一句英文，幫我分析一下文法

Question

Would you have rejected H0 had you been looking for evidence that SAT scores in general have
been declining over the years from the mean of 500?

rejected H0 翻成「拒絕H0」
SAT不用翻譯
mean of 500翻成「平均數500」

幫我分析一下，這句好像有很多倒裝，到底要怎麼看這句話。
不用翻譯也可以。

想再問一下，為什麼用had been looking for而不用had looked for

Answer 1

版主您好:

Would you have rejected H0 had you been looking for evidence that SAT scores in general have been declining over the years from the mean of 500?

您說得沒錯, 是用了倒裝, 不過因為句子結構稍微變化了一下, 所以第一眼或許較不容易看清楚.

在下把您的句子還原成一般型態:

If you had been looking forevidence that SAT scores in general have been declining over the years from the mean of 500, would you have rejected H0?

倒裝的地方有二:
1. 疑問句: [would you have rejected H0], 這是本來就該倒裝的.
2. 假設語氣副詞子句: [If you had been looking for ...]倒裝成[Had you been looking for ...].
3. 原句又把這個假設語氣副詞子句移到後半, 更容易造成閱讀上的難度.

要是你曾經不斷嘗試去尋求關於"歷年來SAT整體成績平均都不超過500分, 而且每下愈況"的證據, 你還會接受H0嗎?

在肯定句中, [you would have rejected H0]是"你本來會拒絕H0", 但是實際上是"接受了H0", 所以中文在疑問句中, 直接用事實來問會比較通順.


2007-10-28 21:54:18 補充：
為什麼用had been looking for而不用had looked for?

[had been looking for]: 曾經"不斷"嘗試去尋求
[had looked for]: 曾經嘗試去尋求

Answer 2

如果你看到證明說SAT歷年來的平均數下降到500以下, 你還會拒絕H0嗎?

照字面翻, 也可以翻成SAT歷年來的平均數從500開始下降, 可我覺得那樣有點不通, 怪怪的...