冷夜

We had just moved into our large， new house in Mississauga， Ontario， in an area called \"Winston Churchill.\" My parents， my four other sisters， my brother and I were unpacking our stuff in our new bedrooms. We had just finished and were talking to each other about leaving our old schools and friends behind. My mother called us to do chores， \"starting now!\" I was really tired since it was10:30pm in the night， and we had to do chores \"now?\" It seemed to take forever， but when I was done， I decided to go to my bedroom and get some sleep.

我們剛剛搬到安大略省的密西西奧加的新房子里，那個地區被稱為“溫斯頓·丘吉爾”區。我的父母和我的4個妹妹，我哥哥和我正在往我們的新臥室里搬行李。剛卸完行李，圍在一塊談論我們將離開以前的學校和朋友。母親來叫我們去清理雜物，“現在就干！”，母親喊到。我很累，已經是晚上10：30了，我們還要“現在”就干？那些東西看起來永遠也干不完，做完這些事的時候，我打算回到臥室好好睡上一覺。

I heard what sounded like footsteps in the upstairs hallway. Thinking it was my brother or sister， I got up to shout at them for bothering me while I was sleeping， but there was no one there. I rushed downstairs in the basement where my parents， sister and brother were considerately \"working.\" I asked them all if they had been upstairs and they replied \"NO!\" Now I was getting pretty freaked out， but I decided it was just my imagination and shrugged it of， as if it never happened.

我聽見樓上過道里有類似腳步的聲音。我想，那可能是我的哥哥或妹妹，我想到樓上去責備他們打擾了我的美夢，但是，樓上卻一個人也沒有。我跑回了樓下，底層是我的父母、妹妹和哥哥，他們還在有條不紊地“工作”。我問他們幾個有沒有人上過樓，他們都說“沒有！”。我感到非常奇怪，但我確信這只是幻覺，我聳聳肩，當什么都沒發生過。

I went back to my bed， which was now freezing cold. I took hold of a sweater， put it on， and went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night， around 12:30am， after everyone had gone to sleep. I heard this loud， banging sound that seemed to be coming from my parents' bedroom door. I thought it might be my brother or sister wanting to get a drink of water， but too scared to go alone. I was wrong.

我回到床上，這床像冰窖一樣冷。我拿了一件毛衣穿上，然后回到床上。在所有人都睡了之后，我卻在大約12：30左右的時候醒了。我又聽到了一個響亮的撞擊聲，聽起來像是來自我父母臥室那邊的門。我想這可能是我的哥哥或妹妹想要些喝的，但接下來令我恐慌的是我想錯了。

The banging continued， getting louder by the minute， I couldn't get to sleep so I decided to check it out. I walked into the hallway and believe me， there was no one there. As soon as I walked in， the banging seemed to stop. I stared at the door only for a quick moment before deciding to go back to bed. After a couple of minutes the banging started again. Now， I was totally chilled to my very last bone!

撞擊聲在繼續，而且越來越大，讓人無法入睡，我想看看到底是誰。走到走廊，但是相信我，這里沒有人，響聲好像停止了。我看了一眼父母臥室的門后，決定回去睡覺。幾分鐘過后，撞擊聲又響了起來?，F在，我感覺渾身不寒而栗!

I tried to sleep again but I couldn't， very typical for me. I was awake the whole night. In the morning， I rushed to my parents' bedroom and thrust the door open， noticing that the door was freezing! I laid down beside my mom， who also appeared as if she hadn't slept in a really long time.

我試著再睡，但是怎么也睡不著，我非常清醒，一整夜都是。早上，我跑到了父母的臥室，推開門，發現門已經結成冰了！我跑到母親身邊，她看起來也好久沒有入睡了。

I told her about my experience， and she said that she could hear the banging too， since it was on her bedroom door! She explained to me how she was really scared and told my dad to see what it was， but he was very sleepy and shrugged it off as the wind being extremely loud.

我告訴她我昨晚的經歷，她說她也能聽見那個響聲，來自她臥室的響聲！她說她也非常的害怕，讓父親看看到底是什么在作怪，但是他睡得太死了，風聲也變得格外的刺耳。

Years will pass， but I know that I will never forget that chilling Monday night in November， 2004.

好多年過去了，但是我知道我永遠也忘不了2004年11月底星期一的那一夜，那個寒冷的夜。

能說會用

freak out: become very anxious， upset or frightened （使）非常焦慮，心煩意亂，（使）嚇得要死 freak out 通常在電影、電視劇中的意思是“被嚇得要死”而且常常以被動語態形式出現。

check it out: check sth. out經常出現在口語中，可以表示不同的意思，check這個動詞的基本解釋是“檢查、核對”，所以check sth. out 就可以表示“查驗一下某事看起來是否屬實或正確”等等；此外，當你看到什么有趣的事情想和別人分享時，也可以用這個表達，例如：

I made a phone call to check out his address.

我打了一個查詢電話來看一看他的地址是不是真的。

I hear about a website that sounds interesting， I check it out.

我聽說有一個網頁挺有意思，我看看它有多有意思。

Hey， check out that car!

嘿，檢查一下那輛車！

thrust和plunge，insert都是“插入”，有何區別?

thrust 強調“擠著進去”，沖破周圍的層層壓力進去的；plunge 一般是投入水等液體里用的；insert 一般是插入洞穴或小孔，不需要費多大勁。

愛鏈culture

Winston Churchill溫斯頓·丘吉爾：

溫斯頓·倫納德·斯賓塞·丘吉爾爵士（Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill，1874年11月30日~1965年1月24日），政治家、演說家、作家以及記者，1953年諾貝爾和平獎得主，曾于1940－1945年及1951－1955年期間兩度任英國首相，被認為是20世紀最重要的政治領袖之一，帶領英國獲得第二次世界大戰的勝利。