【单词】

1.bend  n.

（路、管道等的）弯曲处，转弯处 A bend in a road, pipe, or other long thin object is a curve or angle in it.

2.mindfuck  n./a.

an idea or concept that shakes one's previously held beliefs or assumptions about the nature of reality.

In Eden Park, everyone looked like me, but we couldn’t have been more different. It was the biggest mindfuck I’ve ever experienced.

22 Facts That Are Small But Still A Total Mindfuck

21 greatest mindfuck movies

3.trappings  n.

the objects, activities, etc., that are associated with a particular condition, situation, or position in life:the visible signs of something;

the possessions, clothes, etc. that are connected with a particular situation, job or social position

Try being a white person who adopts the trappings of black culture while still living in the white community. You will face more hate and ridicule and ostracism than you can even begin to fathom.

They enjoyed all the trappings of wealth.

the trappings of fame/power/success

Despite its democratic trappings, the country's government was a dictatorship.

4.disavow [ˌdɪsəˈvaʊ]

If you disavow something, you say that you are not connected with it or responsible for it;

to say that you are not responsible for (something):to deny that you know about or are involved in (something)

But when they see you as a fellow tribe member attempting to disavow the tribe, that is something they will never forgive.

He disavowed the actions of his subordinates.

She now seems to be trying to disavow her earlier statements.

5.sow  v.

If someone sows an undesirable feeling or situation, they cause it to begin and develop;

to cause (fear, doubt, etc.) to affect many people

When apartheid came, colored people defied easy categorization, so the system used them—quite brilliantly—to sow confusion, hatred, and mistrust.

Threats of war have sown fear in the region. [=have made many people in the region afraid]

They have been deliberately attempting to sow discord. [=to cause people to disagree and argue with each other]

Instead, the session has sowed confusion.

6.eyeball v.

凝视;盯着看 If you eyeball someone or something, you stare at them.

You were what the government said you were. Sometimes that came down to a lone clerk eyeballing your face and making a snap decision.

The guard eyeballed him pretty hard despite his pass.

The police eyeballed [=eyed] the suspects.

The children were eyeballing the desserts.

7 snap  a. ↑/  v. ↓

①(决定、行动等)突然的，仓促的，鲁莽的 A snap decision or action is one that is taken suddenly, often without careful thought.

I think this is too important for a snap decision...

It's important not to make snap judgments...

②突然精神崩溃;突然失控 If someone snaps, or if something snaps inside them, they suddenly stop being calm and become very angry because the situation has become too tense or too difficult for them.

I knew he had a demon inside him, and I hated that; it terrified me how violent and dangerous he was when he snapped.

He finally snapped when she prevented their children from visiting him one weekend...

She snapped under the pressure of the job.

He just snapped and started swearing at everybody.

8.mean  a.

（指人或动物）脾气极坏的，残忍的 If you describe a person or animal as mean, you are saying that they are very bad-tempered and cruel.

not kind to people:cruel or harsh

Very charming when he wanted to be, incredibly funny, but fuck he could be mean.He’d grown up in the homelands, where you had to fight to survive.

...the meanest fighter in the world.

the mean stepmother in the fairy tale

9.vent  v.

发泄,宣泄（情感）If you vent your feelings, you express them forcefully.

He wasn’t doing this to teach the kid a lesson. He was just beating him. He was a grown man venting his rage on a twelve-year-old boy.

She telephoned her best friend to vent her frustration...

She vented her frustrations by kicking the car.

Don't vent your anger on me.

10. on at

不停地（数落、抱怨、纠缠）If you say that someone goes on at you, you mean that they continually criticize you, complain to you, or ask you to do something.

At home Abel and my mom got in a huge fight. She was always on him about his temper.

She's been on at me for weeks to show her round the stables...

He used to keep on at me about the need to win...

She hadn't learned to drive, but she had kept going on at him to let her try.

Mummy's always on at me about cleaning up my room!

【词组】

1.assimilate into [əˈsɪməleɪt]

（使）同化；（使）融入 When people such as immigrants assimilate into a community or when that community assimilates them, they become an accepted part of it.

People are willing to accept you if they see you as an outsider trying to assimilate into their world.

Schools were used to assimilate the children of immigrants.

She was thoroughly/completely assimilated to/into her new country. [=she had completely adapted to her new country] 

They found it hard to assimilate to/into American society.

2.hold out for sth [no passive]

to cause a delay in reaching an agreement because you hope you will gain sth; to not accept an offer because you want a better one

They were second-class citizens, denied the rights of white people but given special privileges that black people didn’t have, just to keep them holding out for more.

The union negotiators are holding out for a more generous pay settlement.

They’ve been holding out for an even higher price.

3.come down to 

(问题、决定等)归结为 If a problem, decision, or question comes down to a particular thing, that thing is the most important factor involved.

You were what the government said you were. Sometimes that came down to a lone clerk eyeballing your face and making a snap decision.

People talk about various reasons for the company's failure, but it all comes down to one thing: a lack of leadership.

It's nice to be rich, but when you come (right) down to it, it's more important to be healthy and happy.

Walter Crowley says the problem comes down to money...

I think that it comes down to the fact that people do feel very dependent on

their automobile...

What it comes down to is, there are bad people out there, and somebody has to deal with them.

4.peek out

to show slightly: to be slightly visible

— usually +out

Her slip peeked out from beneath her skirt. [=a small part of her slip could be seen beneath her skirt]

Those mixed bloodlines were always lurking, waiting to peek out, and fear of losing their status kept white people in line.

Her feet peeked out from the end of the blanket.

A toe peeked through the hole in his sock.

5.keep sb in line  ↑

Fig. to make certain that someone behaves properly. 

It's very hard to keep Bill in line. He's sort of rowdy.

The teacher had to struggle to keep the class in line.

6.split up

①(使)分手;(使)离婚 If two people split up, or if someone or something splits them up, they end their relationship or marriage.

I was beginning to think that nothing could ever split us up...

Research suggests that children whose parents split up are more likely to drop out of high school...

②（使）分离;（使）分道扬镳 If a group of people split up or are split up, they go away in different directions.

Do they give up their white status to go and live as colored people in a colored area? Or would they split up, the mother taking the colored child to live in the ghetto while the father stayed white to make a living to support them?

This situation has split up the family...

Touring the album temporarily split the band up.

7.yearn for/to do

渴望;渴求;向往 If someone yearns for something that they are unlikely to get, they want it very much.

to feel a strong desire or wish for something or to do something

Many colored people lived in this limbo, a true purgatory, always yearning for the white fathers who disowned them, and they could be horribly racist to one another as a result.

He yearned for freedom...

I yearned to be a movie actor.

She yearned to escape from her office job.

8.screw you/her/him etc. [offensive]

used for expressing your anger

9.have it rough

to have a difficult existence ;ひどい目に遭う

（尤指逆境中的）生活，生活方式You can refer to someone's way of life as an existence, especially when they live under difficult conditions.

Colored people had it rough. Imagine: You’ve been brainwashed into believing that your blood is tainted. You’ve spent all your time assimilating and aspiring to whiteness. Then, just as you think you’re closing in on the finish line, some fucking guy named Nelson Mandela comes along and flips the country on its head. Now the finish line is...

Our ancestors had it rough compared to us.

10.brainwash sb into  v ↑

给…洗脑；向…强行灌输 If you brainwash someone, you force them to believe something by continually telling them that it is true, and preventing them from thinking about it properly.

I'd been brainwashed into believing I was worthless...

We were brainwashed to believe we were all equal.

Does advertising brainwash children?

11.flip sth on it's head ↑

Literally, the idea is that of turning something upside-down.

Something "flipped on its head" has been figuratively turned upside down. It has been altered so profoundly that up is down, left is right, and a person's expectations have been completely overwhelmed.

12.throw away

错过，浪费(机会、优势或好处) If you throw away an opportunity, advantage, or benefit, you waste it, rather than using it sensibly.

Why are you trying to be black? Why do you speak that click-click language? Look at your light skin. You’re almost there and you’re throwing it away.

We should have won. We threw it away.

She threw away [=wasted] an opportunity.

You had a chance to do something great, and you threw it away.

13.put on airs

矫揉造作；装腔作势；做作 If you say that someone is putting on airs or giving themselves airs, you are criticizing them for behaving as if they are better than other people.

to act in a way that shows you think you are better than other people

I could speak perfect English, and I barely spoke Afrikaans, the language colored people were supposed to speak. So colored people thought that I thought I was better than them. They would mock my accent, like I was putting on airs.

We're poor and we never put on airs.

Some of her old friends have accused her of putting on airs since she became wealthy.

She's very rich, but she doesn't give herself airs.

14.take turns doing

If people take turns doing or using something or take it in turns to do or use something, they do or use it one after another in order to share the responsibility or opportunity of doing or using it.

One year I got a brand-new bike during the summer holidays. My cousin Mlungisi and I were taking turns riding around the block.

We take turns washing the dishes.  

The kids took turns on the swing.

15.skip along/down...

If you skip along, you move almost as if you are dancing, with a series of little jumps from one foot to the other.

to move forward in a light or playful way by taking short, quick steps and jumps

I was so happy that a girl had spoken to me that it didn’t fully sink in that they’d stolen my bicycle. I ran back home, smiling and skipping along.

The kids skipped happily down the street.

They saw the man with a little girl skipping along behind him...

We went skipping down the street arm in arm...

16.sink in  ↑

终于被充分理解;终于被完全领悟 When a statement or fact sinks

in, you finally understand or realize it fully.

to become completely known, felt, or understood

I had to tell him what to do over and over before it finally sank in.

The fact that she's left me still hasn't really sunk in.

The implication took a while to sink in.

The full scale of the disaster has yet to sink in.

17. (a) thick/thin skin

◇ If you have(a) thin skin, you are easily upset or offended by the things other people say or do.

He has such a thin skin that he can't even take a little good-natured teasing.

◇ If you have (a) thick skin, you are not easily upset or offended by the things other people say and do.

She has pretty thick skin when it comes to criticism.

If you want to perform publicly, you'll need to grow a thicker skin. [=become less sensitive to criticism]

By that point I’d developed thick skin. I was used to being bullied. I shrugged it off and went back to picking berries.

18.shrug off ↑

把…不当回事;对…置之不理;对…满不在乎 If you shrug something off, you ignore it or treat it as if it is not really important or serious.

He shrugged off the criticism...

He just laughed and shrugged it off.

I warned him about the storm but he just shrugged it off.

19.be beaten to a pulp [pʌlp]

把…打得稀巴烂；把…打成重伤 If someone is beaten to a pulp or beaten to pulp, they are hit repeatedly until they are very badly injured.

used to say that someone or something is very badly beaten, mashed, smashed, etc.

When I ran inside I looked like I’d been beaten to a pulp because I was bawling my eyes out and was covered in red-purple berry juice.

His face had been beaten to a pulp (= very badly beaten).

I tried to talk myself out of a fight and got beaten to a pulp instead by three other boys.

He threatened to beat them to a (bloody) pulp.

20.bawl sb's eyes out ↑

To bawl your eyes out is to cry loudly especially for a long time.

It's the saddest book I've ever read. I bawled my eyes out at the end.

21.burst out doing

to begin doing sth suddenly

突然…起来 If someone bursts out laughing, crying, or making another noise, they suddenly start making that noise. You can also say that a noise bursts out.

In between sobs I told her the story. “These kids…the mulberry tree…they threw berries at me…” When I finished, she burst out laughing. “It’s not funny!” I said.

They both burst out [=busted out] laughing.

Then the applause burst out...

Everyone burst out into conversation.

22.beat up

痛打；殴打 If someone beats a person up, they hit or kick the person many times.

“No, no, Trevor,” she said. “I’m not laughing because it’s funny. I’m laughing out of relief. I thought you’d been beaten up. I thought this was blood. I’m laughing because it’s only berry juice.”

A gang of bullies threatened to beat him up.

He was beaten up badly by the bullies.

23.joke around (with sb)

※1. To act a musingly and without seriousness: 

We didn't mean to appear rude—we were just joking around.

2. To fool someone lightheartedly: 

I was just joking around with you when I said that I cut my hair.

He was more like a big brother than anything. He’d joke around with me, have fun.

24.in a flash

very quickly and suddenly

Someone would cut us off in traffic. Abel would yell out the window. The other guy would honk and yell back. In a flash Abel would be out of our car, over to theirs, grabbing the guy through the driver’s-side window, screaming in his face, raising a fist.

The weekend seemed to be over in a flash.

The answer came to me like a flash.

I'll be back in a flash.

The idea came to me in a flash.

25.cut sb off

to stop (someone) from talking

I started to explain. My mother cut me off. “Don’t tell him,” she said.

I was in the middle of telling a story when she cut me off [=she interrupted me] to ask about dinner.

He spoke for 12 minutes until his teacher finally cut him off.

26.on sb's side

(战争、争论中)支持，站在…一边 If you are on someone's side, you are supporting them in an argument or a war.

But in that moment I knew exactly what I had to say to get the monster on my side.

Get that employee on your side and then work together towards a solution...

Some of the younger people seem to be on the side of reform.

He has the Democrats on his side...

27.get back at sb

to do sth bad to sb who has done sth bad to you; to get revenge on sb;

to do something to hurt or upset someone after they have hurt or upset you

We were almost family, and I knew if I made him feel like his family had been insulted, he’d help me get back at the boys.

I'll find a way of getting back at him!

She was trying to get back at him for humiliating her.

28.step in

介入，干预，插手(棘手问题) If you step in, you get involved in a difficult situation because you think you can or should help with it.

It was strange, but in that moment I realized that if I said the right things I could get him to step in and do something.

�He stepped in and took charge.

She stepped in before a fight could start.

29.laugh off  [læf]

对…一笑置之；笑言以对 If you laugh off a difficult or serious situation, you try to suggest that it is amusing and unimportant, for example by making a joke about it.

I told him the story, the names they called me, the way they attacked me. My mother kept laughing it off, telling me to get over it, that it was kids being kids, no big deal.

The couple laughed off rumors that their marriage was in trouble...

The injury was serious, but he laughed it off.

30.like hell

with a lot of energy and speed

He jumped out. I jumped out. As soon as the kids saw me they knew exactly what was happening. They scattered and ran like hell.

We've been working like hell since morning.

When I say “go,” run like hell.

31.make a dash for

（为逃离等而)飞速奔向，猛冲向 If you make a dash for a place, you run there very quickly, for example to escape from someone or something.

Abel was quick. Good Lord, he was fast. The ringleader had made a dash for it and was trying to climb over a wall.

I made a dash for the front door but he got there before me...

Hand clamped over his mouth, he made a dash for the bathroom.

32.be beholden to sb

欠…人情的；受…恩惠的；对…负有义务的 If you are beholden to someone, you are in debt to them in some way or you feel that you have a duty to them because they have helped you.

owing a favor or gift to (someone):having obligations to (someone)

“Trevor, make sure your woman is the woman in your life. Don’t be one of these men who makes his wife compete with his mother. A man with a wife cannot be beholden to his mother.”

We feel really beholden to them for what they've done.

politicians who are beholden to special interest groups

She works for herself, and so is beholden to no one.

33. be too preoccupied with A that/to do B

thinking about something a lot or too much

If you are preoccupied, you are thinking a lot about something or someone, and so you hardly notice other things.

She was so preoccupied with teaching me how to be a man that she never taught me how to be a boy.

She is too preoccupied with family problems to focus on her work.

He was too preoccupied with his own problems to worry about hers.

【句子】

1.be this close to doing/sth

接近的;快要…的;即将…的 If you are close to something or if it is close, it is likely to happen or come soon. If you are close to doing something, you are likely to do it soon.

You’re almost there. You’re so close. You’re this close to being white.

2.thereby

used to introduce the result of the action or situation mentioned；

by means of that act, those words, that document, etc.

Depending on how high your cheekbones were or how broad your nose was, he could tick whatever box made sense to him, thereby deciding where you could live, whom you could marry, what jobs and rights and privileges you were allowed.

He signed the contract, thereby forfeiting his right to the property.

Our bodies can sweat, thereby losing heat by evaporation...

Regular exercise strengthens the heart, thereby reducing the risk of heart attack.