想问一段英文的翻译,主要是几个词组的翻译?主要是里那个konwnexttonothing是什么意思,是knownothing的意思吗?还有就是引号里那句话有点绕,绕的我绕不过来了.Thoughurbansprawliswidelyregarde

Question

想问一段英文的翻译,主要是几个词组的翻译?
主要是【】里那个konw next to nothing是什么意思,是know nothing的意思吗?还有就是引号里那句话有点绕,绕的我绕不过来了.
Though urban sprawl is widely regarded as an important environmental and social problem, according to the authors, much of the debate over sprawl is based on speculation. The data to conduct detailed and systematic measurement of how and where land is converted to urban use has, until now, simply not been available. 【Despite widespread interest in the topic, "we know next to nothing about the extent to which development is scattered or compact, and how this varies across space," they write.】
【】外的为上下文,供参考

Answer 1

know next to nothing about是几乎什么都不知道的意思==almost know nothing,不完全等于know nothing括号里面句子的意思是：我们几乎不知道将来城市会密集型发展还是零散型发展,也不知道这会对空间分配造成什么变化...