【问】 It was a school， had never before the history of education.(攻读硕士学位研究生入学考试英语试题，85B)

标准答案要求将such as it改为such as。我不能理解这一点。such as应当后接名词或名词短语。它怎么能接从句呢?再说我查了许多辞书也未查到such as引出从句的例子。

【答】 such as一般是指“例如”、“诸如”、“像……那样的”。这种用法的such as是应当后接名词或名词短语或其它短语的。

1. They export a lot of fruit，such as oranges，lemons etc. (Eckersley)

他们大量出口水果，例如桔子，柠檬等。

2. A man such as he will surely succeed. (MD)

像他那样的男子汉肯定会成功。

除此之外，such as或such...as还有下列用法：

1. We had such grapes as you never saw. (Zandvoort)

我们有一些你从未见过的葡萄。

2. The explorer took only such men and things as he really needed into the jungle withhim. (DAI)

这位探险家仅仅带他真正需要的人或物品进入了丛林。

3. He returned to us later in the day with tobacco，matches，and such provisions as wereneeded. (Davies)

那天晚些时候他回到我们这里来，带着烟、火柴以及我们必需的给养。

不难看出，as引导的是定语从句，关系代词as在句(3)中作主语，在句(1)、(2)中做宾语。这种句型中的such有时不放在被修饰的名词或名词短语之前，而是跟as放在一起，位于定语从句之中：

1. We had hoped to give you a chance such as nobody else ever had. (Lewis)

我们本想给你一个谁也未曾有过的机会。

2. It is the purpose of this article to furnish information such as is not furnished by 99% ofthe newspapers in the United States. (London)

本文的目的在于提供99%的美国报纸没有提供的信息。

可以看出，句(1)和句(2)在语法形式上，与上面修改后的试题(...such as had never be-fore existed...)是完全一致的。