Text
1 Danger by candlelight
Information related to the text
Maginot Line: It was built between 1929 and
1940 to provide time for the French army to mobilize and to
make up for a potentially disastrous shortfall of manpower
predicted for the late 1930s.
Language notes
1)
These twin terrors too often went hand in hand with patriotism
during the Second World War.
(第二次世界大战期间,这对恐怖的孪生兄弟与爱国行为时时携手相随。)
The twin terrors refer to the suspense
and the shadow of death mentioned in the previous sentence.
Went hand in hand means were closely
connected.
2)
He envied his friend Pierre who, although only fourteen, was
in active service with the Free France.
(雅克很羡慕自己的好朋友皮埃尔。皮埃尔才14岁,却已经参加了自由法兰西的地下武装。)
In active service
here means actually fighting in the
armed forces.
3)
Jacqueline was to be taken care of by loyal neighbors should
the hand of death suddenly knock at the Bernauds' door.
(一旦死神叩响伯纳家的门,杰奎琳将由忠于法国的邻居们帮助抚养。)
Should the hand of death knock at the Bernauds'
door is in the subjunctive mood.
4)
The light was now good enough for a keen observer to note
that a tense look left Jacques' face.
(那灯光足以使目光敏锐的人注意到雅克脸上那紧张的神色消失了。)
The light
of the lamp would enable anyone careful enough to see that
a look of nervous anxiety disappeared from Jacques' face.
5)
He must be in at the finish.
(事情了结的时候,他一定跑不了。)
Be in at means be present
at.
Text 2
A Physician's Life in a Turbulent World
Language notes
1)
... instead of storing it in the cache we had prepared for
sensitive material.
(......而没有藏入我们为保存秘密材料准备的秘室。)
Storing it in the cache we had prepared
for sensitive material means concealing it in the secret
hiding place for confidential documents.
2)
My strongest recollection of the next moment is the total
collapse of Lion.
(接着发生的事,我记忆最深的就是莱昂完全
崩溃。)
The total collapse means the complete nervous
breakdown of Lion.
3)
It was a shattering moment.
(这段时间真叫人惶惑不安。)
A shattering moment means a moment during which one suffers from great mental stress and strains.
4)
Its purpose was obvious: not so much to cause physical pain as to make me lose my mental
balance.
(德国人这样做目的很明显,
与其说要造成我肉体上的痛苦,不如说要使我心理失衡。)
Obviously, the purpose was to make
me suffer from mental strains and break my mental balance
rather than cause physical pain.
5)
He quieted down somewhat but remained deeply withdrawn and
hard to reach those next days, starting out of our little
window, unseeing.
(他平静了一点,但在以后的几天里,他一直非常冷漠而孤僻,难以接近,双眼总是茫然地直勾勾地盯着窗外。)
Remained deeply withdrawn and hard to reach means (He)
kept silent and concerned with his own thoughts and
difficult for people to approach.
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