難句解析：
①A history of long and effortless success can be a dreadful handicap, but, if properly handled, it may become a driving force.
▲該句是一個并列句，由前后兩個轉折關系的分句組成，其間的連詞為but。but與后一個分句之間又插入一個由if引導的條件狀語if properly handled，該狀語原來是一個if引導的條件狀語從句，即if it(a history of long and effortless success) is properly handled，其中的it is由于和該分句的主句部分主謂語一致而被省略掉了。
△本句結構比較簡明，只需注意but與it may become a driving force之間的if結構是一個插入語，并且是一個省略了主語和系動詞的被動語態。此外handicap意為“不利條件”。
②Its scientists were the world's best, its workers the most skilled. America and Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Europeans and Asians whose economies the war had destroyed.
▲前一句中its workers the most skilled是一個伴隨狀語，省略了其中的being，補齊成分后應為its workers being the most skilled。后一句中beyond the dreams of the Europeans and Asians作prosperous的狀語，beyond為介詞，是“超越，超出”的意思。而whose economies the war had destroyed作定語從句修飾the Europeans and Asians，原形是the war had destroyed the economies of the Europeans and Asians。
△注意beyond一詞的意思，它表示“在……之外”。
③For a while it looked as though the making of semiconductors, which America had invented and which sat at the heart of the new computer age, was going to be the next casualty.
▲該句帶有一個表語從句，其表語從句中又套有兩個并列的定語從句。全句主句部分的主謂結構是it looked...，as though（即as if好像）引導的從句是looked（看上去）的表語。表語從句中主語為the making of semiconductors，謂語為was going to be，而逗號之間的兩個which從句是the making of semiconductors的非限定性定語，同時又是插入語。
△注意理解the next casualty的含義，casualty本意為“傷亡”，此處是“被國外產品擊敗的美國本土產業”。
④Their sometimes sensational findings were filled with warnings about the growing competition from overseas.
▲英語的句式詞匯一般都比較簡練，如果將本句用中國人習慣的語式講出應該如下：Their sometimes surprising findings about the causes of American's industrial decline are full of the warnings about the growing competition from overseas nations.
△sensational即surprising。另外注意本句的中心意思在句末的the growing competition from overseas。
⑤Few Americans attribute this solely to such obvious causes as a devalued dollar or the turning of the business cycle. Self-doubt has yielded to blind pride.
▲attribute... to...將……歸功或歸咎于……。solely作狀語修飾attribute，this指代上一句中的five years of solid growth，此外as a devalued dollar or the turning of the business cycle作賓語such obvious causes的補語。
△yield to是“向……屈服”，即“被取代”。此處使用了現在完成時，證明這種狀態到現在已成型。
來源:可可英語 http://www.ccdyzl.cn/kaoyan/201406/303042.shtml