Notes from a Small Island1
Bill Bryson2
【1】My first sight of England was on a foggy March night in 1973 when I arrived on the midnight ferry3from Calais4. For twenty minutes, the terminal area was胃寒呕吐
Notes:
热带经济作物1Notes from a Small Island:It is a humorous travel book on the United Kingdom by American author Bill Bryson, first published in 1995. The text is taken from the Prologue of the book.
Notes from a small Island was written when the author had decided to move back to his native United States but wanted to take one final trip around Great Britain, which had been his home for over twenty years. In 2003, British people cho this book as the one which best sums up British identity and the state of the nation.
2Bill Bryson: Bill Bryson was born in the United States in 1951 and started working as a journalist in England in 1977. Bryson eventually became chief sub editor of the business ction of The Times, and then deputy national news editor of the business ction of The Independent. He left journalism in 198
7 and started writing independently. Bryson returned to the United States in 1995 and came back to England in 2003. In the book Notes from a Small Island, Bryson provides historical information on the places he visits, express amazement at the heritage in Britain, and reflects on the humble lf-effacing fortitude of British people under trying times such as the World Wars and Great Depression, as well as the various peculiarities of Britain.
“Bryson is unparalleled in his ability to cut a culture off at the knees in a way that is so humorous and so affectionate that tho being ridiculed are laughing too hard to take offen.〞–The Wall Street Journal on The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
“Bryson has bee an enormously popular travel writer by ing off as the most literate tour guide you’ve ever had.〞–The New York Times
3ferry: A ferry is a boat that transports pasngers and sometimes also vehicles, usually across rivers or short stretches of a. 渡船；渡轮
4Calais: Calais is situated on the north coast of France and is the clost French
aswarm5with activity as cars and lorries poured forth, customs people did their duties, and everyone
made for6the London road7. Then abruptly all was silence and I wandered through sleeping, low-lit streets threaded8with fog9, just like in a Bulldog Drummond10movie. It was rather wonderful having an English town all to mylf.
【2】The only mildly dismaying11thing was that all the hotels and guesthous
town to the United Kingdom – about 90 minutes by ferry to Dover,a town and major ferry port in South East England. It is situated on the most frequented shipping lanes in the world and has bee the binding factor for trade and tourism between France and England via the English Channel.
5aswarm:adj. full of people or things 充满的，拥挤的(P7)
● a swarm of bees / locusts / flies (n. a large group of incts, especially bees,
moving together in the same direction)
●Tourists were swarming all over the island. (v. (often disapproving) (of people,
animals, etc.) to move around in a large group)
6make for: to move towards
●He ro from his at and made for the door.
7For twenty minutes, the terminal area was aswarm with activity as cars and lorries poured forth, customs people did their duties, and everyone made for the London road.
The ferry port was busy with activities for twenty minutes. A lot of cars and lorries went in continuous stream out of the port, customs officers were busy doing their duties, and everybody was moving towards the London road.
8thread: interwoven or ornamented with threads; to move or make sth move through a narrow space, avoiding things that are in the way
9streets threaded with fog: metaphor
10Bulldog Drummond: It is a 1929 detective film which tells the story of Captain Hugh “Bulldog〞Drummond, a wealthy former WWI officer of the fictional Loamshire Regiment, who, after the war, spends his new-found leisure time as a private detective. The character first appeared in the novel Bulldog Drummond (1920), and this was followed by a lengthy ries of books and adaptations for films, radio and television.
11dismaying:adj. disappointing
appeared to be shut up for the night. I walked as far as the rail station, thinking I’d catch a train to London, but the station, too, was dark and shuttered12. I was standing wondering what to do when I noticed a grey light of television filling an upstairs window of a guesthou across the road. Hooray13, I thought, someone awake, and hastened across, planning humble apologies to the kindly14owner for the lateness of my arrival and imagining a cheery15conversation which included the line16, “Oh, but I couldn’t possibly ask you to feed me at this hour. No, honestly –well, if you’re quite sure it’s no trouble, then perhaps just a roast beef sandwich and a large dill17pickle18 with perhaps some potato salad and a bottle of beer.〞The front path was pitch19 dark and in my eagerness and unfamiliarity with British doorways, I tripped on a step,
紫甘蓝沙拉12shuttered:adj. with the shutters clod; with shutters fitted 关上卷闸门的(P7) 13hooray:People sometimes shout “Hooray!〞when they are very happy and excited about something. 好哇，好极了，万岁
hip, hip, hooray! (also less frequent hip, hip, hurrah/hurray!): ud by a group of people to show their approval of sb. One person in the group says “hip, hip〞and the others then shout “hooray〞.
●“Three cheers for the bride and groom: Hip, hip…〞“Hooray!〞
14kindly: adj.[only before noun] (old-fashioned or literary) kind, caring and sympathetic
15cheery: (informal) (of a person or their behaviour) happy and cheerful
● a cheery remark/smile/wave
16line: A particular type of line in a conversation is a remark that is intended to have
a particular effect.〔旨在取得某种效果的〕话语
●chat-up lines like “You’ve got beautiful eyes〞诸如“你的眼睛很漂亮〞之类
的搭讪语
17dill:n. a plant with yellow flowers who leaves and eds have a strong taste and are ud in cooking as a herb 莳萝(P7)
18pickle: n. a vegetable that has been prerved in vinegar or salt water and has a strong flavour, rved cold with meat, salads, etc. 腌制食品(P7)
苏教版小学数学
19pitch: n. a black sticky substance made from oil or coal, ud on roofs or the wooden boards of a ship to stop water from ing through 沥青；柏油
●Touch pitch, and you will be defiled. 近墨者黑。
● a football pitch (an area of ground specifically prepared and marked for playing a
sports game) 足球场
crashing face-first into the door and nding half a dozen empty milk bottles clattering20. Almost immediately the upstairs window opened.
【3】“Who’s that?〞came a sharp voice.
【4】I stepped back, rubbing my no, and peered21up at a silhouette22with hair
20clatter: v. to make a loud, rattling sound, as that produced by hard objects striking rapidly one against the other
●The shutters clattered in the wind.
简历文档
Onomatopoeia refers to the u of words which sound like the noi they refer to.
Do you know any other onomatopoeia?
1)Describing human beings: babble婴儿咿呀学语; hum哼; hush 嘘; goggle咯咯
笑声; ouch哎呀; murmur小声嘀咕; whisper耳语声
2)Describing animals: baa/ bleat 羊叫声; buzz蜜蜂嗡嗡声; chirp虫鸣声; neigh马
嘶声; twitter鸟喳喳声; bowwow 狗汪汪叫; cock-a-doodle-doo 公鸡喔喔叫;唱歌怎么不跑调
mew猫喵
3)Describing other things: thump心脏砰砰; boom大炮轰隆; clip-clop马蹄得得声;
tick-tack钟滴答声; tinkling 叮当声; splash哗哗声; bubble咕嘟咕嘟汽泡声;
dripping滴答滴答声
21peer: v. to look cloly or carefully at sth, especially when you cannot e it clearly 凝视，细看(P7)
宫颈糜烂的原因
peer vs. stare vs. gaze vs. glance vs. glimp
●He peered cloly at the photograph.
●I stared blankly at the paper in front of me. (to look at sb/sth for a long time)
●He sat for hours just gazing into space. (to look steadily at sb/sth for a long time,
either becau you are very interested or surprid, or becau you are thinking of sth el)
Note: The verbs “stare〞 and “gaze〞 are both ud to talk about looking at something for a long time. If you stare at something or someone, it is often becau you think they are strange or shocking.
●Various families came out and stared at us.
If you gaze at something, it is often becau you think it is marvelous or impressive.
● A fresh-faced little girl gazes in wonder at the bright fairground lights.
●She glanced at her watch. (to look quickly at sth/sb)
●He’d glimpd her through the window as he pasd. (to e sb/sth for a moment,
curlers. “Hello, I’m looking for a room,〞I said.
【5】“We’re shut.〞
【6】“Oh. But what about my supper? 〞
【7】“Try the Churchill. On the front.〞
【8】“On the front of what?〞I asked, but the window was already banging clod.
【9】The Churchill was sumptuous23and well lit and appeared ready to receive visitors. Through a window I could e people in suits24in a bar, looking elegant and suave25, like characters from a Noel Coward26play. I hesitated in the shadows,
but not very clearly)
22silhouette:n. the dark outline or shape of a person or an object that you e against a light background 轮廓，剪影(P7)
23sumptuous:adj. (formal) very expensive and looking very impressive 豪华的，华丽的(P7)
24suit: a t of clothes made of the same cloth, including a jacket and trours/pants or a skirt
in your birthday suit: (humorous) not wearing any clothes
suit vs. fit vs. match
You do not u the verb “suit〞 if clothes are simply not the right size for you. The verb you need is “fit〞.
●The size 12 gown was gorgeous and fitted perfectly.
●The gloves didn’t fit.
You can say that something “suits〞 a person or place if it looks attractive on that person or in that place.
●It is really feminine and pretty and it certainly suits you.
However, you cannot usually say that one color, pattern, or object “suits〞 another. The verb you nee
胡萝卜汁怎么榨d is “match〞.
●She wears a straw hat with a yellow ribbon to match her yellow cheecloth
dress.
●His clothes don’t quite match.
25suave: adj. (especially of a man) confident, elegant and polite, sometimes in a way that does not em sincere 文雅的，有礼貌的(P7)
26Noel Coward
