《The Knight at Dawn》是神奇树屋系列读物的第二本。这次继续第二章“Chapter 2 Leaving Again"。

"No one's here!" Annie shouted down.

Jack thought about going home. Then he thought about all the books in the tree house.

He started up the ladder. When he was nearly to the tree house, he saw light in the distant sky. Dawn was starting to break.

第一句中表示“无人在这里", no one's here, 可以尝试使用not a soul here, 连个人影都没有。

另外，注意”黎明将要破晓“这句话怎么翻译，对了，Dawn was starting to break。

He crawled through a hole in the floor and took off his backpack. It was dark inside the tree house.

Annie was shining her flashlight on the books scattered about.

"They're still here," she said.

She stopped the light on a dinosaur book. It was the book that had taken them to the time of the dinosaurs.

"Remember the Tyrannosaurus?" asked Annie.

Jack shuddered. Of course he remembered! How could anyone forget seeing a real live Tyrannosaurus rex?

在这段里，首先，注意“地板上的洞”要用a hole in the floor, 而不是a hole on the floor，这是一个用词的细节问题。

值得关注的另一表达是 shine one's flashlight on, 用手电筒照了照某物，这里是Annie用手电筒照了照散落在地上的书，scatttered about是过去分词短语做定语修饰前面books.

从语法的角度上scattered about是that were scattered about定语的从句的省略形式。

另外，注意shudder一词的用法，当你一想到某件让你颤抖的事时，记得使用shudder这个词。

The light fell on a book about Pennsylvania. A red silk bookmark stuck out of it.

“Remember the picture of Frog Creek?” said Annie.

“Of course,” said Jack. That was the picture that had brought them home.

“There’s my favorite,” said Annie.

The light was shining on a book about knights and castles. There was a blue leather bookmark in it.

Annie turned to the page with the bookmark. There was a picture of a knight on a black horse. He was riding toward a castle.

这里谈到了两种不同的书签(bookmark)，一种是red silk， 另一种是blue leather.

“Annie, close that book,” said Jack. “I know what you’re thinking.”

Annie pointed at the knight.

“Don’t, Annie!”

“We wish we could see this guy for real,” Annie said.

“No, we don’t!” shouted Jack.

They heard a strange sound.

“Neeee-hhhh!”

It sounded like a horse neighing.

They both went to the window.

Annie shined the flashlight down on the ground.

“Oh no,” whispered Jack.

“A knight!” said Annie.

A knight in shining armor! Riding a black horse! Through the Frog Creek woods!

这里可以学会到的是马叫声怎么用英语表达：Neee-hhhh, 当然，用单词说马叫声为neigh。

Then the wind began to moan. The leaves began to tremble.

It was happening again.

“We’re leaving!” cried Annie. “Get down!”

The wind moaned louder. The leaves shook harder.

And the tree house started to spin. It spun faster and faster!

Jack squeezed his eyes shut.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

Jack opened his eyes. He shivered. The air was damp and cool.

The sound of a horse’s whinny came again from below.

“Neeee-hhhh!”

这段提供了另一个马叫的说法，前面neigh表示“嘶鸣”，而whinny[?w?ni]表示make a quiet neigh, 指“小声嘶鸣”。

另外，可以学一下如何用拟人的手法写自然现象，风开始呼啸，树叶在颤抖：The wind began to moan. The leaves begant to tremble.

在《猫武士》第三本书里有这么一句：Cold gripped the forest, fields, and moorland like an icy claw. 同时使用了拟人和比喻的手法。

“I think we’re here,” whispered Annie. She was still holding the castle book.

Jack peeked out the window.

A huge castle loomed out of the fog.

He looked around. The tree house was in a different oak tree. And down below, the knight on the black horse was riding by.

“We can’t stay here,” said Jack. “We have to go home and make a plan first.” He picked up the book about Pennsylvania. He opened it to the page with the red silk bookmark. He pointed to the photograph of the Frog Creek woods. “I wish—”

“No!” said Annie. She yanked the book away from him. “Let’s stay! I want to visit the castle!”

“You’re nuts. We have to examine the situation,” said Jack. “From home.”

“Let’s examine it here!” said Annie.

“Come on.” He held out his hand. “Give it.”

Annie gave Jack the book. “Okay. You can go home. I’m staying,” she said. She clipped the flashlight to her belt.

这段里可以主要学一下yank的用法，它表示”拉”，让我印象深刻的是动画片《辛普森一家》中的一个情节里用到了这个词。老辛普森没钱了去当圣诞老人，他需要抱起每一个小朋友，刚好他儿子也在小朋友们中间，他儿子调皮把他的胡子拉掉了，发现圣诞老人是他爸爸。

这里拉掉胡子，就用了yank一词。

“Wait!” said Jack.

“I’m going to take a peek. A teeny peek,” she said. And she scooted down the ladder.

Jack groaned. Okay, she had won. He couldn’t leave without her. Besides, he sort of wanted to take a peek himself.

He put down the book about Pennsylvania.

He dropped the castle book into his pack. He stepped onto the ladder. And headed down into the cool, misty air.

这段注意teeny的用法，“一个小小的”。另外，需要注意sort of 的用法，表示”有点”，他自己也有点想看一眼。

这一章就读到这了。如果觉得我的读书笔记分享让您学到一点点，可以点击文中的广告，以示对我的支持，十分感谢，祝好心情~