关于until now 的翻译。很难理解的话。

我认为是第二种意思，也就是他们“之前”这么认为的，现在不这么认为的了，这时的until now很象另一个词：before

另外，在Longman词典里正好找到一段until now和so far的注解，供你参考，帮助你理解：

Until now is usually used to say that a situation has just ended or changed(until now一般用来表示某一情况刚刚结束或改变) :

例：Until now I had no one to tell things to 意思是之前我没人告诉这些事情 (= I now have someone to tell things to.等于: 现在我有人告诉了) .

Do not use until now when the situation has not changed.Use so far 如果情况没有变化就不能用until now, 而用so far:

例：So far no one has claimed responsibility for the bombs. (到目前为止还没人申称对爆炸负责)