George Herbert Walker Bush usually carried a felt-tipped pen and a supply of note-cards.
felt-tipped pen 毡头笔，记号笔
supply 供应量 a supply of 一些
造句：He has an endless supply of jokes.
Some were thank-yous; others a clumsy, but courteous, attempt to get his views across to other people; yet others just a "good to see you" kind of thing.
thank-you 谢意；表示谢意的物件 eg. thank-you gift, thank-you letter
courteous 彬彬有礼的
get sth across 清楚地表达（想法、意见等）
When the time came to write his presidential memoirs, to salve some of that desperate hurt after Bill Clinton thrashed him in 1992, he published instead 600-plus pages of correspondence. They ranged from doting letters to new-born grandchildren to his worries, as young seaman in 1943, ...
salve v. 慰藉，抚平（创伤、伤害等） to salve one's conscience 使自己的良心得到宽慰
thrash v.彻底击败，抽打
correspondence n. 信件，通信往来
此处，salve, hurt, thrash 共同形成了一种比喻的说法，指老布什在大选失败后仿佛被抽打了一般浑身伤痛，需要靠信件来抚平伤痕。
range from A to B 在...之间，从...到...
to his mortified account of throwing up in 1992 on the Japanese prime minister...
mortified a. 极其羞愧、窘迫的
He admitted that some of the letters were nutty. But they were also of the moment.(信是一时间真情实感的流露)
nutty a. 疯疯癫癫的，傻里傻气的 This is driving me nuts!
of the moment 顺应当下的；时下流行的、重要的
eg. man/woman of the moment 当前最重要的人物
“打call” is the buzzword of the moment 时下流行语
His forte, and first love, was foreign policy.
Fortuitously, his time as president coincided with the end of the cold war, a heady and fascinating moment.
forte /'fɔːteɪ/ 强项，专长
envoy n. 使者，特使
fortuitously 偶然地，巧合地
coincide with 与...同时发生，相符
heady a. 令人振奋的；头脑发热的 eg. the heady news of victory
