Twilight deepened. The cloudless sky turned a deep purple, the color of an old bruise, then faded to black. The stars began to come out. A half-moon rose. Will was grateful for the light.
暮色漸沉,無(wú)云的天空轉(zhuǎn)為淤青般的深紫,然后沒入黑幕。星星出來了,新月也升起。威爾暗自感謝星月的光輝。

bruise, 擦傷淤青,即可以指?jìng)郏~)也可以指碰傷(動(dòng)詞)。The incident has bruised his pride. 那個(gè)變故挫傷了他的自尊。

“We can make a better pace than this, surely,” Royce said when the moon was full risen.
“我們應(yīng)該可以再走快點(diǎn)?!绷_伊斯說。這時(shí)月亮已快升上天頂。

“Not with this horse,” Will said. Fear had made him insolent. “Perhaps my lord would care to take the lead?”
“你的馬沒這能耐,”威爾道,恐懼使他無(wú)禮起來。“少爺您走前面試試?”

insolent,傲慢無(wú)禮。不僅粗魯而且不尊重人。而rude ,粗魯,指不禮貌,使人反感。顯然insolent更“勝”一籌。

Ser Waymar Royce did not deign to reply.
威瑪·羅伊斯爵士顯然不屑回答。

deign, deign to do sth. 屈尊做某事。這種用法通常是幽默地說法。Tim called after her, but she didn’t deign to answer.

Somewhere off in the wood a wolf howled.
樹林深處傳來一聲狼嗥。

Will pulled his garron over beneath an ancient gnarled ironwood and dismounted.
威爾在一棵長(zhǎng)滿樹瘤的老鐵樹旁停住,下了馬。

pull sb/sth. →over, 把馬驅(qū)趕到某處,古代拉韁繩控制馬匹?,F(xiàn)在主要交通工具變成了車,所以現(xiàn)在就是指把車??吭谀程?。A cop signaled to him to pull over and gave him a ticket. 現(xiàn)在的警察開罰單都采用電子眼了(* ̄△ ̄*) 。

gnarled, [nɑrld],這里的g 不發(fā)音。這個(gè)詞是形容詞,雖然長(zhǎng)了一個(gè)ed 的尾巴,但是不是動(dòng)詞變形(過去式,和過去分詞)。指粗糙長(zhǎng)滿老繭的。指樹木的話,就是指粗糙多節(jié),長(zhǎng)滿樹瘤的。

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