PART 1 Expressions
1. Try being a white person who adopts the trappings of black culture while still living in the white community.
trappings: things such as money, influence, possessions etc that are related to a particular type of person, job, or way of life
The family were in government for generations and evidently loved the trappings of power.
2. But when they see you as a fellow tribe member attempting to disavow the tribe, that is something they will never forgive.
disavow: to say that you are not responsible for sth that you do not know about it, or that you are not involved with it
Margrethe Vestager, the EU antitrust chief who became the tech industry’s prime tormentor after taking up her post in 2014, has disavowed any political agenda.
avow: to make a public statement about sth you believe in
He avowed his commitment to Marxist ideals.
3. The most common colored slur was boesman. “Bushman.” “Bushie.”
a slur on/ against sth: an unfair criticism that is intended to make people dislike sb or sth
Milton regarded her comment as a slur on his country.
How dare she cast a slur on my character?
4. One of the most sinister things about apartheid was that it taught colored people that it was black people who were holding them back.
sinister: 1.evil or productive of evil
Trump’s blunt assertion that his 2016 election had to overcome a vast voter-fraud conspiracy that nearly succeeded has brought a latent prejudice into the light in its most sinister dimensions.
2. presaging ill fortune or trouble
a sinister atmosphere
5. Then, just as you think you’re closing in on the finish line, some fucking guy named Nelson Mandela comes along and flips the country on its head.
close in on sb/ sth: to move closer to sb or sth
finish line/ finishing line: the line at which a race ends
James crossed the finish line in just under four minutes.
6. So you can imagine how weird it was for me. I was mixed but not colored—colored by complexion but not by culture.
complexion: 膚色；面色; 局面
Drinking water is good for complexion.
put a different/ new/ fresh complexion on sth: make a situation or event seem different
This document puts a different complexion on the matter.
7. I was so happy that a girl had spoken to me that it didn’t fully sink in that they’d stolen my bicycle.
sink in: if information, facts etc sink in, you gradually understand them or realize their full meaning
He paused a moment for his words to sink in.
The implications of Labor's defeat were beginning to sink in.
8. Then one of them, this kid who was the ringleader of the group, walked over.
ringleader: someone who leads a group that is doing sth illegal or wrong
the ringleader of a new international drugs ring
9. I shrugged it off and went back to picking berries.
shrug sth off: to treat sth as unimportant and not worry about it
We can't just shrug these objections off.
10. She was trying to defuse the situation, but I couldn’t see that.
defuse: 本意為“查出爆炸物的引信”;
defuse a situation/ crisis/ row etc, defuse tension/ anger etc: to improve a difficult or dangerous situation, for example by making people less angry or by dealing with the cause of a problem
Beth's quiet voice helped to defuse the situation.
The agreement was regarded as a means of defusing ethnic tensions.
PART 2 Thoughts
Looking in that boy's eyes, I realized how much he and I had in common. He was a kid. I was a kid. He was crying. I was crying. He was a colored boy in South Africa, taught how to hate and how to hate himself. Who had bullied him that he needed to bully me? He'd made me feel fear, and to get my revenge I'd unleashed my own hell on his world. But I knew I'd done a terrible thing.
Punishment of the wicked belongs to God, we should learn to forgive.
He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.
--- Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights
今天早上出門前看到這一段的時候寫下了《呼嘯山莊》里的上面兩句話。本來想著今天晚上寫一段關于懂得寬宥他人的重要性的話。但是今天實習完回到家意外地和家人發生了大的爭執，大吵了一架， 然后我在房間里一邊哭著一邊在筆記本上寫下：我出國以后能不回來就不回來了。忽然發現我這是在用這種特殊的方式去報復家人，原來一個受傷的心是那么容易激起報復的欲望。當然慢慢冷靜下來以后那一時的沖動念頭也往往會散去，會慢慢嘗試去理解對方去寬容對方。就像世界上沒有兩片相同的樹葉，世界上也沒有兩個完全想法一致的人，即使朝夕相處的人也總也無法逾越的鴻溝。人與人的傷害是無法避免的，有些是有道理的，但有些就是沒有道理的。就像那個欺負Trevor的小孩，并不是真的仇恨或者討厭Trevor而只是把從別處受到的傷害加到了無辜的Trevor身上而已。傷害并不可怕，復仇心也很平常，但可拍的是復仇心會再次引發傷害形成一個惡性循環。學習刑法的時候看過的很多案例最初都是由一些無關緊要的小矛盾引起的，最終釀成慘烈的刑事案件，因為當事人都太執著于自己受到的傷害為了解一時之氣而沖動行事。但事實是，報復對方的同時也是在懲罰自己。
