“as delectable as peach and plum and as cold as frost and ice,”
If you describe something, especially food or drink, as delectable, you mean that it is very pleasant.
Then we learn anonther word has the similiar meaning as delicious.
艳若桃李冷若冰霜
Fang and Miss Pao strolled along side by side in silence. A big wave violently shook the ship, she nearly losing her balance. He then hooked his arm around her waist, and staying close to the railing, he kissed her hungrily. Her lips were ready, her body submissive. This stolen kiss, hurried and rough, gradually settled into a full and comfortable one.
I like this paragraph, because the words used here are fantastic! Hooked, hungrily, submissive, stolen, hurried and rough, gredually settled into, full and comfortable, each and every one of them was appropriate and vividly created a scene that both of Miss Pao and Mr. Fang liked the romance between them. Then what Miss. Pao said after what they had done were interesting and could afford much food for thought.
“Anyway, you haven’t anything nice to say. You can’t get away with that same old line.” “When you put your mouth against mine and I say something to you, those words pass right into your heart without having to take the long way around, making a turn, and going in through your ear.”
What a master of nice words!
Only a well of hope for the morrow, which has not yet descended into the vastness, illuminates itself like the speck of light from a firefly in the dark depths of boundless, roaring waves.
firefly 是萤火虫!
The French on board were like dogs at the sight of their master’s home—their chests suddenly filled out, their actions became more arrogant, and the pitch of their voices was raised.
这一段是说船行到法属的殖民地时，船上法国人的表现，很有趣，让我想起了有一段说“老实人坏起来也可以很可恶”的那个场景。
Though Fang had paid for a couple of dancing lessons in France, he was hardly a master at it.
Though I had paid for a couple of Majong lessons in Sichuan, I was hardly a master at it.
来成都十年都打不好麻将的我。
Fang wanted to go eat lunch at the Chinese restaurant where they went the evening before, but Miss Pao was set on eating Western food, saying she didn’t want to meet anyone they knew from the ship.
Be set on doing 这里指“一心想”做什么事情。
“All you men are like that!” She talked as though she had tested the character of every man in the world. “Is that the voice of experience?”
This is my voice of experience. 这是我的经验之谈。
At the crack of dawn the next day, the ship reduced its speed and the sound of its engines altered rhythm.
还记得有个大姐说她没怎么看过书 Crack a book ， 这里crack应该是指它的本意裂缝的意思，天还没亮。
Afraid that a disgruntled Ah Liu might run his mouth off to Dr. Li, Fang gave Ah Liu some more money, charging it up to his bad luck.
If you are disgruntled, you are angry and dissatisfied because things have not happened the way that you wanted them to happen.
Used when you're describing someone who is not happy, not satisfied or not pleased.
run his mouth off 指随口乱说也指信口开河，也可以用 run off at the mouth
charge to 本来是指记账，比如记在谁的账上，这里把账记在运气上，可以理解为归咎于。
Like two parallel lines, no matter how close they are, or how long they are extended, they will never join together.
He knows the beauty of math.
“As if his own father and mother couldn’t take care of him. We mustn’t interfere.”
As if
When those who knew about such things heard of it, they’d laugh their heads off!
我们说笑掉人的大牙，他们说笑掉人的脑袋。
Everyone echoed his praise.
echo 本身是回声回响，你可以理解为repeat重复，这里是说所有人都跟着“附和”。
Matchmakers have already suggested several prospects, but you don’t need disgusting old creatures like us to make decisions for you.
媒人就是配对的人。
“It’s no good to marry an official’s daughter. She’ll want you to wait on her instead of waiting on you. Besides, a daughter-in-law should come from the same village.
Wait on 服侍，也很贴切。
Stroking his beard, his father said with a smile, “Hung-chien, that’s something your mother just couldn’t understand. Women who’ve done a little book learning are the hardest of all to handle. The man has to be a step above her, not an equal. That’s why a college graduate should marry a high school graduate, and a returned student should marry a college graduate. As for a girl who has studied abroad and received a Ph.D., no one but a foreigner would dare marry her. Otherwise, the man would have to have two doctorates at least. I’m not mistaken about that, am I, Hung-chien? It’s the same idea as ‘Marry a daughter into a greater family than your own, but take a wife from a lesser family than your own.’”
不知道现代人怎么理解这个问题的，我觉得受家庭教育的影响很大，很多人有这样的想法。我觉得结合The Road Less Traveled 一起看有比较大的冲击。
When the weather cooled off a little, his father would take him to perform the rites at his grandfather’s grave.
Perform the rites 估计也没有更好的形式来表达了吧
For dinner that evening, his mother herself prepared fried shredded eel, chicken wings in soy sauce, stewed chicken with melon, and shrimps cooked in wine—all his favorite local dishes. She picked out the best pieces for his bowl, saying, “How terrible it must have been for you, living abroad for four years with nothing to eat!”
Woderful local dishes 各种美味，必须记住
This kind of preparation did not tax his brains any, though he did lose some blood to the mosquitoes. The next morning at the teahouse, after he had the usual soup noodle—the fourth snack-dish to be served, Principal Lü paid the bill and urged Hung-chien to start off.
tax one's brain 是让人伤脑筋费神
After he had been home for a week, Fang Hung-chien felt as if he had not left home at all; his four years abroad were like water running over a lotus leaf leaving no trace behind.
这感觉很好啊
Exhausted hope, as though sifting sand for gold, tried to find some crack in the news in which to revive itself.
不记得场景了，但是披沙拣金，挺形象的。
crack 这里又出现了
had asked for Hung-chien’s horoscope and requested a fortuneteller to match it with Miss Chang’s. The forecast for the couple was “A union made in heaven, full of great fortune and prosperity.”
horoscope这玩意是占星术。天作之合哇
“That family lives on peanuts! They spend so little on food a day! Since my daughter is used to comfort, she couldn’t take such hardship!” The question of marriage was dropped at this point.
以花生为生来形容穷。
Furthermore, since he was now already living at the home of his nominal father-in-law without ever having actually become his son-in-law, taking him into the family would be as easy as turning the palm.
易如反掌
He showed his true colors the moment I tested him. He acted as if he were afraid we weren’t going to pay him off. Isn’t that funny?”
露馅啦!变色龙露出了真的颜色。
When the affair of marriage with the Changs came to naught, Mrs. Chou was greatly disappointed.
come to naught 化为乌有，啥都没啦，可以理解为 fail
But when Fang Hung-chien was young he was brought up on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Tale of the Marshes, Monkey,35 and other such children’s literature that were not in line with basic educational principles for children.
这里说俩人的成长环境不一样，想法不一样也很正常的。