PART 1 Expressions
1. We should seek to chip away at the ways that we’re wrong today so that we can be a little less wrong tomorrow.
chip away at sth: to gradually make sth less effective or destroy it
Writers such as Voltaire and Diderot were chipping away at the foundations of society.
Fears about the future chipped away at her sense of well-being.
2. The human mind is a jumble of inaccuracy.
jumble: a lot of different things mixed together in an untidy way, without any order 杂乱的一堆
a jumble of old toys
Inside, she was a jumble of emotions.
类似表达： a litter of
jumble sale （义卖时的）杂物拍卖 = rummage sale
jumble (v.) to mix things together in an untidy way, without any order
The photographs were all jumbled up.
Ben's words became jumbled.
3. But when we’re sober the next week, we don’t want to admit that we’re a big fat liar, so we go along with the revised and newly expanded drunkard version of our story.
big fat liar: 超级大骗子，来自于2002的一部美国青少年喜剧电影 Big Fat Liar
4. And on top of all of this, Meredith fell in love and began a relationship with another woman, an incest survivor.
on top of sth:
1. on the highest surface of sth
There should be an envelop on top of the fridge.
2. in complete control of a situation
Don't worry; I'm back on top of things now.
I should be more on top of my work next week.
3. if sth bad happens to you on top of sth else, it happens when you have other problems
On top of everything else, I now have to go to work next Saturday.
5. Our beliefs are malleable, and our memories are horribly unreliable.
malleable: [ˈmæliəbl] 1. sth that is malleable is easy to press or pull into a new shape 可锻造的；有延展性的 eg. malleable steel
2. formal, someone who is malleable can be easily influenced or changed by other people
a malleable child
malleability: (n.)
6. Even a behavior as simple as sneaking a peek at your boyfriend’s text messages or asking a friend what people are saying about you is driven by insecurity and that aching desire to be certain.
ache [eɪk] if part of your body aches, you feel a continuous, but not very sharp pain there
His feet were arching from standing so long.
ache for sth, ache to do sth: to want to do or have sth very much
I'm aching for sleep.
He ached to reach out and hold her close.
7. I had a friend who, for the longest time, talked about putting his artwork online and trying to make a go of it as a professional artist.
Then he’s free to give that screenplay an honest go and see what happens.
make a go of sth: informal, to make sth succeed, especially a business or marriage
Nikki was determined to make a go of the business.
Many businesses are struggling hard to make a go of it.
第二句里的go 是try的意思， an attempt to do sth
"I can't open this drawer." "Here, let me have a go."
I'd thought about it for some time and decided to give it a go.
I'm not sure it will work but it's worth a go.
PART 2 Sentences
Certainty is the enemy of growth. Nothing is for certain until it has already happened -- and even then, it's still debatable. That's why accepting the inevitable imperfections of our values is necessary for any growth to take place.
No matter how honest and well-intentioned we are, we're in a perpetual state of misleading ourselves and others for no other reason than that out brain is designed to be efficient, not accurate.
Not only does our memory suck -- suck to the point that eyewitness testimony isn't necessarily taken seriously in court cases -- but our brain functions in a horribly biased way.
The answer is to trust yourself less. After all, if our hearts and minds are so unreliable, maybe we should be questioning our own intentions and motivations more.
It's the backwards law again: the more you try to be certain about something, the more uncertain and insecure you will feel.
But the converse is true as well: the more you embrace being uncertain and not knowing, the more comfortable you will feel in knowing what you don't know.