Week#1
1. How to interpret “ the tree” on Sethe’s back?
They call it the tree because Sethe was tortured when she was a slave on the farm. The school teacher made one of those guys force and whip her. That's how "the tree" was formed. The intricate branches and leaves of the tree indicate the pain and sorrow she had been through. The author wrote "none of which Sethe could feel because her back skin had been dead for years." I guess though she said so, those experiences and memories will never fade away and play an important role in Sethe life.
2. What do “Boston and velvet” stand for in the book?
I think Boston and Velvet means nothing for Sethe because she had no idea of what they are. However, it was the girl who kept saying and seeking Boston and Velvet saved Sethe. So Boston and Velvet stand for beautiful things, high quality of life.
"Well, Lu, velvet is like the world was just born. Clean and new and so smooth. The velvet I seen was brown, but in Boston they got all colors. Carmine. That means red but when you talk about velvet you got to say 'carmine'."
3. Why does the author mention the color in a quilt for two times?
Like the author said" Every dawn she saw the dawn, but never acknowledged or remarked its color. It was as though one day she saw red baby blood, another day the pink gravestone chips, and that was the last of it." The two orange squares on the quilt was like a reminder made her recognize what she did and what happened to her child.
Expressions
1. shudder / tremble / shiver / shake
shudder (因害怕、恐惧、厌恶或寒冷) 发抖
If you shudder, you shake with fear, horror, or disgust, or because you are cold.
tremble
If you tremble, you shake slightly because you are frightened or cold. 颤抖
If something trembles, it shakes slightly. （轻微地）颤动
If your voice trembles, it sounds unsteady and uncertain, usually because you are upset or nervous.（声音）发颤
shiver(因寒冷或害怕而) 颤抖
When you shiver, your body shakes slightly because you are cold or frightened.
shake (因寒冷、害怕等而) 颤抖
If you are shaking, or a part of your body is shaking, you are making quick, small movements that you cannot control, for example, because you are cold or afraid.
关于颤抖，作者用了不同的几个词语来表达，从理解上我觉得都可以当作同样的意思来理解，只是如果让我来写，依旧还是很难说出这些词语细微的差异究竟在哪里。
2. at bay
To Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay.
我们知道bay是海湾的意思，一开始我也误以为at bay应该就是在海湾，那应该是安全、稳定相关的意思。但是阅读中每次重要的词汇和语言点往往不是生词，而是自己认识却可能并不能准确知道的语言点。比如这里，at bay指控制住、使远离的意思，感谢Tim老师的解答。
在free dictionary中也有这样的解释：
keep (someone or something) at bay
To keep something at a distance from oneself, especially that which is harmful or unpleasant; to control something in order to keep it from doing harm to oneself.
During my college years, the only things I had to keep hunger at bay were beans, rice, and plain pasta.
You have to start meeting your minimum monthly repayments if you want to keep your creditors at bay.
These tree frogs have a powerful poison on their backs that helps keep predators at bay.
3. on the sly
这个短语在全书中总共出现了三次：
1. She saw his skepticism and went on. “I cook at a restaurant in town. And I sew a little
on the sly.”
2. She chose Halle and for their first bedding she sewed herself a dress on the sly.
3. Sethe made a dress on the sly and Halle hung his hitching rope from a nail on the wall of her cabin.
sly本身是形容词，意思为：狡猾的，狡诈的;暗中的，偷偷摸摸的;
这个短语我们可以理解为 secretly 偷偷地
比如：Those students always smoke on the sly.
4. chances are
If they had, chances are they would have hesitated before approaching her.
(the) chances are (that) 表示 it is likely to happen...当我们想表达“很有可能”的时候就可以用上它。
例如： Chances are we can't finish our reading task unless we pay much time and make efforts on it.
