The research of Till Von Wachter, the economist at Columbia University, suggests that not all people graduating into a recession see their life chances dimmed: those with degrees from elite universities catch up fairly quickly to where they otherwise would have been if they had graduated in better times; it is the masses beneath them that are left behind.
哥伦比亚大学经济学家Till Von Wachter的研究表明,并非所有在经济衰退期毕业的人都会看到他们的人生机会变得黯淡:那些拥有精英大学学位的人会相当快地赶上如果他们在好时期毕业本该达到的位置;被落在后面的是他们之下的大众。
这是标准的强调句型"it is...that...",强调主语"the masses beneath them"。验证方法:去掉"it is"和"that"后,句子变为"the masses beneath them are left behind",结构完整,语义通顺,证明这是强调句而非主语从句。强调句通过将被强调成分置于"it is"和"that"之间,突出了"普通大众"这一群体,与前文提到的精英大学毕业生形成对比。