Twist in the Tale
twist：曲解; 歪曲; 意外转折
turns and twists 曲折的; 一波三折
turn/twist the knife (in the wound) == rub salt into the wound 落井下石; 伤口上撒盐
tale: 传说; 故事; 讲述
sb lived to tell the tale. 大难不死; 幸免于难
tell tales about sb 造谣; 泄密
Fears/ that television and computers would kill children's desire to read / couldn't have been more wrong. 害怕恐惧（fears）不可能更加错误了（couldn't have been more wrong. ）。喵，是对什么的恐惧和害怕咧？that 后面来了一个同位语从句（television and computers would kill children's desire to read）说是，对电视和电脑扼杀儿童阅读渴望的害怕。（主语找出来，谓语划出来呀，主句看起来呀，回来再喵一眼从句，整体意思跑起来）
With sales roaring, / a new generation of authors /are /publishing's newest and unlikeliest literary stars. 伴随着销量的一路飘起（With sales roaring），发生了啥？新一代的作家/成了/ 出版界最新的最出人意料的文学之星。
这个词roar 有趣瞄一瞄，
roar v. 吼叫，咆哮，狂笑（roar with laughter）
roaring： a roaring fire 熊熊大火； a roaring success 巨大成功； do a roaring trade 生意兴隆
Less than three years ago, / doom merchants 悲观的预言家 / were predicting / that the growth in video games and the rise of the Internet would sound the death knell for 敲起...死亡的丧钟 children's literature.
doom: n. 劫数，厄运; v. be doomed to (do）sth (etc, failure/ die)
1. doom merchant == prophet of doom 悲观预言家 2. gloom and doom 悲观失望
death knell == death bell 丧钟：
toll/sound the death knell for sth/sb 敲起...的丧钟
But / contrary to popular myth, 与流行的观点相反/ children / are reading more books than ever.
A recent survey / by Books Marketing / found / that children up to 高达 the age of 11 read on average 平均 for four hours a week, particularly girls.
Moreover, the children's book market, / which traditionally was seen as a poor cousin to the more lucrative and successful adult market, has come into its own (在某种情况下) 所长得到充分的发挥，显出自己的本事.
Publishing houses 出版社 / are now making considerable profits / on the back of 利用,借...的光 new children's books / and / children's authors / can now command significant advances.
command：指挥；命令
command respect 赢得尊重
have a good command of English 精通英语
have sth at sb's command 用...得心应手
take command of sth 指挥，控制
‘Children's books are going through an incredibly fertile period,’ says Wendy Cooling, a children's literature consultant.
‘There's a real buzz 热闹有趣的气氛; 时尚氛围 around them. Book clubs are happening, sales are good, and people are much more willing to listen to children's authors.’
buzz：
give sb a buzz == give sb a ring 给...打电话
give sb a buzz (短暂的)快乐,兴奋 --- get a buzz out of sth 从...获得满足，感到兴奋
my mind/head is buzzing. 脑子同时想着很多事。
questions/ideas are buzzing around sb's head == sb's head is buzzing with questions/ideas
sb be buzzing around. 忙得团团转。
The main growth area / has been the market / for eight to fourteen-year-olds, / and / there is little doubt that / the boom has been fuelled by the bespectacled 戴眼镜的 apprentice 学徒, Harry Potter.
So influential has J. K. Rowling's series of books been that they have helped to make reading fashionable for pre-teens 十一二岁的青年. === J. K. Rowling's series of books / has been so influential / that they have helped to make reading fashionable for pre-teens.
‘Harry made it OK to be seen on a bus reading a book,’ says Cooling.
‘To a child, that is important.’ The current buzz around the publication of the fourth Harry Potter beats anything in the world of adult literature.
‘People still tell me, “Children don't read nowadays”,’(直接引语）/ says David Almond, / the award-winning author of children's books such as Skellig（同位语）.
The truth is that they are skilled, creative readers.
When I do classroom visits, they ask me very sophisticated questions about the use of language, story structure, chapters, and dialogue.’
No one / is denying / that books are competing with other forms of entertainment for children's attention / but it seems as though / children find a special kind of mental nourishment 精神食粮/ within the printed page.
‘A few years ago, publishers lost confidence 失去信心 and wanted to make books more like television, the medium that frightened them most,’ says children's book critic Julia Eccleshare.
‘But books aren't TV, and you will find that children always say that the good thing about 好处 books / is / that you can see them in your head.
Children / are / demanding readers,’ she says. ‘If they don't get it 懂得 in two pages, they'll drop it.’
No more are children's authors considered mere sentimentalists 多愁善感的人 or failed adult writers.
'Some feted（fete n.露天游乐会；v.赞誉; 敬慕; 欢迎） adult writers would kill for the sales,’ says Almond, who sold 42,392 copies of Skellig in 1999 alone.
And advances seem to be growing too: UK publishing outfit Orion recently negotiated a six-figure sum 六位数的金额 from US company Scholastic for The Seeing Stone, a children's novel by Kevin Crossley-Holland, the majority of which will go to the author.
It helps that once smitten 突然一下子爱上, children are loyal and even fanatical (行为或看法) 狂热的; 极端的 consumers.
smitten:
be smitten with/by sth/sb 突然爱上的, 一下子爱上的 ；被...打动的, 醉心于...的
Author Jacqueline Wilson says that children spread the news of her books like a bushfire.
'My average reader is a girl of ten,’ she explains.
‘They're sociable and acquisitive.
They collect.
They have parties - where books are a good present.
If they like something, they have to pass it on.’
pass on：
pass sth on (to sb) 告诉; 传递; 传染
pass on sth (chance/opportunity) 放弃机会; 决定不参加
pass on 过世
After Rowling, Wilson is currently the best-selling children's writer, and her sales have boomed over the past three years.
She has sold more than three million books, but remains virtually invisible to adults, although most ten-year-old girls know about her.
Children's books are surprisingly relevant to contemporary life 当代生活. （be relevant to sth 与...相关）
Provided 假如; 在...条件下 they are handled with care, few topics are considered off-limits 不许谈论的 for children.
One senses that children's writers relish 期待; 享受 the chance to discuss the whole area of topics and language.
But Anne Fine, author of many awardwinning children's books is concerned that the British literati still ignore children's culture.
‘It's considered worthy but boring,’ she says.
'I think there's still a way to go,’ says Almond, who wishes that children's books were taken more seriously as literature. (take sth seriously）
Nonetheless, he derives great satisfaction from his child readers.
‘They have a powerful literary culture,’ he says.
‘It feels as if you're able to step into 步入 the store of mythology and ancient stories that run through all societies and encounter the great themes: love and loss and death and redemption 救赎.’
At the moment 目前; 当下, the race is on 正在发生的 to find the next Harry Potter.
on:
have a lot on. 忙得很。 not have very much on. 没什么可忙的。
have something on sb 抓住某人的把柄
sth is not on == sth is just not on. 某事使无法接受的; 行不通的
(sth happens) on and on. 不停地; 连续不断地
The bidding for new books at Bologna this year - the children's equivalent of the Frankfurt Book Fair - was as fierce as anything anyone has ever seen. （be equivalent of sth ）
All of which bodes well for the long-term future of the market - and for children's authors, who have traditionally suffered the lowest profile in literature, despite the responsibility of their role.
bode：预示(好事或坏事); 是...的兆头
bode ill/well for sth/sb == augur well / badly for sb/future situation
have a high profile 高调 keep a low-profile 保持低调
文章源自 https://ieltsonlinetests.com/
