Will could see the tightness around Gared’s mouth, the barely suppressed anger in his eyes under the thick black hood of his cloak. Gared had spent forty years in the Night’s Watch, man and boy, and he was not accustomed to being made light of. Yet it was more than that. Under the wounded pride, Will could sense something else in the older man. You could taste it; a nervoustension that came perilous close to fear.
威尔看见盖瑞紧抿的嘴唇,以及他厚重黑斗篷下强自遏抑的怒火。盖瑞当了四十年的守夜人,这种资历可不是随便让人寻开心的。但盖瑞不仅是愤怒,在他受伤的自尊底下,威尔隐约察觉到某种潜藏的不安,一种近似于畏惧的紧张情绪。

tightness: tight 紧, -ness 抽象名词性后缀 –> 紧实性。

barely: 仅仅,勉强。(= only just)

suppressed: sup- 是sub词缀的变形,表示在… 下的 。subway, 地下的路,指地铁。submarine, 海下的海军, 指潜艇。press, 按压。-ed 表示被动的分词。 合在一起,suppressed, 按压住的,抑制住的。

hood: 指的兜帽,如同卫衣上的帽子。世界上最著名的两个戴hood 的人物就是Little Red Riding Hood ( 小红帽) 和Robin Hood(罗宾汉)

cloak: 披风,斗篷。

 

man and boy: 这里不是人来人往,或者是很多人老老少少, 而是只一个人经历从年幼到成熟的时光,指代很长时间。He worked in the factory, man and boy. 他在那家工厂里工作了一辈子。

be accustomed to习以为常,习惯于。to 在这里是介词,所以后边必须跟名词性质的词,如果是动词就要变成v-ing形式的动名词。

make light of sth. : 不把某事当成一回事,尤其是指拿重要的事情开玩笑。She tried to make light of the situation, but I could tell that she was worried. 她尽量做出一副轻松的样子,但我敢说,她是很担心的。

在原文中的意思是被别人拿来开玩笑,所以是be made light of sth, 又在介词to 的后边就成了to being made light of了。语法就是剥洋葱,其实没什么难的。

tension:紧张的气氛或紧张的局势。

perilous非常危险,凶险。The road grew even steeper and more perilous. 路变得愈发得陡峭和凶险。

Will shared his unease. He had been four years on the Wall. The first time he had been sent beyond, all the old stories had come rushing back, and his bowels had turned to water. He had laughed about it afterward. He was a veteran of a hundred rangings by now, and the endless dark wilderness that the southron called the haunted forest had no more terrors for him.
威尔深有同感。他戍守长城不过四年,当初首次越墙北进,所有的传说故事突然都涌上心头,把他吓得四肢发软,事后想起难免莞尔。如今他已是拥有百余次巡逻经验的老手,眼前这片南方人称作鬼影森林的广袤黑荒,他早已无所畏惧。

bowel: 经常是用的复数——bowels,指人体的肠子,也可指代大便的意思。

one’s bowels turn to water, 这和汉语的吓得屁滚尿流异曲同工呢。英语使用者和汉语使用者生活的地区不同,使用习惯,风俗习惯都有不同,慢慢发展也有了不同的表意。我自己的学习过程是通过“求同存异”的方法,对英语和汉语进行比对,相同和不同。

veteran: 表示为军队服役过的人,特别指那些经历过战争的。美国有个Veterans Day, 又叫Remembrance Day, 我们译作:退伍老兵日或者将士阵亡纪念日。你知道是哪一天么?呃,好吧是我们的光棍节——Nov 11th。

range: 指范围内。ranger 就是指敌人在攻击范围内的游骑兵。range是范围,ranger 游骑兵,ranging 表示巡逻

southron: 南部人。这里用的苏格兰人(Scots)指称的英格兰人(English)。小说是以英国为魔幻蓝本的,而北境以苏格兰为蓝本,这里的sourhron 就相当于说南方佬一样。

haunted:闹鬼的,有幽灵出没。