①INSTEAD OF THE dull, pro-forma ritual that normally marks the joint session of Congress that certifies a presidential victory, Washington today experienced what was at best a riot, at worst an insurrection. ②Soon after the joint session began, hundreds of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building, chanting “Stop the steal”, tearing down fencing, overwhelming the police and forcing their way in. ③Police evacuated staffers from Hill office buildings. ④Both chambers of Congress adjourned (they were debating an objection made by Paul Gosar, a far-right congressman from Arizona, to his own state’s certified results—an objection that won him a round of applause from his caucus). ⑤The secret service whisked Vice-President Mike Pence away. ⑥Police even reportedly began evacuating private homes near the Capitol.
①INSTEAD OF THE dull, pro-forma ritual that normally marks the joint session of Congress that certifies a presidential victory, Washington today experienced what was at best a riot, at worst an insurrection.
本句话主干很明确：Washington today experienced what was at best a riot, at worst an insurrection“what was at best a riot, at worst an insurrection”是what引导的名词性从句（what此处=sth that），相当于一个名词结构，在大句子中作experience的宾语。它的意思是：往好处说是骚乱的事件、往坏处说是叛乱的事件。at best, at worst均为副词「在最好的情况下、在最坏的情况下」，修饰riot和insurrection。举个例子：
At best she would be an invalid; at worst she would die.
主干前面通过instead of「而不是」点明“今时不同往日”：instead of the dull, pro-forma ritual / that normally marks the joint session of Congress / that certifies a presidential victory精简一下是：instead of the ritualritual指经常做的同一件事，即「常规、例行之事」，比如一日三餐、每天两点一线，这些都是 daily rituals.文中ritual有两组修饰成分，一组是前置定语（形容词）dull, pro-formadull就是boring的意思「枯燥的、乏味的」，还可同dreary替换；pro-forma源自拉丁语，意思为as a matter of form「形式上的」，比如，a pro forma debate「流于形式的辩论」，此处用拉丁语来修饰国会联席会议，凸显其严肃性，与主干内容（at best a riot, at worst an insurrection）形成转折。ritual的第二组修饰成分是后置定语（定语从句）：marks the joint session of Congressthe joint session of Congress指「国会联席会议」，「联席」指参议院、众议院的联席。 背景小知识：美国国会是立法机构 legislature(law-making branch)，包括众议院 House of Representatives 和参议院 Senate。
mark一词曾经提到过（点此复习），此处是熟词僻义，指give sb/sth a particular quality「赋予sb/sth特征」，可同characterize/feature替换，比如，Suffering has marked her life.「痛苦是她一生的特点、痛苦笼罩着她一生」。文中the dull, pro-forma ritual / that normally marks the joint session of Congress所表达的逻辑关系是：枯燥无聊、流于形式的惯例通常是国会联席会议的主要特征。the joint session of Congress后面又嵌套了一个定语从句，介绍了“国会联席会议”的职能：that certifies a presidential victorycertify指to state officially that sth is true「证明、证实」，我们经常需要学校或单位开证明文件，开头会写「兹证明...」，英文就是This is to certify that...
②Soon after the joint session began, hundreds of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building, chanting “Stop the steal”, tearing down fencing, overwhelming the police and forcing their way in.
句首先通过soon after结构点明时间：Soon after the joint session began联席会议开始后不久session可以指法院/政治机构的meeting，即「开庭、会议」。这句话的主干是：hundreds of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building.storm一词在此用的极为精妙，此处作动词，表示「攻占、突袭、冲进/冲出」，气势宏大如同狂风暴雨一般。再看一个例子：
Police stormed the building and captured the gunman.
警察突袭那栋楼房，抓获了持枪歹徒。
storm作名词时除了可以指「暴风雨」，也能引申出「困难险阻」的意思，补充一个实用的表达：ride out the storm「乘风破浪、度过难关」；除此之外还可以表示不可阻挡的势头：take sb/sth by storm = to be extremely successful very quickly「大获全胜」。比如形容某部电影很受欢迎，可以说：
回到文中来，stormed the Capitol building后面跟了四个并列的伴随结构：chanting “Stop the steal”, tearing down fencing, overwhelming the police and forcing their way in.chanting, tearing down, overwhelming, forcing补充了supporters的行为动作，使场景更加具体、有画面感。这四个结构跟中文中排比句效果一样，强劲有力。chant一词在这里用的恰到好处，看一下它的英文解释：to sing or shout the same words or phrases many times，不光表示「反复说」这个动作，它还带有一种强烈的情绪和诉求，比如球员绝杀进球，球迷就会chant他的名字；对政策不满，人们就会走上街头chant口号。作者用chant一词表现出了国会大厦前反复叫喊口号的示威者的那种狂热。 the steal指“（拜登）偷窃大选成果”。tear在这里是动词，指「撕」，tear down就是「拆除」的意思，比如老城改造，一些旧房子就要被torn down了。overwhelm在这里是熟词僻义defeat an army completely的意思，比如：
The army was overwhelmed by the rebels.
军队被叛乱者完全击败了。
文中 overwhelming the police 就可以理解成「冲破警察防线、击败警察」。force their way in...就是「强行进入某地」的意思，地铁上经常能看到这样的提示语：Never force your way into the train的意思是「不要强行上车、不要冲门」。连用四个动词，动态感十足，给读者很大的冲击，如同炮弹连珠一般。这类排比句总能起到如此效果，我们看一个《纽约时报》的例子：
As companies retrench, it affects workers and suppliers, which then have to tighten their own belts. Layoffs rise; wages decline; Consumers spend less.
③Police evacuated staffers from Hill office buildings.
工作人员在警方协助下从国会办公大楼疏散。
Hill首字母大写，说明不是「山」的意思，而是指地点——国会山（Capitol Hill）。
④Both chambers of Congress adjourned (they were debating an objection made by Paul Gosar, a far-right congressman from Arizona, to his own state’s certified results—an objection that won him a round of applause from his caucus).
这句话的主干很简单：Both chambers of Congress adjourned.chamber指one of the parts of a parliament，议会的「议院」，Both chambers of Congress即国会的两院——参议院+众议院，文中是对上文the joint session的替换。adjourn指stop a meeting「休庭、休会」，英剧《皇家律师》中经常能看到这个词：括号里，作者补充了休会前的情况：they were debating an objection made by Paul Gosar, a far-right congressman from Arizona, to his own state’s certified results—an objection that won him a round of applause from his caucus其主干为：they were debating an objection他们正在就一项异议展开辩论objection指「异议」，后面加介词to，表示「对某事的异议、对某事的反对意见」，看个例子：
Local residents raised strong objections to the building application.
当地居民对这项建筑申请提出了强烈反对。
文中 an objection to his own state’s certified results 意为「对该州已认证的大选结果的反对、反对该州已认证的大选结果」。an objection to his own state’s certified results中间还插入了一个后置定语，修饰objection：made by Paul Gosar, a far-right congressman from ArizonaPaul Gosar和a far-right congressman from Arizona「来自亚利桑那州极右翼国会议员」是同位语的关系，这部分的意思是：来自亚利桑那州极右翼国会议员Paul Gosar对该州已认证的大选结果的反对。后面又通过一个破折号进行补充：an objection that won him a round of applause from his caucuswin sb sth指「为某人赢得某事」，很简单，记住就行。caucus在这里指the members of a political party as a group「党团成员」，所以这部分的意思是：这一异议为他赢得了党团成员的激烈掌声。最后，我们把这句话再梳理一遍：Both chambers of Congress adjourned (they were debating an objection made by Paul Gosar, a far-right congressman from Arizona, to his own state’s certified results—an objection that won him a round of applause from his caucus).国会两院因此休会。休会前两院正在对一位亚利桑那州极右翼国会议员保罗•戈萨提出的异议进行激烈辩论，这位议员拒绝承认本州的选举结果，这为他赢得了党团全体成员的热烈掌声。
⑤The secret service whisked Vice-President Mike Pence away. ⑥Police even reportedly began evacuating private homes near the Capitol.
而搅拌的速度是非常快的，所以它又引申出「匆匆带走、快速带走」（take sb / sth somewhere very quickly and suddenly），自带副词程度。文中whisk sb/sth away「将某人/某物迅速带走」，可看出当时环境局势的紧张。下面再看两个《经济学人》里的例句，体会一下： 2020年4月4日的《经济学人》中有篇文章，讲到了外卖服务在疫情期间扮演的重要角色，文中有这么一句话：
People could have everything from coffee to congee whisked to them in under 30 minutes on the back of a scooter.
人们在下单30分钟之内，就可以收到放在电动车后备箱里送来的咖啡和稀饭等各类食物。
have everything from coffee to congee whisked to them是have sth done「使某事被做」的结构，这里的whisk体现出送货之快。《经济学人》中也曾有篇文章讲到了韩国学生的学业压力，开头有句话描述了学生的忙碌：
After five hours of tuition, in English, maths or science, following a full day at school, the teens will be whisked home—to more study, past midnight.