Expressions
Nath, watching his sister's eyes blink and redden, felt a twinge of pity cut through his anger.
twinge: a sudden sharp feeling, a sharp stab of pain.
仿句: WIth all having said and done, she felt a twinge of sadness, and guilt too.
一句话足以表达哥哥对妹妹的爱。尽管自己被哈佛录取，全家人的喜悦轻而易举地被妹妹的一句‘物理课不及格’一扫而光，看到妹妹哭红的眼睛，哥哥还是心生怜悯。
In nine months, he would be gone, and that knowledge took the sting out of all that had happened.
sting: the upsetting or bad effect of a situation.
take the sting out of: make something less unpleasant or painful.
仿句: A squeeze on my shoulder took the sting out of her words.
哥哥将要去哈佛上学，他终于要离开这个家了，他不用再忍受父母对Lydia的专宠，不用再屡次安慰承受不了太多爱的妹妹，这一切终于要结束了。
After three comfortless days, she was not ready to forgive him yet, but the gesture warmed her, like a gulp of tea on a cold winter day.
gulp: a large amount of something that you swallow quickly, or the action of swallowing.
仿句: She rushed out of the cabin and gulped in the the fresh air in the countryside.
三天不说话了，妹妹还没打算原谅哥哥。但是那个试探性的笑容还是让妹妹觉得无限温暖，像寒冬里的一口热茶。这些细腻的小心思，读来十分亲切。
Lydia felt her heart in her chest like a pellet of rice, sliding down out of reach. 'I have friends, Daddy,' she said, though she knew this was a lie.
pellet: a small ball of a substance.
仿句: He fed his cat fish pellets every day.
Lydia过生日，妈妈送的礼物是一本巨大的人体解剖书，爸爸给的也是书：关于如何开展人际交往。看到这里，简直想要对Lydia的父母大喊一声：give her a break!
He made a mental note to come up with something better for her next gift.
make a mental note: to make a special effort to remember something.
仿句: She made a mental note not to riffle through his stuff again.
爸爸的心思是偏女性化的，I guess it would be another boring book, huh?
Before Nath could snap the photo, she dropped her gaze back to the book, hair curtaining her face.... Dogs, Lydia thought. She tried to picture herself as a dog, something docile and friendly, a golden retriever with a black smile and a fringy tail, but she did not feel friendly and purebred and blond. She felt unsociable and suspicious, like the Wolffs' dog down the street, a mutt, braced for hostility.
braced for: to mentally or physically prepare yourself or someone else for something unpleasant that is going to happen.
仿句: He has a bit of hostility in his character, always bracing for an argument.
面对哥哥的镜头，Lydia把目光移回书本，头发遮住了脸。她要微笑吗？她把自己想象成一条狗，一个金黄色的纯种金毛，笑容可掬，温顺友好。可转念一想，自己一点也不擅长社交，不友好，不纯种，没有金色的毛发，如果自己是一条狗，那也只能是隔壁那条充满敌意的杂种狗。
She hadn't realized it was so obvious, and a hot flush flared in her cheeks and trickled down her neck. Beneath her, the seat creaked and a spring prodded her thigh, like a knuckle.
flare: to suddenly begin to burn, or to burn more brightly for a short time.
仿句: Tensions flared across the town.
trickle: if liquid trickles somewhere, it flows slowly in drops or in a thin stream.
仿句: Tears trickled down her face.
在Jack面前，Lydia 红了脸，身体不会说谎，自己分明变得高度紧张，感管敏锐异常，座椅下的弹簧也开始绷紧，发出了一阵声响。
