PART 1 Expressions
1. Still not putting two-and-two together, I hurried down to the shoreline, gnawing on my sandwich, curious as to what everyone was looking at.
put two-and-two together: 根据所见所闻推定，综合判断 （常用于口语中）
When I saw photos of James and Sally together in Las Vegas, I put two and two together and guessed they were more than just friends.
另一个相关表达: put two and two together and make five 听风就是雨，强调某人夸大事实，捕风捉影
It's typical of him to put two and two together and make five. I am used to it now.
2. Up until that point in my life, I had been a pretty typical middle-class stoner kid: lazy, irresponsible, socially anxious, and deeply insecure.
stoner : someone who often smokes marijuana
3. Pre-tragedy, I was inhibited, unambitious, forever obsessed and confined by what I imagined the world might be thinking of me.
inhibited: (a.) too embarrassed or nervous to do or say what you want SYN shy
Many people are inhibited about discussing sexual matters.
inhibition: (n.)
She had no inhibitions about saying what she felt.
People tend to lose their inhibitions when they've drunk a lot of alcohol.
4. Then I look again to my right, at the little ants milling about the signage below me, snapping photos, chasing tour buses, on the off chance that somebody somehow sees me.
on the off chance/ off-chance: if you do sth on the off chance, you do it hoping for a particular result, although you know it is not likely
I didn't really expect her to be at home. I just called on the off chance.
I just came to see you on the off-chance that Pippa might be here.
5. My body shudders, the fear becoming euphoric and blinding.
euphoric: [ju:'fɒrɪk] feeling very happy and excited
Scientists are euphoric at the success of the test.
euphorically: (ad.)
euphoria: (n.) [ju:ˈfɔ:riə]
an extremely strong feeling of happiness and excitement which usually only lasts for a short time
There was a general atmosphere of permission after the euphoria of last year.
6. Confronting the reality of our own mortality is important because it obliterates all the crappy, fragile, superficial values in life.
obliterate: [əˈblɪtəreɪt] 1. to destroy sth completely so that nothing remains
Hiroshima was nearly obliterated by the atomic bomb.
2. to cover sth completely so that it cannot be seen
Then the fog came down, obliterating everything.
3. to remove a thought, feeling, or memory from sb's mind
Nothing can obliterate the memory of those tragic events.
obliteration: [əˌblɪtə'reɪʃn] (n.)
Let us not go too far, however; in what concerns Jean Valjean, this forgetfulness and obliteration were merely superficial.
7. The Stoics of ancient Greece and Rome implored people to keep death in mind at all times, in order to appreciate life more and remain humble in the face of its adversities.
implore sb to do sth: to ask for sth in an emotional way. SYN beg
"Don't go," I implored her.
She implored the soldiers to save her child.
imploring: (a.)
a ragged child with imploring eyes
8. They say that a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa can cause a hurricane in Florida; well, what hurricanes will you leave in your wake?
in sb's wake: behind or after sb or sth
The car left clouds of dust in its wake.
in the wake of sth: if sth, especially sth bad happens in the wake of an event, it happens afterwards and usually as a result of it
Famine followed in the wake of the drought.
9. The pampering of the modern mind has resulted in a population that feels deserving of something without earning that something, a population that feels they have a right to something without sacrificing for it.
pamper: SYN spoil, 娇惯；纵容
She spent her childhood as the pampered daughter of a wealthy family.
Pamper yourself with a stay in one of our luxury hotel.
PART 2 Sentences
Our culture today confuses great attention and great success, assuming them to be the same thing. But they are not.
You are great. Already. Whether you realize it or not. Whether anybody else realizes it or not. And it’s not because you launched an iPhone app, or finished school a year early, or bought yourself a sweet-ass boat. These things do not define greatness.
You are already great because in the face of endless confusion and certain death, you continue to choose what to give a fuck about and what not to. This mere fact, this simple optioning for your own values in life, already makes you beautiful, already makes you successful, and already makes you loved. Even if you don’t realize it. Even if you’re sleeping in a gutter and starving.