例如:The methods that a community devises to perpetuate itself come into being to preserve aspects of the cultural legacy that that community perceives as essential.
此句主干就是 the methods (that devises (to do dth)) come into being (to preserve sth (that ...)) .
这几个括号标出来以后,这个句子的意义就非常清晰和明确。等主干明确后,我们再去添入括号中的修饰成分,句子意思被丰满,但是我们的头脑仍然很清醒。
再例如:These questions are political in the sense that the debate over them will inevitably be less an exploration of abstract matters in a spirit of disinterested inquiry than an academic power struggle in which the career and professional fortunes of many women scholars — only now entering the academic profession in substantial numbers — will be at stake, and which them the chances for a contribution that might be an important influence against sexism in our society.
这句话的是: these questions are political (in the sense 【后面一读到in the sense 就知道接下来要表示原因】 that the debate (over them 【介词引导的必为修饰成分,读过去但是无需深刻理解,因为它必定不是主干】) will be less 【读到这里就知道后面肯定有一个 than,而且这两者是程度比较】 ... than ...