Will could see the tightness around Gared’s mouth, the barely suppressed anger in his eyes under the thick black hood of his cloak. Gared had spent forty years in the Night’s Watch, man and boy, and he was not accustomed to being made light of. Yet it was more than that. Under the wounded pride, Will could sense something else in the older man. You could taste it; a nervoustension that came perilous close to fear.
威爾看見蓋瑞緊抿的嘴唇,以及他厚重黑斗篷下強(qiáng)自遏抑的怒火。蓋瑞當(dāng)了四十年的守夜人,這種資歷可不是隨便讓人尋開心的。但蓋瑞不僅是憤怒,在他受傷的自尊底下,威爾隱約察覺到某種潛藏的不安,一種近似于畏懼的緊張情緒。

tightness: tight 緊, -ness 抽象名詞性后綴 –> 緊實(shí)性。

barely: 僅僅,勉強(qiáng)。(= only just)

suppressed:?sup- 是sub詞綴的變形,表示在… 下的 。subway, 地下的路,指地鐵。submarine, 海下的海軍, 指潛艇。press, 按壓。-ed 表示被動(dòng)的分詞。 合在一起,suppressed, 按壓住的,抑制住的。

hood:?指的兜帽,如同衛(wèi)衣上的帽子。世界上最著名的兩個(gè)戴hood 的人物就是Little Red Riding Hood ( 小紅帽) 和Robin Hood(羅賓漢)

cloak:?披風(fēng),斗篷。

?

man and boy:?這里不是人來人往,或者是很多人老老少少, 而是只一個(gè)人經(jīng)歷從年幼到成熟的時(shí)光,指代很長時(shí)間。He worked in the factory, man and boy. 他在那家工廠里工作了一輩子。

be accustomed to習(xí)以為常,習(xí)慣于。to 在這里是介詞,所以后邊必須跟名詞性質(zhì)的詞,如果是動(dòng)詞就要變成v-ing形式的動(dòng)名詞。

make light of sth. : 不把某事當(dāng)成一回事,尤其是指拿重要的事情開玩笑。She tried to make light of the situation, but I could tell that she was worried. 她盡量做出一副輕松的樣子,但我敢說,她是很擔(dān)心的。

在原文中的意思是被別人拿來開玩笑,所以是be made light of sth, 又在介詞to 的后邊就成了to being made light of了。語法就是剝洋蔥,其實(shí)沒什么難的。

tension:緊張的氣氛或緊張的局勢(shì)。

perilous非常危險(xiǎn),兇險(xiǎn)。The road grew even steeper and more perilous. 路變得愈發(fā)得陡峭和兇險(xiǎn)。

Will shared his unease. He had been four years on the Wall. The first time he had been sent beyond, all the old stories had come rushing back, and his bowels had turned to water. He had laughed about it afterward. He was a veteran of a hundred rangings by now, and the endless dark wilderness that the southron called the haunted forest had no more terrors for him.
威爾深有同感。他戍守長城不過四年,當(dāng)初首次越墻北進(jìn),所有的傳說故事突然都涌上心頭,把他嚇得四肢發(fā)軟,事后想起難免莞爾。如今他已是擁有百余次巡邏經(jīng)驗(yàn)的老手,眼前這片南方人稱作鬼影森林的廣袤黑荒,他早已無所畏懼。

bowel:?經(jīng)常是用的復(fù)數(shù)——bowels,指人體的腸子,也可指代大便的意思。

one’s bowels turn to water, 這和漢語的嚇得屁滾尿流異曲同工呢。英語使用者和漢語使用者生活的地區(qū)不同,使用習(xí)慣,風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣都有不同,慢慢發(fā)展也有了不同的表意。我自己的學(xué)習(xí)過程是通過“求同存異”的方法,對(duì)英語和漢語進(jìn)行比對(duì),相同和不同。

veteran: 表示為軍隊(duì)服役過的人,特別指那些經(jīng)歷過戰(zhàn)爭的。美國有個(gè)Veterans Day, 又叫Remembrance Day, 我們譯作:退伍老兵日或者將士陣亡紀(jì)念日。你知道是哪一天么?呃,好吧是我們的光棍節(jié)——Nov 11th。

range: 指范圍內(nèi)。ranger 就是指敵人在攻擊范圍內(nèi)的游騎兵。range是范圍,ranger 游騎兵,ranging 表示巡邏

southron: 南部人。這里用的蘇格蘭人(Scots)指稱的英格蘭人(English)。小說是以英國為魔幻藍(lán)本的,而北境以蘇格蘭為藍(lán)本,這里的sourhron 就相當(dāng)于說南方佬一樣。

haunted:鬧鬼的,有幽靈出沒。