1. The central question

Chapter 5 tells us about the journey the Su's family set out for the capital by taking the voyage down the Yangtse. 

2. Interesting sentences

1. Tseyu was taller, thin, and not as robust as his brother, while Tungpo, bore with very prominent cheekbones and a well-proportioned jaw, was handsome and had a more muscular build.

2. As Su was reflecting on the toil of human life, his attention was arrested by a gray falcon circling at ease and in freedom in the sky without a thought for the morrow, and he wondered whether the honors and emoluments of office were worth the fetters of civilized life. The falcon became a symbol of the emancipated human spirt.

When you're the jouney of pursuing the honors and emoluments of office, you will wonder does it gives you more freedom or gives you more fetters in your life. For me, I like the feeling of being free like the falcon circling at ease in the sky even I may not have such honors like others. And in next July, after graduation, I'm going to choosing a job which I'm fond of. Because these days, many people doing their job without passion or enthusiasm, they're just spending their days.  Fewer fetters, more freedom, more passion.

3.好词好句

1. ... a companion of the Taoist, aleady bore witness to the elevation of his spirit.

The bare huts of the cottagers bore witness to their extreme poverty. 

在第五章中有2处都用了bear/give witness (to sth)：to provide evidence of the truth of sth

2. It was a very small town, with no more than three or four hundrend families, situated on the sharp slop of the hillside. 

situated：in a particular place or position e.g. My school is situated near a lake. 

3. Emperor Jentsung, anxious to secure good talent...

"Today I have secured two future premiers for my descendants. " 

If you secure something that you want or need, you obtain it, often after a lot of effort.

4. It would have been slightly embarrassing if the baby had been born a year earlier, for it would have meant that the young poet had indulged himself during the first year of mouring his mother.

这里的for表示“因为”(used to introduce the reason for sth mentioned in the previous statement)