连词whether以及连接代词或连接副词引导主语从句一般放在句首，这不同于上面讨论的that引导的主语从句。请看例句：

1 Whether the Government should increase the financing of pure science at the expense of technology or vice versa often depends on the issue of which is seen as the driving force.

妙语点睛 这里是whether引导的主语从句，谓语部分是depends on the issue。Of后面接的which从句是一个宾语从句，补充说明issue，相当于issue的同位语。

精品译文 政府究竟是以减少对技术的经费投入来增加对纯理论科学的经费投入，还是相反，这往往取决于把哪一方面看作是驱动性的力量。

2 However, whether such a sense of fairness evolved independently in capuchins and humans, or whether it stems from the common ancestor that the species had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question.

妙语点睛 这个句子看起来较复杂，其实还是由whether引导的主语从句。这里是两个并列主语从句，由并列连词or连接，谓语动词是is。

精品译文 不过，这种公平感是在卷尾猴和人类身上各自独立演化而成的，还是来自于三千五百万年前他们共同的祖先，这还是一个未解之谜。

3 Whether the eyes are “the windows of the soul” is debatable; that they are intensely important in interpersonal communication is a fact.

妙语点睛 这个句子里包含两个主语从句，分别由whether和that引导。

精品译文 眼睛是否是“心灵的窗口”，这还有争议； 但无疑，眼睛在人际交流中有着重要的作用。 我们再来看几个由连接代词或连接副词引导的主语从句，此时从句一般位于句首。

4 Whoever tries to resolve a conflict soon learns that nothing pleases everybody.

妙语点睛 这里的连词代词whoever相当于who的强调形式，它引导的从句作主语，主句的谓语是learns。其中whoever在从句中作主语。

精品译文 任何想要试图解决这个矛盾的人很快就会发现，他不可能让所有人都满意。

5 What happened on September 11, 2001 will be forever etched （铭刻）in our memories.

精品译文 2001年的“9·11”事件将会永远印刻在人们的脑海里。

6 Several days ago, a Beijing-based IT company fired about 400 people overnight. The act startled the fired employees and at the same time worried the rest. Moreover, what was special about this case was that the day before the 400 were fired, they all received from their boss a gift—the book Who Moved My Cheese?

妙语点睛 这里是连词代词what引导的主语从句，what在从句中作主语。

精品译文 几天前，北京一家IT公司一夜之间就解雇了400名员工。这一事件震惊了被解雇的员工，同时也让其余员工感到担心。此外，有意思的是，就在这400名员工被解雇的前一天，他们都从老板那儿收到了一份礼物——《谁动了我的奶酪？》。

7 How well the predictions will be validated by later performance depends upon the amount, reliability, and appropriateness of the information used and on the skill and wisdom with which it is interpreted.

妙语点睛 这里是连词副词how引导的主语从句，how well在从句中充当状语，修饰动词validated。

精品译文 这些预测将在多大程度上为后来的表现所证实，取决于采用的信息的数量、可靠性、适应性，以及解释这些信息的技能和才智。 8zrjaDGrapT9D4mbDetfZjc46d04UCKCgEbnQEfE4nOsSQUs9Y1IugLLfDiXT0L2