下面是许孟雄教授编著的《英语难题解答400则》(p.20)中的一则问答： “问[28] When modernization is achieved, China as we know it will have disappeared. 这句是某外语学院美国专家在某处留学生考题上写的。有人说：‘不正确’。请解释正确与否？ ▲答 语法上是正确的；正因为语法正确，所以意义有错。按语法，这句要译为‘现代化实现时，据我们所知，中国将消失了。’当然不是这意思。句子应该这样写：When in time to come the four modernizations are achieved, the China that we know today will have disappeared. 另外,原句语文上的错误是 as 句的弄巧成拙,变成插入句子。倘在原句上改为 such a China as we know (it/her) today... 就不误了。由此可见,用 as 领起的定语从句必须有其适当的呼应关系。”
答者说问者所提出的句子“意义有错”。您也认为“有错”吗？此外，答者将上面的句子译为“实现现代化时，据我们所知，中国将消失了。”您同意这种译法吗？
我认为原问者所提出的句子，无论在语法上还是在意义上，都是没有错误的。as we know it 这个结构除了用作状语外，还可用作名词的定语。China as we know it 意为“我们现在所知之中国”（as we know it 作 China 的定语），因而，答者的译文（据我们所知）是对 as we know it 的一种误解。请看下面的实例：
- The contribution of the Greeks was nothing less than the creation of the very idea of science as we know it. 希腊人的贡献简直可以说是建立了如我们今天所了解的“科学”这个概念。
- The telephone ____ was the invention of Alexander Graham Bell. A. as is known by us B. as do we know it C. as we know it D. as we know (TOEFL)
- While laws of motion are simple, motion, as we see it in the world about us, certainly is not. 虽然运动定律是简单的,但是我们在周围世界所看到的运动绝不是简单的。
- The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great. (Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code) 我们今天所知道的《圣经》是由罗马的异教徒皇帝康斯坦丁大帝整理的。(《达·芬奇密码》) (参见 as happens)
The survival of civilization as we know it is ____ threat.