在上一章中,小天鹅Louis情窦初开,爱上了一个叫做Serena的小天鹅,但是由于自己不能发声,她无法俘获对方的芳心。Louis的爸妈也是着急万分呀!于是老爸想出了一个办法...去弄个Trumpet过来...
今天这个章节相对简单,大家如果有任何疑问,欢迎在群里提出!
天鹅爸爸去找Trumpet啦,但是他好像并不是那么自信...
As the cob flew toward Billings on his powerful white wings, all sorts of troublesome thoughts whirled in his head.
all sorts of troublesome thoughts whirled in his head- 满脑子都是烦恼忧愁
all sorts of ...各种各样的
troublesome thoughts 令人忧愁的想法
whirl in his head - 在脑海里旋转
Yet it is a noble quest. I will do anything to help my son Louis—even if I run into real trouble.
a noble quest - 字面意思是:高贵的问题,其实可以理解成:意见值得做的事儿
run into trouble - 遇到麻烦
各种乐器名称出现啦:
He gazed into the store. He saw a drum painted gold. He saw a fancy guitar with an electric cord. He saw a small piano. He saw banjos, horns, violins, mandolins, cymbals, saxophones, marimbaphones, cellos, and many other instruments.
我就不一一列出来啦,大家如果遇到不是特别清楚的东西,可以用图片查词法,就可以一目了然了。
“Now is my time to act!” he said to himself. “Now is my moment for risking everything on one bold move, however shocking it may be to my sensibilities, however offensive it may be to the laws that govern the lives of men. Here I go! May good luck go with me!
- Now is my time to act! 是时候出手啦(行动了)!
- Now is my moment for risking everything on one bold move. 这句话和上面那句机会是一样的意思,只是补充了一点小内容而已:是该我堵上一切搏一搏的时候啦。risk everything 拿所有来冒险,one bold move 一次勇敢的行为
- however shocking it may be to my sensibilities - 字面意思是:在我们理智范围内,不论这件事多么的让人震惊!其实就是:在我看来,这件事真是不得了了(夸张了,惊世骇俗了)... 对应后面那句嘛,也不管这个州的法律到底是怎么样的!反正我是要干一票了...啊哈哈,有种豁出去的赶脚
A salesgirl fainted.
fainted - 晕过去了!
接下来出现了一些拟声词:
“Bom!” went the drum.
“Crash!” went the splinters of flying glass.
“Rrrongee-rrrongee-rrongee!” went the piano.
“Bom!” went the drum.
“Plunk!” went the banjo.
“Rrrongee-rrrongee-rrrongee!” went the piano.
“Ump!” went the bull fiddle.
bom, crash, rrrongee, plunk, ump 拟声词,在此处无实际意义
bull fiddle 也叫double bass 乐队中相当于贝斯的用处
The owner of the store grabbed his shotgun, which went off by mistake, blasting a hole in the ceiling and sending down a shower of plaster. Everything was flying around and falling and making a noise.
which went off by mistake - 走火了 (go off by mistake)
a shower of plaster - 大家看过枪战片就知道啦!对着天花板开一枪,肯定是那些石灰呀腻子粉呀,沙子呀往下掉嘛
接下来我们看几个和 make有关的词组:
“Make way!” shouted the owner.
This was the first time a swan had broken into a music store and made off with a trumpet.
“Well,” she said, as he glided to a stop in the water, “I see you made it.”
1. make way - 让开,让路
2. make off - 成功逃脱
3. make it - 做到了,成功了
The cob was safe in the sky, beyond the range of gunfire.
beyond the range of gunfire - 超出射程范围
老爸虽然拿到了Trumpet,但是内心还是在挣扎:
In his beak was the trumpet. In his heart was the pain of having committed a crime.
“I have robbed a store,” he said to himself. “I have become a thief.
嘴上拿着小号,心里却因为偷窃而痛苦!在这里,我看到,作者虽然让天鹅爸爸用这样的一种方式得到了小号,但是并没有因此而夸耀他!反而将这样一颗愧疚难过的心放在他的里面。让他知道,自己是做错了的。因为这是一本儿童读物,这样给孩子一种积极正面的教育和引导。
What a miserable fate for a bird of my excellent character and high ideals! Why did I do this? What led me to commit this awful crime? My past life has been blameless—a model of good behavior and correct conduct. I am by nature law-abiding. Why, oh, why did I do this?”
回想自己一生,觉得自己一直是个遵纪守法的人(鹅),身份高贵,无可指责!可如今...
a model of good behavior and correct conduct 好人之楷模呀
good behavior = correct conduct 这两个词是近义词,都是表示好行为
by nature - 天生
law-abiding - 遵纪守法的
Then the answer came to him, as he flew steadily on through the evening sky. “I did it to help my son. I did it for love of my son Louis.
可是想想,出于对儿子的爱!硬着头皮也要做呀!确实呀,父母为了孩子,做了多少自己可能不喜欢,不情愿的事儿呀!
They said the store owner had just invented it to get some publicity for his store.
invent it - 捏造,和 make up 有类似的意思
get some publicity for his store - pulicity 曝光度,这里就是说:这个琴行呢,自己捏造出这么一件事儿,为提高曝光度。
直到见到了天鹅妈妈,爸爸还是有点难过:
I traveled fast and far, sacrificed my honor, and I have returned.
sacrifice my honor -牺牲了的荣誉(换来了这个小号)
He’s over there sitting on a muskrat house, dreaming about that empty-headed young female he’s so crazy about.
dream about - 幻想,梦见
empty-headed young female - 这里有个empty-headed 和上一课中的snippy是一个意思,表示傲慢的意思。
be crazy about - 对...痴迷
“Louis,” he said, “I have been on a journey to the haunts of men.
haunt 有一个常见的用法是:haunted,表示恐怖的,比如haunted house -鬼屋
但是这里haunts其意思是表示- a place much frequented:人类活动很密集的地方。
老爸的意思是说:我去到了人群中...
I visited a great city teeming with life and commerce.
teem with - 充满
Master this trumpet, and you will be able to play love songs for them, filling them
with ardor and surprise and longing.
master - 掌握
ardor - 羡慕
surprise - 惊讶
longing - 渴望
I procured it at some personal sacrifice to myself and my pride, but we won’t go into that now.
procure - 获得
at some personal sacrifice to myself and my pride -我以自己的身份和荣耀为代价...
we won't go into that - 我们现在不谈这个
And he knew it would do no good to write “Thank you” on the slate, because his father wouldn’t be able to read it, never having had an education.
do no good to -没什么用
So Louis just bobbed his head and waggled his tail and fluttered his wings.
bob-在这里表示 上下猛烈摆动的意思
The cob knew by these signs that he had found favor in the sight of his son and that the gift of a trumpet was acceptable.
had found favor in the sight of his son - 这句话在圣经里经常看到,圣经里的意思经常是:谁谁谁在神的眼中看为宝贵,或者蒙了神的喜悦。这里其实也是类似的意思:favor本身就有 "偏爱,支持"等意思,这里的字面意思是:老爸在儿子的眼中蒙了喜悦和偏爱,意思就是:儿子很喜欢,很感激老爸做的这些事儿。
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