苏轼5

Q:  What was the Su family's experience on their way to the capital? What was the landscape like along the journey?

In this chapter we see vividly how the Su family were passing through the Three Gorges, taking their time looking around, reflecting upon life and chatting with the old boatman. 

The bare huts of the cottagers bore witness to their extreme poverty.

One of the earliest poems by the young poet, about a legendary white deer, a companion of the Taoist, already bore witness to the elevation of his spirit.

a.to give written or oral testimony

b.to be evidence or proof of

Each of these consists of a series of dangerous rapids alternating with whirlpools and torrents that pass between sharp cliffs rising several hundred feet high straight from the water.

on alternate weeks每隔一周

to alternate with sth与某事物交替（或轮流）

to alternate sth with sth;to alternate sth and sth使…与…交替

At a certain point, if there was a sudden storm, the boatmen would wait for days for the water to recede to its safe level before they proceeded.

Su Shun took the view that this was strictly a historian's job and a historian should not gloss over the faults even of one's ancestors.

1.掩饰(错误);粉饰；把…搪塞过去

John tried in vain to gloss over his faults.

约翰极力想掩饰自己的缺点,但是没有用。

The manager glossed over the team’s recent defeat.

经理对这个队最近的失败闪烁其词。

The movie glosses over the real issues of the war.

这部电影掩饰了这次战争的真正问题。

2N-UNCOUNT虚假的外表；假象；虚饰Gloss is an appearance of attractiveness or good quality which sometimes hides less attractive features or poor quality.

Television commercials might seem more professional but beware of mistaking the gloss for the content.

电视广告看上去或许更加专业，但要当心，不要把表象误以为真。

3N-SING 粉饰；掩饰

If you put a gloss on a bad situation, you try to make it seem more attractive or acceptable by giving people a false explanation or interpretation of it.

He used his diary to put a fine gloss on the horrors the regime perpetrated...

他假借日记对该政权犯下的恐怖罪行巧加粉饰。

The whole idea was to give history a happy gloss.

Gazing up from the boat, the travelers could see only a tiny ribbon of blue which was the sky.