Summary for my reading: Chapter2 only covers 10pages so that it is much more relaxing than that of the yesterday. Besides, chapter 2 is more narrative than chapter1. Therefore, I spent only less than hour on it.
Central question of this chapter: In this chapter, Su's family situations and surroundings are given carefully. It focuses more on the unique talent that Su's families owned. I think the advantaged surrounding is the basic reason for Su to become a genius.
Words and natural expressions:
1. dash 这个单词可做名词可做动词，在文中是形容岷江向乐山的大石奔腾而去，用了这样的句子……makes a straight dash for the Giant Stone Buddha of Loshan.
make a dash for 猛冲，狂奔
He made a dash for the door.
他猛地冲向门口。
The prisoners made a dash for freedom.
囚犯们拔腿飞奔，想要逃脱。
2. illustrious 昨天出现了一次，没有记住，今天又看到这个词了，是在...The father was Su Shun, who gave birth to two illustrious sons...里出现的，结合简单的句子很容易就记住这个单词了。看到复杂的单词，我会想要知道它的构成。
illustrious辉煌的;着名的
(il一再+lustr+ious一再光明→辉煌的)[luc,lust=light,shine,表示"光,照亮"]
*引申出其他一些单词
illustrate v 说明,阐明(il不断+lustr+ate=不断给光明=说明)
illustration a 插图说明(illustrate+ion)
translucent a半透明的(trans透过+luc+ent=光透过=半透明的)
3. junk这个词本来是很熟悉的，junk food垃圾食品，本意是废旧的杂物，但在这里作为中国式帆船️讲。是个比较生僻的用法。
4.obtain的话，不知道别人有没有记过那样的单词，貌似很简单貌似经常见就是记不清准确的意思。obtain可以拿get去替换，得到，获得，较get更加书面化一点。
5. a grove of英文中的量词出现了，我觉得这是最能看出所写的英文地不地道的地方了，文中出现了...a grove of hundreds of bamboo trees....由猜测可得是一片有上百株竹子的竹林。grove有小树林的意思，多和of搭配。
a small grove of beech trees
一片小小的山毛榉树林
olive / lemon / palm etc grove
He owns an orange grove near Tel Aviv.
他在特拉维夫附近拥有一个橘园。
6. reckon的话也是出现很多次但还是记不住的词，拿它当think和suppose去理解就好啦。
7....who was sentenced to exile...这里的sentence绝对不是名词句子的意思。如果读过很多悲惨的名人的故事，一定经常见到sentence，作为动词讲叫做宣判，判刑。
Sanchez was sentenced to three years in prison.
桑切斯被判了三年监禁。
8. spoil 这个单词我只记得有溺爱的意思，在文中出现在...husked rice would spoil in wet weather...这里必然不是溺爱的意思，做损坏，破坏来讲，与ruin同义。有例子:
I don't want to spoil your fun.
我不想扫你的兴。
Why do you always have to spoil everything ?
你为什么老是要把一切都弄糟呢？
我觉得学很多生僻的生词并不是学英语记单词的终极奥义，而是把一个简单单词的意义用法弄透彻，学习它不同的表达。
9. taboo 禁忌。
10. worship又是一个觉得很熟悉却始终记不住的单词。文章里出现了这样的表达...and worship him in their home and remember him for fifty years...worship在这里指敬奉的意思。词典上这样表达:
to show respect and love for a god, especially by praying in a religious building
敬奉（神）〔尤指在教堂、庙宇等祷告〕:
They all worship the same god.
他们信奉同一个神。
a church where people have worshipped for hundreds of years
人们做了几百年礼拜的一座教堂
平时用到worship可能更多是这样的场合:
to admire and love someone very much
景仰; 十分喜爱:
He absolutely worships her.
他太喜欢她了。
11. knew his onions 文章里提到这样的表达，意为精明强干, 非常熟悉自己的业务。
12. 实际上在chapter2里，我觉得开头描写地理位置的一段真当是妙不可言。语言平实凝炼。我个人非常讨厌写地理方位，没有办法把介词用得那么地道。
If you go up the Yangtse River, beyond Hankow, past the famous gorges into the westernmost province of Szechuen, and further follow the river past Chungkind to its origins, you will come to a gaint stone Buddha,three hundred and sixty feet high, carved out of a mountain cliff on the bank.
中文翻译为自长江逆流而上，经汉口，过名满天下的三峡，便进入了中国西南的一大省份四川。再经江上行，过重庆，直到水源，便可看见一尊大石佛，其高三百六十英尺，是由江边一个悬崖峭壁雕刻而成。
我相信这段话如果考成翻译题，是非常考教人的能力的。林语堂这一段写得非常清爽紧凑，仅仅用了一个句子，就刻画得如此详尽。
Chris
2017.12.5