難句解析：
①A lateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress promoted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming "I wanted to spend more time with my family".
▲本句中a lateral move是主語，promoted是謂語，that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress是a lateral move的定語，although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming "I wanted to spend more time with my family"是狀語，其中逗號之間的in the manner of a disgraced government minister是插入語。
△注意找準主句主謂結構。
②Curiously, some two-and-a-half years and two novels later, my experiment in what the Americans term "downshifting" has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality.
▲本句主干是... my experiment... has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality。注意其謂語是一個turn sth. into sth.的結構。前面兩個逗號之間的是時間狀語。
△注意抓句子的主干，其中主語的修飾部分in what the Americans term "downshifting"看不懂可以跳過去。當然，如果我們對英語的預感較好，就可以猜測downshifting一詞的意思與駕駛騎車有關，在這里，作者把生活比喻為開車，因此放棄對物質生活的熱衷追求就像在開車時減檔減速一樣。
③I have discovered, as perhaps Kelsey will after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She after a build-up of stress, that abandoning the doctrine of "juggling your life", and making the alternative move into "downshifting" brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status.
▲I have discovered是主句的主謂結構，that abandoning the doctrine of "juggling your life", and making the alternative move into "downshifting" brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status是主句的賓語，其中abandoning the doctrine of "juggling your life", and making the alternative move into "downshifting"為該賓語從句的主語，brings為謂語。as perhaps Kelsey will after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She after a build-up of stress既是伴隨狀語，又是插入語，其主語為Kelsey，謂語為will，而after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She after a build-up of stress是本插入語中的時間狀語。
△注意一些詞匯的含義：much-publicized十分張揚的；She是雜志的名字，因此首字母須大寫；build-up積聚；juggling忙碌；brings with it far greater rewards than帶來的利益遠遠不止……。
④Downshifting — also known in America as "voluntary simplicity" — has, ironically, even bred a new area of what might be termed anti-consumerism.
▲本句的句子結構是Downshifting has bred a new area，破折號之間的是插入結構，ironically也是插入語，可放在句首，what相當于thought which。
△重點是抓住句子的主干成分。
⑤While in America the trend started as a reaction to the economic decline — after the mass redundancies caused by downsizing in the late '80s — and is still linked to the politics of thrift, in Britain, at least among the middle-class downshifters of my acquaintance, we have different reasons for seeking to simplify our lives.
▲本句首先應該從in Britain的前面一分為二，前面講的是在美國的情況，其中破折號之間的是一插入成分，而后面講的是在英國的情況。
△注意英美兩國的差異。
⑥For the women of my generation who were urged to keep juggling through the '80s, downshifting in the mid-'90s is not so much a search for the mythical good life — growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one — as a personal recognition of your limitations.
▲本句主謂結構為... downshifting in the mid-'90s is not...。who were urged to keep juggling through the '80s是修飾the women of my generation的定語從句。growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one既是插入語，又是the mythical good life的同位語。
△注意not so much A(a search for the mythical good life) as B(a personal recognition of your limitations)的句式含義，即“與其說是A，不如說是B”。
來源:可可英語 http://www.ccdyzl.cn/kaoyan/201406/303040.shtml