英语博客：Do you Skyrim?

 　　The tenth of November was a day of great excitement for my son, Hudson. He had been waiting for months for a new video game to be released. Skyrim is a game of battling dragons, strange worlds lost in time, heroes, enemies, and lots of gore¹*! It was going to be released at midnight, so the very beginning of 11, 11, of 2011. Skyrim is one of a series of games called the Elder Scrolls², made by Bethesda. It's appeal is basically a concoction³ of everything that teenagers, and some adults, like in a game: knights⁴, weapons, spells, fights, castles, and graphics⁵ guided by endless imagination. The music is awesome⁶ as well. You could say that it is epic⁷ and mythological⁸. I'm actually a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so perhaps my son gets the love of such things from me. Well, it just so happened that all the schools in our area were going to be closed on Friday 12th because of Veterans Day. Perfect timing⁹! Hudson could look forward to not only the whole weekend of playing his game, but Friday as well. However, someone had to go with him to the store, and wait in line. Now, who would that be? I can only think of one person: me. Of course I would do anything for my kids: climb the highest mountain, fight the fiercest dragon (or neighborhood dog), or even jump infront of the school bus if I had to. But lining¹¹ up at midnight, in freezing weather, outside a video game shop didn't seem as heroic or appealing. But I did it. Infact, I did it twice. You actually had to turn up at ten o'clock and line up to get a ticket with a number on it. Then you had to come back at midnight, line up in numerical order*, hand in your ticket, and get the game. Well, it just so happens that Hudson had fallen asleep at about 9:30, so I had to drive over by myself to make sure that we got a ticket. Now, we did also have the option* of having a normal night's sleep, and just buying the game first thing in the morning* on Friday 11th. But where's the fun in that? This was special, so we had to do it the exciting way. Seeing that Hudson was asleep, I got in the car and drove to the video game store as quickly as possible, too quickly actually, because I forgot my coat. As I parked, I realised that there was already a long line of customers waiting, and they were all bundled up in warm clothes. I looked around the car in a panic, hoping to find an extra coat. There was one, belonging to my eight year old son. I took it and quickly lined up. Time went by really slowly; I stamped my feet and wrapped the small coat around my shoulders, finally squeezing the little hood¹⁰ onto my head. Of course, I looked ridiculous, but I just wanted to stay warm. An hour and a half later, I was handed my ticket: number eighty two. Phew! What a relief! I felt sorry for the other one hundred people behind me, but I was mainly thinking about getting back into my warm car. I drove home, picked up Hudson, and back we went. When we arrived, there were even more people there, still waiting for their tickets. Thankfully, we were able to walk straight into the store and get the Collector's Edition of Skyrim; I even took a photo of the occasion. Mission accomplished¹². I had proven my love for my son by braving freezing weather, and battling lines of evil customers. Now, it was time to kill some dragons.

　　Related vocabulary: gore, numerical order, to have the option, first thing in the morning.

　　1. I dont' like all that gore in the movies. There is far too much blood and guts¹³!

　　2. We will announce the winners in reverse numerical order, from fourth place to the overall winner.

　　3. You know, you have the option of flying instead of driving; it's more expensive, but it will save you a lot of time.

　　4. The best light is early in the day, so we'll get up first thing in the morning and set up the camera.

1 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

2 scrolls   

n.（常用于录写正式文件的）纸卷( scroll的名词复数 )；卷轴；涡卷形（装饰）；卷形花纹v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的第三人称单数 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Either turn it off or only pick up selected stuff like wands, rings and scrolls. 把他关掉然后只捡你需要的物品，像是魔杖(wand)，戒指(rings)和滚动条(scrolls)。 来自互联网
• Ancient scrolls were found in caves by the Dead Sea. 死海旁边的山洞里发现了古代的卷轴。 来自辞典例句

3 concoction   

n.调配(物)；谎言

参考例句：

• She enjoyed the concoction of foreign dishes.她喜欢调制外国菜。
• His story was a sheer concoction.他的故事实在是一纯属捏造之事。

4 knights   

骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马

参考例句：

• stories of knights and fair maidens 关于骑士和美女的故事
• He wove a fascinating tale of knights in shining armour. 他编了一个穿着明亮盔甲的骑士的迷人故事。

5 graphics   

n.制图法，制图学；图形显示

参考例句：

• You've leveraged your graphics experience into the video area.你们把图形设计业务的经验运用到录像业务中去。
• Improved graphics took computer games into a new era.经改进的制图技术将电脑游戏带进了一个新时代。

6 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

7 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

8 mythological   

adj.神话的

参考例句：

• He is remembered for his historical and mythological works. 他以其带有历史感和神话色彩的作品而著称。
• But even so, the cumulative process had for most Americans a deep, almost mythological significance. 不过即使如此，移民渐增的过程，对于大部分美国人，还是意味深长的，几乎有不可思议的影响。

9 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

10 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

11 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

12 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

13 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》