Twilight deepened. The cloudless sky turned a deep purple, the color of an old bruise, then faded to black. The stars began to come out. A half-moon rose. Will was grateful for the light.
暮色渐沉，无云的天空转为淤青般的深紫，然后没入黑幕。星星出来了，新月也升起。威尔暗自感谢星月的光辉。

bruise, 擦伤淤青，即可以指伤痕（名词）也可以指碰伤（动词）。The incident has bruised his pride. 那个变故挫伤了他的自尊。

“We can make a better pace than this, surely,” Royce said when the moon was full risen.
“我们应该可以再走快点。”罗伊斯说。这时月亮已快升上天顶。

“Not with this horse,” Will said. Fear had made him insolent. “Perhaps my lord would care to take the lead?”
“你的马没这能耐，”威尔道，恐惧使他无礼起来。“少爷您走前面试试？”

insolent，傲慢无礼。不仅粗鲁而且不尊重人。而rude ，粗鲁，指不礼貌，使人反感。显然insolent更“胜”一筹。

Ser Waymar Royce did not deign to reply.
威玛·罗伊斯爵士显然不屑回答。

deign, deign to do sth. 屈尊做某事。这种用法通常是幽默地说法。Tim called after her, but she didn’t deign to answer.

Somewhere off in the wood a wolf howled.
树林深处传来一声狼嗥。

Will pulled his garron over beneath an ancient gnarled ironwood and dismounted.
威尔在一棵长满树瘤的老铁树旁停住，下了马。

pull sb/sth. ←→over, 把马驱赶到某处，古代拉缰绳控制马匹。现在主要交通工具变成了车，所以现在就是指把车停靠在某处。A cop signaled to him to pull over and gave him a ticket. 现在的警察开罚单都采用电子眼了(*￣△￣*)　。

gnarled, [nɑrld]，这里的g 不发音。这个词是形容词，虽然长了一个ed 的尾巴，但是不是动词变形（过去式，和过去分词）。指粗糙长满老茧的。指树木的话，就是指粗糙多节，长满树瘤的。

声明：本文系阿天授权沪江英语独家发布，严禁转载。中文翻译选自重庆出版社屈畅的版本，讲解为阿天原创作品。