第一、精講詞匯

1. abduct

雙語釋義：take (sb) away illegally, using force or deception; kidnap

[Tr.] 誘拐；綁架

典型例句：Her mind reeled when she learned her son had been abducted.

得知兒子被人拐走，她只覺得一陣眩暈。

The robber abduct the heiress and hold her to ransom.

強盜劫持了女繼承人并向她索取贖金。

2. grim

比較級和最高級：~mmer, ~mmest

雙語釋義：(of a place) depressingly plain; gloomy

[adj.]（指地方）極簡陋的, 令人沮喪的

典型例句：I feel frightened at the sight of the grim walls of the prison.

一看到監獄中令人郁悶的四壁我就害怕。

3. traumatize

雙語釋義： to shock and upset sb very much, often making them unable to think or work normally

[Vt.] 使受損傷, 使受精神上創傷

典型例句：He was so traumatized by the attack that he could not work for a year.

他遭受到如此重大的創傷，使得他一年來都不能工作。

4. prospective

雙語釋義：expected to be or to occur; future or possible

[adj.] 預期的；未來的；可能的

典型例句：He is busy showing the house to a prospective buyer.

他正忙著帶領可能買房子的人看房子。

There will be some prospective changes in the law.

法律上將有一些更改。

第二、泛講詞匯

Holyrood n. 霍利魯德(在美國）

第三、短語精講

1. at Holyrood：在霍利魯德

講解：這里用at是表示在這個地方做進行的活動。文中是說到瑪麗女王和達斯菲爾在霍利魯德結婚。文中有個短語in Dunbar，這里用in，是指在這個地方的建筑物。文中提到的是是指在鄧巴的城堡，所以用in。

2. to one’s horror：令人恐怖的是

例句：She saw to her horror that the engines were trailing orange flames.

她看見那些引擎尾部拖著桔紅色的火焰，不禁大驚失色。

Slowly she looked up and to her horror, saw several women's bodies hanging from the ceiling!

緩緩地，她抬頭向上望，駭然地看到幾具女人的尸體掛在天花板上！

3. a marriage proposal：求婚，提親

He make such a cornball marriage proposal that the girl laugh out loud.

他那多愁善感的求婚方式讓那女孩忍不住大聲地笑了出來。

幾個星期后 瑪麗果真在荷里路德宮嫁給了他。

第四、句意理解

There he planted his flag as prospective King of Scotland by planting himself violently, it was said, inside her body.

要點1：plant his flag這個詞語從字面上來看，plant是“立穩，安防，豎立”的意思。例如：They planted a flag on the summit.（他們在山頂上插了一面旗幟。）flag是“旗幟”的意思，plant his flag字面意思是“豎立起他的旗幟”。一面旗幟象征著一個國家，達斯菲爾要豎立起他的旗幟，就是指他要篡奪蘇格蘭王權，掌控一個國家的統治權。

要點2：plant himself violently inside her body中的plant是另外一個用法，plant的基本意是“種植”，此語直接翻譯就是“把他自己種植在她的身體里”，再加上有個副詞violently，我們可以理解為“強奸”。