英文句子一問(Mother Teresa)

問得好，因為正常句子tend是及物動詞的「照顧」後面所及的sick和needy，而這個照顧原意是可以寫成to tend的infinitive，但由於前部份的動詞(devote)和開場句的動詞(leave)都變化成動名詞(用意是表示她行動的永恆性)。所以其實全句的結構可以拆解為

but just imagine:[以下的狀況(名詞)]
leaving school at 18 - to do what?接下去講
devoting the rest of her life to - to do what?接下去講(devote就變為名詞後也要連to這個preposition才是完整英語意思「獻身於」- 這是查字典解釋也未必留意看得出的:只會在例句中注意必定跟to的)
tending to the sick and needy - 照顧病者和有需要救助的人
in a far away land.[補充處境上的地理位置]

看來這是修辭上的parallelism，用了gerund(動名詞)作為描述她的行動/行為和以層層進深地由時間上遠至近地展示。
leaving school起始點
devoting to下決心帶來改變
tending to最後的成就

Tending
字典內:
devote [dɪˈvəʊt]vb (tr)to apply or dedicate (oneself, time, money, etc.) to some pursuit, cause, etc.

1.句子中既tend 點解加ing?
看上面devote是及物動詞,用法是devote自已一些東西於一些事情。
在But just imagine leaving school at 18 and devoting the rest of your life to tending to the sick and needy in a faraway land.,
the rest of your life就是自已一些東西, tending to the sick and needy in a faraway land.,就是一些事情。因為一些事情是名詞,不是動詞,所次tend 要加ing成動名詞。
2.句子中既tend既意思係解照料or傾向??
係解照料 ,tending to the sick and needy in a faraway land 解在一個遙遠的也方照料傷病和無依的人。

2012-05-15 17:12:47 補充：
Parallelism
Definition:
Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

2012-05-15 17:15:11 補充：
"We have seen the state of our Union in the endurance of rescuers, working past exhaustion. We've seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers -- in English, Hebrew, and Arabic."
-George W. Bush

2012-05-15 17:24:34 補充：
devote用法是devote+noun or / +to +noun,不是devote+noun or / + to + verb
解說devoting the rest of her life to - to do what?是錯誤的,
必須是devoting the rest of her life to - to what?才對。