Ser Waymar met it with steel. When the blades met, there was no ring of metal on metal; only a high, thin sound at the edge of hearing, like an animal screaming in pain. Royce checked a second blow, and a third, then fell back a step. Another flurry of blows, and he fell back again.
威瑪爵士舉起鋼劍迎敵。當(dāng)兩劍交擊,發(fā)出的卻非金屬碰撞,而是一種位于人類聽覺極限邊緣,又高又細(xì),像是動(dòng)物痛苦哀嚎的聲音。羅伊斯擋住第二道攻擊,接著是第三道,然后退了一步。又一陣刀光劍影之后,他再度后退。

When the blades met, there was no ring of metal on metal; only a high, thin sound at the edge of hearing, like an animal screaming in pain.這里的主句是there was no ring … 和(there was )only .. 這兩個(gè)句子組成并列句,主謂一致,所以省略后面的there was。like接插入語,對a high, thin sound 進(jìn)行補(bǔ)充說明。而when 引導(dǎo)的是時(shí)間狀語。
checked,這里check非常形象,本意是find out,這里表示再次確認(rèn)。形象地描寫了這個(gè)刺耳的聲音再次響起。
blow,作動(dòng)詞時(shí)是吹風(fēng)的含義,而作名詞則表示壞的效果,bad effect, that an action or event causes difficulty or sadness for someone。描繪出了Waymar勉強(qiáng)招架的畫面。
flurry,是描寫一陣慌亂,a time when there is suddenly a lot of activity and people are very busy。如果有一天突然有點(diǎn)忙亂時(shí),你就可以這樣說,The day started with a flurry of activity.
flurry還可以作量詞,形容一陣風(fēng)雪,或一陣風(fēng)雨。
?
Behind him, to right, to left, all around him, the watchers stood patient, faceless, silent, the shifting patterns of their delicate armor making them all but invisible in the wood. Yet they made no move to interfere.
在他左右兩側(cè),前后周圍,其余異鬼耐心地佇立旁觀。它們一聲不吭,面無表情,盔甲上不斷變化的細(xì)致圖案在樹林中格外顯眼。它們遲遲未出手干預(yù)。
shifting, shift的含義是移動(dòng),轉(zhuǎn)移。這里描繪出異鬼鎧甲上的圖案在不斷變化。電腦鍵盤上shift鍵,也相當(dāng)于轉(zhuǎn)化。由于這個(gè)圖案是自己在不斷變化的,所以用現(xiàn)在分詞的形容詞詞性。
delicate,這個(gè)詞的含義是精美、精致,同時(shí)也比較脆弱,容易損壞。以后形容你的女神長得好,就不僅僅有pretty, beautiful可以用了,你可以對她說,You have delicate features.
but invisible in the wood,這句話需要好好理解一下。but,這里是介詞,和except同義,指除了… 之外,前后兩部分是相反的。invisible指不可見的… but invisible in the wood. 是指除了在樹林里隱形之外,和前邊那些圖案不斷變化的情況相反(一般來說,移動(dòng)的東西容易被發(fā)現(xiàn))。再看一個(gè)栗子:All but one are here. 是說All are here, but one is not here.也就是說,那些異鬼是不可見的,即使那些精美的圖案在不停地變幻。雖然but和except有相同的含義,但是but只能在不定代詞引導(dǎo)下使用,no-, any-, every-, all, none, what, who, where。比如The window is never open except in summer. 這里就不能使用but。
interfere,指干預(yù),介入,和meddle是同義詞,這里表示本和某人不相關(guān),卻試圖去影響或者改變事情本來的發(fā)展,有管閑事的意味。

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