Chapter14
1.sort out
At writers' conference I meet women whose children have grown up and who now want to sort out their lives through writing.
If you sort out a problem or the details of something, you do what is necessary to solve the problem or organize the details.解决(问题);理清(细节)
例:India and Nepal have sorted out their trade and security dispute...
Have you sorted something out for tomorrow night?明天晚上安排了什么活动吗?
sort yourself out/get yourself sorted out (=deal with all your problems)
I’m staying with a friend until I manage to sort myself out.
熟词生意,以前只知道有整理分类的意思。
仿:I’ll be glad to get this misunderstanding sorted out.
2.pester
When he turned 65 I began to pester him.
to annoy someone, especially by asking them many times to do something
例:She’d been pestered by reporters for days.
搭配:pester somebody for something/pester somebody to do something
The kids have been pestering me to buy them new trainers.
THESAURUS to ask for something
▪ ask for to tell someone you want them to give you something: I’m going to ask for a pay rise.
▪ order to ask for food or drink in a restaurant: We ordered some more coffee. | Have you ordered yet?
▪demand to ask for something in a firm way, insisting that someone gives you what you ask for: They’re demanding immediate payment. | If the goods are faulty, you can demand a refund.
▪ request formal to ask for something: The pilot requested permission to land. | I enclose the information you requested.
▪ beg/plead to ask for something in an urgent way, because you want it very much and will be very unhappy if you do not get it: He begged me for some money. | I’m not going to plead for forgiveness.
▪ nag/pester to keep asking someone for something, in an annoying way: She keeps nagging me for a new phone. | People were pestering him for his autograph.
仿:That little boy kept pestering his mother for the toy.
3.displace
I sometimes feel like a displaced gringo with a curiously Mexican name.
If a person or group of people is displaced, they are forced to moved away from the area where they live.VERB 动词迫使…离开家园;迫使…迁徙;迫使…背井离乡
例:Most of the civilians displaced by the war will be unable to return to their homes.
仿:In Africa, I million refugees were displaced.
此外这个词还有代替的意思,
replace → 最普通用词,指任何形式的替代,尤指以新的替代旧的、老的和坏的等,指人指物均可。
substitute → 指某人因故不在时,由别人代理其职,有时也可指由一物去代替另一物。
displace → 侧重指用另外的人或物强行取代并非称职的人或无用之物,指人时往往暗含带不满情绪的意味。
Reflection
写自己的回忆录很重要的一点就是Think narrow,从一个小处着手,像是一扇窗可以让读者看见你的人生风景。
在第八章的unity里写说到了think small。找到一个切入点,自己写的得心应手,读者也能看的津津有味。就像是Born a crime一开头,作者写到和妈妈一起逃跑,狼狈不堪,脱险后妈妈还有心情开玩笑。这画面让人看着又惊险又暖心。人物的形象也马上就刻画了出来。