companies have applied re-engineering in a mechanistic fashion, chopping out costs without giving sufficient thought to long-term profitability.

【譯文】他的同事邁克比爾說，太多的公司已用機械的方式進行重組，在沒有充分考慮到長期贏利能力的情況下降低了成本。

【析句】句子的主干（His colleague,Michael Beer,says）比較明了，賓語是that引導的賓語從句。從句包含兩個狀語成分，一是in a mechanistic fashion表示方式，一是現(xiàn)在分詞短語chopping out costs without giving sufficient thought to long-term profitability表示伴隨，都是說明謂語applied的。

【講詞】apply意為"申請；應用"，在句中"運用"的意思。The purpose of the guidelines applied in the program is to improve the efficiency of the company.（在該計劃中實施這些方針的目的是為了提高公司的效率。）It is more important to  apply what we have learned into practice.（把我們所學的知識應用于實踐更為重要。）

2. Few creations of big technology capture the imagination like giant dams. Perhaps it is humankind's long suffering at the mercy of flood and drought that makes the ideal of for cing the waters to do our bidding so fascinating.

【譯文】 在重大技術所創(chuàng)造的東西中很少能有像大型水壩這樣讓人癡迷的�？赡苷�是因為人類長期遭受旱澇災害的擺布才使得人們治理江河、供我驅(qū)策的理想如此令人癡迷。

【析句】第一句是簡單句。第二句是強調(diào)句（it is... that），所強調(diào)的是humankind's long suffering，它也是從句的實際主語，即humankind's long suffering... makes...。

【講詞】capture the imagination of是一個固定搭配，意為"為......吸引"或"激發(fā)......想象力"。The story of Harry Potter has captured the imagination of millions of readers in the world.（哈里波特的故事讓全世界數(shù)以百萬的讀者為之癡迷。）at the mercy of意為"任......處置；無能為力"。We will not live at the mercy of terrorists.（我們不會聽任恐怖主義者的擺布。）

bidding意為"命令；出價；邀請"。注意bidding相關的詞組，例如at one's bidding（依囑；遵命），do one's bidding（照......的命令做，照......的話辦）。