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The main characters
- Me and Maheegun.
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Beginning
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When I was 14, I saved Maheegun.
- “The year(used as an adverbial a time) I found Maheegun , spring was late in coming.(in that spring it was unusually cold)
- I got the first few drops of warm milk in him .(the body wolf was very small and could not eat)
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Maheegun is very mischievous
- Maheegun was the most mischievous wolf cub ever ( Maheegun was the most mischievous wolf cub I had ever known of. Note the end position of the adverb "ever" for emphasis.)
- Maheegun would poke his head around the corner, waiting for things to quiet down.(wait for sth to happen/sb to do sth)
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I went hunting with Maheegun in the summer.
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Time marks
- That year
- That summer
- That year, which was my 14th, was the happiest of my.(when I say the year I got Maheegun was the happiest of my life.)
- Not that we didn't have our troubles.(not that: although it is not true that)
- By then, Maheegun was half grown. (para. 6) At that time, Maheegun had not yet grown into an adult wolf but he was on the way of becoming one. (In half a year, Maheegun reached the stage of development that is equivalent to adolescence for humans.)
- Gone was the puppy-wool coat. In its place was a handsome black mantle.(Metaphor)
- We hunted the grasshoppers that leaped about like little rockets.(figure of speech)
- And in the fall, after the first snow our games took us to the nearest meadows
in search of field mice.(take sb/sth to: to make sb/sth go from one level, situation to another)
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Middle
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Maheegun killed Mrs.Yesno's rooster,So we're going to take Maheegun to the north shack.
- Time marks:the winter,by the Time
- It all served to fog my mind with pleasure so that I forgot my Grandpa's repeated warnings, and one night left Maheegun unchained.(leave + n + v-ed/adj/prep)
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The following morning in sailed Mrs Yesno, wild with anger, who demanded
Maheegun be shot because he had killed her rooster:
- sail: (of people) to move in a confident manner wild with sth: showing strong uncontrolled feelings because of sth demand (that) sth be done/sb do sth: to ask for/request firmly and not be willing to
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Maheegun lefts with a she-wolf.
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Often he would sit with his nose to the sky, turning his head this way and that as if to check the wind.
- with his nose to the sky: He raised his head in such a way that his nose pointed
toward the sky.
- turning his head this way and that: moving his head in different directions
- as if to check the wind: as if he was trying to find out in which direction the wind
was blowing
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But something caused me to wake up with a start. I sat up, and in the moon-flooded cabin was my grandfather standing beside me.
- moon-flooded(flood: (v) to fill or enter a place in large numbers or amounts)
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On the top was the clear outline of a great wolf sitting still, ears pointed, alert,
listening.
- ears pointed, alert, listening: an absolute construction that describes the state the
wolf was in sitting on the rock
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The whole white world thrilled to that wild cry.
- thrill to sth: (formal) to feel excited at sth
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Yes, he's gone to that young she-wolf.
- she-wolf(used as a prefix meaning female)
- take her for life: It is believed that a wolf pairs with its mate for life.
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Climax
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Time
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Easter in two years.
- For the next two years I was as busy as a squirrel storing nuts for the winter.
(as busy as a squirrel storing nuts for the winter: a simile meaning that the boy was
busy preparing himself for a future career)
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Causation
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I went home alone and got lost in the heavy snow.
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It was not long after that I found the answer:
- Here "that" is a pronoun which goes with the preposition "after", and it is not a
conjunction.
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A mile down the road I slipped into my snowshoes and turned into the bush.
- slip (into/out of): to put on or take off (garments, etc) quickly
- snowshoe: a light, wide frame that is attached to your shoe to make it easier to walk on soft snow without sinking
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By then the snow had made a blanket of white darkness, but I knew only too
well there should have been no creek there.
- white darkness: this combination of two words that have, or seem to have, opposite
meaningsisafigureofspeechknownasoxymoron(逆喻矛盾形容法)
- only too: (adj/adv) very well
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I knew I had gone in a great circle and I was lost.
- be/get lost: to be unable to find your way, not knowing where you are.
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Pass
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Mahe chased off two hungry wolves for me and stayed with me all night.
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Everything had been smothered by the fierce whiteness. (Everything had been heavily covered by thick snow, and its whiteness was blinding and frightening.)
- smothered(colloquial口语化)
- 'He had followed the blood spots on the snow to the blood-soaked(n.-v.ed) bandage.
- The howl(onomatopoeia拟声词) seemed to freeze the world with fear:
- Suddenly the world exploded in snarls. I was thrown against the branches of the shelter(n/v)
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Ending
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I was rescued and Maheegun returned to his own kind.
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The cold and loss of blood were taking their toll.
- take its/their/a heavy toll on sb/sth: to have a bad effect on sb/sth
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The sun was midway across the sky when I noticed how restless Maheegun had become.
- midway: in the middle position
- restless不安的
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Suddenly, as if by magic, the police dog team came up out of the creek bed
- as if by magic: used as an adverbial of manner
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It was quite some time before my eyes came into focus enough to see my
grandfather sitting by my bed.
- come into focus: (of your eyes) to begin to be able to see things clearly