He seated himself there, as on the preceding day, surveying from a distance, and clearly making out, the white bonnet, the black dress.
和前一天一样，他在那里坐了下来，从远处望着，清清楚楚地认出了那顶白帽子、那件黑裙子。
By contrast, they saw in the preceding hundred years from 1650 to1750, when England was still a completely agricultural country.
相比之下，在1650年到1750年之前的几百年里，英国还完全是一个农业国家。
This phrase serves as a connecting link between the preceding and the following.
这个短语起到了承上启下的作用。
Though the rise in the number of jobless has slowed since September to an average of 10, 000 a month (compared with nearly 30, 000 a month over the preceding 12 months), few expect the number of jobs to grow until the second half of this year or even early next year--in time, perhaps, for a March election.
If there was a failure preceding the Boston Marathon attack (and it is unclear yet that there was), it was not a failure of imagination.
Immediately preceding this symposium -- the second in a series of semi-annual meetings(1) to be convened on an alternating basis in Washington and New York -- an elegant luncheon was held to salute Edwin Meese III .