【正文】 27 Butch was granted reconsideration. And, once we became steadies, hecoordinated his studies and social life, passing all of his classes. He eventuallystudied law. (Para. 7)Meaning beyond words: Here we see the turning point of the relationship between thetwo. Her suggestions did work well with Butch since he was granted reconsideration. Assoon as they became steady lovers, Butch balanced his studies and social life and passedevery course. Final y, he studied law as had been planned.Note: Steady can also be used as a noun, as is in the text. It’s an oldfashioned Americanway to describe a boyfriend or girlfriend that someone has been having a romanticrelationship with.28 Despite Butch’s somewhat wild character, at his core, he is always a perfectgentleman and deserves a lot of credit for that. (Para. 8)Meaning: In spite of Butch’s a little wild character, he was always a perfect gentleman inessence, for which he should be given recognition.29 True, he’d sometimes take the liberty of displaying his love by planting a kiss onmy lips right in front of my astonished friends who watched and disapproved. (Para.8)Meaning: Without my permission, sometimes he would press a kiss on my lips to showhis love in front of my friends, who were astonished and resented what he did.Note: “Plant a kiss” is a figurative use of the word plant, which means an intimate andpublicly demonstrative kiss showing his love to all who are watching.30 But the truth is we had a pure and responsible relationship for seven full years.Sitting by the palm trees, hand in hand, we would listen to romantic songs, watchthe sunset, and weave dreams of being together with children of our own, forever.(Para. 8)Meaning beyond words: Butch showed much respect for her conservative perception oflove. For seven years, they just enjoyed their romance in a traditional way.31 Two years passed in a blur. One day, Butch took me by surprise as he kneltdown and proposed marriage holding a dozen red roses! (Para. 9)Meaning: Two years passed so quickly that I didn’t real y remember everything clearly.One day, I was startled when Butch, holding a dozen red roses, knelt down to proposemarriage.Note: propose to sb. = propose marriage to sb.32 Filled with deep emotion, I confessed my love for him, “How roooomaaaantic!!”(Para. 9)Meaning: I admitted my love for him with deep affection. It was super romantic!Meaning beyond words: She was so happy and thril ed to accept Butch’s marriageproposal that she said the word romantic in a slow and exaggerated way.Note: In informal writing, people would emphasize something in a similar way. Forexample:*Thank you soooooo much! 真是太太太感謝您了！33 Then my brain woke up from fantasy land. I cried out, “Good heavens. No! We’retoo young to tie the knot. We haven’t even graduated from college yet!” I reallyloved him but was pessimistic about our chances for success.(Para. 9)Meaning beyond words: Al of a sudden, she woke up from the romantic scene. Thoughshe already accepted love from Butch and confessed her love for him, she was not surewhether they would get married and have a happy ending as they were stil col egestudents.Note: It isn’t clear whether this expression tie the knot derives from an actual knot used inmarriage ceremonies or whether the knot is merely symbolic of a lasting unity. Knots havea place in many cultures and usually symbolize unbreakable pledges. Actual knots havecertainly been used in marriage ceremonies for some time. The word knot, although not inthe phrase tie the knot, has been associated with marriage since at least the 13th century.34 We married five years later. (Para 10)Meaning beyond words: Though she was pessimistic about their chance for success oflove, she accepted Butch’s proposal. They got married five years later, which il ustratestheir deep and true love for each other.35 Our faithful journey of love and learning took us down rocky roads of hardshipand on smooth easygoing highways. (Para. 11)Meaning: Our devoted and faithful love guided us both in times of happiness and also intimes of hardship.Note: The word rocky es from the noun rock bining with y. A rocky road refers toa road ful of rocks, uneven or not flat. Wo