PART 1 Expressions
When that didn't work, he called his mother collect.
call/ phone sb collect: collect 这里是ad. (American English) if you telephone someone collect, the person who receives the call pays for it
collect phone SYN reverse the charges (British)
"This was a group of fairly high achievers, and Elon stood way outside of the bell curve," Farooq said.
bell curve: 即所谓的正态分布
ahead of the curve/ behind the curve: informal more advanced/ less advanced than other people in what you do or think
learning curve: the rate at which you learn a new skill
Everyone in the centre has been through a very steep learning curve (= they had to learn very quickly).
They fashioned tables by laying plywood on top of used kegs and came up with other makeshift furniture ideas.
makeshift: (a.) made to be used for a short time only when nothing better is available
The refugees slept in makeshift tents at the side of the road.
The remarks from the professor were spot-on.
spot-on: exactly right
Judith is always spot-on with her advice.
on the spot:
1. in the place where sth is happening
We ought to find out the views of the people on the spot.
2. do sth immediately, often without thinking it carefully
He had to make a decision on the spot.
3. put sb on the spot : to deliberately ask someone a question that is difficult or embarrassing to answer
I don't want to seem like a Johnny-come-lately or that I'm chasing a fad or just being opportunistic.
Johnny-come-lately (plural Johnny-come-latelies)
(idiomatic) A newcomer; a novice; an upstart.
She might take offense if some Johnny-come-lately thinks he can do a better job.
Johnny-on-the-spot: informal someone who immediately offers to help, takes an opportunity etc
PART 2 Thoughts
Musk pursued a couple of other girls, but kept returning to Justine. Any time she acted cool toward him, Musk responded with his usual show of force. "He would call very insistently," she said. " You always knew it was Elon because the phone would never stop ringing. The man does not take no for an answer. You can't blow him off. I do think of him as the Terminator. He locks his gaze on to something and says, 'It shall be mine.' Bit by bit, he won me over."
虽然挺佩服Elon大神对爱情的执着追求，但是我个人其实不太赞成这种在“契而不舍”的精神。Elon在与人相处上也带入了自己处理工作的态度和模式：定下目标，制定和实施计划，并且绝不半途而废。但是这种模式有时可能会给对方造成一种压迫感，而且很难在感情里细水长流。我甚至都有些怀疑，Musk对Justine的情结到底是他深爱着Justine还是出于一种强烈的胜负欲使得他不甘心自己无法赢得Justine的芳心。
PART 3 Summary
In this Chapter, the biographer unfolded Elon Musk's blossom period dating back to the late 1980s in Canada. The story begun with a lackluster interlude that Elon and his brother Kimbal missed their great-uncle in Canada and thus had to work a series of odd manual jobs. Elon ended up enrolling in Queen's university and the brothers also landed themselves a job in Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Team where Elon worked as an advisor. During this stint, Elon met with his Miss Right Justine Wilson in Queen's. Although upon first impression, Elon was not the cup of tea to Justine, he finally won her heart with relentless and ambitious pursuit. Two years later, Elon transferred to the University of Pennsylvania on a scholarship and spent two years there. Pennsylvania was undoubtedly a happy-to-lucky place for Elon, not only because he was a spectacular high academic performer, but also because he acquired a sense of belonging in the middle of a gangs of eccentric nerds and geeks. Elon topped his academic performance with three papers pertinent to solar energies, electronic books and ultracapacitors which underspinned his passions for electric cars and rockets down the line and demonstrated his talent in running an enterprise. The biographer, on the other hand, sensed that Musk might be trying to shape his life story by tracing those early origins.
