15篇文章贯通六级词汇Unit04-Part2

[00:00.00]With a greater clarity
[00:02.40]of the knowledge of the area,
[00:04.04]we walked from the church
[00:05.57]a little farther inland
[00:07.21]to what used to be
[00:08.41]the post office and
[00:09.72]the school that our mother attended,
[00:12.13]the skeletal shells of
[00:13.77]which were still standing¹ precariously².
[00:15.96]From there, stopping periodically
[00:19.68]to eat some edible³ berries,
[00:21.32]we struggled behind our cousins
[00:23.51]through the heavily brush and
[00:25.26]shrub covered footpaths⁵ to
[00:27.34]Black Duck Cove⁴ to visit
[00:29.53]the cemetery⁶ where our grandmother,
[00:32.59]whom we never knew, was buried.
[00:34.89]This sacred ground was
[00:38.50]in very bad condition,
[00:40.36]with many badly corroded⁷ gravestones
[00:43.20]buried under brush and long grass.
[00:45.29]After searching for a few minutes
[00:48.68]in the midst of tangled⁸ vegetation,
[00:51.08]we found our grandmother's
[00:53.38]resting place beside which
[00:55.46]we paid our respects.
[00:57.65]It was a good thing that
[00:59.73]our cousins stayed with us,
[01:01.69]as the footpaths that traversed
[01:03.56]the island, were overgrown with brush.
[01:07.05]It would have been
[01:08.70]virtually impossible for my brother
[01:10.34]and me, to walk to
[01:12.08]the other communities on the island.
[01:14.93]We made our way back
[01:17.01]to the church on the hill
[01:18.43]and descended⁹ to the boat
[01:19.64]for a half hour boat ride
[01:22.15]to the other side of the island.
[01:24.23]Sailing through a number of islets,
[01:27.08]we arrived at what
[01:28.82]remains of the small village
[01:30.36]of Traytown, where our grandparents
[01:32.65]had lived. There, we met
[01:34.52]some more long lost relatives
[01:37.36]at a small cottage.
[01:38.89]One, a bit of an eccentric,
[01:41.74]who now lives in Toronto
[01:43.81]but takes summer refuge in Traytown,
[01:46.11]showed us the remnants of what
[01:47.97]had once been our grandparents'house.
[01:50.38]Beside these ruins, was
[01:54.49]the still flourishing cluster
[01:55.81]of wild rose bushes, planted
[01:57.77]there many years ago
[01:59.63]by our step grandmother.
[02:02.04]A lot of people, many whom
[02:04.34]were more lost cousins,
[02:05.76]continually dropped in or
[02:07.51]gathered on the porch outside.
[02:09.92]After a cup of tea and
[02:13.42]some more chitchat (small talk)
[02:14.95]and some comic relief,
[02:17.35]we made our departure
[02:18.88]for the mainland. On the way,
[02:21.73]we passed other inlets with
[02:23.92]ghost communities on Ireland's Eye.
[02:27.97]To add to the excitement
[02:29.94]of that special day,
[02:31.36]my brother spotted¹⁰ a humpback
[02:33.22]whale quite close, between
[02:35.84]the boat and the island.
[02:38.26]Our visit to Ireland's Eye
[02:40.88]was a bittersweet experience for us.
[02:44.60]On the one hand, there was
[02:46.78]a sense of being at
[02:48.32]the very place where our relatives
[02:50.40]and ancestors had lived,
[02:52.59]worked and played.
[02:54.00]On the other hand, there was
[02:56.41]a sense of agonizing¹¹ loss
[02:58.16]of what were once thriving
[03:00.79]communities on the island.
[03:03.64]It was difficult to reconcile
[03:05.82]the past with the present,
[03:07.57]after a gap of fifty years
[03:09.98]of chronic¹² degeneration of
[03:12.17]the communities. Today, the area
[03:15.01]is notorious for smuggling¹³.
[03:18.07]However, our mission was invaluable¹⁴
[03:20.92]in that we were able to
[03:22.89]find out more about ourselves.
[03:24.53]The entire expedition to
[03:29.02]Newfoundland was a major highlight
[03:31.42]in each of our lives.
[03:33.39]It tugged¹⁵ at our emotions
[03:36.13]at every turn. The people
[03:38.97]of Newfoundland, especially those
[03:41.38]of genetic¹⁶ connection, couldn't do
[03:44.11]enough for us. It was
[03:46.63]really like coming home,
[03:48.39]but then, that has always been
[03:50.90]the nature of Newfoundland courtesy,
[03:53.63]even to non-Newfoundlanders.
[03:56.15]It was reassuring¹⁷ to see that
[04:00.09]the Newfoundland charm has
[04:01.73]transcended time. It has
[04:04.36]endured so many changes
[04:06.21]since Confederation in 1949.
[04:10.04]My brother and I, eternally,
[04:12.02]will be Newfoundlanders and hope
[04:15.62]to go down home more often
[04:17.60]in the years to come.
 

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 precariously   

adv.不安全地；危险地；碰机会地；不稳定地

参考例句：

• The hotel was perched precariously on a steep hillside. 旅馆危险地坐落在陡峭的山坡上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The phone was perched precariously on the window ledge. 电话放在窗台上，摇摇欲坠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

4 cove   

n.小海湾，小峡谷

参考例句：

• The shore line is wooded,olive-green,a pristine cove.岸边一带林木蓊郁，嫩绿一片，好一个山外的小海湾。
• I saw two children were playing in a cove.我看到两个小孩正在一个小海湾里玩耍。

5 footpaths   

人行小径，人行道( footpath的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are a lot of winding footpaths in the col. 山坳里尽是些曲曲弯弯的羊肠小道。
• There are many footpaths that wind through the village. 有许多小径穿过村子。

6 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

7 corroded   

已被腐蚀的

参考例句：

• Rust has corroded the steel rails. 锈侵蚀了钢轨。
• Jealousy corroded his character. 嫉妒损伤了他的人格。

8 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

9 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

10 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

11 agonizing   

adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式)

参考例句：

• I spent days agonizing over whether to take the job or not. 我用了好些天苦苦思考是否接受这个工作。
• his father's agonizing death 他父亲极度痛苦的死

12 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

13 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

14 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。

15 tugged   

v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. 她拽了拽他的袖子引起他的注意。
• A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 他的嘴角带一丝苦笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

17 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。