PART 1 Summary
Chapter 7 Fufi
Trevor used to raise two dogs named Panther and Fufi. Panther was his mother's dog and Fufi was his. Unwitting to Fufi's deafness, Trevor thought she was extremely dumb. In spite of this, he loved Fufi whole-heartedly, coddled her and even shared bed with her. One day, Trevor furtively tailed Fufi and found out that she scaled the wall and went to another boy's house during the day. The two kids and their mothers had quarrels over the ownership of Fufi. Although Fufi was taken back home after Trevor's mother paid a hundred rand, Fufi broke Trevor's heart. The experience profoundly shaped his thoughts about relationships.
Chapter 8 Robert
Trevor called his father Robert because "dad", "daddy" and such like might be overheard and get them into trouble under apartheid. Trevor used to spend Sunday afternoons, his birthdays and Christmas with his dad but they were completely out of contact after Robert left the town. Thanks to his mother's compliments, Trevor never turned to bitterness towards his dad. Turning into 24, Trever was asked by his mother to track his father down. He eventually reconnected this secretive man through Swiss embassy. Knowing that his father remembered his tastes and kept following him in this ten-year gap, Trevor was overwhelmed with a flood of emotions.?
PART 2 Expressions
1. this one video of a black man kicking a cat, that’s what sent them over the edge.
over the edge: into a mental or emotional state that makes sb completely out of control
His friend worried that the news might send/ push/ drive him over the edge.
go over the edge: go insane, alludes to the edge of sanity
I think he's gone over the edge.
2. Some woman from her work had a litter of kittens she was trying to get rid of, and my mom ended up with two.
a litter of: literary, a group pf things that look very untidy
A litter of notes, papers, and textbooks were strewn on the desk.
3. Fufi was a little rascal as well.
rascal: 1, a child who behaves badly but whom you still like
2. old-fashioned, a dishonest man
4. It never occurred to us that she could actually scale a five-foot wall, but that was exactly what was happening.
There were few upscale establishments where they could eat
scale: (v.)
1. 翻越? eg.Rescuers had to scale a 300-metre cliff to reach the injured climber.
2. 按比例繪制? eg. The writing can be scaled to any size, depending on the paper.
3. scale the heights: to be extremely successful
By the age of 21, he had already scaled the heights in the academic world.
upscale:(a.) 高檔的? eg. an affluent upscale audience
5. This woman wasn’t budging, so we went home to get evidence
1. to move or make sb/sth move
She leaned on the door, but it wouldn't budge.
Will hasn't budged from his room all day.
2. to change your opinion, or to make sb change their opinion
He won't budge on the issue.
Treacy refuses to budge from his principles.
6. I have so many friends who still, as adults, wrestle with feelings of betrayal.
wrestle with sth: to try to understand or find a solution to a difficult problem
I have been wrestling with this problem for quite some time.
7. The restaurant closed only because a few people in the neighborhood took it upon themselves to complain.
take it upon/ on oneself to do sth: formal, to decide to do sth without getting sb's permission or approval first
Reg took it upon himself to hand the press a list of names.
8. His leaving wasn’t anything traumatic, because it never registered that we might lose touch and never see each other again.
register: (usually in negatives) if sth registers, or if you register it, you realize or notice it, and then remember it
She had told me her name before, but I guess I didn't register.
I'd been standing here for several minutes before he registered my presence.
9. I tried calling them, and I got the runaround there as well.
runaround: (n.) 遁詞
give sb the runaround: informal, to deliberately avoid giving sb a definite answer, especially when they are asking you to do sth
Every time we ask the landlord about fixing the roof, he gives us the runaround.
10. Luckily my tastes hadn’t matured much since the age of thirteen, so I tucked right in.
tuck in/ tuck into sth: informal to eat sth eagerly
The ice creams came and we tucked in.
They tucked into a hearty breakfast of eggs.
PART 3 Thoughts
I believed that Fufi was my dog, but of course that wasn't? true. Fufi was a dog. I was a boy. We got along well. She happened to live in my house. That experience shaped what I've felt about relationships for the rest of my life: You do not own the thing that you love. I was lucky to learn that lesson at such a young age.
看到這段話想起了《莊子 至樂篇》里的一個故事：魯國的國君很喜歡一只海鳥，把它迎進了太廟，每天派人演奏《九韶》給它聽，給它每天準備美酒和牛羊肉，但是海鳥神色憂郁、不吃一口肉，不喝一口酒，三日而死。莊子說國君是在以養(yǎng)自己的方式養(yǎng)鳥，而不是在用養(yǎng)鳥的方式養(yǎng)鳥，真正的養(yǎng)鳥是讓它在山林間、江湖上自由飛翔（“此以己養(yǎng)養(yǎng)鳥也，非以鳥養(yǎng)養(yǎng)鳥也。夫以鳥養(yǎng)養(yǎng)鳥也。夫以鳥養(yǎng)養(yǎng)鳥者，宜棲之深林，游之壇陸，浮之江湖，食之鰍鰷，隨行列而止，委蛇而處”）。現(xiàn)實里對喜歡的事物也好，對待自己喜歡的人也好，很多人都過于執(zhí)著，甚至用愛的名義去綁架自己愛的人。比如那些望子成龍、望女成鳳的父母們，從幼兒園起就給孩子的周末安排各種奧數(shù)班、鋼琴班，卻很少過問孩子是否真正喜歡這些東西，長大后高中不允許談戀愛、上大學后又催促相親。然而孩子并不是父母的附屬物，他們有自己的喜好和自由的空間。真正的愛是尊重對方的選擇并且懂得成全和放手。歐陽修有一句詩：“始知鎖向金籠聽，不及林間自在啼。”對自己愛的人或物的成全其實也是對自己的成全。
