1.  whenI was nine years old, my mom dropped my two brothers and a small backpackcrammed with clothes off at my dad’s house. (para.1)

Ppar paphrase: when I was nine, my mom left in my dad’s house my two brothersand a small backpack which was filled with clothes.

cram:topush or force sth./sb. Into a small space. 

e.g. This encyclopedia is crammedwith information about everything under the sun.

It’sdifficult to cram everything into a tight schedule.

1.  Asmy brothers walked inside, I proclaimed that I wasn’t leaving the car.(para.1)

Analysis: In this sentence, theword “proclaimed” is followed by a nominal clause introduced by “that”. theclause states the content of the verb “proclaimed” and is used as an object.Other examples can be found in this text, e.g. “After five minutes of crying,arguing and finally compromising, I decided that I’d go inside if my mom camefirst thing in the morning.”

Proclaim:to declare with due emphasis

e.g. He proclaims that what I didwas wrong.

  He proclaimed the car to be in sound condition.

2.  Afterfive minutes of crying, arguing and finally compromising, I decided that I’d goinside if my mom came first thing in the morning. (para.1)

  paraphrase:I tried crying and arguing for five minutes, to show

my unwillingness to stay in Dad’shouse, but it made no difference

at all. And finally I agreed tostay in Dad’s house on the condition that my mother must be here early on thenext morning when I woke up.

Analysis: As a little kid, theauthor did not understand what was happening, and why her mom must leave her.She expressed her emotion in a child’s way. The author used “crying” and“arguing”

to show what she really wantedwas to have  her mother stay with

her all the time.

4.compromise: v. to settle byconcession

e.g. the workers are going tostrike for their welfare if the employers are not ready to compromise.

如果雇主不准备妥协的话，工人们将为了自身福利而罢工。

n.a situation in which peopleaccept sth. slightly different from what they really want, because ofcircumstances or because they are considering the wishes of other people

Ifyou want to stay out until 10 and your friend wants to stay out until 

midnight, 11 is a goodcompromise.

 

5.My peripheral world was puzzledby her actions. (Para. 2)

Analysis:Her mother made herconfused about the world around her. From the bottom of her heart, she felt hermom was a person who didn't keep her promise, while the other adults around herkept telling her she was a good mother, which was very contradictory to herexperience.

6.Other than during the momentbefore my mother left, no one ever saw me shed a tear. (Para. 2)

other than: except; different orin a different way from; not

e.g. I don't know any Frenchpeople other than you.

There was nothing we could doother than wait.

7. shed:v. to let sth. fall or go

 Thiswas not the first time Mr. Ackman had shed tears in public.

在战斗结束前要流多少血?

How much blood will be shedbefore the fighting ends?

8. prompt  v. to make sb. decide to do sth.; to causesth. to happen

e.g. The discovery of the bombprompted an increase in security.

The thought of her daughter'swedding day prompted her to lose some weight.

一直想着女儿的婚礼，让她都瘦了好几斤。

9.in retrospect (Para.2):thinking about a past event or situation, often with a different opinion of itfrom the one you had at the time

e.g. The decision seems extremelyodd in retrospect.

回顾往事，他生命中很多大好机会都被忽略了。

In retrospect, many goodopportunities were neglected in his life.

10. Resultantly,we acclimated quickly to the new life we were now living. (Para. 2)

Paraphrase:As a result of Dad'sencouragement and great effort, we became adapted to the new life without Mom.

Analysis:In this sentence, asentential adverb , “resultantly”, was put at the beginning of the sentence denoting the final result of the whole event and giving acomment on the meaning of the whole sentence.

10. Lookingback, I'm astonished that, while it seemed everything in our lives waschanging, nothing had changed whatsoever. (Para. 2)

look back: to think about sth. inthe past

e.g. Looking back, the decisionto become a physician assistant was the best one I've made.

astonish: v. to surprise sb. verymuch

e.g. I was astonished to see howpopular she is, how much of a woman she's become.

Whatsoe : at all; of any kind

e.g. It will have no impactwhatsoever on the vast majority of cheap drinks sold in supermarkets.ver: atall; of any kind

12. grieve (Para. 3) v. to feelvery sad, especially because sb. has died.

e.g. But the greater aim was tocreate a memorial photo exhibit that would allow people of all nationalities togather and grieve, remember and learn.

The family grieved the loss ofits only son.

grief  n. a feeling of great sadness, especiallywhen sb.dies

e.g. Chris was weeping in angerand grief.

13. discharge(Para. 4): v. to release; to officially allow to leave

e.g. Lightning is caused byclouds discharging electricity.

14. Althoughthe typical signs of grief were there, I didn't know anyone well enough — andno one knew me well enough — to discharge some of the emotions I was hesitantlyfeeling. (Para. 4)

Paraphrase:Although there came achange in my life in coming to Duke University, I still could not help feelinggrief even in the new environment, because I had no way to pour it out, as Iwas a newcomer there and had no close friends to talk to.

15. letgo of (Para. 4): to release, as from one's grip

e.g. For many it is just tootough to let go of the life they once had.

“Let go of me!”he squeaked nervously.

“放开我！”他紧张地尖声嚷道。

16 .With every step along theway, it became clear that letting go of my mother was the only way I would beable to live my life — a life in which I believed myself to be more than thedaughter who wasn't good enough to be loved by her mother. (Para. 4)

Paraphrase:Thissentence shows the author finally chose to face the whole

thing positively and be herself.

17.    clarity(Para. 5): n. the ability to think about or understand sth. clearly; thequality of expressing ideas or thoughts in a clear way

e.g. "I don't think we havehad enough clarity and enough focus," Maxwell said.

But the other factor, that weshouldn't forget, is the lack of clarity in U.S. immigration policy.

18.    affirm(Para. 5) v. to state firmly or publicly that sth. is true or that you supportsth. Strongly

e.g. The ministry affirmed thatthe visit had been postponed.

The latest report affirms thatearlier predictions of El Niño occurring this year were correct.

最新报道证实，之前关于今年将出现厄尔尼诺现象的预测是正确的。

19.    speculation(Para. 6): n. the act of forming opinions about what has happened or what mighthappen without knowing all the facts

e.g. The result will inevitablyfuel speculation about the Prime Minister's future.

There is speculation that he willeventually buy the whole company.

impose …upon (Para. 6): to force sb./sth. to have to deal with sth. that is difficultor unpleasant

20.impose …upon (Para. 6): to force sb./sth. to have to deal with sth. that is difficultor unpleasant

e.g. You should be unwilling toaccept what others impose upon you, regardless of how you personally feel.

他把他的意见强加于我。

He imposed his opinion upon/ onme.

21.We all ache of pains we choosenot to understand, we all wear scars we choose to perfectly conceal and we allbattle wars we don't even realize we're battling. (Para. 7)

Analysis:This parallel structureis a brief conclusion of the main idea of the whole text. It reflects thephilosophy of our life — we all suffer from pains, we all have secrets that wedo not want others to know, we all fight against the difficulties in our life.