After breakfast, I sent the children to school and then I went to the shops.

Send the kids to school ^{送孩子上学(每天早上让孩子出门去学校)}

场景想象：你开车或走路把孩子送到校门口，看着他们进校门，然后你就离开了。地道的表达为：Drop the kids off at school.

• It’s time to send the kids to school.  ^{该送孩子们去学校了/该让他们去上学了。}
• We decided to send our kids to a private school. ^{我们决定把孩子送进私立学校。}
• I drop off the kids in the morning, and my wife picks them up in the afternoon. ^{Pick up 接回}

The children were at school, my husband was at work and the house was quiet.

school 和 work 前不加冠词表其功能，因为不是指具体那个学校或具体干什么工作，只是泛指他们在干什么。home 为副词，所以也不加冠词。

In a short time I was busy mixing butter and flour and my hands were soon covered with sticky pastry.

be busy doing sth. ^{忙于做某事}

• Her eyes were fixed on her plate and in a short time, she was busy eating.
• Meanwhile, my tongue was busy searching out the hole where the tooth had been.
• I hate to interrupt a man when he's busy working, but would you mind coming with me to the station?

be covered with… ^盖满…

• He picked up a long pipe which was covered with coins and opened one of the baskets.

At exactly that moment, the telephone rang.

at exactly that moment ^{就在那时，恰恰在此时}

• That’s exactly what I wanted to tell you.

Nothing could have been more annoying.

I picked up the receiver between two sticky fingers and was dismayed when I recognized the voice of Helen Bates.

pick up the receiver ^{捡起、拾起话筒、拿起听筒、话筒}

• The receiver had already clicked into place.^{听筒咔的一声放回原位了。}
• She picked up the receiver and started to dial.^{她拿起听筒开始拨号。}

It took me ten minutes to persuade her to ring back later.

At last I hung up the receiver.

I had no sooner got back to the kitchen than the doorbell rang loud enough to wake the dead.

no sooner…than… = hardly…when… ^{刚…就…（用于过去完成时）}