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Text 1 The Shadowland of Dreams
About the author
Alex Haley (1925-1992) American biographer, scriptwriter, author
who became famous with the publication of the novel Roots, which traces his
ancestry back to Africa and covers seven American generations as they are taken
slaves to the United States. The book was adapted to television series, and woke
up an interest in genealogy, particularly among African-Americans. Alex Haley
was born in Ithaca, New York. His father was a teacher of agriculture. The
family moved to the small town of Henning, Tennessee, when Alex Haley was an
infant. In Henning Haley heard stories from maternal grandmother, Cynthia
Palmer, who traced the family genealogy to Haley's
great-great-great-great-grandfather, who was an African, called Kin-Tay and
brought by slave-ship to America. Haley did not excel at school or university.
During World War Two Haley enlisted in the Coast Guard and started to write adventure
stories. After twenty years of service, Haley left the Coast Guard in 1959 to
become a full-time writer.
Language notes
1) When I left a 20-year-career
in the Coast Guard to become a freelance writer, I had no prospect at all.
（当我放弃在海岸警卫队做了20年的工作而成为一名自由撰稿人时，我的前途渺茫。）
A freelance writer is a writer who earns his money without
being in the regular employment of any particular
organization.
2) It didn't even matter that
it was cold and had no bathroom.
（房子里冷嗖嗖的，也没有卫生间，就连这也没有什么关系。）
The that-clause is the real subject standing for the
first "it".
3) On the phone was an old acquaintance
from the Coast Guard, now stationed in San Francisco.
（打电话来的是一位海岸警卫队供过职的老熟人,现在在旧金山。）
The sentence structure is inverted for the subject is too
long.
4) He had once lent me a few
bucks and liked to egg me about it.
（他曾经借给我几美元，总喜欢喋喋不休地要我还给他。）
Egg here means to encourage strongly or to urge persistently.
e.g. I didn't want to accept her offer but Peter kept egging me
on.
5) From deep inside a
bull-headed resolution welled up.
(我的内心深处升起一个坚强的信念。）
Well up means to flow or start to flow, and here well is used
as a verb.
e.g. Anger was welling up in him.
Blood was welling out from the wound.
6) Rumor had it that if a customer
ordered steak the singer would dash to a supermarket across the street to buy
one.
（据传，如果有客人在餐馆里点了牛排，这位歌手会火速跑去街对面的超市为他买一个。）
Rumor has it that is a common sentence pattern meaning that people are
saying.
7) I'd be hard pressed to say which
means the most to me.
（我很难说哪一个对我最重要。）
Be hard pressed means to feel
it very difficult.
Text 2 Isambard Kingdom Brunel
About the author
Miles Kington is an English humorist and a regular columnist.
About Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in Portsea on 9th April 1806 to an English
mother and a French father. His father, Marc
Brunel, was a French monarchist
whose continuing residence in revolutionary France had made life there somewhat
uncomfortable. When working in New York, Marc conceived and patented machines to
produce wooden pulley-blocks for the world's navies. This tackle block
technology was adopted by the British Admiralty.
Isambard had a French and
English education. The technical side included mathematics and apprenticeship
with Breguet, a precision-instrument maker. Further practical experience came
from working in the family engineering office and at the Maudsley engineering
works. Throughout his life Isambard, the engineering star, never stopped working
on projects which called for complex organizational ability. In 1859 he died
from overwork. His life was a hectic sequence of ambitious, high-risk,
leading-edge projects involving complex tasks, new technology, people, politics,
investors and funding. In order to commemorate him Brunel University is named
after him.
Language notes
1) Looking back
through my career, I can see that everything fortunate that has happened to
me has come about through a misfortune in some other undertaking.
（回顾我的事业，我发现，凡在我身上发生的幸运之事皆出于其他某个背运之事。）
Come about means to happen, esp. in a way that
seems impossible to prevent.
e.g. How did it come about that he knew where we were.
2) He was a Frenchman
by birth and was destined for the priesthood.
（他出生时是法国人，而且已经决定要他当牧师。）
Be destined (for) means intended, esp. by fate, for some special purpose.
e.g. Coming from a theatrical family, I was destined for a career on
the stage.
It was destined that they would marry.
3) He would
no doubt have prospered well in France were it not for a little event called
the Revolution, which caused him to flee France to the USA with a price on his
head.
（毫无疑问，倘若不是因为那次名为法国大革命的小事件,有人悬赏父亲头颅,以致他从法国逃至美国，他在法国肯定会发展很好。）
Note the sentence is in the subjunctive mood and before "were
it" if is omitted.
4) But I was resolved to make
the best of a bad job.
（但是我下定决心要尽量利用这个不利境遇。）
Make the best of a bad job means
to accept in a cheerful way bad or unsatisfactory conditions
and do the best one can in the situation.
5) All would have been well
had not the money run out.
（如果不是经费耗尽的话，一切会进展得很顺利。）
Note that the subjunctive mood is used in the sentence and the word
if is omitted.
6) I was, you will recall, in
Bristol on account of an illness and had stayed there on account of a botched
bridge.
（你还记得，我是因为生病才来到了布里斯托尔，呆在那儿是因为一座蹩脚的桥梁。）
On account of means because of.
e.g. Tom delayed his departure on account of the bad weather.
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