Expressions
1. The first time I meet Olivia's little brother, I have to admit I'm totally taken by surprise.
take/ catch sb by surprise: to happen unexpectedly
The question took her on surprise.
take sb/ sth by surprise 另一個不太熟悉的意思是：to suddenly attack a place or an opponent when they are not ready
The guerrillas were killed when army troops took them by surprise.
2. Her room is immaculate.
immaculate: 1. very clean and tidy
an immaculate kitchen
2. exactly correct or perfect in every detail, flawless
her immaculate stage performance
maculate:(n.) 斑點
3. I'm definitely stressing about meeting her folks.
It adds an extra-folksy element to have the stage manager plucking on a fiddle.
folks: [plural] 1. your parents and family
Is it OK if I call my folks?
2. used when talking to a group of people in a friendly way
That's all for now folks.
folky: 1. （音樂）鄉村風的 -- 例句里的folksy即是此意；2. friendly and informal
The town had a certain folksy charm.
4. The mom interjects as she cleans the floor, to see if I'm okay with his bringing home some homeless guy's dogs.
interject: to interrupt what someone else is saying with a sudden remark
"That's absolute rubbish!" he interjected.
interjection: (n.) 1. an interruption, or the act of interruption; 2. 感嘆詞 = exclamation
5. She's a happy dog, like she knows she lucked out that day finding this family.
luck out: (v.) informal, to be lucky
We really lucked out and got a parking space right in front.
補充一個luck的詞組：wish sb (the best of) luck
She wished me luck in the exam, and then left.
with any luck/ with a bit of luck: spoken, if things happen in the way that you want. SYN hopefully
With a bit of luck, you might get a flight tomorrow.
6. I have a half brother who's five years old than me and barely knows I exist.
half brother/ sister: 同父異母/同母異父兄弟（姐妹）
half brother VS step brother: 后者沒有血緣關系，是繼父/繼母帶過來的兄弟
7. I heard through the grapevine that he'd been planning on doing the elephant man but changed it to our town at the last minute.
grapevine：葡萄藤
hear sth on the grapevine： to hear about something because the information has been passed from one person to another in conversation
I heard about his resignation on the grapevine.
8. I fish a dollar out of my pocket.
She starts fishing through her bad and pulls out of her wallet.
fish: informal, to search for sth in a bag, pocket etc
fish about/ around, fish for sth
She fished around in her purse and pulled out a photo.
Chris fished in his pocket for a coin.
復習: The Gay Genius 里的 fish for fame 沽名釣譽
補充 fish for compliments: 故意先貶低自己來使對方說好話贊美你
It's sickening the way he's always fishing for compliments.
9. I walk over to them, my face scrunched up, mean-looking.
scrunch sth up: (v.) 把...揉成小團
I scrunched up the letter and threw it in the bin.
scrunch up one's face/ eyes: 扭曲面部
He scrunched up his eyes and grinned.
類似表達: distort one's face
10. Maybe it is a lottery, but the universe makes it all even out in the end.
even out:(v.) if things even out, or if you even them out, the differences between them become smaller
The differences in their income should even out over time.
Use a brush to even out the variations in color.
類似表達: level out
Thoughts
今天是我的生日，剛剛過完年馬上又收到一輪生日紅包，下午去蛋糕店拿了蛋糕，我突然想給自己送一個禮物。我想送給自己一顆堅強樂觀的心，送給自己一個博學善學的大腦，送給自己一份善良謙遜的品性。我告訴自己，在未來的這一年里要不斷提升自己，并且無論遇到多大的困境都要感恩生活保持樂觀的心態。最近看奇跡男孩看入迷了，我喜歡書里的August, Jack, Summer, Via和Justin。一個人外表的美丑會隨著他（她）內心的美丑而改變的，一個善良的朋友相處越久越會覺得他（她）漂亮，一個內心狹隘的人即使外表帥氣或靚麗也會讓人漸漸感到面目可憎。另一個從這本書里獲得的感悟是，這個世界不會永遠善意對待你，總會有Julian那樣的人，總會遭遇冷眼、嘲諷、甚至暗強冷箭，然而永遠不要因此否定自己，真正能打敗我們的、真正能讓我感到痛苦的其實是自己的心魔。Wonder這本書的August和美劇This is us里的 Kate Pierson，他們對自己的媽媽（Kate --爸爸）說我只有在你眼里是漂亮的，但這個世界并不以你看我的眼光來看我。然而即使這個世界不會對我們溫柔以待，我們仍可以選擇對自己溫柔以待，看到自己內心的美好和強大，不要因為外界的負面聲音而失去愛自己、信任自己的能力。
