星火英语15篇文章背完大学英语六级词汇：Unit4-Part1

A Canadian Family Story

My story begins in Newfoundland

where my brother and

I were born during

the Second World War.

The island of Newfoundland,

which was originally a British colony,

became the newest province

of Canada in 1949,

the same year that the People's

Republic of China was born.

Our mother was born

and raised in Newfoundland.

During the War (World War II),

she worked in St. John's,

the capital city, where she

met a young Canadian sailor

from Ontario. He was

a member of the crew

of a Royal Canadian Navy ship

that was part of one

of the convoys¹ that

escorted supply ships across

the Atlantic Ocean to Europe

during the war. They fell

in love and subsequently,

got married. The rest

is history, so to speak.

Our family moved to Ontario

in late 1945, just

after the war ended.

In 1999, acting² on impulse,

my brother and I decided³

to take our mother to

Newfoundland for a visit.

It had been almost

fifty years since we had

last visited our mother's outport

(remote or very rural island village)

where she grew up.

It was also the 50th anniversary

of Newfoundland's becoming part of Canada.

In 1950, I was six

and my brother was five

when we last visited

our mother's childhood home.

At that time, Ireland's Eye

was a vibrant⁴, quaint⁵

fishing village hugging the

rocky shore of a small,

enclosed harbour. There was

no electricity. There were no roads,

no automobiles⁶, and few signs

of automation of any type.

There were oil lamps and

wood stoves in the homes

and mere⁷ sootpaths between

the aggregate⁸ of small communities

on the hilly island,

also named Ireland's Eye.

We can still see and

hear the inboard motorboats,

putt putting (sound of engines)

into the harbour, hauling

their day's catch of fish.

The image of hardy⁹ fishermen

with pitchforks hoisting¹⁰ and

tossing the codfish up to

the stilted¹¹ platforms from

the bowels¹² of the boats

is still quite vivid.

The aroma¹³ of salted,

drying codfish, lingers still.

What I remember best,

of almost half a century ago,

was going out with

my Uncle Fred in his boat

to fish. That particular day,

we were huddled¹⁴ together

and lashed¹⁵ to other boats,

just outside of the harbour.

I can still hear

the lively gossip between

my uncle and the other fishermen,

above the rippling¹⁶ and splashing

of the waves against

the hulls¹⁷ of the boats.

I remember the boats

heaving periodically, on the

huge gently rolling waves.

My Uncle Fred had only

one arm, but amazingly,

he could do everything

as if he had two hands.

He could even roll

a cigarette and light it.

These are my memories

of the quaint Newfoundland

glory days gone by.

It was a very hard life

in those out ports,

but a life romantically cherished

by most of those who lived it.

Our mother was not feeling up

to the trip at the time

we were ready to leave,

but insisted that my brother

and I go on this odyssey¹⁸.

We would later provide

her with pictures, a written account,

and videotape of the trip.

Although we toured other parts

of Newfoundland, including an overnight

stay on the French Islands

of St. Pierre and Miquilon,

just off the south coast

of Newfoundland, our main objective

was to visit Ireland's Eye.

This necessitated¹⁹ finding water transportation.

We managed to arrange

for a boat to take

us on the half hour

trip to the island.

As it turned out,

the married couple who

ferried us over to the island

was actually a couple of

our distant cousins, whom

we had never met.

We had intended to

have our cousins drop us off

on the island and pick

us up a few hours later.

However, either because we were

newly found cousins, or they were

typically hospitable²⁰ Newfoundlanders,

or they thought that

my brother and I would

get lost, they wanted

to stay with us.

Probably all three factors

influenced their decision.

They were absolutely fabulous²¹.

They got caught up in

what my brother and I

were trying to do.

They were very knowledgeable²² about

the island and the people

who had once lived there.

Clutching a narrative²³ of the island,

written by another of our cousins,

the forgotten history of that

special place became more coherent

to the four of us.

As we entered Ireland's

Eye's small harbour, which was guarded,

by a family of hawks²⁴

in a nest high on a rocky point,

a weird²⁵ sensation came over us.

There, in front of us,

was the place we visited

fifty years before, and about

which we had heard and read

so much throughout our adult lives.

We thought, what an

aesthetically²⁶ breathtaking sight!

The glittering sun, on that day,

gave everything a picturepostcard image.

This was indeed a slice of paradise.

The ruins of a few

remaining buildings that dotted

the hillsides and shoreline

and the once dominant²⁷

St. Georges Church on the hill

at the end of the harbour,

aroused in us an exciting sense

of history and of our heritage.

Looking out over the harbour

from the hill by the church

at the extinct community,

revived memories of fifty years before.

1 convoys   

n.（有护航的）船队( convoy的名词复数 )；车队；护航（队）；护送队

参考例句：

• Truck convoys often stop over for lunch here. 车队经常在这里停下来吃午饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A UN official said aid programs will be suspended until there's adequate protection for relief convoys. 一名联合国官员说将会暂停援助项目，直到援助车队能够得到充分的保护为止。 来自辞典例句

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

5 quaint   

adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的

参考例句：

• There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里，有很多小巷。
• They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。

6 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

8 aggregate   

adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合

参考例句：

• The football team had a low goal aggregate last season.这支足球队上个赛季的进球总数很少。
• The money collected will aggregate a thousand dollars.进帐总额将达一千美元。

9 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

10 hoisting   

起重，提升

参考例句：

• The hoisting capacity of that gin pole (girder pole, guy derrick) is sixty tons. 那个起重抱杆（格状抱杆、转盘抱杆）的起重能力为60吨。 来自口语例句
• We must use mechanical hoisting to load the goods. 我们必须用起重机来装载货物。

11 stilted   

adj.虚饰的；夸张的

参考例句：

• All too soon the stilted conversation ran out.很快这种做作的交谈就结束了。
• His delivery was stilted and occasionally stumbling.他的发言很生硬，有时还打结巴。

12 bowels   

n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处

参考例句：

• Salts is a medicine that causes movements of the bowels. 泻盐是一种促使肠子运动的药物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cabins are in the bowels of the ship. 舱房设在船腹内。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 aroma   

n.香气，芬芳，芳香

参考例句：

• The whole house was filled with the aroma of coffee.满屋子都是咖啡的香味。
• The air was heavy with the aroma of the paddy fields.稻花飘香。

14 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

15 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 rippling   

起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的

参考例句：

• I could see the dawn breeze rippling the shining water. 我能看见黎明的微风在波光粼粼的水面上吹出道道涟漪。
• The pool rippling was caused by the waving of the reeds. 池塘里的潺潺声是芦苇摇动时引起的。

17 hulls   

船体( hull的名词复数 )； 船身； 外壳； 豆荚

参考例句：

• Hulls may be removed by aspiration on screens. 脱下的种皮，可由筛子上的气吸装置吸除。
• When their object is attained they fall off like empty hulls from the kernel. 当他们的目的达到以后，他们便凋谢零落，就象脱却果实的空壳一样。

18 odyssey   

n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险

参考例句：

• The march to Travnik was the final stretch of a 16-hour odyssey.去特拉夫尼克的这段路是长达16小时艰险旅行的最后一程。
• His odyssey of passion, friendship,love,and revenge was now finished.他的热情、友谊、爱情和复仇的漫长历程，到此结束了。

19 necessitated   

使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Recent financial scandals have necessitated changes in parliamentary procedures. 最近的金融丑闻使得议会程序必须改革。
• No man is necessitated to do wrong. 没有人是被迫去作错事的。

20 hospitable   

adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的

参考例句：

• The man is very hospitable.He keeps open house for his friends and fellow-workers.那人十分好客，无论是他的朋友还是同事，他都盛情接待。
• The locals are hospitable and welcoming.当地人热情好客。

21 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

22 knowledgeable   

adj.知识渊博的；有见识的

参考例句：

• He's quite knowledgeable about the theatre.他对戏剧很有心得。
• He made some knowledgeable remarks at the meeting.他在会上的发言颇有见地。

23 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

24 hawks   

鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物

参考例句：

• Two hawks were hover ing overhead. 两只鹰在头顶盘旋。
• Both hawks and doves have expanded their conditions for ending the war. 鹰派和鸽派都充分阐明了各自的停战条件。

25 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

26 aesthetically   

adv.美地，艺术地

参考例句：

• Segmental construction contributes toward aesthetically pleasing structures in many different sites. 对于许多不同的现场条件，分段施工都能提供美观，颇有魄力的桥型结构。
• All isolation techniques may be aesthetically unacceptable or even dirty. 所有的隔离方法都有可能在美观方面使人难以接受，或甚至是肮脏的。

27 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。