在R中为一个对象的槽创建一个别名

I've bumped my head on the walls trying to create an alias (aka a pointer, or a new short nickname designating the same object in memory without copying that object) to a subpart of a complex object. Let's say I am working with an object of class SpatialPolygonsDataFrame (package "sp"), and I want to perform operations on an part thereof, deep down in the hierarchical representation of that object. Instead of writing repeatedly things likeI've bumped my head on the walls trying to crea