2017-11-20 周一
— 句子解析 🌸🌸—
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☀️Those on it are more fortunate than I am, since I may not see my native land, perhaps, for many years. So strange an accident has happened to us that I must record it, although you will probably see me before you receive this letter.
👉「Those on it」中指代的是从Archangel返航的那艘商船上（Walton寄的信件就在这艘船上）的那些人。
👉「so strange an accident has happened to us that」相信大家对于此类句子不会很陌生吧~ 其主体是「so + adj. +主语+谓语…that…」，意为“如此…以致于”。
👉整句大意：船上的信件可比我幸运，我也许有好几年都不能见到故土了！我们遇上了一件奇怪的事，我忍不住要把它记下来，虽然很可能你拿到这封信之前我们就已经重逢了。 -
☀We saw a sledge / pulled by dogs/ moving toward the north, half a mile away. A being in the shape of a man, but apparently of giant size, sat in the sledge and guided the dogs.
👉「pulled by dogs」修饰前面的「sledge」，即是一个狗拉着的雪橇。
We saw a sledge moving toward the north，在理解了句子大意后再仔细体会修饰的部分。
👉「being」指的是a living creature，因为Walton一众看不清雪橇上坐着的是人是畜，所以用「being」作为称谓，而不是「person」，那这到底是何方人物呢？
👉整句大意：我们看到半英里外的地方，有一个朝北驶去的雪橇，由几条狗拉着。而一个看起来像人，但身材却异常高大的家伙坐在雪橇上，赶着那几条狗。
3.☀ Shut in, however, by ice, it was impossible for us to follow his track, which we had observed with the greatest attention.
👉「shut in」指的是to trap part of your body or an object inside a device or container when it closes 把…卡在…里
👉注意此处的「shut」并不是动词的原形，而是它的被动形式（虽然两者长得一样，类似例子还有cut，set等），因为文章是从Walton的视角出发的，他们是被冰卡住了 (they were shut in by ice)。「shut in, however, by ice」可以理解为主句的原因，即因为被卡住了，所以他们无法跟随神秘生物的踪迹。
👉整句大意：然而我们的船几乎被冰块包围了，所以无法尾随他的踪迹，尽管我们都十分感兴趣地关注着他。
- ☀A sledge, like that we had seen before, had drifted toward us in the night on a large fragment of ice. Only one dog remained alive; but there was a human being within it / whom the sailors were persuading to enter the ship.
👉「drift」：to move slowly, especially as a result of outside forces, with no control over direction （尤指在外力作用下）飘，漂流，漂移
👉「within it」指代的是雪橇里，「whom the sailors were persuading to enter the ship」修饰「a human being」，即船员们都极力劝说让其上船的那个人。
👉整句大意：有一个很像我们先前见到过的那种雪橇停在一大块浮冰上。拉雪橇的狗里只有一条狗还活着，但雪橇上有一个人，水手们正七嘴八舌地劝他上船来。
a voyage of discovery」a situation in which you learn a lot of new things about something or someone （对某事或某人有大量新发现的）发现之旅
upon doing sth.」一…就…，举个例子：Upon hearing this news, she fainted.
. ☀If anyone performs an act of kindness toward him, / no matter how small /, his whole face lights up / with a sweetness / that I never saw equaled. But he is generally sad and despairing. Sometimes he grinds his teeth, as if impatient of the suffering / that weighs him down.
👉「grind one’s teeth」中「grind」意为：to make a noise by rubbing your teeth together 把牙齿咬得嘎嘎响，整体可以理解为“咬牙切齿”
此段前句成分比较复杂，在保持大意完整的前提下，拎出的主干为：If anyone performs an act of kindness toward him, his whole face lights up. 接下来分析修饰的部分：「no matter how small」修饰前面「kindness」，意为“哪怕是最为不足道的小事”，「that I never saw equaled」修饰前面的「sweetness」，意为“从未见过那样亲切的表情呢”。后句的「that weighs him down」同理，修饰前面的「suffering」，意为“压在他身上的苦痛”。
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☀This woke the stranger’s attention, and he asked many questions concerning the direction in which the demon, as he called him, had traveled.
👉「as he called him」插入在从句「in which the demon had traveled」中，作为一种补充说明，因为Walton并不了解之前出现在雪橇上的“生物”，他所了解的都是这个陌生人告诉他的。
👉从句「in which the demon had traveled」中「which」指代的就是前面的「the direction」，「the direction」与「in」搭配。将从句还原成普通的陈述句可能更方便大家的理解：「the demon had traveled in the direction」。
👉整句大意：这引起了陌生人的注意，于是他问了很多关于那个“魔鬼”去向何方的问题——他就是这样叫的。看来两者果然认识，而且还是不共戴天的仇人，不然这个通情达理的人怎么会突然称别人为魔鬼呢？ -
☀I hope that your wish may not be a snake to sting you, as mine has been.
👉「sting」常形容昆虫或动物的叮，蛰等，此处用其来形容蛇是为了强调像蛇一样隐匿在你无法察觉的地方，然后出其不意给你致命一击的感觉。
👉当前后两个或多个分句结构相似时，第二个及之后的分句可以省略掉一些重复的成分，比如「as mine has been」其实就是「as mine has been stinging me」的省略。当前句已经出现了「sting」，而且省略后不妨碍后句的理解时，这种情况往往都会省略掉重复部分。
👉整句大意：我希望你的愿望不会如蛇一般，反过来咬你一口，就如我现在这般。难道这个陌生人经历了农夫与蛇的故事？ -
☀But many things appear possible in these wild and mysterious regions / which those (who live in more ordinary places) might laugh at. And I believe that / if you listen to my story as a whole, you will have no choice except to believe that / everything I say is true.
👉按照之前介绍过的小tip来分析前面这个句子，拎出主干为“But many things appear possible in these regions”，然后分析修饰的部分：（who live in more ordinary places）修饰前面的「those」，意为“住在寻常地区的那些人”，而「which…might laugh at」修饰前面的「things」，即“住在寻常地区的那些人可能会对这些事一笑置之”。
👉「have no choice except/but to」If you have no choice but to do something or have little choice but to do it, you cannot avoid doing it 不得不，只好
close」常用意思是“关闭”，在文中表示to move closer to someone or something包围，合拢
原句：Last Monday (July 31st) we were nearly surrounded by ice, which closed in the ship on all sides.
例句：The snake closed in for the kill.
the rapid progress of 快速行进
be shut in by ice 被冰块包围
drift toward 向…飘来
address me in English 用英语向我打招呼
on the edge of destruction 毁灭的边缘
restore sb. to signs of life 使某人恢复生机
grind his teeth 咬牙切齿
be lit up by 被…点燃
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