“If I’m defective in one respect,” he said to himself, “I should try and develop myself along other lines.”
in one respect 和 along other lines 可以说是对应的，前者表示 “在某一个方面”，后者表示“多线发展，或者发展其他方面”
Louis liked company, and he already had many friends on the lakes.
company - 陪伴，伴侣；别一看到就觉得是“公司”
He liked to compete with other cygnets to see who could swim underwater the greatest distance and stay down the longest.
compete with - 和...竞争（比赛），
这里的 swim underwater 可以理解成我们游泳时候说的“扎猛子”，看谁在水底下游的远，待的久。
When Louis had fully made up his mind about learning to read and write, he decided to visit Sam Beaver and get help from him.
make up ones mind = decide to do ...都是表示决定做某事
Next morning, when his parents were not looking, Louis took off into the air.
when his parents were not looking 这里可以理解成：当老爸老妈不注意的时候
Instead, he took to the air and circled around, flying low and looking carefully at every boy in sight.
take to the air - 飞上天
circle around - 盘旋
flying low - 低空飞行
looking carefully at - 仔细寻找
in sight - 视线以内 （every boy in sight - 视线中出现的每个小男孩）
After about ten minutes, he saw a ranch house where a boy was splitting wood near the kitchen door.
split wood - 劈柴火；在国外很多人家都是独栋的房子，这些房子里一般会有个小壁炉，必然需要木头。所以，想要点燃壁炉烤火，就要劈木头。
这个2月在美国住的房子
在给大家看一个split wood的视频，其实还真是不简单：
当天我们就劈柴，然后在壁炉旁烤火
It’s just a question of getting my father’s permission.
get one's permission - 获得某人的许可
In a few minutes Mr. Beaver rode into the yard on a cow pony.
大家还记得 cow pony这个词吗？这里我得向大家小小的道个歉，上次在我们没有搞清楚之前就给了大家一个错误的答案。cow pony - a small, fast, agile horse trained for use by cowhands in herding cattle 所以，它其实还是马，只是个头不大，但是很壮硕也敏捷的一种用来放牧时候用的马。
所以，大家遇到生单词，不懂得，一定要查一查！！！
I think it’s against the law tohold one of these wild birds in captivity.
against the law- 违法
hold something/ someone in captivity -逮捕，关押或者监禁
But I’ll phone the game warden and see what he says.
game warden 大家来看两张图
其实就是一种警察，类似森林警察，渔牧巡警等一种职位
哈哈，我猜这一段是老爸编的：
The warden said he wouldn’t let just anybody have a young swan, but he’d let you have one because you understand about birds, and he trusts you. That’s quite a compliment, son.
警察说一般他们不会让人养天鹅，但是像你这么喜爱鸟并且了解鸟的小朋友，他们就破例让你养啦。真是了不起呀，孩子。
compliment - 赞扬，表扬，赞许
老爸做好人，老妈做坏人！妈妈就是不让天鹅住在房间：
He’ll mess up the room. He’s no canary; he’s enormous. Put the bird out in the barn. He can sleep in one of the empty stalls; the horses won’t mind.
mess up -搞脏，搞乱
he's no canary, he is enormous - 他又不是小小的金丝雀，他长得也太大了
the empty stall - stall 在这里表示马厩或者牛棚，其实stall还可以表示路边的小摊位，当然，我们平时说的停车位，也可以叫做 parking stall
接下来我们看一下Sam是怎么说服老师收留小天鹅上课的：
I have watched birds and animals a great deal.
我观察过大量的动物和鸟类。
a great deal 大量的
All birds and animals talk to one another—they really have to, in order to get along.
所有的鸟呀，动物呀都要说话的，这样才可以更好的和彼此相处呀。
Mothers have to talk to their young.
妈妈们要跟孩子说话。
Males have to talk to females, particularly in the spring of the year when they
are in love.
雄性要和雌性说话，尤其是在春天这样一个恋爱的季节呀。
Sam说话的口气，让我想到了我们在学习Charlotte's Web时候Fern对自己妈妈说动物会讲话那一章。也许，这就是小孩子的世界吧，单纯，富有想象力。
He was hatched last spring in Canada and now lives in the Red Rock Lakes, but he can’t say ko-hoh the way the other swans can, and this puts him at a terrible disadvantage.
put someone in a terribel disadvantage - 将某人至于非常不利的状态下
If you wanted to say ko-hoh and couldn’t make a single solitary sound, wouldn’t you feel worried?
这里的single 和 solitary意思类似，意思是：连一个声音都发布出来...
“Great Caesar’s ghost!”
这个短语就是相当于：Oh, my gosh.
但是这背后有比较多的文化背景：以前呢，有个罗马帝国，当时的皇帝是凯撒大帝，这个大家应该都知道。那么由于凯撒大帝的专断独裁，很多人不爽他。于是呢，在公元前50年左右（也就是中国的西汉时期），发生了一场政变，有人谋杀了凯撒大帝，其中有一个人叫做布鲁图（Brutus)。凯撒大帝生前对这个布鲁图非常的看中，所以他怎么也不明白为什么布鲁图要参与到刺杀他的这群人中。在莎士比亚的一部话剧中呢，凯撒大帝的鬼魂（ghost）就跑回来找布鲁图...看到鬼魂嘛一般都会被惊吓，所以就有了Great Caesar's Ghost. 另外，但是并没有说 "Oh my God"的原因是，如果说God会有对神不尊敬的意味，所以大家就没有说。
记住：带着好奇心学英语。不知道一定要去查查！
下面来看看老师如何解释这个生单词：catastrophe
”But does anyone know what it means? What is a catastrophe?”
“An earthquake,” said one of the girls.
“Correct!” replied the teacher. “What else?”
“War is a catastrophe,” said Charlie Nelson.
“Correct!” replied Mrs. Hammerbotham. “What else is?”
A very small, redheaded girl named Jennie raised her hand.
“Yes, Jennie? What is a catastrophe?”
In a very small, high voice, Jennie said, “When you get ready to go on a picnic with your father and mother and you make peanut-butter sandwiches and jelly rolls and
put them in a thermos box with bananas and an apple and some raisin cookies and paper napkins and some bottles of pop and a few hard-boiled eggs and then you put
the thermos box in your car and just as you are starting out it starts to rain and your parents say there is no point in having a picnic in the rain, that’s a catastrophe.
老师问了一个问题，学生运用自己的想象和例子，来解释，而老师总是细心的鼓励，引导。最后，大家终于知道这个catastrophe的意思啦！
野餐所要带的一些东西：自己查，还不知道就用图片查词法!
peanut-butter sandwiches
jelly rolls and
a thermos box
bananas
an apple
some raisin cookies
paper napkins
some bottles of pop
a few hard-boiled eggs
But when a picnic gets called on account of rain, it is a catastrophe for a child, I guess.
gets called - 这里可以理解成 取消 的意思
on account of 由于.../因为...
I’ll get my picture in Life magazine. I’ll be famous.
这个老师说：要是我能教出一个会写 catastrophe的小天鹅，我就会出名了，我的照片会被刊登在生活杂志上。
我们随随便便看下有什么人登上过生活杂志的封面：
奥黛丽赫本
美国总统肯尼迪
Louis picked up a fresh piece of chalk in his bill.
a fresh piece of chalk - 一根没用过的粉笔
I’ll just copy one letter at a time, and pretty soon it will be finished.
copy - 抄写 （我知道你肯定会说：一个字一个字的复制！请注意词语的灵活转换！）
one letter at a time - 一次一个字母
pretty soon -很快
小天鹅还是很聪明的吗！
When he got to the last letter, the pupils clapped and stamped their feet and banged on their desks, and one boy quickly made a paper airplane and zoomed it into the air.
小天鹅一写完，这些孩子就沸腾了。
clapped- 鼓掌
stamped their feet -跺脚
banged on the desks- 敲桌子
made a paper airplane - 做纸飞机
zoomed into the air - 飞纸飞机
Mrs. Hammerbotham rapped for order.
rapped for order 其实就是在维持秩序，但是作者中这个rap用的很好，它有大声叫喊的意思，老师不大声，学生根本听不到呀，哈哈。这些熊孩子们已经疯了。
Back in his own room, Sam sat down at his desk, feeling very happy about the way things had turned out.
turn out -这个短语我们讲过了，一般指出现什么结果，且结果多为出人意料的
The fifth-graders were having a lesson in arithmetic, and their teacher, Miss Annie Snug, greeted Sam with a question.
the fifth-graders 五年级学生，那么三年级呢？四年级呢？一年级呢？
arithmetic - 算术
algebra -代数
geometry - 几何
在Sam的课堂上，老师问了两个问题：
1. Sam, if a man can walk three miles in one hour, how many miles can he walk in four hours?（如果一个人一小时可以走3英里，那么他4个小时可以走多少英里？）
Sam的回答是：It would depend on how tired he got after the first hour.(得看他走完前一公里有多累。）
2. If you are feeding a baby from a bottle, and you give the baby eight ounces of milk in one feeding, how many ounces of milk would the baby drink in two feedings?（如果你正在给小baby喂牛奶，每一次喂8盎司，请问喂两次的话，小baby可以吃多少？）
学生的回答是：“About fifteen ounces, because he spills a little each time,” said Linda. “It runs out of the corners of his mouth and gets on his mother’s apron. (16盎司！因为小baby每喝一口都要洒掉一点！）
我很感兴趣的在学生回答两个问题之后老师的反应！不知道大家有没有注意。在这里我只提出两点供思考：
1. 孩子有孩子的思维方式，他们具有无穷的想象力
2. 作为一个老师，应该如何引导，鼓励，激发孩子的学习兴趣和其丰富的想象力？
欢迎大家就以上两点在群里进行讨论，分享！
最后一句总结的话：
By this time the class was howling so loudly the arithmetic lesson had to be abandoned.
到此为止，课要上不下去了。
But everyone had learned how careful you have to be when dealing with figures.
但是每个人都学会了在对待数字这件事儿上，要严谨！！
我想告诉大家，不仅名词可以用图片查词法，动词和短语也可以哟：
He may drag his feet.