Grammar Question about a paragraph

[taiwanshaun]

I was chatting with somebody, and they typed this to me. I wanted to ask if I have correctly translated it.

舉例說: 古代有分長頸跟短頸的長頸鹿，

Example: Long ago, there were giraffes with short necks and giraffes with long necks.

長頸的頸鹿 吃的到樹上的葉子，

The longer necked giraffes ate from the tops of the trees.

I never really understood 吃得到， 看得到

Can I just say:

長頸的長頸鹿能夠吃了樹上的葉子

The long necked giraffes were able to eat the leaves from the tops of the trees.

Is there really any difference between 吃得到 and 吃?

而短頸的吃不到，

But the short necked giraffes ate less.

很自然的，短頸的長頸鹿 吃不到葉子而死亡，

Quite naturally, the short necked giraffes ate less leaves and so they died out.

最後就只剩下長頸的長頸鹿 留下 來，

Ultimately, only the giraffes with long necks remained.

留下來 - this part confused me.

Is it 留 and 下來?

Or 留下 and 來?

然後他們就過度繁殖，而且都遺傳到長頸的基因

Afterwards, they reproduced quickly, and passed the genes for long necks.

Again this sentence as 傳到, do we really need 到, or can we just get away with:

而且都遺傳長頸的基因

Thanks again for any replies, I do a lot of reading, so even though I can usually grasp the main idea behind the article, I may not understand certain parts, and some parts may even feel extraneous to me.

-- Taiwan Shaun

[skylee]

Can I just say:

長頸的長頸鹿能夠吃了樹上的葉子

The long necked giraffes were able to eat the leaves from the tops of the trees.

Is there really any difference between 吃得到 and 吃?

吃 = eat, 吃得到 = be able to eat, have the opportunity to eat. The translation "were able to eat" is ok.

[gedawei]

舉例說: 古代有分長頸跟短頸的長頸鹿，

Example: Long ago, there were giraffes with short necks and giraffes with long necks.

長頸的頸鹿 吃的到樹上的葉子，

The longer necked giraffes ate from the tops of the trees.

I never really understood 吃得到， 看得到

Can I just say:

長頸的長頸鹿能夠吃了樹上的葉子

The long necked giraffes were able to eat the leaves from the tops of the trees.

Is there really any difference between 吃得到 and 吃?

而短頸的吃不到，

But the short necked giraffes ate less.

I'm new to the forum (joined yesterday) and I suspect there are many posters more qualified than I am, but my reading of the Chinese text quoted above is as follows:

For example: In ancient times, there was a distinction between long-necked giraffes and short-necked giraffes. The long-necked giraffes were able to reach and eat/B] the leaves on trees (not necessarily on the tops of trees - the term "leaves on trees" contrasts with leaves that may be found on the ground, which both types presumably could eat), but the short-necked ones were unable to reach and eat them.

吃得到 and 吃不到 are useful here in neatly contrasting the two types of giraffes' abilities .. and the use of "到" really brings home the image of "reaching," so it is very appropriate here..

using the verb-得到 and verb-不到 construction (see also with "見" and "出" and "完"at the end) is really common amongst native speakers. My wife speaks Cantonese and uses many forms of this three-word construction all day long, some with endings that are unique to her dialect (e.g., they use the sound "sai" instead of "完" for completion of an action. If you want to sound like a native, use 'em!

[Daan]

吃得到 is a verb with a potential complement. You might want to look that up in a good grammar book and study the explanations there, as you will be encountering such constructions often, and they carry an entirely different shade of meaning than 能/會/可以. See also this for a short explanation and some exercises.

[HashiriKata]

留下來 - this part confused me.

Is it 留 and 下來?

Or 留下 and 來?

You can have these two combinations: "留+下來" and "留+下". They have very similar meanings but "留+下來" is used more often in the spoken language and "留+下" more in writing (留下 is also often followed by an object).

[taiwanshaun]

Thanks for clearing that up for me!!