Vocabulary
He breaks off suddenly, as Nath's parents and Dr. Wolf come within earshot. Nath stumbles backward a few steps, glaring at Jack, at his father for interrupting, at the elm tree itself for not being farther away.
stumble: to walk unsteadily.
仿句：She stumbled into the bedroom, tears dropping down her face.
glare: an angry stare.
仿句：The girl glared at the stranger on the bus for his rudeness.
No details to catch in the crevices of her mind. The air-conditioning shuts off, silence ballooning to fill the room, then the whole department.
crevice: a long narrow opening.
仿句：The depression soon spreads into the crevices of everyday life.
balloon: to expand; to become inflated.
仿句：A great joyfulness balloons to fill the room.
Whenever she tries to lie still, her mind whirrs to life like an overwound boy.
whirr: to make a vibrant sound, as of some birds.
仿句：My mind flicked and whirred like a group of hummingbirds around a tree.
Notes
这一章由Lydia的葬礼展开，作者没有放任笔触，大肆渲染悲痛气氛，而是着力于细微处：抓住主要人物尤其是哥哥Nath和母亲Marilyn的心理和行为不急不缓的展示出哀痛的力量。哥哥Nath在之前的章节就对Lydia的秘密男友Jack有所怀疑，于是葬礼上发生正面冲突显得合情合理；母亲Marilyn从一开始就对Lydia偏爱有加，她把自己关在Lydia的房间，在对女儿生前所用的每一件物品细细察看的过程中咀嚼痛苦，作者写道：
In this room a deep ache suffuses her, as if her bones are bruised. Yet it feels good, too.
父亲James逃回办公室，看完女儿的验尸报告后，全身颤抖。
The weight of everything he's read settles on him, crushing him to his chair. It is too heavy. He cannot even lift his head.
这种时候，一个女人的出现，几乎像救星一样把James拉回自己房间，几乎是无可避免的，用一场性爱完成一次救赎。而这种合理性和作者对当前情节走向的描写，和对James之前性格描写的铺垫密不可分。
Summary
The story starts with an astonishing fact - a girl named Lydia Lee is dead. It all happens on an ordinary morning when the three children (Nath, Lydia, Hannah) of Marilyn and James (an American wife and an American-born Chinese husband) should have shown up together for breakfast. Marilyn then searches every corner of the house, hoping that Lydia could hide in somewhere. Nothing found, Marilyn rings the school and finally her husband, James.
They call the police and do as the police suggest - call all of Lydia's friends. Lydia's parent may never know but her brother, Nath, is aware that Lydia has no real friends except this boy called Jack, who lives in the neighbourhood and likes to mess around with girls, or at least in Nath's eyes. Lydia's little sister, Hannah, not knowing what it really means to lose her own sister, seems to worry about whether she can now become Mom's favorite. A police officer calls the family and discovers that Lydia is drowned in the lake near their house, and that completes Chapter one.
Chapter two of the book revolves around how Marilyn and James meet, date and get married. It gives some hints about what kind of family James and Marilyn have grown up from and their education backgrounds, their ambitions, fears, and dreams. Marilyn rebels against her mother and likes to stand out, while James simply wants to blend in with the community. Marilyn likes James because he looks so different from everyone else; James likes Marilyn because she seems perfectly at home, so similar to others. They fall in love with each other for the specific traits that both try to deny of themselves.
Chapter three depicts Lydia's funeral and how every member of the family mourns for Lydia's death. Nath confronts with Jack in the funeral, although interrupted by his father. Marilyn looks through every item in Lydia's room and determines to find out what goes wrong and who should be blamed. James, devastated from reading Lydia's autopsy report, seeks comfort from one of his colleagues. Hannah, not getting any attention from her mother, comforts her mother and is comforted in return in her imagination.
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