Words:
1. At about 6:00, all the relatives cleared out.
clear out:
*clear something out: to make a place tidy by removing things from it and getting rid of them
I need to clear out my closet.
*to leave a place or building quickly
Wait to get on the train until the people getting off have cleared out.
*clear out:(BrE) used to tell someone angrily to go away
#My sentence:
Before you leave the house, you must clear out it totally.
2. I kind of decided to throw in the towel for this Christmas, and I headed up to Rowley's house.
throw in the sponge/ towel: (informal) to admit that you have been defeated
这个表达有点像中国的“一拳打在棉花上”，自己使不上力，完全被打败了。
这个句子再次出现了head,可以查看Day 6的Eric分享。
#My sentence:
Every time you want to do something successfully, you have no way to do it. It is like to throw in the towel.
3. I forgot to get a gift for Rowley, so I just slapped a bow on the "L'il Cutie" book Rodrick gave me.
bow在作名词的时候，根据意思不一样，有两种发音。
#My sentence:
Every foreigner must bow to Chinese Emperor when they came to China.
4. So I can always count on them for a good gift.
count on ~ count on/ upon somebody/ something + doing something/ + to do something
这个词组后缀doing和to do 都可以，两者的意思是一样的。都解释为 to depend on someone or something especially in a difficult situation.
You can count on me.
*to expect something如果是表达这个意思，则使用 count on (somebody/ something) doing something
*如果count，在表达“把。。。看作。。。”时，它的宾语的后面不用as比用as普遍
He counted himself lucky.
This is generally counted of no importance.
#My sentence:
Whenever I feel too difficulty and sad to move on, I count on my parents' words.
5. From the way Rowley was hyping his present, I thought he must have gotten me a big-screen TV or a motorcycle or something.
hype: to try to make people think something is good or important by talking about it a lot on television, the radio etc ~ promote
The director is just using the controversy to hype his movie.
*hype somebody up: to make someone feel excited
big-screen TV 大尺寸的电视机
6. But once again, I let my hopes get too high.
let one's hopes get too high: 期望值太高
7. We went back inside, and Rowley showed me his Christmas loot.
loot: (informal) things that you have bought or been given in large amounts- used humorously
Jodie came home from the mall with bags of loot.
loot多用于表达“战利品”，类似的表达还有 plunder；在非正式用语中，也是“偷来的东西或者钱财”的意思，类似于spoils
8. He sure got a lot more stuff than I did.
stuff的动词表达已经在Eric的Day 8分享中有，这里强调一下staff 和stuff 的区别。stuff 是“材料”、“东西”、“物料”的总称，是不可数名词。staff是“人员”的总称，是集合名词，但是也可以用来代替可数名词的复数。
9. Earlier today, me and Manny were horsing around in the basement.
horse around/ about:(informal) to play roughly ~ horseplay
Stop horsing around- you'll break something!
#My sentence:
Kids like to horse around for fun.
a ball of thread 线球
Composition
Communication is the key point to handle issues.
We always believe we have said everything clear and nothing to add. But we can't handle the problem we are meeting with. The key point is that both sides have not stated their thoughts clearly.
Tonight, I have a talk with my cousin and my uncle. I have been puzzled why my cousin dislikes to talk with my uncle. My uncle is a talkative, smart and considerate man. Every time, I talk with him, he taught me useful things and removed my puzzlement. Till tonight, I understood that my cousin has been refusing to tell his thoughts clearly and totally to his father. So his father has been thinking that his son is not good at communication and needs his instruction. The failed communication made them misunderstand each other for years.
Since then, I told myself to express myself honestly and clearly to others. Misunderstanding can be solved by communication.