1、 She entered the station twenty minutes before the train was due, since her parents

had impressed upon her that it would be unforgivable to miss it and cause the

friends with whom she was going to stay to make two journeys to meet her.

2、Stone does not decay, and so the tools of long ago have remained when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace.

参考译文：

1、在火车进站20分钟前她就进了车站。因为她的父母再三跟她说，如果误了这趟车，她的东道主朋友就得接她两趟，这是不应该的。

2、石头是不会腐烂的。因此，尽管制造这些工具的人的骨头早已荡然无存，但远古时代的石头工具却保存了下来。

1、She felt in her handbag for the piece of paper on which her father had written down al the details of the journey and gave it to the porter.

2、We owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spiders.

参考译文：

1、她从钱包里摸出一张纸条，那上面有她父亲对这次旅行详细说明，她把这张纸条交给了搬运工。

2、我们要十分感谢那些吃昆虫的鸟和兽，然而被它们所杀死的昆虫全部加在一起也只相当于蜘蛛所消灭的一小部分。

Key point:

@@@：porter 主要两个意思，门卫，或者是搬运工

1、Indeed they can have a delightful surprise when they find something useful which they did not know they owned.

2、It has been estimated that the weight of all the insects destroyed by spiders in Britain in one year would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the country.

参考翻译：

1、确实，一旦无意之中从自己的收藏品中找到某件有用的东西时，可以给人一种惊喜的感觉。

2、据估计，在英国蜘蛛一年里所消灭昆虫的重量超过这个国家人

口的总重量。

1、As they grow old, people also accumulate belongings for two other reasons, lack of physical and mental energy, both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away, and sentiment.

2、It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many they kill, but they are hungry creatures, not content with only three meals a day.

参考翻译：

1、人们年老之后也喜欢收藏东西，不过是出于两个不同的原因：一是体力，精力均告不佳，这二者是清除无用的东西必不可少的因素；另一原因是感情因素。

2、它们一年中消灭了多少昆虫，我们简直无法猜测，它们是吃不饱的动物，不满意一日三餐。

关于第一句，two other reasons，在这里指的是lack of physical and mental energy以及sentiment

both of which是一个定语从句，修饰physical and mental energy

turning out and throwing away，在这里是很形象的说法，翻箱倒柜，整理东西

sentiment是指情感因素，意思是对某些物品产生了感情，舍不得扔，所以收藏了

P.S:因为是单独抽取一句话，没有上下文，有些地方不好理解，所以翻译上可能会有些纠结。 理解句子的意思，先要分析这个句子的结构

As they grow old, people also accumulate belongings for two other reasons, lack of physical and mental energy, both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away, and sentiment.

在这个句子里，首先both of which是定语从句。which是关系代词，定语从句的关系代词都是紧跟着先行词（也就是所修饰的词）的后面，所以这个both of which应该是修饰physical and mental energy的

然后这个句子后面有个and sentiment，一个and，表示并列，联想到前面的two other reasons，可见and sentiment和lack of physical and mental energy并列的可能性最大

所以整个句子的结构就是，lack of physical and mental energy和and sentiment是two other reasons的同位语，具体说明这个reason到底什么，然后both of which引导的非限定定语从句，修饰其中的一个reason，也就是lack of physical and mental energy

弄明白了这么一层结构，这个句子的意思就能理解了。

1、Things owned for a long time are full associations with the past, perhaps with relatives who are dead, and so they gradually acquire a value beyond their true worth.

2、The early climbers were looking for the easiest way to the top, because the summit was the prize they sought, especially if it and never been attained before.

参考译文：

1、东西搁得时间久了，便会充满着与过去岁月的联系，比方说与死去的亲戚有关。因此这些东西慢慢获得了一种超出它本身的价值。

2、早期登山者所寻找的是通往山顶的最方便的途径，因为顶峰特别是前人未曾到过的顶峰 -- 才是他们寻求的目标。

1、Over the years, one may well become an authority on one's hobby and will very probably be asked to give informal talks to little gatherings and then, if successful, to larger audiences.

2、Alpine village tended to be impoverished settlements cut off from civilization by the high mountains.

参考翻译：

1、一人积了多年经验会成为自己这种爱好的权威，很可能应邀在小型集会上作非正式的讲话。如果讲得好，可能向更多人发表演说。

2、阿尔卑斯山山区的小村几乎全是高山环抱、与世隔绝的穷乡僻壤。（原文的翻译就是不一样啊

关于第二个句子，tend to是谓语，cut off部分是settlements的后置定语，起修饰作用。

1、 She walked slowly into the hall and at once noticed that all the room doors were open, yet

following her regular practice she had shut them before going out.

2、 For men accustomed to eating seven-course dinners and sleeping between fine linen sheets at home, the change to the Alps must have very hard indeed.

参考翻译：

）

1、她慢慢地走进前厅，立即发现所有的房门都敞开着，而她记得在出门买东西前，她按老规矩是把房门一一锁上的。

2、对于过惯了一顿饭吃7道菜、睡亚麻细布床单的人来说，变换一下生活环境来到阿尔卑斯山山区，那一定是很艰难的。

course这里是菜的意思：one of the separate parts of a meal

1、 At least sorting out the things she should have discarded years ago was now being made

easier for her.

2、Several cases have been reported in Russia recently of people who can read and detect colours with their fingers, and even see through solid and walls.

参考翻译：

1、这样一来，她倒是容易将那些几年前就该扔掉的东西找出来了。

2、俄罗斯最近报导了几个事例，有人能用手指看书识字和辨认颜色，甚至能透过厚实的门和墙看到东西。

关于第二个句子

of people who can read and detect colours with their fingers, and even see through solid and walls

这部分是定语从句，修饰cases，本来句子的顺序应该是跟在cases后面，但是实在太长，所以移到了后面。

1、 So their entry into this flat was apparently not the burglars' first job that day and they must

have been disturbed.

2、Suddenly she asked her father why he kept so many old newspapers locked away there, and even described the way they were done up in bundles.

参考翻译：

1、很明显，闯进这套公寓的窃贼那天并不是首次作案，而且他一定受了惊吓。

2、她突然问父亲为什么把这么多的旧报纸锁在柜子里，还说了报纸捆扎的情况。

1、 I hired a car the day after landing and bought a comprehensive book of maps, which I found most helpful on the cross-country journey, but which I did not think I should need on the last stage.

2、When I was a teenager, I felt that I was just young and uncertain -- that I was