第六章和第七章都很短,合并在一起
Chapter 6 Invitation to the White House
‘The President of the United States will now address you!’ announced the loudspeaker voice in the lobby of the Space Hotel.
President要和你们对话,address除了地址外,还有称呼,演讲等意。
‘Dear friends!’ said the well-known Presidential voice over the loudspeaker.
well-known :familiar 熟悉的,熟知的,在单词词汇中出现过。
You could land that wonderful glass air-machine of yours on the lawn in back of the White House. We shall have the red carpet out and ready.
你们可以将你们的神奇玻璃飞行器降落在后面的大草坪上,还有红地毯欢迎仪式。哈哈哈。
I shall wait most anxiously for your reply…
most+adj.在罗尔德大爷的书中很常见了,没有the就是very的意思,不表示最高级。
...and signalled everyone to gather round close so they could whisper without being heard by the hidden microphones.
这一句无难点,只是刚学到一个词,mike正好在此处重合。
A mike is the same as a microphone. 同 microphone(非正式用法)
‘My dear old dotty dumpling,’ said Mr. Wonka.
我亲爱的矮墩墩的老好人。太好玩了。
dumpling这个词在英文中太多见了,不仅仅是中国的饺子,意大利水饺Italian dumplings(Ravioli)在厨艺大师中也很常见,其实国外把里面有馅,外面锁皮的都能称为dumpling,汤圆,馄饨(wonton),甚至一些派都可以这么表达,语言也挺有意思的。
his voice this time was like the voice of a giant, deep and devilish, very loud and very slow:
devilish: cruel or unpleasant
‘Jumping jack-rabbits!’ he cried. ‘I think they’re after us!’
蹦蹦跳跳的长耳大野兔啊!哈哈哈。
jumping jack 有开合跳的意思,还有马屁精,好像还有一款太阳镜也是这个牌子。总之就是蹦蹦跳跳的,很可爱的句子。
‘Silence!’ said Miss Tibbs. ‘Go stand in the corner!’
站墙角就可以这么说了。
Mr Wonka had merely paused in order to think up another verse, and he was just about to start off again when a frightful piercing scream stopped him cold.
Stop cold,意思是突然停止,不是全身发冷,这里可以理解为旺卡先生被姥姥的尖叫声吓住了,呆着不动了。原来他们这群伪外星人真的遇见外星人了。
Chapter 7 Something Nasty in the Lifts
Grandma Josephine had stopped screaming now. She had gone rigid with shock. The rest of the group by the bed, including Charlie and Grandpa Joe, had become as still as stone. They dared not move. They dared hardly breathe. And Mr Wonka, who had swung quickly around to look when the first scream came, was as dumbstruck as the rest. He stood motionless, ...
这一段描写很生动,把每个人受到惊吓的瞬间都描绘了出来。姥姥吓呆了。其他人包括查理和爷爷像石头一样,大气不敢出。旺卡先生转身也一动不动了。
rigid此处不指刻板的,而是受到惊吓僵硬的
dumbstruck:强调 If you are dumbstruck, you are so shocked or surprised that you cannot speak. 吓呆的; 惊得目瞪口呆的
It looked more than anything like an enormous egg balanced on its pointed end.
这些外星人像是竖起来的鸡蛋。pointed就是尖尖的。莫名想起哥伦布竖鸡蛋的故事,据说故事是假的。
但是高尖端技术常用cutting-edged technology表达。
The eyes were white, but each had a brilliant red pupil in the centre.
pupil是指瞳孔,以前出现过。
说到瞳孔就会想起眼睛,想起盖茨比中的大招牌。The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic — their irises are one yard high.这里的irises就是retinas,视网膜,虹膜。(复数)
At this point, Charlie suddenly noticed that the next lift was coming down. The indicator numbers above the door were flashing… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… L (for lobby).
这一段太生动了,正好还有张插图。
长这个样子,哈哈,好吓人的样子。
And soon, at precisely the same time, they reached the lobby floor and the doors slid open…
at precisely the same time,同一时间,precisely在这里豹豹给理解为了the very same moment,强调。
what a weird and oozy thing it was to watch! 这些外星人就像是橡皮胶一样扭动变换,看起来有点让人不舒服。
oozy这个词在霍比特开篇就出现了,
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
oozy: of, resembling, or containing mud; slimy 泥的,像泥的,粘滑的
‘Scram!’ shouted Mr Wonka. ‘Get out quick!’
这里很有趣,这五个蛋型外星人拼成的单词就是--scram,而scram这个词本身意思就是快跑。
People have never moved faster than Grandpa Joe and Charlie and Mr and Mrs Bucket at that moment. They all got behind the bed and started pushing like crazy.
这一段实在是太搞笑了,查理一家和旺卡先生慌乱跑出去,还要把装着三个老人的大床推出去。滑稽又疯狂。
第七章拖了太久了,终于今天接上了。再过一或两章这本书的笔记就不更了,赶紧趁十一回家前把书读完啊(笑哭……)