上一章中,我们看到老爸不顾一切地为Louis弄来了一个小号!然后,小号却是“抢劫”来的。老爸心里很难过。在这一章节中,我们也看到小Louis为了帮助老爸还钱,也开始了鹅生的第一份工作。
到这里大家可以想一想推动这个故事往前推进的线索是什么?可以来分享分享!
开头的句子里有两个形容词的最高级哟:
Louis was the best-liked young male swan on Upper Red Rock Lake. He was also the best equipped.
the best-liked- 最受喜爱的
the best equipped - 全副武装的,装备最齐全的
下面这几句中,有几个表示与众不同的用法:
The young females were beginning to notice him because he looked entirely different from the other cygnets. He stood out in a crowd. None of the others carried anything with them.
entirely different from - 和...完全不一样
He stood out in a crowd. 他很与众不同。stand out in a crowd 是个固定的表达,表示与众不同。而Louis的与众不同在于他身上挂的那些东西,哈哈。大家可以想象一下Louis每天走路的样子哈。
All day, the first day he had it, he tried to get it to make a noise.
make a noise - 发出声音(noise在这里就是单纯指“声音”)
大家可以继续脑补一下Louis练习时候的画面。
But then he discovered that, by holding his tongue in a certain way, he could get the trumpet to emit a small gasping sound.
emit a sound - 发出声音;emit这个词还有排放的意思,一般来说,他的名词形式比较常见,比如汽车尾气排放:car exhaut emission
a small gasping sound = puwoowf ...大家可以想一下自己第一次吹奏一些乐器,或者吹树叶时候的那种声音,或者气球跑气,车胎跑气那种声音。
It wasn’t a very pretty noise, but at least it was a noise. It sounded a little like hot air escaping from a radiator.
like hot air escaping from a radiator - 暖气管道漏气时候的声音...
Louis’s heart skipped a beat when he heard it.
我们学过另外几个跟心跳有关的动词:thrump, leap 大家自己去翻翻原句。
Louis知道,想学会吹小号可不是一朝一夕的事儿呀:
“It will take time,” thought Louis. “I’m not going to become a trumpeter in a day, that’s for sure. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I’m going to learn to blow this horn
if it takes me all summer.
他很清楚这需要时间:
It will take time. 需要时间!!
I'm not going to become a trumpeter in a day. 我不可能一天就变成了小号手。
But Rome wasn't built in a day. 罗马不是一日建成的。
Louis有很强烈的学习动机,他也知道,这要花代价:
I'm going to learn to blow this horn if it takes me all summer.
连小天鹅都知道学个技能要花时间,可是有些学英语的同学哈,整天心浮气躁,想要一步登天,和太阳肩并肩哈。怎么可能呢?慢慢来,还是比较快的。
上一节课中,作者借着天鹅爸爸告诉了我们:偷东西不好!他的言传身教,也让自己的孩子知道:偷东西不好!这本书三观很正!
For one thing, he knew that his trumpet wasn’t paid for—it had been stolen. He didn’t like that at all.
For one thing, he knew that his trumpet wasn’t paid for—it had been stolen. He didn’t like that at all. For another thing, Serena, the swan he was in love with, had gone away.
for one thing ... for another thing ... 一方面...另一方面... (但是大家千万记住:记词不要死记硬背。比如下次这个短语可能会理解成:第一...第二...或者其他类似的意思。这个短语的本意就是例举一些事儿。
Whenever Louis was in trouble, his thoughts turned to Sam Beaver.
be in trouble - 有麻烦,有困难
his thoughts turns to... 其实就等于 he thinks of
Besides, springtime was making him restless: he felt an urge to leave the lakes and fly somewhere.
这个句子里就对restless做了很好的解释:躁动不安,想出去浪...
So he took off one morning and headed straight for the Bar Nothing Ranch, in the Sweet Grass country, where Sam lived.
take off - 起飞...(飞走)
Louis realized that there were advantages in traveling light and not having too many possessions clinging to you.
这里有两个对比的表达:
traveling light - 轻装出行
having too many possession clinging to you - 带一大推东西
Sam whistled through his teeth.
这个动作大家可以想象吗?类似 唏嘘,感叹和倒吸一口气的感觉,但是牙齿咬在一起的,并不是张大嘴。
我说了这本书的三观很正的,看看人家小孩子怎么说:
“You’ve got a money problem. But that’s not unusual. Almost everybody has a money problem. What you need is a job. Then you can save your earnings, and when you get enough money saved up, your father can pay back the man he stole the trumpet from.
存钱:save money
还钱:pay back
我们一起来看看小天鹅要做什么工作:
I’ll bet I can get you a job as camp bugler if you can learn a few more notes.
camp bugler 到底是什么工作?我们先看下他的工作内容:
The idea is, you blow a lot of loud fast notes in the early morning to wake the boys up.
That’s called reveille.
Then you blow some other notes to call the campers to their meals. That’s called the mess call.
Then at night when everybody is in bed and the light has faded from the sky and the lake is calm and the mosquitoes are busy in the tents, biting the boys, and the boys are getting sleepy in their beds, you blow some other notes, very soft and sweet and sad. That’s called taps.
所以小天鹅的工作就是吹号,起床吹,吃饭吹,睡觉吹!那么什么是:reveille, mess call, 还有 taps呢?作者有解释的,请仔细看。大家自己去查。
这里还有一段关于夜晚景象的描写:
Then at night when everybody is in bed and the light has faded from the sky and the lake is calm and the mosquitoes are busy in the tents, biting the boys, and the boys are getting sleepy in their beds...
the light has faded from the sky - 天色渐渐暗下来
the lake is calm 河面平静了
the mosquitoes are busy ...蚊子出动了...
“I’ll try anything,” wrote Louis. “I am desperate for money.”
我什么都干,我很缺钱!!!I am desperate for money.
be desperate for something ...表示非常想要得到...
Sam教起了Louis:
Stand erect. Always hold the trumpet straight from the body. Do not point it down toward the ground as this position cramps the lungs and gives the performer a very poor appearance. The instrument should be cleaned once a week to remove the spit.”
学过乐器的朋友,不知道有没有怀念曾经被老师教导的时光哈!!
Stand erect. 站直咯!
Do not point it down toward the ground. 别低头!
因为:this position cramps the lungs 这个姿势会压制肺部,影响发声
give the performer a very poor appearance - 姿势不帅!
Every afternoon, when the guests on Mr. Beaver’s ranch had gone off on pack trips in the hills, Louis practiced the calls.
pack trip - 以前一般指多日骑马长途旅行,现在也是用来指短途或长途旅行,因为短途或长途的时候大家要带很多东西嘛,pack原意有打包的意思。看作者写书的那个年代,可能是骑马旅行。
Louis was musically inclined and was eager to become a really good trumpeter.
was musically inclined - 非常喜欢音乐!be inclined ... 有...倾向,但是这里就不要说Louis有音乐倾向啦!!谁说我打死谁,哈哈!
was eager to ...渴望...be eager to
On the night before they were to leave for camp, Sam packed all his camping things in a duffel bag.
be to do = be about to do = be going to do 都是表示将要做
我们再来看看Sam出发前打包的情况:
He packed sneakers and moccasins. He packed jerseys that said “Camp Kookooskoos” on the front. He rolled his camera in a towel and packed that. He packed his fishing rod, his toothbrush, his comb and brush, his sweater, his poncho, and his tennis racquet. He packed a pad and pencils and postage stamps and a first-aid kit and a book that told how to identify birds.
这里面有很多常见的物品:
sneakers - 运动鞋
moccasins - 软拖鞋
jerseys - 线衫
camera - 相机
a towel - 毛巾
fishing rod - 鱼竿
toothbrush - 牙刷
comb - 梳子
brush -刷子
sweater - 毛衣
poncho - 雨衣
tennis racquet - 网球拍
pad - 这里不是我们的ipad,而是写字的时候垫在下面的那种小板子
pencil - 铅笔
postage stamps - 邮票
first aid kit - 急救箱
a book - 书
整理完之后,Sam又开始写日记啦,每次还不忘问个小问题:
Why does a dog always stretch when he wakes up?
猪猪起床为什么要伸懒腰呀?哈哈,这思维也太跳跃了吧孩子!
同学们知道为什么吗?看下视频:
The car was a convertible, so Mr. Beaver put the top down.
convertible car - 敞篷车
put the top down 就是把敞篷给收起来
出发前,老妈的叮咛,你们还记得吗?
Mrs. Beaver kissed Sam good-bye. She told him to be a good boy and to take care of himself and not to drown in the lake and not to get into fights with other boys and not to go out in the rain and get sopping wet and then sit around in the chilly air without putting a sweater on, not to get lost in the woods, not to eat too much candy and drink too much pop, not to forget to write letters home every few days, and not to go out in a canoe when it was windy on the lake.
好好地,乖乖地,别打架,下雨天别出去,天冷了记得穿衣服,别吃太多糖....
那些和户外有关的词:
It reminded them of all the wild and wonderful things and places they had ever known: sunsets and moonrises and mountain peaks and valleys and lonely streams and deep woods.
sunsets - 日落
moonrises - 月亮升起
mountain peaks - 山峰
valleys - 山谷
lonely stream - 静僻的溪流
deep woods - 深邃的森林