Part I Words and Expressions

1. Every year as summer approaches, the students shuffle and rustle; sparks of resentment sizzle up like flares, then sputter out against the windowless walls of the lecture hall.

shuffle: to walk very slowly and noisily, without lifting your feet off the ground

rustle: if leaves, papers, clothes etc rustle, or if you rustle them, they make a noise as they rub against each other

【两个词用在这里，可以想象学生们挤挤攘攘、不情愿地样子】

仿句：With her father's reproach, she shuffled back to the bookshelf, found the book she rustled last night and headed for the library to return.

2. All the lecture notes he’s honed, all the color slides of MacArthur and Truman and the maps of Guadalcanal.

hone: to improve your skill as doing something, especially when you are already very good at it.

【想象James应该是一个细致严谨之人，这里的hone有“精益求精”之意。】

仿句：Although known as a master for years, he never stops honing his craft.

3. Lydia had been holed up in her room, and when they sat down at the table, he’d asked her how the past few days had been.

hole up: to hide somewhere for a period of time

仿句：The throat cutter must be holed up in somewhere of the hospital. Go to Mr. Somebody's room and wait, he will come!

4. Not a burglar, just a thin silhouette against darker night, moving away. Lydia?

silhouette: a dark image, shadow, or shape that you see against a light background.

仿句：He can't see her face in the dark, sullen or smiled, but a thin silhouette tattooed on his heart for years after.

Part II Thoughts

Lydia is dead. 小说开头如是写到。那么Lydia是谁？年龄多少？这件事发生在哪里？死前发生了什么？哪些人和她有联系？亲人朋友的反应？这些问题一个个浮上心头。

女初中生，父母最喜爱的孩子，独来独往，学习还可以，总是郁郁寡欢的样子，在父母面前假装一切正常，藏有小秘密，还有一个耍在一起半年左右的男生Jack。父母对Lydia的生活自以为了解，实际是一抹黑。哥哥Nath很关心Lydia，而Hannah则显得有些嫉妒。小说中有很多细节，比如警察说most这种案子最后女孩都没事，在Nath的追问下换成了A vast majority，表达上更精确了似乎也加强了保证，但警察也不敢100%保证，但Nath还在问到底是90%，95%，好像这样就能知道Lydia的情况，但单个事件从来是不讲概率的，只有两个答案而已……

小说中有一些表达很喜爱，画面感很强。

She replaces the phone number on the board, her damp fingers smudging the ink so that the digits blur as if in a strong wind, or underwater.

也许Marilyn的心中也在大风呼啸，大雨磅礴，湿淋淋的。

Still, the small of her back prickles, like beetles marching down her spine.

这个形容读的鸡皮疙瘩都起了

Lydia, still small enough to cradle, had secrets. Marilyn might feed her and bathe her and coax her legs into pajama pants, but already parts of her life were curtained off.

从小就显得心思重重，这似乎也是Lydia性格中的一部分