a young man's long, awkward, occasionally tragic, and frequently humiliating education in affairs of the heart, Part2

【单词】

1.Murphy's Law

墨菲法则(认为凡是有可能出错的地方终将出差错) Murphy's Law is the idea that whatever can go wrong in a situation will go wrong.

And of course, Murphy’s Law, the year my mom started buying my clothes too big was the year that I stopped growing.

2.-ridden

(与名词连用构成形容词)表示“为…所苦的”，“为…所累的”，“充满…的”-ridden combines with nouns to form adjectives that describe something as having a lot of a particular undesirable thing or quality, or suffering very much because of it.

I was the acne-ridden clown with duck feet in floppy shoes. I wasn’t a threat to the guys. I wasn’t a threat to the girls.

...the debt-ridden economies of Latin America...

a flea-ridden dog

a slum-ridden city

He was/felt guilt-ridden for the way he had neglected his son.

3.foolproof  a.

(计划、机器等)十分简单的，容易操作的，万无一失的 Something such as a plan or a machine that is foolproof is so well designed, easy to understand, or easy to use that it cannot go wrong or be used wrongly.

done, made, or planned so well that nothing can go wrong

That was my plan. It was foolproof.

The system is not 100 percent foolproof...

I spent the day working out a foolproof plan to save him.

DNA fingerprinting gives police a virtually foolproof way to link a suspect to a crime scene.

4.Peeping Tom

偷窥者，窥视狂（尤指偷看别人脱衣服的人）If you refer to someone as a Peeping Tom, you mean that they secretly watch other people, especially when those people are taking their clothes off.

※The phrase ‘Peeping Tom’ comes from the story of Lady Godiva, who rode through the streets naked. Everyone was told not to look at her, but one man, ‘Peeping Tom of Coventry’, did and he went blind

【词组】

1.qualify as

可称得上;符合；可算作 To qualify as something or to be qualified as something means to have all the features that are needed to be that thing.

It was the kind of acne that qualifies as a medical condition. Acne vulgaris, the doctor called it.

13 percent of American households qualify as poor, says Mr. Mishel...

These people seem to think that reading a few books on old age qualifies them as experts.

Does this shirt qualify as business attire?

Living in a camper for a weekend does not qualify as outdoor camping.

A 10‒3 victory qualifies as a blowout.

The book is too short to qualify as a novel.

2.at the hands of

by or through the action of (someone or something)

After suffering my Valentine’s Day heartbreak at the hands of Maylene and the handsome, charming Lorenzo, I learned a valuable lesson about dating.

They were treated badly at the hands of the prison guards.

The people had suffered at the hands of a cruel dictator.

3.risk sth/doing

冒着…的危险;担着…的风险 If you risk something unpleasant, you do something which might result in that thing happening or affecting you.

The minute I became somebody, I risked no longer being welcomed as nobody.

The country risked a war.

brave people who risked being killed to help others

I'm not willing to risk getting lost. I'm going to buy a map.

The company is risking the loss of millions of dollars.

Pregnant women who are heavy drinkers risk damaging the unborn foetus.

Those who fail to register risk severe penalties...

4.be spoken for

to not be available because of already being claimed by someone else or in a relationship with someone else

The pretty girls were already spoken for. The popular guys had staked their claim.

I'm sorry. This seat is spoken for.

I can't go out with you; I'm already spoken for.

5.stake (out) a/your claim ↑(to sth/do

提出权利要求;主张权利 If you stake a claim, you say that something is yours or that you have a right to it.

to say or show that you believe you should have something or that you deserve something

They staked their claim to the land.

With her strong showing in the early rounds of the tournament, she has staked her claim to be considered one of the favorites.

※夺标热门;夺冠热门 The favourite in a race or contest is the competitor that is expected to win. In a team game, the team that is expected to win is referred to as the favourites.

6.In the interest(s) of

in order to preserve, develop, or achieve something

In the interest of survival, the smart move was to stay on the fringe, stay out of trouble.

It is vital that we reform the system in the interests of fairness to everyone.

In the interest(s) of safety, smoking is forbidden.

7.out and about

going to different places

Johanna was out and about and kissing boys, so the guys were all into her.

She is always out and about, doing one thing or another.

We've been out and about talking to people all over the country.

8.out of the question

not possible or allowed;

impossible or not allowed and therefore not worth discussing

Dating girls may have been out of the question for me, but talking to them was not, because I could make them laugh.

Another trip abroad this year is out of the question.

Asking my father for money was completely out of the question.

Wearing a stained blouse to dinner was out of the question.

9.be worthy of sth/doing   a.

值得…的;应该获得…的 If a person or thing is worthy

of something, they deserve it because they have the qualities or abilities required.

I thought about her constantly, but for the life of me I never considered myself worthy of dating her.

I hope he was worthy of her.

Your achievements are worthy of respect. [=your achievements deserve respect]

The suggestion is worthy of consideration.

10.map out

设计;计划;规划;安排 If you map out something that you are intending to do, you work out in detail how you will do it.

At a certain point I decided to map out a strategy. I decided I’d be best friends with Zaheera and stay friends with her long enough to ask her to the matric dance, what we call our senior prom.

We mapped out a plan of action.

She has her future all mapped out.

11.set up (with)

to cause (someone) to meet someone in order to start a romantic relationship

At one point she got set up with this guy Gary.

Gary was in the popular group but kind of shy and Zaheera was in the popular group but kind of shy, so his friends and her friends set them up together, like an arranged marriage.

“How did you first meet your husband?” “My best friend set us up.”

— often +with

She wants to set him up with her sister.

12.pluck up (the) courage

If you pluck up (the) courage to do something, you become brave enough to do it.

One day, I don’t know how, but I plucked up the courage to ask Zaheera for her phone number, which was a big deal back then because it wasn’t like cellphone numbers where everybody has everyone’s number for texting and everything.

He finally plucked up the courage to ask her out on a date.

13.for real

seriously or truly

Zaheera and Gary broke up. Then they got back together. Then they broke up. Then they got back together. They kissed once, but she didn’t like it, so they never kissed again. Then they broke up for real.

He's in trouble for real. [=he's really in trouble]

They were just pretending to argue before, but now they're doing it for real.

14.bide sb's time

等待时机；等待良机 If you bide your time, you wait for a good opportunity before doing something.

I bided my time through it all. I watched Popular Gary go down in flames, and I was still the good friend.

He was content to bide his time patiently, waiting for the opportunity to approach her.

He is biding his time [=waiting for the right opportunity] before asking his parents for a loan.

15.go down in flames  ↑

Fig. to fail spectacularly. 

The whole project went down in flames. 

Todd went down in flames in his efforts to win the heart of Marsha.

16.catch up

了解近况;叙旧 If you catch up on friends who you have not seen for some time or on their lives, you talk to them and find out what has happened in their lives since you last talked together.

“No,” she said. “Didn’t anyone tell you? She left the school. She doesn’t go here anymore.”

“What?”

“Yeah, she left.”

My first thought was, Wow, okay. That’s news. I should give her a call to catch up.

The ladies spent some time catching up on each other's health and

families...

She plans to return to Dublin to catch up with the relatives she has not seen since she married.

17.all along

all the time; from the beginning

She ran off and left me standing there, stunned. She’d hit me with so much information at once, first that Zaheera was gone, then that she had left for America, and then that she’d liked me all along.

I realized it was in my pocket all along.

18.race through

（尤指在面临困难或危险时大脑）飞速运转 If your mind races, or if thoughts race through your mind, you think very fast about something, especially when you are in a difficult or dangerous situation.

My mind raced through all the hours we’d spent talking on the quad, on the phone, all the times I could have said, “Hey, Zaheera, I like you. Will you be my girlfriend?” Ten words that might have changed my life if I’d had the courage to say them. But I hadn’t, and now she was gone.

I made sure I sounded calm but my mind was racing...

Already her mind was racing ahead to the hundred and one things she had to do...

Bits and pieces of the past raced through her mind.

19.stay on

to continue studying, working, etc. somewhere for longer than expected or after other people have left

Or, if they’re lucky, the family they work for lets them stay on and they can have the baby, but then the baby goes to live with relatives in the homelands.

She's staying on at university to do research.

We hope he will stay on as manager at the end of his contract.

He had managed to arrange to stay on in Adelaide...

【句子】

1.

Not only could I not afford a decent haircut, leaving me with a huge, unruly Afro, but my mother also used to get angry at the fact that I grew out of my school uniforms too fast, so to save money she started buying my clothes three sizes too big.

2.表面上...但私下里/实际上...

Outwardly, I had carefully cultivated my status as the funny, nonthreatening guy, but secretly I had the hugest crush onZaheera.

Though extremely nervous, she was able to remain outwardly calm during the interview.

an outwardly friendly person

Outwardly this looked like the beginning of a terrific programme but the

stage was actually set for a major disaster.

3.

Everyone lives in a plush, fancy maximum-security prison.