動名詞(v+ing)(002)

Rendering the UN “utterly ineffective” has been routine procedure since the organization fell out of control with decolonization. One index is Security Council vetoes, covering a wide range of issues: from the 1960s, the US has been far in the lead, Britain second, France a distant third. General Assembly votes are similar. The more general principle is that if an international organization does not serve the interests that govern US policy, there is little reason to allow it to survive.
上面顯示為淺綠色這一句主詞在哪裡，到哪裡為止?國人最常見的v+ing是和be動詞寫在一起的進行式，其次是寫在介系詞後面的動名詞。若以v+ing做主詞，這種寫法就常常讓國人思路迷失，不知所之。以動名詞為主詞的句子，簡單一點的尚不難理解。譬如，Running is a sport for physical exercise.(跑步這種動可以鍛鍊身體)；Mountain biking is interesting.(騎登山車很好玩)等，running, mountain biking等單字本身便是一向熟悉的，所以這種句子讀起來也沒有甚麼問題。但如果是像本文一開始提問的這種句子，以一動名詞擔綱，後面帶領一系列字串，國人讀起來便常常有摸不著頭緒之感。總的來說，我們會像讀句子一般去讀他，然後會覺得讀不出完整句子，於是思路就掛了。像《流氓國家》的譯者在這裡顯然就跌了一跤。"Rendering the UN 'utterly ineffective' has been routine procedure since the organization fell out of control with decolonization."，"rendering"是動名詞；動名詞是名詞，可當主詞，這沒問題。動名詞又是動詞，動詞可及物，也可不及物，在這裡是及物，故而後面接寫其所及之物，這也沒問題。都沒問題，文法結構弄清楚，讀起來就清楚，就知道是「使聯合國『毫無效力』」。接著讀：「使聯合國『毫無效力』」這件事「一直是」(has been)「例行程序」(rouutine procedure)。"Rendering the UN 'utterly ineffective'” 是主部(主詞)，"has been"是動詞，"routine procedure"是補語，這就很清楚了，不是嗎?(未完)