He is seldom, if ever, absent from school.
如何分析 seldom, if ever?
seldom, if ever 或 seldom if ever = seldom or never 是个成语, 可不分析它的构成, 只要掌握住其含义就可以了: “很少”“难得”“绝无仅有”。它与 rarely, if ever 具有相同的含义:
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She seldom, if ever, goes to the opera. 她难得(很少)去看歌剧。
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...his children rarely, if ever, see him at his place of work. (New Concept English, Book 4, L.8) ……孩子们难得在父亲的工作地点看到他。
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But the women at work in the shipyards and other war plants were seldom, if ever, called ladies. (MWDEU) 但是，在造船厂和其他军事工厂工作的妇女很少被称作女士。
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Seldom if ever in our history has the people's right to choose their elected officials been thwarted by such a blatant abuse of judicial power. (Hillary, Living History) 如此公然滥用司法权力以阻止人民行使其选举官员的权利的情形，在美国历史上即使不是空前，也是难得一见。（希拉里，《亲历历史》）
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They couldn't afford vacations, rarely if ever went to the movies, and didn't have television until the mid-to late 1950s. (B. Clinton, My Life) 他们没有钱去度假，看电影也是极少极少，而直到20世纪50年代的中后期才有了电视。（《我的生活》）