在這一頁里，Scarlett談論的還是她感興趣的主題，即使Stuart兄弟東拉西扯的一大堆馬這個，馬那個。Scarlett簡單的問了一句，你媽媽會騎著它去參加燒烤嗎？什么是重點？不是馬是燒烤，所以用文字塑造人物，這點小技巧你感受到了嗎？
"Of course she won't hit Boyd. She never did heat Boyd much because he's the oldest and besides he's the runt of the litter," said Stuart, proud of his six feet two. "That's why we left him at home to explain things to her. God'lmighty, Ma ought to stop licking us! We're nineteen and Tom's twenty one, and she acts like we're six years old."
Stuart對自己的身高非常自信，proud of his six feet two. 兒子自己覺得長大了，但他們的母親還時不時的lick them，啊，多么不協(xié)調(diào)！同時，Boyd長的是the runt of the litter. 什么意思呢？the smallest animal born in a litter. 按照一般的想法，你肯定會查一下什么是runt, 什么是litter，其實沒有必要。如果你把理解的單位一直停留在單詞的層次，學的再多本質(zhì)上還是單詞，所以把the runt of the litter作為一個理解單位吧，runt或litter不理解又怎么啦？上海話“白相相”就是玩玩的意思，你要是非得搞明白1+1+1的1，你以為在學語言，鉆牛角而已。the runt of the litter就是豬仔，廣東人叫衰仔，翻譯上是矮子，理解起來有點“矮冬瓜”的意味。雖然你看到這里，還沒有一個確定的稱呼，又何妨？你非得要一個，先分享一段英文解釋：
The phrase 'runt of the litter' refers to the smallest puppy in a litter of pups. After birth, this pup will have a greater challenge in competing for food among the larger pups. Sometimes the 'runt' is not able to get enough food on it's own and may become weaker. Sometimes the 'runt' has an intense survival instinct and fights hard to compete and succeeds. So the phrase 'runt of the litter' often is used to describe a child who may be smaller in size but who has an intense survival instinct.
結(jié)合上下文，可以理解為，“他是老大，媽媽即使不看年齡看他的五短身材也狠不下手”
"Will your mother ride the new horse to the Wilkes barbecue tomorrow?"
"She wants to, but Pa says he's too dangerous. And, anyway, the girls won't let her. They said they were going to have her go to one party at least like lady, riding in the carriage."
"I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow," said Scarlett. "It's rained nearly every day for a week. There's nothing worse than a barbecue turned into an indoor picnic."
為什么在Scarlett看來BBQ要在戶外呢？夠野性夠自由！人物的性格是如何傳達的？又學到一招。
"Oh it'll be clear tomorrow and hot as June," said Stuart. "Look at that sunset. I never saw one redder. You can always tell weather by sunsets."
很多人對于怎么描寫夕陽無從下筆，但通紅彤天的夕陽應該讓人印象深刻。在英語中表達紅色概念的還有crimson, 這是一個好詞，唯有deep purplish red的解釋將她和red有個分明的對比，直接在英語中體味很多時候比中文的釋義更精準。
They looked out across the endless acres of Gerald O'Hara's newly plowed cotton fields toward the red horizon. Now that the sun was setting in a welter of crimson behind the hills across the Flint River, the warmth of the April day was ebbing into a faint but balmy chill.
a welter of 就是a confused mass. 什么是balmy chill? soft or mild and pleasant, 僅僅一個chill是有點freezing的感覺，但加上balmy，哇哦，有點冷嗖嗖？不，涼絲絲！或者更詩意一點，絲絲涼意。
Spring had come early that year, with warm quick rains and sudden frothing of pink peach blossoms and dogwood dappling with white stars the dark river swamp and far-off hills. Already the plowing was nearly finished, and the bloody glory of the sunset colored the fresh-cut furrows of red Georgia clay to even redder hues. The moist hungry earth, waiting upturned for the cotton seeds, showed pinkish on the sandy tops of furrows, vermilion and scarlet and maroon where shadows lay along the sides of the trenches. The white washed brick plantation house seemed an island set in a wild red sea, a sea of spiraling, curving, crescent billows petrified suddenly at the moment when the pink-tipped waves were breaking into surf. For here were no long, straignt furrows, such as could be seen in the yellow clay fields of the flat middle Georgia country or in the lush black earth of the coastal plantations. The rolling foothill country of north Georgia was plowed in a million curves to keep the rich earth from washing down into the river bottoms.
這一段要好好品品，西方文學里的酸味就在這里, 好似恒順的香醋一樣敦厚，浪漫，勁夠。春天伴隨著warm quick rain，雨啊下的忙急又有春的溫意，在雨水下還有pink peach blossoms, 可比桃花相映紅。但這花朵竟然frothing, 此何詞也？an aggregation of bubbles, 哦原來是花蕾的一種形態(tài)，含苞欲放，在這春日中好稱景啊！dogwood是須臾之臾，白色花，所以和white stars相應，給一大片的the dark river swamp點綴，如何點綴？dappling, a spot or mottled marking, especially in clusters. 而點綴的還有far-off hills, 有點印象派的畫意。往下對于sunset的用詞the bloody glory，似簡筆潑墨的色塊，勾勒殘陽如血粗獷亮紅，與red Georgia clay相映，紅的color化合成even red hues. 再往下，大地也擬人化了。而那抹紅一以貫之，vermilion, a brilliant scarlet 到scarlet，再到maroon, a brownish red. 紅的風情萬種，匯合成a wild red sea, plantation house就是紅浪中的島嶼，此情此景在yellow clay看不到，在black earth看不到，只有在這里，在這rich earth中孕育的物、人、事風景獨好。而這邊紅色大地的精靈Scarlett，也似早春般躍躍然登場，轟轟烈烈演繹......
