,

It was not until enterprising sea captains imported exotic animals to sell to traveling showmen that was such as lion or polar bear had much meaning to Americans.

 麻烦大家帮我分析一下这个句子的句型，翻译一下句子，it was not until 在句中做什么成分？traveling showmen要怎么翻译啊？

 

To monkey around and monkey business are expressions of the early 1800s, and to make a monkey out of someone is from 1899,all being terms based on the increasing number of monkeys seen in circuses and zoos.

To monkey around and monkey business这句话要怎么翻译？expression是名词，为什么可以这么用？seen是做什么成分，要怎么翻译？

 

The main function of the epidermis is to protect the plant.

这里的to 是表目的，但不要可不可以？为什么？

 我语法很差,不知道该去如何学习能够在短时间内提高,这是我今天在delta上看到的,不太懂,希望大家能告诉我,谢谢!

it was ……that 表示强调

traveling showmen指的应该是那些旅行的演出者，比如你可以理解成咱们类似的耍猴的人（个人看法）

To monkey around and monkey business这个没有语境我也不知道是什么意思

这个句子是倒装，不倒装的话应该是expressions of the early 1800s are to monkey around and monkey business, and to make a monkey out of someone is from 1899

seen 前面前面省略了which are

to 表示目的，绝对不能不要，如果去掉了to 就变成The main function of the epidermis is protect the plant，典型的语法错误，句子中出现两个动词

至于语法，虽然不像旧T有专门的考察，但是语法还是很重要的，在阅读中虽然只有一道指带题是直接考察语法，但是语法不好的话句子就不怎么能读通，造成阅读障碍，另外就是在作文中可能出现语法错误

如果想提高语法，不妨多去看看高中的英语课本，或者买本语法书钻研一下，研究一下比较难的句子的成分

知道了,谢谢你啊