#字词篇
1. They erased my list and drew up their own plan.
erase和draw up在这里正好表示一对儿相反意义的词。表示“擦掉…”和“写上…”
erase除了表示擦掉实物（笔迹等）之外，还可以用来表示去除某些抽象物体（如bad memories etc.)，另外，erase也可以指“彻底摧毁…”，语义较强。
draw up除了表示“写下（一般指较为正式地写下…），还可以表示to move a chair near to someone or something
造句：Draw up a chair, and I'll tell you how I successfully erase those bad memories.
2. The catch is that when you're done, everyone in your group gets the same grade.
catch: a hidden or unexpected problem, especially one suspected to be exist because everything seems too good to be true
catch做此种用法时通常用作单数
造句：The catch is that you can't enter the competition unless you've spent 100 dollars in the store.
3. Ricky's big claim to fame is that he'll pick the gum off the bottom of a desk and chew it if you pay him fifty cents.
somebody's / something's claim to fame: a place or person's claim to fame is the reason why they are famous—often used humorously to mention that something that is not very important
造句：My main claim to fame is that I once shook Jane's hand.
4. But being good at sewing does not exactly buy you popularity points at school.
buy somebody points这个表达很有意思，就是“给某人加分”， point前面可以加上修饰语表示具体在某方面加分。这里就是“在受欢迎度方面给某人加分”
造句：Being capable of singing really buys me much popularity points at school.
5. I realized that Rowley's injury thing is a pretty good racket, so I decided it was time for me to have an injury of my own.
racket: an easy and very profitable way of earning a living/ a way of making a large unfair profit
racket最基本的意思是“喧哗，吵闹”，“诈骗，勒索”， 做动词还可以表示“用球拍打…”
这里的意思是“…有利可图的事儿”
造句：Phone chat lines are a real racket.
6. See, the cast is a great gimmick because everyone wants to sign their names on it.
cast: 这里cast的意思是“石膏”
cast原意为“（一出戏剧或一部电影的）全体演员；铸件等”，做动词主要意思是“投射（视线，光等）
a strong cast = a lot of good actors
cast doubts/light on something
gimmick: 噱头，做动词有“暗设机关”的意思，相当于trick
造句：They give away free gifts with children's meals as a marketing gimmick.
7. What really ticks me off about that is Rowley is right-handed...
tick somebody off: to annoy someone
造句：Her attitude is really ticking me off.
8. I tried to cash in on some of Rowley's new popularity, but it totally backfired.
cash in: to make a profit from a situation in a way that other people think is wrong or unfair
backfire: 熟词重现，表示“事与愿违”或“…朝相反的方向发展”
造句：The record company was trying to cash in on her fame be releasing early teenage recordings.
9. I tried to cheer him up, but all the jokes that usually crack him up weren't working.
cheer up: to become less sad, or to make someone feel less sad
crack up: to laugh a lot at something, or to make someone laugh a lot
造句：Here is a bit of news that will cheer you up
10. I thought I could just crank out my thank-you cards in a half hour...my mind went blank.
crank out: to produce a lot of something very quickly
联系之前我们所尖的crank up: to make the sound of something, especially music louder
blank这个词经常用来表示（大脑）一片空白/迷茫
blank face/look/expression/eyes
口语中经常会说my mind's a blank，表示you cannot remember something
造句：He cranked out three novels' titles in 15 seconds.
#句子篇
1. It's a lot harder to hit a moving target than I thought. Plus, I didn't get a lot of practice. It took Rowley like ten minutes to walk the Big Wheel back up the hill after every trip down.
形容词hard（或比较级harder）前经常会伴有表示程度类的修饰语，如 a lot, much, way(本书中也多次出现）...
plus这个词在这里是用作连词，it is used to add more information, 相当于besides
另外plus这个词的意思也非常多，除了常见的做介词表示“加，和”之外，还可作名词表示something that is an advantage, 例如Some knowledge of Spanish is a definite plus in this job.
做形容词（只用在名词前）表示good/positive, 例如on the plus side
I didn't get a lot of practice， practice这个词既可作名词，又可作动词， 但是作动词practise(英）， practice(美）主要指运动方面的，相当于exercise
造句：Our homework gets much more than before, plus, much harder.
2. That idea was a total bust, too. My bandage did end up attracting attention from a couple of people, but believe me, they were not the type of people I was going for.
bust: a situation in which the police go into a place in order to catch people doing something illegal
例如a drug bust
boom to bust: The economy went form boom to bust (from increasing to decreasing) very quickly.
bust还可做形容词，表示broken/ a business that goes bust cannot continue operating
type: 表示某类人群，be somebody's type意思是to be the kind of person someone is sexually attracted to
type 在这里还可以换成category， taste等
造句：Your business goes bust, plus, you are not my type.
#作文篇
What my younger brother did today really ticked me off. Recently I have decided to buy me some popularity points at school, for the catch is I must win friends as many as possible if I want to be the head of cheerleaders. And I just made up my mind to get a lot of practice on painting plus use it as a gimmick. At noon, I left my castle paintings dry outside right after I finished them. But my crazy brother erased the castle and drew up some stupid unicorns. I thought he just had a screw loose! And I burst into tears, with nothing can crank me up. I thought those paintings would be my claim to fame, but they were just ruined by a little nut!
其他：
from scratch从零开始，白手起家
gauze 包扎伤口用的纱布
writing the cards from there was a breeze
breeze轻而易举的事儿，小菜一碟
