Twist in the Tale

twist：曲解; 歪曲; 意外轉(zhuǎn)折

turns and twists 曲折的; 一波三折

turn/twist the knife (in the wound) == rub salt into the wound 落井下石; 傷口上撒鹽

tale: 傳說; 故事; 講述

sb lived to tell the tale. 大難不死; 幸免于難

tell tales about sb 造謠; 泄密

Fears/ that television and computers would kill children's desire to read / couldn't have been more wrong.?害怕恐懼（fears）不可能更加錯誤了（couldn't have been more wrong. ）。喵，是對什么的恐懼和害怕咧？that 后面來了一個同位語從句（television and computers would kill children's desire to read）說是，對電視和電腦扼殺兒童閱讀渴望的害怕。（主語找出來，謂語劃出來呀，主句看起來呀，回來再喵一眼從句，整體意思跑起來）

With sales roaring, / a new generation of authors /are /publishing's newest and unlikeliest literary stars.?伴隨著銷量的一路飄起（With sales roaring），發(fā)生了啥？新一代的作家/成了/ 出版界最新的最出人意料的文學之星。

這個詞roar 有趣瞄一瞄，

roar v. 吼叫，咆哮，狂笑（roar with laughter）

roaring： a roaring fire 熊熊大火； a roaring success 巨大成功； do a roaring trade 生意興隆

Less than three years ago, /?doom merchants 悲觀的預言家?/ were predicting / that the growth in video games and the rise of the Internet would?sound the death knell for 敲起...死亡的喪鐘?children's literature.

doom: n. 劫數(shù)，厄運; v. be doomed to (do）sth (etc, failure/ die)

1. doom merchant == prophet of doom 悲觀預言家 2. gloom and doom 悲觀失望

death knell == death bell 喪鐘：

toll/sound the death knell for sth/sb 敲起...的喪鐘

But /?contrary to popular myth,?與流行的觀點相反/ children / are reading more books than ever.

A recent survey / by Books Marketing / found / that children?up to 高達?the age of 11 read?on average 平均?for four hours a week, particularly girls.

Moreover, the children's book market, / which traditionally was seen as?a poor cousin to?the more lucrative and successful adult market, has?come into its own (在某種情況下) 所長得到充分的發(fā)揮，顯出自己的本事.

Publishing houses 出版社?/ are now?making considerable profits / on the back of 利用,借...的光?new children's books / and / children's authors / can now?command significant advances.

command：指揮；命令

command respect 贏得尊重

have a good command of English 精通英語

have sth at sb's command 用...得心應手

take command of sth 指揮，控制

‘Children's books are?going through an incredibly fertile period,’ says Wendy Cooling, a children's literature consultant.

‘There's a real?buzz 熱鬧有趣的氣氛; 時尚氛圍?around them. Book clubs are happening, sales are good, and people are much more willing to listen to children's authors.’

buzz：

give sb a buzz == give sb a ring 給...打電話

give sb a?buzz (短暫的)快樂,興奮?---?get a buzz out of sth 從...獲得滿足，感到興奮

my mind/head is buzzing. 腦子同時想著很多事。

questions/ideas are buzzing around sb's head == sb's head is buzzing with questions/ideas

sb be buzzing around. 忙得團團轉(zhuǎn)。

The main growth area / has been the market / for eight to fourteen-year-olds, / and /?there is little doubt that?/ the boom has been fuelled by the?bespectacled 戴眼鏡的 apprentice 學徒, Harry Potter.

So?influential has J. K. Rowling's series of books been?that?they have helped to make reading fashionable for?pre-teens 十一二歲的青年. === J. K. Rowling's series of books / has been so influential / that they have helped to make reading fashionable for pre-teens.

‘Harry made it OK to be seen on a bus reading a book,’ says Cooling.

‘To a child, that is important.’ The current buzz around the publication of the fourth Harry Potter beats anything in the world of adult literature.

‘People still tell me, “Children don't read nowadays”,’(直接引語）/ says David Almond, / the award-winning author of children's books such as Skellig（同位語）.

The truth is that they are skilled, creative readers.

When I?do classroom visits, they ask me very sophisticated questions about the use of language, story structure, chapters, and dialogue.’

No one / is denying / that books are competing with other forms of entertainment for children's attention / but?it seems as though?/ children find a special kind of?mental nourishment 精神食糧/ within the printed page.

‘A few years ago, publishers?lost confidence 失去信心?and wanted to make books more like television, the medium that frightened them most,’ says children's book critic Julia Eccleshare.

‘But books aren't TV, and you will find that children always say that?the good thing about 好處?books / is / that you can see them in your head.

Children / are / demanding readers,’ she says. ‘If they don't?get it 懂得?in two pages, they'll drop it.’

No more are children's authors considered mere?sentimentalists 多愁善感的人?or failed adult writers.

'Some?feted（fete n.露天游樂會；v.贊譽; 敬慕; 歡迎）?adult writers would kill for the sales,’ says Almond, who sold 42,392 copies of Skellig in 1999 alone.

And advances seem to be growing too: UK publishing outfit Orion recently negotiated?a six-figure sum 六位數(shù)的金額?from US company Scholastic for The Seeing Stone, a children's novel by Kevin Crossley-Holland, the majority of which will go to the author.

It helps that once?smitten 突然一下子愛上, children are loyal and even?fanatical?(行為或看法) 狂熱的; 極端的?consumers.

smitten:

be smitten with/by sth/sb 突然愛上的, 一下子愛上的 ；被...打動的, 醉心于...的

Author Jacqueline Wilson says that children?spread the news of her books like a bushfire.

'My average reader is a girl of ten,’ she explains.

‘They're sociable and acquisitive.

They collect.

They have parties - where books are a good present.

If they like something, they have to?pass it on.’

pass on：

pass sth on (to sb) 告訴; 傳遞; 傳染

pass on sth (chance/opportunity) 放棄機會; 決定不參加

pass on 過世

After Rowling, Wilson is currently the best-selling children's writer, and her sales have boomed over the past three years.

She has sold more than three million books, but remains virtually invisible to adults, although most ten-year-old girls know about her.

Children's books are surprisingly relevant to?contemporary life 當代生活.?（be relevant to sth 與...相關(guān)）

Provided 假如; 在...條件下?they are handled with care, few topics are considered?off-limits 不許談論的?for children.

One senses that children's writers?relish 期待; 享受?the chance to discuss the whole area of topics and language.

But Anne Fine, author of many award-winning children's books is concerned that the British literati still ignore children's culture.

‘It's considered worthy but boring,’ she says.

'I think?there's still a way to go,’ says Almond, who wishes that children's books were?taken?more?seriously?as literature. (take sth seriously）

Nonetheless, he?derives great satisfaction from?his child readers.

‘They have a powerful literary culture,’ he says.

‘It feels as if?you're able to?step into 步入?the store of mythology and ancient stories that run through all societies and encounter the great themes: love and loss and death and?redemption 救贖.’

At the moment 目前; 當下, the race is?on 正在發(fā)生的?to find the next Harry Potter.

on:

have a lot on. 忙得很。 not have very much on. 沒什么可忙的。

have something on sb 抓住某人的把柄

sth is not on == sth is just not on. 某事使無法接受的; 行不通的

(sth happens)?on and on. 不停地; 連續(xù)不斷地

The bidding for new books at Bologna this year - the children's equivalent of?the Frankfurt Book Fair - was as fierce as anything anyone has ever seen. （be equivalent of sth?）

All of which?bodes well for?the long-term future of the market - and for children's authors, who have traditionally?suffered the lowest profile?in literature, despite the responsibility of their role.

bode：預示(好事或壞事); 是...的兆頭

bode ill/well for sth/sb == augur well / badly for sb/future situation

have a high profile 高調(diào) keep a low-profile 保持低調(diào)

文章源自?https://ieltsonlinetests.com/