YOYO-ISG 100702 Novel /The Lovely Bones Ch9-Ch16

[Kooper]

Assignment 1:
Please list one to five words, phrases or idioms from the chapter you're allocated and provide the definitions, usages, and examples. We'll practice sentence making during the meeting.

Ch9: Kooper
Ch10: Chiron
Ch11: Janet
Ch12: Sherry
Ch13: Dabby
Ch14: Gloria
Ch15: Timothy
Ch16:Michael

[Kooper]

words in chapter 15:

1. the ropes [pl]: all the things sb needs to know to do a job or deal with a system
know/learn the ropes: know how to do a praticular task/job
Ex: I spent the first month just learning the ropes.
Ex: Get some one to help you, some one who knows the ropes.

2. under one's breath: in a quiet voice so that no one can hear you
Ex: He muttered something under his breath.]
Ex:"Son of a bitch," he muttered under his breath.

3. dole out sth(money, food, advice etc): to give sth to more than one person 發放
Ex: Vera was doling out candy to all kids.

4. let bygones be bygones: used to tell sb they should forget about unpleasant things that happened in the past, and especially to forgive and forget sth bad that sb has done to them
Ex: Just let bygones be bygones and be friends again.

[chiron]

Guys: Considering our low attendance rate on this coming Friday, Kooper and I finally reached an agreement that we would only have on-line discussion this time, and the physical meeting would be skipped for once, sorry to say that. But if the attendance rate climbs back again in the near future, of course, how can I committing the sin of depriving you of the chance to learn English?

Therefore, I will come up with all the questions covering from ch9-ch16 to help you overcome this difficulty task. Pls cooperate with me more actively. Let’s work together no matter how much time we need it, 1 month or more, that’s fine! I would love to provide any assistance.


[On-Line Questions]

Chapter 9 (For Michael, I know your version is different from us, and the best I can do is note which chapter the questions come from. Pls try your best to search the following questions!)
1. What does the sentence on p.112 mean? “She made a solid catalog of the neighbors”……”A miscalculated circling, a sad, partnerless dance.”
2. Why did grandmother Lynn say, “An impossibility in this house!” on page 112?
3. What does the sentence on p.113 mean? “Starved down”
4. What does the sentence on p.116 mean? “I stand amazed,”……
5. What did Abigail plan to say after the sentence on p.116? “An apéritif is something you…”
6. What does the sentence on p.116 mean? “My grandmother got sloshed”……“a grade-A ’tute.”
7. What does the sentence on p.117 mean? “The hollows that could stand some more hollowing,”
8. What does the sentence on p.118 mean? “High Catholic,”
9. What does the sentence on p.119 mean? He smelled of a perfume sweeter than what my mother sometimes wore, and the “sting” of it in my nose,
10. What does the sentence on p.121 mean? No one could shop a “rack” like Grandma Lynn.
11. What does the sentence on p.122 mean? …I could sit in the pew cross-legged and “flounce the hem” down to the ground.
12. What’s the function of “overdrive” in the sentence on p.122? Grandma Lynn went into preparation “overdrive”.
13. What does the sentence on p.124 mean? He hadn’t woken a day since my day “when the day wasn’t something to get through.”
14. What’s the sentence structure on p.124 and what does it mean? At least it was a day shaped around what they were so preoccupied by: my absence.
15. What does the sentence on p.124 mean? Today he could walk tall with grief and so could Abigail.
16. What does the sentence on p.126 mean? “Abigail?” My father said. He was “attuned” to her voice, her anger. “Something was off.”

Chapter 10
17. What does the sentence on p.128 mean? …hang out in the trees and “pick one another’s brains.”
18. What does the sentence on p.128 mean? “They formed the superior, if somewhat socially crippled, highest rung of the gifted ladder.”
19. What does the sentence on p.129 mean? …, Ruth sat in the darkness and concentrated until she “came away” with a headache.
20. What does the sentence on p.130 mean? Lindsey had avoided …… “She wasn’t exactly lying that way,”…
21. What does the sentence on p.131 mean? She had made “a big stink” about no meat at home and she had to hold to it…
22. What does the sentence on p.131 mean? …, and then it was only to “excuse herself” in the hallway at school.
23. Why did Lindsey reply “Notice the direction of the fish” as Ruth asked her, “Are you religious” on p.131?
24. What does the sentence on p.135 mean? …Worse than feeling so solitary among one’s living, “growing” peers?...
25. What does the sentence on p.136 mean? “How do you make the switch?”

Chapter 11
26. What does the sentence on p.147 mean? “But Claire had seen what I had – his look bearing down – his wanting something unspoken that to give him would equal our oblivion.”
27. What does the sentence on p.152 mean? “Mr. Harvey was at once unknowable” and the only person…
28. What does the sentence on p.155 mean? But how in the presence of the police she seemed to “bloom”.  And how??
29. Who is “he” in the sentence on p.158? His mother was knitting him mittens.
30. What does the sentence on p.158 mean? “Brian was black and white with blame.”

Chapter 12
31. What does the sentence on p.163 mean? It was Hal Heckler, a tall handsome “slash” of a man.
32. What does the sentence on p.164 mean? Like a firm waxen cover it had locked him away tight into the “hard-blessed” hours where there was no dead daughter and no “gone knee”,…
33. What does the sentence on p.165 mean? She had her “beating-around-the-yard” ballet flats on her feet.
34. What does the sentence on p.168 mean? “It had only ever been my father who stretched her laughter out into the rooms of the house and made it okay, somehow, for her to leg go.”
35. What does the sentence on p.171 mean? She pulled back the “tough-cord” Sears bedspread,…
36. What does the sentence on p.174 mean? In her eyes she was climbing back to “the surface”.

Chapter 13
37. What does the sentence on p.181 mean? Grandma Lynn “was due” for Thanksgiving.
38. What does the sentence on p.182 mean? Buckley and Holiday were romping…in an increasingly hyper “game of tag”.
39. What does the sentence on p.190 mean? “Ten-four”. Grandma Lynn, I thought.
40. What does the sentence on p.190 mean? Now, never having tried to before,…my grandmother found that she was suddenly “catching up”.
41. What does the sentence on p.194 mean? The pragmatic, “prim mistress” that my mother had always been was gone.

Chapter 14
42. What does the sentence on p.202 mean? As her eyes mounted…Samuel were there to climb down after her…, “fitting into her limbs”.
43. What’s the sentence structure on p.208 and what does it mean? “How alive she was consumed me whole that day.”

Chapter 15
44. What does the sentence on p.219 mean? They discussed the damages, which Mr. Harvey said he would take care of “out-of-pocket”,…

Chapter 16
45. What does the sentence on p.225 mean? Blessedly, in another moment, “Jethro Tull erupted again, shutting out all else.”
46. What does the sentence on p.225 mean? Ruana was happy for the escape, and though she was someone “to whom order was also a sort of meditation”,…

[chiron]

Assignment 1:
Please list one to five words, phrases or idioms from the chapter you're allocated and provide the definitions, usages, and examples. We'll practice sentence making during the meeting.

Ch10: Chiron

[Good Words]
-pair off (ph.) When people pair off or are paired off, they form a pair, often in order to become girlfriend and boyfriend.
Even among the gifted, who distinguished themselves by doing things differently, people paired off within the 1st few days. (p.132)
-bubble (v) to make a bubbling sound, especially when moving in the direction mentioned
ex: The musicians and poets, the History Heads and artists, were teeming and bubbling about how to begin. (p.138)
-perfect (v) to make something perfect or as good as you can
ex: Soon, like a sleight-of-hand trick perfected, no one would see her do it. (p.139)

[Good Sentence]
“If you stop asking why you were killed instead of someone else, stop investigating the vacuum left by your loss, stop wondering what everyone left on Earth is feeling,” she said, “you can be free. Simply put, you have to give up on Earth.” (p.138)

[Kooper]

26. What does the sentence on p.147 mean? “But Claire had seen what I had – his look bearing down – his wanting something unspoken that to give him would equal our oblivion.”
Claire had seen, from his look, Mr. Harvey's buring desire to kill her.
Bear down on sb means to move in a threatening way towards sb. "His look bearing down" probably means that he gave a threatening look.

27. What does the sentence on p.152 mean? “Mr. Harvey was at once unknowable” and the only person…
unknowable: Impossible to know, especially being beyond the range of human experience or understanding
Mr. Harvey is a person whose true face no body in the development block could catch on to.

28. What does the sentence on p.155 mean? But how in the presence of the police she seemed to “bloom”.  And how??
bloom[v] to become happier, healthier, or more successful in a way that is very noticeable
Abigail was having a secrete crush on the detective Len, so she got happier whenever she saw him.

29. Who is “he” in the sentence on p.158? His mother was knitting him mittens.
My guess: "he" refers to Brian when he was a child. Here in Brian's mind many different pictures passed in a flash. They're used to depict Brian's mental state - amounts to craziness.

[chiron]

Hi, guys:
I want to conduct a poll by asking how many of you will join Fri. meeting? Pls sign your name after this article by this Thursday.

p.s. If fewer than 5 (including myself), I wonder should we call it a successful meeting for the lack of interaction.

Pls sing here:
Chiron

[Kooper]

Hi, guys:
I want to conduct a poll by asking how many of you will join Fri. meeting? Pls sign your name after this article.

p.s. If fewer than 5 (including myself), I wonder should we call it a successful meeting for the lack of interaction.

Pls sing here:
Chiron

Kooper

[Kooper]

I personally think four participants are good enough to create a lively discussion, just like what we do through skype every Sunday morning. ( ) However, I guess it is Chiron's call to decide whether we should hold the physical meeting or just a skype meeting instead, if there is less than five participants.

[chiron]

26. What does the sentence on p.147 mean? “But Claire had seen what I had – his look bearing down – his wanting something unspoken that to give him would equal our oblivion.”
Claire had seen, from his look, Mr. Harvey's burning desire to kill her.
Bear down on sb means to move in a threatening way towards sb. "His look bearing down" probably means that he gave a threatening look.

Yeah, and "his wanting something unspoken that to give him would equal our oblivion", the original sentence should be, "the cost to give him his unspoken wanting (something) would equal (to) our oblivion (deep sleep, meaning 'death')"

27. What does the sentence on p.152 mean? “Mr. Harvey was at once unknowable” and the only person…
unknowable: Impossible to know, especially being beyond the range of human experience or understanding
Mr. Harvey is a person whose true face no body in the development block could catch on to.

Yeah, allow me to compensate. I guess "unknowable" used here means unrecognizable or unfamiliar, so the sentence, "Mr. Harvey was at once unknowable and the only person in the world who could have killed me" should be, "Mr. Harvey was at once (immediately) another person and..."

[chiron]

I personally think four participants are good enough to create a lively discussion, just like what we do through skype every Sunday morning. ( ) However, I guess it is Chiron's call to decide whether we should hold the physical meeting or just a skype meeting instead, if there is less than five participants.

Yeah, four or five is suitable.
I asked for the signature because I don't wish we only have few and waste the meaningful preparation and discussion on Fri.

[Kooper]

Chiron and I have reached the consensus that we will only have forum discussion this time. The physical meeting this Friday will be canceled.

[janet12tw]

Vocab from Chapter 11:

1.incontrovertible (P144)
definitely true and impossible to be proved false [= indisputable]:
Ex: CCTV provided incontrovertible evidence that he was at the scene of the crime.

2. waft (P145)
1 if a smell, smoke, or a light wind wafts somewhere, or if something wafts it somewhere, it moves gently through the air
waft up/through/over etc
Ex: Cooking smells wafted up from downstairs.
2 if sounds waft somewhere, you hear them there and they are pleasant but not very loud
waft up/through/over etc
Ex: The sound of laughter wafted through the open window.

3. relegate [transitive] (P157)
1 formal to give someone or something a less important position than before
relegate somebody/something to something
Ex: Women tended to be relegated to typing and filing jobs.
2 British EnglishDS if a sports team is relegated, it is moved into a lower division [≠ promote]
relegate something/somebody to something
Ex: We were relegated to the Fourth Division last year.
relegation (noun) [uncountable]

4.gorge
1 gorge yourself (on something) (P157)
to eat until you are too full to eat any more [= stuff yourself]
Ex: We gorged ourselves on ripe plums.
2 be gorged with something
to be completely full of something:
Ex: The insect sucks until it is gorged with blood.

5. cinch [transitive] (P157)
1 to pull a belt, strap etc tightly around something:
Ex: a blue dress cinched at the waist by a wide belt
2 American English to make something certain to happen:
Ex: They cinched a place in the play-off.

[Just JJ]

Guys, 　
　I won't join you at novel reading meeting. Coz I don't think it's worthy to read a novel for few chapters and leave it, like "My Sister Keeper".

Regards
JJ

[Kooper]

Guys, 　
　I won't join you at novel reading meeting. Coz I don't think it's worthy to read a novel for few chapters and leave it, like "My Sister Keeper".

Regards
JJ

No worries. Given the fact that you can only make it to the meetings over winter and summer vacations, I don't expect you to participate in it.

[chiron]

Sherry, where are you, we need your help with above questions, or no one can make it!