《小王子英文版》精读笔记Chapter 16-2

To give you an idea of the size of the Earth, I will tell you that before the invention of electricity it was necessary to maintain, over the whole of the six continents, a veritable army of 462,511 lamplighters for the street lamps.

〖精读笔记〗

动词不定式作目的状语，为强调目的状语，把to do提到句首。

e.g. To succeed, you have to tackle your difficulties.想要获得成功，你得学会应对难题。

give sb. sth. = give sth. to sb 给某人某物

invention [ɪnˈvenʃn] n. 发明；发明物

electricity [ɪˌlekˈtrɪsəti] n. 电，电力；电流

necessary [ˈnesəsəri] adj. 必要的；必需的；必然的

maintain [meɪnˈteɪn] vt. 维持；继续

continent [ˈkɒntɪnənt] n. 大陆，洲，陆地

veritable [ˈverɪtəbl] adj. 真正的，名副其实的

army [ˈɑːmi] n. 陆军，军队

lamplighter ['læmplaɪtə] n. 点灯用具；点燃街灯的灯夫