Chapter 18
(一）Words and Phrases
1. Mess with: meddle or interfer with so as to spoil or cause trouble
搅浑水
E.g. Don't mess with me. 别惹我。
The kind of stuff could really mess with your head if without stable support.如果没有持续稳定的支持，这些事真的会搞得你一头乱麻。
2. Putter: occupy oneself in a desultory but pleasant manner, doing a number of small tasks or not concentrating on anything particular.
从容做事，在一种小惬意、不急不慌的状态下做些闲暇之事，闲情逸致、随意不羁
E.g. It would be pleased in puttering to read some books and surfing among the abundant plots and the interchanges of ideas.
随性翻看一些书，并在丰富多彩的情节和各种思想的交融中徜徉，是蛮惬意的。
3. Flesh and blood: used to emphasize that a person is a physical, living being with human emotions or frailties, often in contrast to something abstract, spiritual, or mechanical.
骨血, 血亲
E.g. People usually care about his own flesh and blood more than others' child.
人们往往对自家孩子比对人家的孩子更在意。
4. Live up to: to meet somebody's expectations or desires or match somebody's good example.
够得上，达到预期标准
E.g. My article fails to live up to Eric's standard despite of multiple times of amendments.
5. Sober
未醉的，清醒的，严肃的
E.g. He never came home from work sober.
他回家时永远是醉醺醺的。
6. Mellow: pleasantly smooth or soft; free from harshness.
醉酒后的飘飘然状态(informal)
7. Throw (or knock) someone for a loop : surprise or astonish someone; catch someone off guard.
不提防, 突然惊吓到某人
E.g. She was thrown for a loop by his sudden blow.
8. Patronize: treat with an apparent kindness that betrays a feeling of superiority.
屈尊俯就地对待，高人一等的样子, 类似的词还有condescend.
E.g. Don't patronize me! 别小瞧我！
9. Crash out: go to sleep, especially suddenly or in an improvised setting.
睡觉, 临时睡在某处
E.g. Do you mind if I crash out in your floor tonight?
你介意我今晚在你家打地铺吗？
10. Snap: suddenly lose one's self-control.
突然情绪失控
E.g. My patience finally snapped.
我最后还是崩不住了。
When he said that, something snapped inside her.
他说到这，她的内心开始澎湃。
11. Keep the books
记帐
Explaining:其中 books 解释为a set of records or accounts. 还有一种说法：cook the books,指在帐面上做手脚。
12. I'm done. 我受够了，无语
I'm done to be me. 我该做的都做了。
13. Taper off: gradually lessen.
逐渐减少
E.g. If the rise in consumer prices started to taper off, demand for gold as a hedge against the inflation may be decreased.
如果消费价格增长逐渐放缓，那么用黄金作为对冲通货膨胀的需求可能也会降低。
14. Open-and-shut： admitting no doubt or dispute.
一目了然的
E.g. The attorney thinks it is not just an open-and -shut case.
律师认为这个案子并不简单。
15. Borrow against:
借贷，抵押，担保
(二）Extracts and self-interpretation
Extracts:
Because if you think someone is monster and the whole world says he's a Saint, you begain to think that you're the bad person.
Self-interpretation:
The dissidents would be sidelined by the mass. The crowds of mob may influence the direction of public thoughts. Tranny of the majority may produce unfair prejudices. The keyboard men of web abound. Only the duration of time can test if the statement is correct.
Extracts:
You want me to respect you as a man, then act like a man!
Self-interpretation:
Respects need to be earned.
Extracts:
My mom kept insisting that they take a statement and open a case.
Self-interpretation:
The simple thing for averages became so difficult when it occurred in the woman，who took the vulnerable status in the patriarchal society. Her sustained challenges could hardly shake the root of cultural and customary inside people's minds. Every step on the road forward would encounter huge sufferings and difficulties. I can imagine her helpless and rage. I also adore her courages of unafraid and spirits of unremitting.
Extracts:
She had always been independent, self-sufficient, but she'd lost the part of herself at the mercy of someone's failed dream.
Self-interpretation:
The devotion of woman should be significant for herself. Failure is not a bad thing, but the failed dreamer would be lost into his failure and frustrated to start all over again.
Extracts:
I grew up in a world of violence, but I myself was never violent at all.
My mother had exposed me a different world than the one she grew up in.
I immersed myself in those worlds and I came back looking at the world a different way.
Self-interpretation:
Go out to see a wider world, and improve our knowledge from this. The significance of touring is to test our existing knowledge and extend our cognitive breadth. Don't be confined by limits of existing decrees and make more adventure to discover more .
