Part I Words and Expressions

1. Every day, James drove home from the college—where he taught his cowboy class term after term after term, until he could recite the lectures word for word—mulling over the slights of the day: how two little girls, hopscotching on the corner, had seen him brake at the stop sign and thrown pebbles at his car…

mull over: to think about a problem, plan etc for a long time before making a decision

仿句：My boyfriend mulled over my schedule for the graduation trip and decided he would go with me.?

2. She would be poised and confident; she would say, Afternoon, Vivian, and look right at her neighbors with those wide blue eyes.

poised: not moving, but ready to move or do something at any moment

仿句：He has grown into?a mature, poised man. The boyish look she remembered for years now is gone.?

3. ?He had buoyed her up with how too much love was better than too little.

buoy up: to make someone fell happier or more confident.

仿句：In all of those sleepless nights, his smile is the only thing buoying her up, encouraging her to move on.?

4. All that time, Nath let himself think only: When I get to college— He never completed the sentence, but in his imagined future, he floated away, untethered.

untethered: not tied or limited with or as if with a tether

仿句：With a relieved sigh, he felt free, untethered, as if he could go wherever he wants and do whatever he likes.?

5. Her brother himself stood silent, awed and grateful, 1981 glistening in his eyes like a beautiful far-off star, and something wobbled inside Lydia and tumbled into her chest with a clang.?

wobble: to move unsteadily from side to side, or make something do this.?

仿句：At everyone's surprise, the newly-established buidling wobbled and fell, resulting in a massacre.?

【-umble詞語辨析】

看書的過程中出現(xiàn)很多-umble結(jié)尾的詞，做一個總結(jié)順便記憶。

@crumble: v. 弄碎坷随、粉碎找前。名詞還有面包屑之意循集。

to break apart into lots of little pieces, or make something do this.?

①The shell snaps between his fingers, like a popcorn hull, and the insect crumbles to sulfur-colored powder.

②As they spoke, he would crumble crackers into a cup of celery soup, or peel waxed paper from a wedge of cheese sandwich, and pause, confused, certain he’d done this before, uncertain whether he was reviewing his studies or the whole schoolday. ”

@mumble: v. 含糊地說荣瑟。念這個詞世剖，想象嘴嘟嘟囔囔說話的樣子杆怕。

to say something too quietly or not clearly enough, so that other people cannot understand you.

① “Look, Nath,” Jack mumbles. “If Lydia told you that I—”

@rumble: v. 隆隆作響。句①指肚子餓發(fā)出的響聲攒盈。句②指門打開時的聲音抵拘。

to make a series of long low sounds,especailly a long distance from you.

① Only in the car, when his stomach begins to rumble, does he realize there’d been no lunch at Louisa’s apartment, that he had never actually expected there to be.

② There’s a pause as he slips on his shoes, and a moment later, the garage door rumbles open.?

@stumble: v. 蹣跚、踉蹌型豁。句②stumble是指Lydia做題開始磕磕絆絆僵蛛。

to walk in an unsteady way and often almost fall

① Nath stumbles backward a few steps, glaring at Jack, at his father for interrupting, at the elm tree itself for not being farther away.

② In the meantime she stumbled through the assignments, copying the odd-numbered problems from the answers at the back of the book and fudging the even ones as best she could.

@tumble: v. 摔倒、絆倒迎变、弄亂

to fall down quickly and suddenly, especailly with a rolling movement

① Both of them tumble back into the grass, and at last Hannah lets go.?

② The paper sack tumbled to the ground.?

@jumble: 混雜充尉、使混亂、搞亂

a lot of things mixed together in an untidy way, without any order.

① Equations jumbled and rejumbled, hidden messages jumping out at her.?

@fumble: 摸索

try to hold, move, or find something with your hands in an awkward way.

① Jack fumbled in his hip pocket for his keys. “Are you sure your brother wants you hanging out with a guy like me?

② Louisa moans, arching her back, and James fumbles with the buttons on her blouse, peeling it away and unsnapping her bra and catching her breasts, heavy and round, in his cupped hands.

Part II Thoughts

She grew willowy; Nath grew tall…What about Hannah? …a child fond of nooks and corners, who curled up in closets, behind sofas, under dangling tablecloths, staying out of sight as well as out of mind, to ensure the terrain of the family did not change.

三個孩子的軌跡

He understood everything she did not say, which at its core was: Don’t let go.

Lydia could feel him aching to escape so badly that everything else was falling away.

Lydia和Nath之間存在某種默契衣形，他們相互依靠取暖驼侠。這也是長久以來支持Lydia繼續(xù)下去的支柱。Lydia讓母親開心谆吴，讓父親歡喜倒源，努力維持著一個美麗的假象。然而Nath找到了離開的契機(jī)纪铺，而Lydia只能被困在這里相速，一個人掙扎碟渺。Lydia阻止不了Nath的離開鲜锚，也阻止不了她內(nèi)心世界的傾覆突诬。

The smoke burned in her lungs and made her head spin and suddenly she felt sharp and aware. Like cutting your finger, she thought: the pain, and the blood, reminded you that you were alive.

第一次抽煙，反而給她鮮活自由的感覺。Marilyn的期望，Lydia曾對自己的許諾俐筋，讓她的生活繃得緊緊的看成，作者也時不時在提醒弦斷的那一天。

Lydia was fifteen and a half, and winter break had just begun. In five months she would be dead.?

看到小說第一句“Lydia is dead." 時幔翰，還以為這是一部懸疑小說，還在不斷猜測兇手。但往下讀反而是慢慢被作者筆下Lee一家的生存狀態(tài)所吸引周拐。Lydia為何而死也漸漸現(xiàn)出眉目。但仍有些問題懸而未決凰兑。余下的這些日子又發(fā)生了什么妥粟？壓死Lydia的最后一根稻草是什么？……