文章讲述的是一个男孩在山中滑雪遇险，利用从电视节目中学到的技能自救的故事。通过文章学习单词语法的同时，我觉得一个更重要的启发是我们日常还应该扩大吸收知识的范围。一般来说，很多中国学生的阅读材料往往只是古今文学作品，或者鸡汤八卦等等虚构类作品，当然也不为错，如果能够增加更多科学、自然、实用技能等非虚构类素材，一定能使我们的知识结构更加完善，也一定更加有助于我们的实际生活。The Boy Made It!made是make的过去式，make it是一个常用表达，指成功做到某事，往往指经历一些困难，经过努力实现。I believe you have the talent to make it.我相信你有成功的天赋。One Sunday, Nicholas, a teenager, went skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine.went /go skiing指滑雪；Maine：美国的缅因州。In the early afternoon, when he was planning to go home, a fierce snowstorm swept into the area.fierce /fɪəs/ adj. 猛烈的；凶猛的；swept是sweep的过去式，基本含义是（用刷子）打扫；清扫；此处指掠过；横扫。Unable to see far, he accidentally turned off the path.turn off可以指关掉（水；电；煤气等）；此处指离开（...路）；Nicholas因为看不清，偏离了正路；accidentally意外地—accidental意外的—accident意外；事故。词根cid表示“落下；降临”。Before he knew it, Nicholas was lost, all alone!lost是lose的过去式，此处作形容词“迷路的”；all作副词强调alone表示“完全”。He didn't have food, water, a phone, or other supplies.He was getting colder by the minute.get在此处与形容词连用，表示“变得”；by后接时间点，表示在某时或者在某时之前。Nicholas had no idea where he was.have no idea：不知道。He tried not to panic.try to do sth：尽力/努力做某事；Nicholas尽力保持冷静，panic作动词“惊慌失措”。He thought about all of the survival shows he had watched on TV.survival shows指电视中的逃生节目；survival的意思是“生存；幸存”，动词形式survive。此句可帮助我们复习过去完成时的概念：表示发生在“过去的过去”的动作用过去完成时，think about发生在过去，watch发生在过去的过去，所以用过去完成时。It was time to put the tips he had learned to use.It's time to do sth表示“该做...了；到做...的时间了”；put sth to use表示“使用或运用某物”，可以用make use of sth替换：We can make use of the same bag time after time.我们可以多次重复使用同一个袋子。He decided to stop skiing.Nicholas作出正确决定，待在原地等待救援，因为盲目地行动会无谓地消耗体力，导致严重后果；stop doing sth表示停止正在做的某事；stop to do sth表示停下来去做另一件事：I stopped to have rest after 30 minutes' walk.There was a better chance of someone finding him if he stayed put.介词短语of someone finding him作chance的后置定语，某人找到他的机会/可能性；stay put表示“留在原地”，相当于remain somewhere。The first thing he did was to find shelter from the freezing wind and snow.If he didn't, his body temperature would get very low, which could quickly kill him.Using his skis, Nicholas built a snow cave.He gathered a huge mass of snow and dug out a hole in the middle.a mass of表示“一堆；大量”，相当于a large number of或a large amount of：John has a mass of blond hair. 约翰有一头浓密的金发。masses of sth相当于a great deal of sth：I have masses of work to do every day.Then he piled branches on top of himself, like a blanket, to stay as warm as he could.pile作动词“堆放”；Nicholas将树枝堆放在自己身上，尽可能保持温暖。By that evening, Nicholas was really hungry.He ate snow and drank water from a nearby stream so that his body wouldn't lose too much water.so that表示“以便；为了”；为了保证身体水分不会大量流失，Nicholas以雪为食，从附近的小溪中取水喝。Not knowing how much longer he could last, Nicholas did the only thing he could—he huddled (蜷缩) in his cave and slept.Not knowing...he could last是现在分词短语作状语。不知道还要坚持多长时间，尼古拉斯做了他唯一可以做的事情——蜷缩在雪洞里睡觉。The next day, Nicholas went out to look for help, but he couldn't find anyone.He followed his tracks and returned to the snow cave, because without shelter, he could die that night.track指Nicholas在雪地上留下的“足迹”。On Tuesday, Nicholas went out again to find help.find help相当于上文中的look for help，还有ask for help都表示寻求帮助。He had walked for about a mile when a volunteer searcher found him.After two days stuck in the snow, Nicholas was saved.Nicholas might not have survived this snowstorm had it not been for TV.本句使用虚拟语气，表示对过去发生的事情的一种假设。过去式虚拟语气的结构是：主句would/should/ might/could have +动词过去分词，从句had + 动词过去分词。当虚拟条件句的谓语动词含有were、should、had时，if可省略，采用倒装语序，将这三个词置于句首；要不是因为经常看电视(逃生节目)，尼古拉斯可能不会在暴风雪中生存下来。He had often watched Grylls' survival show Man vs. Wild.wild作形容词表示“野生的；荒凉的”等，此处作名词表示“原野；无人烟的荒地”。That's where he learned the tips that saved his life.tip的基本含义是“尖端；末梢”，此处指“诀窍；指导”（useful advice）。In each episode(一期节目) of Man vs. Wild, Grylls is abandoned in a wild area and has to find his way out.When Grylls heard about Nicholas' amazing deeds, he was super impressed that Nicholas had made it since he knew better than anyone how hard Nicholas had to work to stay alive.hear about /of表示“听说”；deed表示“事迹”通常指特别好或特别坏的事：His heroic deeds were celebrated in every corner of India.他的英勇事迹在印度各地广为传颂；super作副词表示“非常；格外”；since表示“因为”，knew better than anyone表示“比任何人更了解”。更多精彩内容请关注公众号【初级英语阶梯】。
