PART 1 Summary
At the age of 22, Trevor's mother struck out on her own and worked as a typist, a job which used to be exclusively occupied by white Caucasian. Estranged from her family, she moved to a large expatriate community where she met a 46-year-old Swiss/German man named Robert, the future biological father of Trevor. At the age of 25, She gave birth to Trevor, a mixed baby, which was a crime under apartheid. Suffice it to say that back then this audacious black woman bore huge risks and finger-pointing for having and raising a mixed child. Anyhow, she made it through those hard times and never considered fleeing her country.
As far as Trevor is concerned, he was frustrated by the fact that he could not be with his father outdoors and be grounded in his grandmother's house, stripped of the opportunities to play with other children in the vicinity. Nonetheless, unwitting to those hardships and terrors his family went through, Trevor did not have many harsh childhood memories.
PART 2 Expressions
1.Based on those classifications, millions of people were uprooted and relocated.
uproot: (v.) 本意是連根拔起廊移，引申為 to make sb leave their home for a new place, especially when this is difficult or upsetting
He rejected the idea of uprooting himself and moving to America.
2. Indian areas were segregated from colored areas, which were segregated from black areas—all of them segregated from white areas and separated from one another by buffer zones of empty land.
buffer zone: an area between two armies that is intended to separate them so that they do not fight
buffer: (n.) sth or sb that protects one thing or person from being harmed by another
She often had to act as a buffer between father and son.
(v.) to reduce bad effects of sth
Consumer spending is buffering the effects of the recession.
3. A million things had to go right for us to slip through the cracks the way we did for as long as we did.
slip through the cracks/ slip through the net: if sb or sth slips through the net/ cracks, they are not caught or dealt with by the system that is supposed to catch them or deal with them
In a class of 30 children, it is easy for one to slip through the net and learn nothing.
4. Among those reforms was the token hiring of black workers in low-level white-collar jobs. Like typists.
token: (n.) 象征 ; (a.)
1. done as a first sign that an agreement, promise etc will be kept and that more will be done later
A small token payment will keep the bank happy.
2. a token action, change etc is small and not very important, and is usually only done so that sb can pretend that they are dealing with a problem
The government thinks it can get away with token gestures on environmental issues
3. a token woman/ black: sb who is included in a group to make everyone think that the group has all types of people in it, when this is not really true
5. There was also a curfew: After a certain hour, blacks had to be back home in the township or risk arrest.
1. a law that forces people to stay indoors after a particular time at night, or the time people must be indoors
The government imposed a night-time curfew throughout the country.
The whole town was placed under curfew.
2. the time decided by a parent, by which a child must be home or asleep in the evening
6. she learned the rules of navigating the city from the other black women who had contrived to live there: prostitutes.
contrive to do sth: formal, to succeed in doing sth in spite of difficulties
Schindler contrived to save more than 1,000 Polish Jews from the Nazis.
7. Something clicked.
1. informal, to happen in a good or successful way, especially because people are working together well
If everything clicks, we should have a good season.
2. informal, if two people click, they like, understand, and agree with each other
They clicked straight away.
8.Estranged from her family, pregnant by a man she could not be seen with in public, she was alone.
When I was born, my mother hadn’t seen her family in three years, but she wanted me to know them and wanted them to know me, so the prodigal daughter returned.
estranged from: no longer seeing or talking to a relative or good friend, because of an argument
Mill became estranged from his family after the marriage.
sb's estranged husband/ wife: sb's husband or wife whom they are no longer living with (separate with a legal divorce)
prodigal son/ daughter: sb who leaves their family and home without the approval of their family, but who is sorry later and returns, 有點(diǎn)“浪子回頭”的意思
prodigal: 另一個(gè)常見意思是“揮霍的吸申，浪費(fèi)的” a prodigal lifestyle
9. And my mother, true to her word, was prepared for him not to be involved.
true: loyal. faithful
Throughout the whole ordeal, she remained true to her husband.
true to one's word, principle etc: behaving in the way you said you would or according to principles which you believe in
He was true to his word and said nothing about it to Lisa.
PART 3 Thoughts
I didn't have any friends. I didn't know any kids besides my cousins. I wasn't a lonely kid -- I was good at being alone. I'd read books, play with the toy that I had, make up imaginary worlds. I lived inside my head. I still live inside my head. To this day you can leave me alone for hours and I'm perfectly happy entertaining myself. I have to remember to be with people.
這段話讓我想起了Elon Musk的傳記里也寫到過Musk小時(shí)候幾乎不和同齡人玩耍欲芹，總是沉浸在自己的世界里讀書和思考眨层。當(dāng)然這種經(jīng)歷對于Musk而言是他天性使然鲸鹦，而對于Trevor而言則是被動(dòng)的選擇周循。個(gè)人認(rèn)為测蘑，Trevor與Musk如今的成就與他們這種自小培養(yǎng)起來的這種自我對話磅氨、自我學(xué)習(xí)甚至自娛自樂的能力不無關(guān)系既棺。維基上說Trevor會(huì)說包括英文讽挟、德語、南非荷蘭語在內(nèi)的六種語言丸冕，學(xué)習(xí)能力之強(qiáng)大令人傾佩耽梅。環(huán)顧自身，如果有個(gè)三四天的假期一定會(huì)至少參加一次聚會(huì)胖烛，即使宅在家里的那幾天也時(shí)常與微博微信相伴眼姐，每天關(guān)注著這別人的動(dòng)態(tài)，卻少了靜下心來好好學(xué)習(xí)的時(shí)間佩番，更很少真正和自己相處众旗。有人說，孤獨(dú)是現(xiàn)代社會(huì)里的奢侈品趟畏。我認(rèn)為其實(shí)不然贡歧，無論在哪個(gè)社會(huì)哪個(gè)時(shí)代里都有太多可以讓人分心的東西。除了那些天性內(nèi)向的人赋秀，對于大多數(shù)人來說利朵，要學(xué)會(huì)享受孤獨(dú)、利用好獨(dú)處的時(shí)間去做有益的事是一種需要慢慢去培養(yǎng)和修煉的能力猎莲。
