Thus，what in contrast to the Puritan colonies appears to Davis to be peculiarly Southern— acquisitiveness，a strong interest in politics and the law，and a tendency to cultivate metropolitan cultural models—was not only more typically English than the cultural patterns exhibited by Puritan Massachusetts and Connecticut，but also almost certainly characteristic of most other early modern British colonies from Barbados north to Rhode Island and New Hampshire. (4)
因此，那些与(北方)清教殖民地形成鲜明对比、并在戴维斯教授的心目中显得具有特殊南方色彩的特征——占有欲、对政治和法律的浓厚兴趣、以及培养大都市文化模式的倾向——不仅仅要比清教的马萨诸塞州和康乃涅克州所展现出来的文化模式更具有典型的英国色彩，并且几乎毫无疑问地构成了绝大多数其它早期近代英国殖民地的特征，从巴巴多斯北至罗得岛和新罕布什尔州。
难句类型：复杂修饰、插入语
解释：这个颇长的句子是由一个what从句做主语，此主语what in contrast to the Puritan colonies appears to davins to be peculialy Southern中有又一些插入语的修饰成分，其实主干很简单，就是what appears to be Southern.Southern后的两个破折号之间的内容是主语的同位语，实际起到了一个插入语的作用。一直到句子写了五行之后，谓语动词was才姗然出现，难怪读者看得不舒服。But also之后，省略了与前面一样的was.
笔者在此再次提醒读者，笔者之所以对此类句子做语法分析，是为了让读者熟悉这些语法结构，而不是希望读者在现场阅读进也去分析其语法，正确的方法是通过熟读本书中的种种难句，使大脑习惯这些语言结构;实战的现场阅读把注意力集中在句子的意思上，比如这句话，只要读出“与D的观念相反，南方的州与清教的殖民地一样，都是有着英国风格的”意思即可。
意群训练：Thus，what in contrast to the Puritan colonies appears to Davis to be peculiarly Southern— acquisitiveness，a strong interest in politics and the law，and a tendency to cultivate metropolitan cultural models—was not only more typically English than the cultural patterns exhibited by Puritan Massachusetts and Connecticut，but also almost certainly characteristic of most other early modern British colonies from Barbados north to Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
