Part I Words and Expressions
1. She’d had the highest grade in her class, had set the curve on every test; she had loved physics. But he couldn’t know that.
很形象的比喻，Marilyn是班上成绩最好的那个，即在曲线的最顶部最高点。
仿句：You are the cleverest student I ever had. You had set the curve last semester. I expect more of you this time.
2. So she had slouched in the back row of the home ec classroom, waiting out the first-day welcome speech her mother had given for a dozen years, drumming her fingers as her mother promised to teach them everything a young lady needed to keep a house.
slouch: if someone slouches, they sit or stand with their shoulders and head bent so they look lazy and unattractive.
仿句：He slouched back to his bedroom, thinking about how to tell his parents the truth without being scolded.
3. She worked her way through chemistry, majored in physics, ticked the requirements for medical school off her list.
tick off: if you tick off items on a list, you write a tick or other mark next to them, in order to show that they have been dealt with.
仿句：Tick off the finished projects and start to deal with the rest.
4. As Marilyn took the chicken, burnished and bronze, from the oven, he was mesmerized by her deftness.
mesmerize: if you are mesmerized by someone or something, you cannot stop watching them or listening to them because they are so attractive or to have such a powerful effect.
仿句：For the very first time he set foot on the land, he was mesmerized by its magnificence and desolation, a different kind of beauty.
Part II Thoughts
很喜欢这一章，先听了朗读的版本，再自己看了一遍。我多么希望后面能再展开讲James内心的想法。
两人的结合有点奇妙，矛盾。对于Marilyn来说，James这样的人是她生平仅见。和周围的人都不一样，有属于东方人的严谨拘谨。但对于James来说，Marilyn就如他的救赎。她和周围完美地融合到一起，Marilyn对他的喜爱和接受，让他感觉自己仿佛被周围接纳一般，自己也能融入一般。
而Marilyn和母亲的分歧，从上一章就延续下来。Marilyn抗拒成为母亲那样的人，从小父亲的离开应该也对她造成一定影响。她喜爱James，喜爱宝宝，想要完整的家，因此当得知自己怀孕的时候，我似乎隔着电脑屏幕都能感受到她的喜悦，仿佛整个人都在发光发亮一般。但文中提及：“Years later, Hannah would spy this same mark of deep worry on her mother’s face, though she would not know its source, and Marilyn would never have admitted the resemblance. ”，此处应该暗示Marilyn和母亲有无法避免的相似之处，而Marilyn和她孩子之间的相处可能会有一定联系。