A few years ago it was virtually impossible to find superior quality coffee in local shops.
几年前在当地的商店里几乎不可能买到上好的咖啡。
Nearly a decade ago it was predicted that viewers of "Friends", a popular sitcom, would soon be able to purchase a sweater like Jennifer Aniston's with a few taps on their remote control.
近十年前，有人曾预测，热门情景喜剧《老友记》的观众们只需轻轻按一下遥控器，便很快就能买到詹妮弗·安妮斯顿那样的毛衣。
Nearly a decade ago it was predicted that viewers of "Friends", a popular situation comedy, would soon be able to purchase a sweater like Jennifer Aniston's with a few taps on their remote control.
大约十年前就有预测认为，流行情景剧《老友记》的观众很快就能通过在遥控器上按几下买到剧中詹妮弗·安妮斯顿的同款毛衣了。
A long time ago it was widely believed that there was life on Mars.
很久以前，人们普遍认为火星上有生命。
A decade ago it was a battlefield.
而这里10年前，却是战场。
Five years ago it was about RUP and cmmi.
五年前是RUP和cmmi。
A year ago it was an unwelcoming and poorly maintained "park."
一年之前这里还是一个不受欢迎，无人维护的公园。
Ten years ago it was about components, UML, Unified process.
十年前，就都变成了组件、UML、统一过程。
When Zhang moved into his house 24 years ago it was in a village.
24年前当张长福搬进这间房子，这里还是一个小村庄。
Half a century ago it claimed 25,000 researchers and its own physics laboratory.
半个世纪前仅其物理实验室就有2万5千名研究员。
Five years ago it announced with a fanfare that it had grown cloned human embryos.
五年前，这个公司曾鼓吹其培养了克隆的人类胚胎。
This process is worth examining because up until a few years ago it would have been untenable.
这一过程是值得研究的，因为直到几年以前这一过程还不是很过硬。
It has destroyed jobs quickly, but not long ago it was also creating them in unprecedented Numbers.
它能迅速的减少工作岗位，但不久后也会以前所未有的数量创造工作岗位。
Just a week ago it would have been unthinkable to suggest that Muammar Qaddafi could be ousted from power.
就在一周前，如果有人说穆阿玛尔·卡扎菲可能被赶下台，恐怕还会被人斥为痴人说梦。
Five years ago it replaced the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), nicknamed Never Expect Power Again.
五年前，该公司取代了国家电力局(NEPA)，而这家公司被人们戏称为“永远不要再期待来电”。
Two years ago, it put Italy on notice, saying the government was not protecting Venice.
两年前，它曾警告意大利，称其政府没有保护威尼斯。
After escaping from whaling boats 150 years ago, it quickly evolved to triple in size and switched from herbivory to eating flesh.
自150年前从捕鲸船跑出来以后，它很快就进化到三倍大小，由食草变成食肉。
Thirty years ago, it would have been inconceivable to have imagined a ban on smoking in the workplace or in pubs, and yet that is what we have now.
30年前，在工作场所或酒吧里禁烟会是不可想象的，而它正是我们如今所有的。
Although it started producing mobile phones not many years ago, it has become one of the most famous phone companies.
虽然前些年才开始生产手机，但它已经成为最著名的手机公司之一。
Not very long ago, it was also unthinkable that a virus would shut down nations and that safety nets would be proven so disastrously lacking in flexibility.
不久以前，人们还无法想象一种病毒能使众多国家封闭，而安全网被证明是如此灾难性地缺乏灵活性。
Not long ago, it was anything but dull, expanding at an astronomical rate through one big deal after another.
不久以前，它除了愚钝，还有以天文数字的速度通过一个又一个大交易扩充外，几乎是不值得一提的。
A century ago - even 30 years ago - it was the object of envy. But in the last generation its character has changed.
一个世纪前，甚至30年前，它都是令人嫉妒的对象，但是在过去的十年里，它的特征发生了变化。
Planted over 400 years ago, it has been authenticated by genetic experts and verified in paintings of Maribor dating from 1657.
基因学家和当地的画作都证实，这颗植于400多年前的葡萄藤，早在1657年就存在了。
When I finally got the chance to live out this fantasy a few months ago, it wasn't what like I imagined.
当我在前几个月时终于有机会体验这样的生活时，它却完全不像我想象的那样。
"Just a year or so ago, it wasn't at all obvious that something like this should happen," Dwyer said.
德怀尔说，“要是在一年多前，发生像这样的事终究不会是很清楚的。”
Long ago, it was inhabited by farmers and fishermen much like everywhere else in the archipelago.
很久以前，就像其他岛一样，这里也居住着农民和渔民。
I'd finished the paperwork about an hour ago; it had been slow going because I couldn't focus.
约一小时前我就整理完了哪些文件，我做得很慢，因为我根本无法集中精力。
But if you go back, 20 years ago or 25 years ago, it didn't really exist in Stanford long field.
但如果你往回想，20年或者25年前，在斯坦福中确实没有人对此进行研究。
You know, I gave a speech at Vassar 27 years ago. It was a really big hit.
27年前，我在瓦萨学院也做了个演讲，大获成功。
You know, I gave a speech at Vassar 27 years ago. It was a really big hit.
27年前，我在瓦萨学院也做了个演讲，大获成功。
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