英语小说《坟场之书》中比较句疑问(the only place colder was...)

问题描述

各位老师好：我在阅读英语小说《坟场之书》时遇到一句话（下文中加粗部分），看不太明白还请给位老师帮忙解答，谢谢！

The old Roman’s hair was pale in the moonlight, and he wore the toga in which he had been buried, with, beneath it, a thick woolen vest and leggings because this was a cold country at the edge of the world, and the only place colder was Caledonia to the North, where the men were more animal than human and covered in orange fur, and were too savage even to be conquered by the Romans, so would soon be walled off in their perpetual winter.

书中的中文翻译为：除了北边的爱尔兰，没有地方比这更冷了。 可是我自己的理解怎么也和这翻译对不上，还请各位老师指点。

PS.如有可能还请老师们讲解一下相关比较句的用法，谢谢！

老师答疑

沅老师：

the only place colder was Caledonia to the North 的字面意思是：唯一更冷的地方是北边的爱尔兰。其中的比较级 colder 是作定语修饰 place 的，本来应该放在名词 place 前面，但为了强调就后置了，相当于一个省略的定语从句（that is colder）。其实这个 colder 后还暗示省略了一个than短语(than this place)，即句子的实际意思是：唯一比这里更冷的地方是北边的爱尔兰。转换一下就是：除了北边的爱尔兰，没有地方比这更冷了。

j老师：

this was a cold country, and the only place colder (than it) was Caledonia,

这是一个寒冷地国家，唯一比它冷地地方是在它北方的caledonia，也就是说Caledonia是最冷的，这个国家”第二冷“，意思就是说特别冷。Caledonia是希腊语，指的是苏格兰高地那些地方，这样翻译无非是为了简化问题，使中文读者易于理解。