1. For a while it looked as though the North might win.

as though：似乎，貌似

e.g. He likes to talk big as though he was an important person.

他老愛(ài)說(shuō)大話，就仿佛他是一位要人似的。

e.g. He kept silent,eating just as conscientiously but as though everything tasted alike.

他一聲不吭，悶頭吃著，仿佛桌上的飯菜都一個(gè)味兒。

2. As rebels swept through Lancashire, Yorkshire and Northumberland, it must have seemed that Catholic Britain had been reborn.

sweep through： (使)掃過(guò)…...； (使)掠過(guò)…...； (使)迅速傳遍于…...

e.g. Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?

你能聽(tīng)到風(fēng)掠過(guò)樹(shù)枝的聲音嗎?

e.g. The news swept through the village like fire.

那消息像火一樣在村中蔓延。

e.g. The disease can sweep through whole populations in a very short time.

這種病可以在很短的時(shí)間里在全體人口中流行開(kāi)來(lái)。

3. Now Elizabeth's government really knew what it was up against, the latest act in the endlessly drawn out religious war that began when Henry VIII made himself Supreme Head of the Church.

up against：面對(duì)

e.g. Although he ran up against many difficulties, he did not lose heart.

雖然他碰到了許多困難，但他并不氣餒。

e.g. Don't back up the moment you run up against a little difficulty.

不要遇到一點(diǎn)困難就打退堂鼓。