Chapter 7

Words

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And Lydia herself - the reluctant center of their universe - every day, she held the world together. She absorbed her parents' dreams, quieting the reluctance that bubbled up within. 

quiet: to make calm or still. 

仿句: He tries his best to quiet the crying baby.

bubble up: if a feeling or activity bubbles, it continues to exist. 

仿句: Lying down in bed, she couldn't quiet the excitement that bubbled up inside her. 

Lydia背负了太多的爱和厚望，父亲想要通过Lydia弥补自己缺失的身份认同感，母亲把自己未完成的梦想寄托在Lydia身上。她无力反抗，无论是出于恐惧还是爱。这种成长时期埋下的心理阴影，很容易让Lydia在成年之后无法和自己或者周遭的世界达成和解。读到这里，想起B先生曾经严厉地质问过我：你为什么不反抗啊？为什么这么不聪明啊？处在少女时期，更多的不是穿透成长的边界，明白谁是谁非，而是被迫选择去承受那些以爱的名义施加的重负。

Hannah, as if she understood her place in the cosmos, grew from quiet infant to watchful child: a child fond of nooks and corners, who curled up in closets, behind sofas, under dangling tablecloths, staying out of sight as well as out of mind, to ensure the terrain of the family did not change. 

nook: a cozy little corner, or a small safe area. 

仿句: The reading nook used to be my favorite place in the house. 

从母亲怀上她的那一刻起，Hannah好像从来没有得到太多注意。习惯性忽视和被忽视渐渐地把小Hannah变成了一个喜欢缩在角落的孩子。十岁以前的自己，也最爱钻在床底下，搭起小帐篷，点一根蜡烛，呆一个下午不出来。从前不知道为什么有这种小癖好，直到读到那句‘stay out of sight as well as out of mind'， 恍然大悟。

When she stood near, the little-girl scent of her perfume - even its name childish, Baby Soft - wafted from her skin. 

waft: to be driven or carried along, as by air, can refer to scents, sounds or smoke.

仿句: The smell of roasted lamb wafted through the air. 

很漂亮的小词，散发着小女孩的清香。

Summary

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Chapter four: 

It was the year when Lydia just started nursery school, Nath the first grade, and Hannah not born yet. Marilyn was still young and ambitious. She approached a professor of chemistry and asked if she could be his research assistant. He said yes and would be happy to discuss about it when the next term started. In April, Marilyn was told that her mother died. When she went through her mother's belongings and thought of how her mother had wrapped up her life in such a unfulfilling and 'small' way, she reminded herself that she would never live a similar life. She decided to leave her family and pursued her dream of becoming a doctor.

Chapter five:

Hannah started to notice the subtle changes happening in the house after Lydia's death. Hannah sneaked out to the lake at night, and lay down on the dock, imaging her sister's last moment in the lake. She wished she knew and could help. James drove around the lake and pondered over her daughter's death, determined to find someone to blame. Marilyn seemed to be the only one that still couldn't accept Lydia's death, who her daughter really was and what she really liked. Marilyn became impossible and hysterical, which pushed James further to his mistress.

Chapter six:

Away from her family, Marilyn missed her children. She called them but said nothing. When she fainted to the ground and went to the hospital, she found herself pregnant and bursted into tears. She had no choice but to go home where she had to bury her dreams and ambitions. Lydia took her mother's return as a miracle and secretly decided that she would do anything as her mother told. Marilyn, misreading the sign that Lydia had thrown away the cookbook, promised that she would do anything to help Lydia lead a fulfilling life, one that would be drastically different from that of her own mother.