Expressions

Nath, watching his sister's eyes blink and redden, felt a twinge of pity cut through his anger.

twinge: a sudden sharp feeling, a sharp stab of pain.

仿句: WIth all having said and done, she felt a twinge of sadness, and guilt too.

一句話足以表達(dá)哥哥對妹妹的愛。盡管自己被哈佛錄取，全家人的喜悅輕而易舉地被妹妹的一句‘物理課不及格’一掃而光，看到妹妹哭紅的眼睛，哥哥還是心生憐憫。

In nine months, he would be gone, and that knowledge took the sting out of all that had happened.

sting: the upsetting or bad effect of a situation.

take the sting out of: make something less unpleasant or painful.

仿句: A squeeze on my shoulder took the sting out of her words.

哥哥將要去哈佛上學(xué)，他終于要離開這個(gè)家了，他不用再忍受父母對Lydia的專寵，不用再屢次安慰承受不了太多愛的妹妹，這一切終于要結(jié)束了。

After three comfortless days, she was not ready to forgive him yet, but the gesture warmed her, like a gulp of tea on a cold winter day.

gulp: a large amount of something that you swallow quickly, or the action of swallowing.

仿句: She rushed out of the cabin ?and gulped in the the fresh air in the countryside.?

三天不說話了，妹妹還沒打算原諒哥哥。但是那個(gè)試探性的笑容還是讓妹妹覺得無限溫暖，像寒冬里的一口熱茶。這些細(xì)膩的小心思，讀來十分親切。

Lydia felt her heart in her chest like a pellet of rice, sliding down out of reach. 'I have friends, Daddy,' she said, though she knew this was a lie.

pellet: a small ball of a substance.

仿句: He fed his cat fish pellets every day.

Lydia過生日，媽媽送的禮物是一本巨大的人體解剖書，爸爸給的也是書：關(guān)于如何開展人際交往?？吹竭@里，簡直想要對Lydia的父母大喊一聲：give her a break!

He made a mental note to come up with something better for her next gift.

make a mental note: to make a special effort to remember something.

仿句: She made a mental note not to riffle through his stuff again.

爸爸的心思是偏女性化的，I guess it would be another boring book, huh?

Before Nath could snap the photo, she dropped her gaze back to the book, hair curtaining her face.... Dogs, Lydia thought. She tried to picture herself as a dog, something docile and friendly, a golden retriever with a black smile and a fringy tail, but she did not feel friendly and purebred and blond. She felt unsociable and suspicious, like the Wolffs' dog down the street, a mutt, braced for hostility.

braced for: to mentally or physically prepare yourself or someone else for something unpleasant that is going to happen.

仿句: He has a bit of hostility in his character, always bracing for an argument.

面對哥哥的鏡頭，Lydia把目光移回書本，頭發(fā)遮住了臉。她要微笑嗎？她把自己想象成一條狗，一個(gè)金黃色的純種金毛，笑容可掬，溫順友好。可轉(zhuǎn)念一想，自己一點(diǎn)也不擅長社交，不友好，不純種，沒有金色的毛發(fā)，如果自己是一條狗，那也只能是隔壁那條充滿敵意的雜種狗。

She hadn't realized it was so obvious, and a hot flush flared in her cheeks and trickled down her neck. Beneath her, the seat creaked and a spring prodded her thigh, like a knuckle.?

flare: to suddenly begin to burn, or to burn more brightly for a short time.

仿句: Tensions flared across the town.

trickle: if liquid trickles somewhere, it flows slowly in drops or in a thin stream.

仿句: Tears trickled down her face.?

在Jack面前，Lydia 紅了臉，身體不會(huì)說謊，自己分明變得高度緊張，感管敏銳異常，座椅下的彈簧也開始繃緊，發(fā)出了一陣聲響。