雅思精读：《孤独星球》有关欧洲西南部比利牛斯山的描述

　　节选自《孤独星球》月刊中一段有关欧洲西南部比利牛斯山的描述：

　　Traversing hair-raising[刺激的] roads, sky-top passes and snow-dusted[白雪皑皑的] peaks, this trip ventures deep into the unforgettable Pyrenees. Buckle up - you’re in for a roller coaster of a drive.

　　They might not have the altitude of the Alps, but the Pyrenees pack a mighty mountain punch, and if you’re an outdoors-lover, you’ll be in seventh heavenhere. With quiet villages, rustic restaurants, spectacular trails and snowy mountains galore[许多地], the Pyrenees are a wild adventure - just remember tobreak in your hiking boots before you arrive.

　　The craggy peaks of the Pyrenees are home to some of France’s rarest wildlife and most unspoilt landscapes, and every twist and turn in the road seems to reveal another knockout view.

　　buckle up buckle作名词时指（皮带、包或鞋上的）锁扣、装饰扣；

　　buckle 作动词时，则指用锁扣扣紧（某物），常用搭配buckle sth. up, 比如:

　　My belt is loose; I didn’t buckle it up tightly enough. (腰带没扣紧）

　　You should always buckle your belt up before start driving. (扣紧安全带)

　　当buckle作动词时，和它相关的短语/习语其实有很多，比如buckle down to sth. 就可以用来指下定决心做某事（较为口语化），所以你可以用这个表达来替换decide to do或者make up one’s mind to do的说法，buckle down也可以用来表示开始苦干、努力做某事：

　　He will buckle down to competitions over the next few months.

　　You’d better buckle down if you want to get good grades.

　　If you don’t buckle down, you’re not going to graduate.

　　另外buckle under可以用来指屈服，让步，通常搭配buckle under the pressure, 比如：

　　The reality is most people buckle under the pressure.

　　be in seventh heaven “seventh heaven”(七重天，根据伊斯兰和犹太教，“seventh heaven”是神之居所，在他们的宗教理念里神的御座也设立于此)，后来这个就有了be in seventh heaven这个表达，用来形容极度开心的状态。

　　We had the most beautiful wedding and I was in seventh heaven.

　　My friend was in seventh heaven and she lapped up[(热切地)接受] every moment.

　　I was in seventh heaven when I received my promotion letter.

　　break in 这个短语大家比较熟悉的意思可能是“闯入”“打断，插嘴”，比如：

　　A thief broke in my house during the night and stole all my money. (闯入)

　　It’s impolite to break in when others are talking. (插嘴)

　　但是在原文这里，如果理解为这两种含义的任意一个，都不太合适了。break in your hiking boots, 有的小伙伴看到break, 想着有“弄坏，弄破”的意思，那这里总不能理解为“把你的登山靴搞坏吧。” 其实break in sth.或者break sth. in还有一个含义，是指将某物使用一段时间使其更加舒服、合适；比如我们买的新鞋，刚穿起来可能比较磨脚，但穿过一段时间后鞋子就很合脚了；原文这里笔者也是使用的这个含义。再比如：

　　The boots were tight when I first got them, so I broke them in by wearing them around the house for a few days.

　　These new shoes were hurting me. I’m glad they’re now finally broken in. (终于合脚了)

　　knockout view knockout作名词时，指的是拳击比赛中击倒对手的一拳，也就是大家打游戏经常看到的K.O. 除此之外，knockout作名词，还可用来指引人注目、极具魅力或吸引力的事物或人。比如：

　　My girl is a real knockout in that wedding dress.

　　而knockout做形容词时，迷人的， 极具魅力的；原文这里的knockout view也就说在道路的每个拐角都会有着迷人的景色。