Reading my book

[SeekerOfPeace]

Quite possible,

but grammatically speaking, what is the difference between:

现在

正在

Even Chinese people couldn't explain this one to me.

EDIT: Oops, sorry, just read your second post.

[SeekerOfPeace]

Another one:

In the following sentence:

先前那个爱尔兰女人，这时候已经走到他的前面去了，不过，汤姆并没有看见她。

Now, 不过. In this contexte I guess it means "it didn't happen".

But I remember I've heard this sometimes in China when something doesn't work.

For example when someone tries to fix something a certain way, but it doesn't work, they say:

"不过"

My dictionary says:

副：merely; just; only.

but

But that's not quite it.

[skylee]

There it means "but" - But Tom doesn't see that Irish woman.

[SeekerOfPeace]

Ok, but what is the difference between 但是 and 不过?

[skylee]

Personally I use 但是, 不過 and 可是 fairly interchangeably. It's like in English there are but, however, nonetheless, nevertheless which have similar meanings. Thanks to such alternatives we don't have to repeat "but" every few sentences.

[SeekerOfPeace]

Ah ok. Perfect.

Here's some more translation:

A. 那个爱尔兰女人在汤姆来到小河边之前,

The irish woman came to Tom first.

I'm not sure as to translate this precisely. I know there's river in there but I'm not sure as to where it goes in the sentence.

B. 就已经走进有情有凉的河水里去了。

she had already walked into the clear and refreshing water.

C. 他的披巾随水漂走了，绿水草漂来围住他的腰，白练花漂来围在他的头上，河里仙女全都从河底跑上来，用胳膊抬着她到了水底下。

Her shawl resembled ripples as she walked, the crystal clear water at her waist, some white lotus came and surrounded the top of her head, in the water, all of the fairies came up running from the bottom of the river, using their arms and lifting her from the bottom of the water.

*I'm having a hard time with 随。

My dictionary says:

follow; comply with; adapt to; let; along with; look like; resemble

as soon as

So it's fairly hard to translate this part of the sentence.

Please correct me.

D. 原来他是这些仙女里面的仙后，而且也是另外很多仙女的仙后呢

She was formerly a fairy inside a celestial being, moreover she also was one of the many fairies from the celestial being.

Not too sure about the signification of 仙后。

E. "你干什么去了？" 河里的仙女问他。

"Where do you think you're going?" asked a fairy in the water.

F. “我安慰病人，叫小孩子离开臭池塘，我尽我的力量去帮助那些不肯帮助自己的人。”

"I'm a person who helps sick people, I'm called a child who left smell of the pool, I use all my strength I to help those who refuse to help themselves."

I don't understand 我尽 here. Is it some kind of idiom?

Also, 臭 and 池塘 really doesn't make sense here. I'm called the child who left the smell of the pool?? I have no clue as to how to translate this so that it makes sense.

G. 我做得很吃力，可是还有好多事等着我去做。

"I'm tired from what I have to do, however there's still many things waiting for me to do something about them."

H. 我给你们带了一个新来小弟弟，一路照应着她到了这里。

I want you to bring a newly born younger brother (a new comer younger brother), and look after him throughout all of his journey until he comes here.

I. 那些仙女听说要有个小弟弟来，都开心笑了。

The fairies heard that he wanted the little brother to come and they all laughed happily.

[skylee]

那个爱尔兰女人在汤姆来到小河边之前,就已经走进有情有凉的河水里去了。他的披巾随水漂走了，绿水草漂来围住他的腰，白练花漂来围在他的头上，河里仙女全都从河底跑上来，用胳膊抬着她到了水底下。

Consider something like "Before Tom got to the river bank, that Irish woman had already gotten into the clear and cool river. Her shawl flowed away with the water, the green weed flowed to her to surround her waist, and white lotus flowed to her to surround her head. All the river nymphs came up from the bottom of the river and lifting her on their shoulders brought her down into the water."

There are some typos in the Chinese texts, as coloured above. And be consistent with 他/她, the former for both sexes, the latter for female only. Choose your approach and stick to it to avoid confusion.

[skylee]

仙后 = fairy queen; the irish woman was the queen of those fairies, she was also the queen of many other fairies too. (!)

"你干什么去了？" ~ What did you do (when you were gone)

“我安慰病人，叫小孩子离开臭池塘，我尽我的力量去帮助那些不肯帮助自己的人。” ~ I comforted the sick, told children to leave the stinky ponds, and I tried my best to help those who were not willing to help themselves

For 尽, take a look -> http://www.baidu.com/s?ie=gb2312&bs=%BD%D0&sr=&z=&cl=3&f=8&wd=%BE%A1&ct=1048576

叫 here means to tell people to do something.

[SeekerOfPeace]

You're right, I'll be more careful.

"可是大家记着,不能让他看见你们，或者知道你们在这里"

However you all remember it's impossible to let him see you or know that you are here.

“他现在还是个野孩子, 他要自己学到教训，因此你们都不能跟他玩或说活，或让他看见你们；只能保护他不受到伤害“

Right he's also an unruly kid, he wants to study his lessons by himself, thefore all of you must not play or speak with him, or let him see you, merely protect him from harm."

I'm fairly confident about those two translations.

For 尽, take a look -> http://www.baidu.com/s?ie=gb2312&bs=...%A1&ct=1048576

I already did beforehand:mrgreen:. You gave me the link to this dictionary before, so I checked it out. Doesn't really enlighten me as to the meaning of 我尽 unfortunately. From your translation I'm deducting it means to try your best.

听仙后这么一说，

The fairy queen listened to what was said

那些仙女都闷闷不乐起来，

the fairies were all melancholic and unhappy,

不能跟新弟弟玩多扫兴

it wouldn't be allowed to accompany and play with the new younger brother and so they felt disappointed.

不过他们一向都是很听仙后的话。

However, they heard everything the Fairy Queen said.

仙后又顺小河票下去，

The Fairy Queen once again...

I don't understand this part.

[jade-]

听仙后这么一说，

The fairy queen listened to what was said

->After hearing what the fairy queen said,

仙后又顺小河票下去，

The Fairy Queen once again...

->票 should be “漂”, wrong word is used here.

->The Fairy Queen once again drifted down/along the river,

[SeekerOfPeace]

Thank you, Jade. I thought I nobody else would answer my questions. Thank you.

Here's some more translation. Correction appreciated:

1. 他钻进水里没有两分钟，就昏沉沉地睡觉了，而且从来没有睡的这样安静，这样深沉，这样舒服过，他梦今天早上走过的青草地，大榆树和那些睡着的牛。

He had slipt into the water for not even two minutes, that he felt drowsy and sleepy furthermore, he had never experienced that kind of peaceful sleep, such a profound, comfortable sleep. He dreamt about that morning when he had went to that grassy place, with the big elm those sleeping cows.

What is the purpose of the 过 there? Is it to indicate that he's done being comfortable in his sleep, that he's done sleeping?

How accurate is the translation?

2. 他所以能够这样快活得睡去，原因很简单，因为那些仙女把她收留下来了。

So he was able to sleep happily, the reason being that it was simple, because the fairies were protecting him.

3. 有些人认为是没有仙女的

There are people who believe there's no such thing as fairies.

4. 但是这世界是个非常阔的世界，仙女有的是地方藏身而不让人们看见

However this world is an extremely vast world， the fairies have this place to hide themselves and won't let men see them,

无论如何，让我们假设世界上是有仙女的好了。

in any case, let us assume that they were the best fairies in the world.

Not certain about the meaning of the part in red as 假设 has quite a few meanings.

[jade-]

"1. 他钻进水里没有两分钟，就昏沉沉地睡觉了，而且从来没有睡的这样安静，这样深沉，这样舒服过，他梦今天早上走过的青草地，大榆树和那些睡着的牛。

He had slipt into the water for not even two minutes, that he felt drowsy and sleepy furthermore, he had never experienced that kind of peaceful sleep, such a profound, comfortable sleep. He dreamt about that morning when he had went to that grassy place, with the big elm those sleeping cows.

What is the purpose of the 过 there? Is it to indicate that he's done being comfortable in his sleep, that he's done sleeping? How accurate is the translation?"

--> "that he felt drowsy and sleepy furthermore," - that he felt drowsy and fell into sleep

过 is often used to indicate something has happened, more like the present/past perfect tense in English, it means "has/have/had been/done, etc." Here it means he had never slept like this profound/comfortable before, your translation is right.

"4. 但是这世界是个非常阔的世界，仙女有的是地方藏身而不让人们看见

However this world is an extremely vast world， the fairies have this place to hide themselves and won't let men see them,

无论如何，让我们假设世界上是有仙女的好了。

in any case, let us assume that they were the best fairies in the world.

Not certain about the meaning of the part in red as 假设 has quite a few meanings."

-->"the fairies have this place to hide themselves and won't let men see them", - "have this place to hide" should be "have many places to hide", the "men" here should be "people".

"in any case, let us assume that they were the best fairies in the world."- in any case, let us assume that there are the fairies in this world. "好了" here is used to persuade the listeners, it has no very meaningful translation, more like "good, let us assume..." or "let us assume.... for now". You got the 假设 right, it is "assume" here.

You know everyone loves to help you, only sometimes people are too busy and have no time to come. You are doing great, keep up the good work. BTW, how do you write in different colors?

[SeekerOfPeace]

Thank you for your kind words, Jade.

Here's a little tutorial just for you how to write in different colours, ;-).

Suppose I want the following in red:

"Hello I like to eat 包子"

Select the the sentence, then click on the letter on the top, this one:

Then simply select the colour you want:

And that's it:

"Hello I like to eat 包子"

By the way, you might want to consider using the "quote" function. It makes it easier to spot what you're saying than using an --->. Here's how to do it, I hope it helps you.

Here's how to quote:

Select the text you want to quote by highlighting it with your mouse:

I like you.

Then click on the quote button.

And voila!

I like you

Here's some more:

那位好心的老婆婆在十二点钟放学时回来看汤姆，可是汤姆不在了。

The kind hearted grandmother, came back to see him at 12 o'clock after class but he wasn't there.

她到处去找，也没找到。

She went looking for him and couldn't find him.

老婆婆气愤地回去屋里去了，他认为汤姆欺骗了她，先假装生病,然后又溜掉了.

The old woman furiously returned inside the room, considering that Tom had cheated her, pretending at first to be sick and disappear afterwards.

I'm not sure as to the meaning of 留掉. Dictionary and the internet didn't provide any potent results.

可是第二天她就改变了看法.

On the second day however, she changed her mind about it.

话分两头,当时约翰爵爷和其余的人追赶汤姆,跑的上气不接下气, 终于后来不见了汤姆的踪影, 只好回去了.

She considered both sides,

Not too sure about the meaning of 话分两头.

I don't understand the part in purple. Unless 约翰爵爷 is a name (which would make sense)

It goes something like:

At that time, [name] and the rest of the people (the other people) chased Tom, running until they were out of breath. In the end, there was no sign of the missing Tom. They had no choice but to return.

[jade-]

SeekerOfPeace,Thank you for your little tutorial! I did not think this simple. I tried to write in HTML tags a couple of times yesterday, but forgot to add quotes around the color's name. Thank you, it does help!!

老婆婆气愤地回去屋里去了，他认为汤姆欺骗了她，先假装生病,然后又溜掉了.

The old woman furiously returned inside the room, considering that Tom had cheated her, pretending at first to be sick and disappear afterwards.

I would change "considering" to "thinking", "considering" sounds more serious.

老婆婆气愤地回去屋里去了，他认为汤姆欺骗了她，先假装生病,然后又溜掉了.

The old woman furiously returned inside the room, considering that Tom had cheated her, pretending at first to be sick and disappear afterwards.

I'm not sure as to the meaning of 留掉. Dictionary and the internet didn't provide any potent results.

溜掉means "sneak out" and your translation is right.

话分两头,当时约翰爵爷和其余的人追赶汤姆,跑的上气不接下气, 终于后来不见了汤姆的踪影, 只好回去了.

She considered both sides,

Not too sure about the meaning of 话分两头.

I don't understand the part in purple. Unless 约翰爵爷 is a name (which would make sense)

It goes something like:

At that time, [name] and the rest of the people (the other people) chased Tom, running until they were out of breath. In the end, there was no sign of the missing Tom. They had no choice but to return.

话分两头 is a very commonly used phrase for relating a story. It basically means let's stop this part/scene of story and talk about the other part/scene of story. Or let's go back to... Here, it means, let's stop talking about the grandmother, and talk about Tom and Duke John...

约翰爵爷: 约翰 = John; 爵 = (someone with) a royal/noble title, like Duke, Marquis, etc. 爷 = direct meaning is grandfather, but it is often used as a respect title to address someone.

So your translation is right, only needs to add Duke John in.

[SeekerOfPeace]

Alright! A Chinese guy told me there was no such thing as:

溜掉 and 话分两头. Go figure! :0)

Ok here's some more translation, thanks:

那穿白衣服的小姑娘爱丽小姐把全部情形说出来之后，他们呆的像木鸡一样。

The little girl in white (clothes), miss Eileen (爱丽) explained the whole situation afterwards, they stayed...

I can't make out that sentence, sorry.

他说她看见的只是一个可怜的乌黑的烟囱小孩, 一面哭，

She said she just saw one poor, little boy covered in black, crying and ready to return inside the chimney.

当然，他当时非常害怕，这也难怪，事情就是这样。

Of course at that time he was very afraid; no wonder with a situation like that.

房间的里的东西一件也没有少。

There were quite a few things in the room.

Now, I know my translation is inaccurate for this one. I can't understand this part:

房间的里的东西

Which means the things in the room, but I'm lost about that part:

一件也没有少

件 means item. I suppose 没有少 means a lot (not a few).

从那一双乌黑的小脚印可以看出，

From the footprints it was possible to distinguish,

这孩子在老保姆来到之前，根本就没有离开炉毯一步，整件事情完全是个误会。

The child's nurse came first, she simply couldn't leave one step away from the stove, the whole things was a misunderstanding.

Not so confident about the part in red.

当天晚上，约翰爵爷在床上一直睡不着。

That very evening, Duke John was in bed but he couldn't sleep.

他对他的太太说：“亲爱的，那孩子肯定跑到沼地理，迷路了。

What is the function of 对 here?

He said to his wife: "Dear, that kid definitely went into the marshes and lost his way there.

可怜的孩子，这让我心里非常不安。

That poor kid really makes me worried (let the inside of my heart not peaceful).

于是，第二天一早五点钟他就起身，带了几个人，骑着马， 牵了猎狗，一路来找汤姆。

Consequently, on the second day, he got up in the morning at 5 o'clock, brought a few people, rode a horse, led some hunting dogs and left for a journey to find (look for) Tom.

[Lu]

房间的里的东西一件也没有少。

None of the things in the room was missing.

一件也没有少 one item even wasn't less => there wasn't even one item less [than there had been originally]

There's a movie called 一个都不能少 Not One Less.

房间的里 looks very strange to me, are you sure it doesn't say 房间里?

根本就没有离开炉毯一步

she hadn't left the stove at all, hadn't moved even one step from the stove

根本 at all

没有 hadn't

离开 left, departed from, distanced [from]

炉毯 the stove? not sure about this one

一步 [even] one step

他对他的太太说 (...)

What is the function of 对 here?

对 means 'to' here, he says to his wife.

I hope this helps!

[jade-]

Well, the Chinese guy was playing dumb. Give him a beer and he will tell you the truth.

那穿白衣服的小姑娘爱丽小姐把全部情形说出来之后，他们呆的像木鸡一样。

The little girl in white (clothes), miss Eileen (爱丽) explained the whole situation afterwards, they stayed...

他们呆的像木鸡一样 – they were so shocked/stunned that they could not speak or move.

呆- does not mean “stay” here, means stupid. Here it means a person is so stunned that he looks stupid

木鸡 – a chicken made in wood, a fake chicken, a chicken without life

像..一样 – as same as...

Actually 呆若木鸡 is indeed an idiom.

他说她看见的只是一个可怜的乌黑的烟囱小孩, 一面哭，

She said she just saw one poor, little boy covered in black, crying and ready to return inside the chimney.

He(or she? the Chinese says he) said all she saw was a poor little boy covered in black in the chimney, while crying and …?

There should have something after”一面哭”, 一面what? “一面.., 一面..” means while doing this, and doing that too. Two actions happen parallel. I am not sure about exact meaning of 烟囱小孩, it could be the boy played in chimney, or hid in chimney, so he was called烟囱小孩, depending on the sentences before.

从那一双乌黑的小脚印可以看出，

From the footprints it was possible to distinguish,

From the black little footprints it was possible to distinguish,

Lu has explained the rest. Only I am not sure about the炉毯, it sounds like the carpet/mat around the stove?

And you are correct on the ones Lu and I did not mention.

[SeekerOfPeace]

Thank you to Lu and jade-, it all makes a lot of sense now.

I really appreciate all of this help. Proficient people in Chinese are hard to find, at least some of who can explain things in English.

I find a lot Chinese know how to speak in Chinese but couldn't explain to you why.

Anyways: back to work.

About 一面, would that be a correct construction:

他一面吃, 一面读 "He read while eating".

"他们找了许久, 最后找到了凡谷."

"They looked for him for a long time, in the end they looked for him in a valley."

I think 凡谷 is the name of the valley.

当他们走到老婆婆的学校时,小孩子们全都跑出来看他们.

When they reached the old woman's school, all of the kids came running out to look at them.

老婆婆也出来了, 他看见约翰爵爷, 行了一个很深的曲膝礼, 原来他认识约翰爵爷.

The old woman also came out, she looked at Duke John and greeted him politely as he had met him before.

Ok this is by no means a literal translation but I'm having a hard time putting

行了一个很深的曲膝礼

into English. According to Wenlin, 曲膝礼 means courtesy. WenLin is a bit unclear about 行了, I'm guessing it kind of means approve or something? WenLin says it means: "That's all right, ok" but I think it has meaning in substance rather than through literal translation.

"怎么样,太太, 你好吗? 我在找一个迷路的小孩, 一个扫烟囱的.

Hello there miss, how are you? I'm currently looking for a lost kid, a chimney cleaner.

他从哪里逃出来的. 约翰爵爷说.

Where could he have runaway to?" said Duke John.

No 100% confident, might also be: "Where is running away from?" I'm not too sure.

"啊呀, 约翰爵爷," 她说, "如果我把这孩子的下落告诉你, 你能不能不伤害这个可怜的孩子呢?"

"Oh my, Duke John" she said, "if I learn of the whereabouts of that kid, I'll tell you, but could you not harm that poor kid?"

Not too sure about the 你能不能不伤害.

"决不会,太太. 当时我们完全是出于一个误会,才把他从我的家里赶出来的. 猎狗一直追踪他到卢斯威特岩上,后来就...."

Absolutely not, Madam, at this time we were all caught in a misunderstanding, we'll take him inside my house as quickly as possible. The dogs will follow his track [can't understand the bit after], afterwards however...

老婆婆听到这里, 就叫了出来: "原来他告诉我的是真的阿,可怜的孩子!" 接着她就把全部事实告诉了约翰爵爷.

The old woman listened to this and called out: "He had previously toldme the truh, poor kid!" Afterwards she understood the whole fact that Duke John had told her.

Not too sure here about the "fact" part.

"把狗带到这儿来, 放它去找."

"We brought the dogs here, we will release them to look for (Tom)"

约翰爵爷只说了这么一句, 就咬紧牙关再不开口了.

Duke John simpy listened to this sentence, he had to hold his lip (endure this) or else he would start taking (open his mouth).

那狗立刻四处寻找起来,它跑到村舍后面, 穿过那条路, 穿过草地, 又穿过一处小赤杨丛.

The dog immediately looked around everywhere, it ran behind the cottage, went across the road, crossed the meadow, and again at the same place as before.

I'm not sure about: 小赤杨丛.

在赤杨丛那边一棵断树上面, 他们看见了汤姆的衣服,这下大家全都明白了.

On top of a severed tree, they saw Tom's clothes, at that time, everyone without exception understood.

I don't understand the part in red.

他们看见水里面有一个黑东西, 说那是汤姆身体, 他已经淹死了, 于是一个个难受得说不出话来.

They saw a black object in the water, they naturally (instinctively) thought that it was Tom's body, that he had drowned, consequently everyone felt sad and nobody said anything.

Ok, I'm really sorry but about 得 I still don't get it. Trust me, it's not from lack of trying.

Now, I understand the meaning of this sentence here, but I would be hard pressed to use it in a sentence, that's for sure.

于是一个个难受得说不出话来.

What is the purpose of 得 in the sentence above? What does it do? I really wish I could get some insanely clear explanation so I can understand that "freaking" particle once and for all.

他们搜索了一下汤姆衣服的口袋,发现口袋里面既没有首饰, 也没有钱, 什么都没有, 只有三粒弹子和一个铜牛扣,上面系了一根线.

They searched Tom's clothes, inside the pocket the jewelery was already gone, he didn't have any money, he didn't have anything at all, there simply was three marbles and an iron button...

Can't understand the part in red.

这一来约韩爵爷难过得哭了,哭得从来没有那样伤心过.

Duke John had a hard time crying, he had never cried for being so hurt before.

他这么一哭,小马夫也哭了, 管猎狗的人也哭了,老婆婆也哭了, 老保姆也哭了(因为这事多少要怪她),爵爷太太也哭了.

They call cried this way, the groom cried (groom might actually turn out to be a name actually), the person responsible for the dog (I'm missing a word there, a dog herder or something) also cried, the old woman also cried, the old maid cried as well (because she would be blamed for this), John's wife also cried.

I think I understand the part in brackets, but I would appreciate more information about it.

只有那个管园子的, 要想他流一滴眼泪简直就跟一块牛皮挤不出牛奶一样没门.

Only the gardener, he wanted to shed a tear but it wouldn't go out.

I didn't get the whole thing about the cow's hide. I'm guessing the gardener is too tough too cry or something similar. There's a comparison there with a cow and milk and the gardener but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe that the gardener couldn't cry just like a cow couldn't give any milk anymore?

葛林也没有哭, 因为约韩爵爷给了他十帮钱,他在一个星期内全拿来喝酒喝光了.

Green also didn't cry because Duke John had given him some money and he had drunk everything that very week.

那么汤姆呢？

And what about that Tom?

啊，现在到了汤姆的奇遇里面奇怪的部分了。

Ah! At last Tom had had an happy encounter in this strange place.

Really not sure.

汤姆醒来时（孩子睡足之后，总是要醒来的），发现自己在河里游者，身体只有四英寸长，或者说得更准确些，只有三点八七九零二零英寸长，而且在自己咽喉两边耳朵下面的部分长了一对外鳍（我希望这些专门名词你能听懂）。

Tom's wake up time ([i don't understand this part]), he would find himself inside the river, his body only 4 inches long, to say perhaps something more accurate, only 3.079020 inches. Furthermore he would find his ears on both sides of his throat (I hope you can understand these technical terms).

Man was that ever hard! Really confusing.

[jade-]

1. 老婆婆也出来了, 他看见约翰爵爷, 行了一个很深的曲膝礼, 原来他认识约翰爵爷.

The old woman also came out, she looked at Duke John and greeted him politely as he had met him before.

->The old woman also came out, when she saw Duke John, she kneeled to and greeted him as if she had met him before.

As for 曲膝礼, it refers the action to kneel to someone (kings, noblemen, etc.) to show respect

2. "怎么样,太太, 你好吗? 我在找一个迷路的小孩, 一个扫烟囱的.

Hello there miss, how are you? I'm currently looking for a lost kid, a chimney cleaner.

-> I would change “miss” to “madam”

3. 他从哪里逃出来的. 约翰爵爷说.

Where could he have runaway to?" said Duke John.

-> Where did he run from? Asked Duke John

4. "啊呀, 约翰爵爷," 她说, "如果我把这孩子的下落告诉你, 你能不能不伤害这个可怜的孩子呢?"

"Oh my, Duke John" she said, "if I learn of the whereabouts of that kid, I'll tell you, but could you not harm that poor kid?"

Not too sure about the 你能不能不伤害.

->“Oh, Duke John” she said, “If I told you whereabouts of that kid, could you not harm the poor kid?”

Your translation is right.

5. "决不会,太太. 当时我们完全是出于一个误会,才把他从我的家里赶出来的. 猎狗一直追踪他到卢斯威特岩上,后来就...."

Absolutely not, Madam, at this time we were all caught in a misunderstanding, we'll take him inside my house as quickly as possible. The dogs will follow his track [can't understand the bit after], afterwards however...

->Absolutely not, Madam, at that time we were all caught in a misunderstanding, then we chased him out from my house. My dogs had been following his track until 卢斯威特岩, then…

卢斯威特岩 - sounds like some name of cliff, Luswatter? or something like that.

6. 老婆婆听到这里, 就叫了出来: "原来他告诉我的是真的阿,可怜的孩子!" 接着她就把全部事实告诉了约翰爵爷.

The old woman listened to this and called out: "He had previously toldme the truh, poor kid!" Afterwards she understood the whole fact that Duke John had told her.

->The old woman listened to this and cried out: "So what he had previously told me is the truth, poor kid!" Then she told Duke John what had really happened.

7. 约翰爵爷只说了这么一句, 就咬紧牙关再不开口了.

Duke John simpy listened to this sentence, he had to hold his lip (endure this) or else he would start taking (open his mouth).

->Duke John spoke only this sentence, then no more words came out from him anymore.

8. I'm not sure about: 小赤杨丛.

I believe小赤杨丛 is some kind of bush, not sure its scientific name.

9. 在赤杨丛那边一棵断树上面, 他们看见了汤姆的衣服,这下大家全都明白了.

On top of a severed tree, they saw Tom's clothes, at that time, everyone without exception understood.

I don't understand the part in red.

->On the top of a severed tree near the bush, they saw Tom’s clothes, then everyone suddenly understood all.

10. 于是一个个难受得说不出话来.

->everyone felt so bad that nobody could hardly utter a word.

Your translation is right, your grasp of the language actually is pretty good. The words after 得 indicate the degree of how sad/feeling bad is – so bad they could not speak

11. 他们搜索了一下汤姆衣服的口袋,发现口袋里面既没有首饰, 也没有钱, 什么都没有, 只有三粒弹子和一个铜牛扣,上面系了一根线.

They searched Tom's clothes, inside the pocket the jewelery was already gone, he didn't have any money, he didn't have anything at all, there simply was three marbles and an iron button...

->they searched Tom’s clothes, inside the pockets there were no jewelry, no money as well, only three marbles and a brass ox button with a thread

12. 他这么一哭,小马夫也哭了, 管猎狗的人也哭了,老婆婆也哭了, 老保姆也哭了(因为这事多少要怪她),爵爷太太也哭了.

->As soon as he cried, the young groom started to cry, so did the dog care-taker, and the old woman, and the old nurse/housekeeper (since the whole thing was sort of her fault), and the Duke’s wife

13. 就跟一块牛皮挤不出牛奶一样没门

->Just like to squeeze the milk from a piece of cow skin, no way you can do it.

14. 啊，现在到了汤姆的奇遇里面奇怪的部分了。

->Ah, now this is the most strange part of Tom’s adventure/happy encounter (I am not sure this is a happy ending?)

15. 而且在自己咽喉两边耳朵下面的部分长了一对外鳍

->and on both sides of his throat under two ears, he grew a pair of fins.

There are still some places we can do nit-picking, but I got to go now, sorry.

Have a nice weekend!

[SWWLiu]

I would still like to comment on two interesting points/questions that hurtled by:

(I'm sorry to jump in so late, after the discussions have gone on over six pages already.)

[1]

Roddy stated earlier:

并 can be similar to 'and', but in this case it's acting as an intensifier for the negative '没' - you'll see things like 并不知道, 并没有来, which are just stronger ways of saying 'don't know'; 'didn't come'.

I think Roddy's explanation of the function of "并" as "intensifier for the negative" is great. I have on occasion translated the term as "nevertheless", which also seems to work.

[2]

The difference between "他現在吃"

and 他正在吃。

"他正在吃" means "He is eating" (with "正在" denoting present progressive). "現在" is the adverb for "now".

The form with "現在" embedded between "他" and "吃" is rather awkward and not used. The more preferable alternatives would be "現在他正在吃" (He is eating [just] now.) or

"他現在正在吃".

Note that the forms "現在他吃" and "他吃", while still "grammatical", are usually avoided because of their apparent "abruptness", unless there is some element of contrast, as in

"剛才你吃，現在[輪到]他吃。" (You have already eaten; now it is his turn to eat.)

"剛才不吃，現在他吃。" (Although he did not eat earlier, now he is eating.)

or in answer to some more complete question, such as "他吃不吃糖果？" ("Does he eat candy?" or, depending on context, "Is he allowed to eat candy?")﹕ 他吃! ("He does!")

I hope these suggestions and comments are helpful.