#字詞篇
1. They erased my list and drew up their own plan.
erase和draw up在這里正好表示一對(duì)兒相反意義的詞。表示“擦掉…”和“寫(xiě)上…”
erase除了表示擦掉實(shí)物（筆跡等）之外，還可以用來(lái)表示去除某些抽象物體（如bad memories etc.)，另外，erase也可以指“徹底摧毀…”，語(yǔ)義較強(qiáng)。
draw up除了表示“寫(xiě)下（一般指較為正式地寫(xiě)下…），還可以表示to move a chair near to someone or something
造句：Draw up a chair, and I'll tell you how I successfully erase those bad memories.
2. The catch is that when you're done, everyone in your group gets the same grade.
catch: a hidden or unexpected problem, especially one suspected to be exist because everything seems too good to be true
catch做此種用法時(shí)通常用作單數(shù)
造句：The catch is that you can't enter the competition unless you've spent 100 dollars in the store.
3. Ricky's big claim to fame is that he'll pick the gum off the bottom of a desk and chew it if you pay him fifty cents.
somebody's / something's claim to fame: a place or person's claim to fame is the reason why they are famous—often used humorously to mention that something that is not very important
造句：My main claim to fame is that I once shook Jane's hand.
4. But being good at sewing does not exactly buy you popularity points at school.
buy somebody points這個(gè)表達(dá)很有意思，就是“給某人加分”， point前面可以加上修飾語(yǔ)表示具體在某方面加分。這里就是“在受歡迎度方面給某人加分”
造句：Being capable of singing really buys me much popularity points at school.
5. I realized that Rowley's injury thing is a pretty good racket, so I decided it was time for me to have an injury of my own.
racket: an easy and very profitable way of earning a living/ a way of making a large unfair profit
racket最基本的意思是“喧嘩，吵鬧”，“詐騙，勒索”， 做動(dòng)詞還可以表示“用球拍打…”
這里的意思是“…有利可圖的事兒”
造句：Phone chat lines are a real racket.
6. See, the cast is a great gimmick because everyone wants to sign their names on it.
cast: 這里cast的意思是“石膏”
cast原意為“（一出戲劇或一部電影的）全體演員；鑄件等”，做動(dòng)詞主要意思是“投射（視線(xiàn)，光等）
a strong cast = a lot of good actors
cast doubts/light on something
gimmick: 噱頭，做動(dòng)詞有“暗設(shè)機(jī)關(guān)”的意思，相當(dāng)于trick
造句：They give away free gifts with children's meals as a marketing gimmick.
7. What really ticks me off about that is Rowley is right-handed...
tick somebody off: to annoy someone
造句：Her attitude is really ticking me off.
8. I tried to cash in on some of Rowley's new popularity, but it totally backfired.
cash in: to make a profit from a situation in a way that other people think is wrong or unfair
backfire: 熟詞重現(xiàn)，表示“事與愿違”或“…朝相反的方向發(fā)展”
造句：The record company was trying to cash in on her fame be releasing early teenage recordings.
9. I tried to cheer him up, but all the jokes that usually crack him up weren't working.
cheer up: to become less sad, or to make someone feel less sad
crack up: to laugh a lot at something, or to make someone laugh a lot
造句：Here is a bit of news that will cheer you up
10. I thought I could just crank out my thank-you cards in a half hour...my mind went blank.
crank out: to produce a lot of something very quickly
聯(lián)系之前我們所尖的crank up: to make the sound of something, especially music louder
blank這個(gè)詞經(jīng)常用來(lái)表示（大腦）一片空白/迷茫
blank face/look/expression/eyes
口語(yǔ)中經(jīng)常會(huì)說(shuō)my mind's a blank，表示you cannot remember something
造句：He cranked out three novels' titles in 15 seconds.
#句子篇
1. It's a lot harder to hit a moving target than I thought. Plus, I didn't get a lot of practice. It took Rowley like ten minutes to walk the Big Wheel back up the hill after every trip down.
形容詞hard（或比較級(jí)harder）前經(jīng)常會(huì)伴有表示程度類(lèi)的修飾語(yǔ)，如 a lot, much, way(本書(shū)中也多次出現(xiàn)）...
plus這個(gè)詞在這里是用作連詞，it is used to add more information, 相當(dāng)于besides
另外plus這個(gè)詞的意思也非常多，除了常見(jiàn)的做介詞表示“加，和”之外，還可作名詞表示something that is an advantage, 例如Some knowledge of Spanish is a definite plus in this job.
做形容詞（只用在名詞前）表示good/positive, 例如on the plus side
I didn't get a lot of practice， practice這個(gè)詞既可作名詞，又可作動(dòng)詞， 但是作動(dòng)詞practise(英）， practice(美）主要指運(yùn)動(dòng)方面的，相當(dāng)于exercise
造句：Our homework gets much more than before, plus, much harder.
2. That idea was a total bust, too. My bandage did end up attracting attention from a couple of people, but believe me, they were not the type of people I was going for.
bust: a situation in which the police go into a place in order to catch people doing something illegal
例如a drug bust
boom to bust: The economy went form boom to bust (from increasing to decreasing) very quickly.
bust還可做形容詞，表示broken/ a business that goes bust cannot continue operating
type: 表示某類(lèi)人群，be somebody's type意思是to be the kind of person someone is sexually attracted to
type 在這里還可以換成category， taste等
造句：Your business goes bust, plus, you are not my type.
#作文篇
? ? ?What my younger brother did today really ticked me off. Recently I have decided to buy me some popularity points at school, for the catch is I must win friends as many as possible if I want to be the head of cheerleaders. And I just made up my mind to get a lot of practice on painting plus use it as a gimmick. At noon, I left my castle paintings dry outside right after I finished them. But my crazy brother erased the castle and drew up some stupid unicorns. I thought he just had a screw loose! And I burst into tears, with nothing can crank me up. I thought those paintings would be my claim to fame, but they were just ruined by a little nut!
其他：
from scratch從零開(kāi)始，白手起家
gauze 包扎傷口用的紗布
writing the cards from there was a breeze?
breeze輕而易舉的事兒，小菜一碟
