(1) trace...back (to)意为“(祖系等)可追溯到……；发现……是由……引起的”。
- He claims to be able to trace the family back many centuries to the time of the Song Dynasty.
他声称可以将这个家族(的历史)向上追溯到好多世纪前的宋朝。 - He claims that his family can trace its history all the way back to Zhu Yuan-zhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
他声称他这个家族的历史可以一直追溯到明代的第一位皇帝朱元璋时期。 - I think we can trace the fever back to that long cold swim that she took against our advice.
我认为她的发烧是由于她那回不听我们的劝告，进行长时间的冷水游泳引起的。 - That rumor was traced back to a report of an irresponsible reporter.
那个谣言是由一个不负责任的记者的报道引发的。
(2) trace...to指“跟踪到，沿着走到，追溯到……”。
- At last the noise was traced to a fault in the pipes.
噪声的来源终于查到了，原来是管子出了故障。 - Will the police be able to trace us to our hiding place?
警察能跟踪我们到我们的藏身之地吗？ - We traced the river to its source.
我们沿着河流走，一直来到它的源头。 - The historian traced the custom to its origin.
历史学家查到了这个风俗的起源。
(3) track down (to) 意为“找到，跟踪搜寻、搜寻捕获”。
- The police tracked down the criminal to his home and arrested him.
警察跟踪这个罪犯一直到他家里并逮捕了他。 - She spent several days in the library there tracking the reference down in all books on the subject.
她在图书馆待了好几天，在所有关于这个主题的书里查寻参考材料。 - Were the doctors able to track down the cause of the infection?
医生能查到感染的病因吗？
(4) track...to指“追踪……到……”。
- The hunter tracked the bear to the forest.
猎人跟踪熊到森林。
(5) trail...to意为“追捕……到(某处)”。
- He trailed the fox to its lair.
他追踪狐狸一直到它的洞穴。
(6) ①go back (to)有“(可)追溯到……”之意。
- His family goes back 500 years to the Ming Dynasty.
他的家族史可追溯到500年前的明朝。 - The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival goes back to the time when the great poet Qu Yuan died about 2，000 years ago.
端午节的历史可追溯到两千多年前伟大的诗人屈原逝世之时。 - We have to go back to the early years of industrial revolution to trace the history of mass production.
要探究大规模生产的历史，我们得追溯到工业革命早期。
②go back to还有“回溯，回忆”之意。
- We'll have to go back to the Middle Ages to discover the origins of English plays.
要发现英国戏剧的起源，我们得回溯到中世纪。 - When grandmother talks, she always likes to go back to her younger days.
祖母谈起话来总是喜欢回忆自己的年轻时代。
(7) date back to/from意为“追溯至……；从……开始(存在)”，不用被动式。
- The church dates back to the 11th century.
这座教堂可以追溯到11世纪。 - The custom dates from the time when the great poet died about two thousand years ago.
此风俗始于两千多年前这位伟大诗人逝世之时。
＊与此意思相近的一个说法是reckon from，意思是“从……算起”。
- The Christian age is usually reckoned from the birth of Christ.
基督时代通常从基督出生之日算起。
