【正文】 and when they extend the period to too many years.23 The parents don’t even detect a clear sense of direction in their children’s lives. They look at them and see the things that are being delayed. (Para. 7)Meaning: The parents even lose track of their children’s lives, so they just look at them and see how the things that should be done are being postponed.Meaning beyond words: Parents are very worried about their grown children’s future but simply don’t know what to do to help.24 It’s hard to predict what’s next. New guidelines haven’t been established yet, and everything seems to give way to a less permanent version of itself. (Para. 8)Meaning: It is hard to say in advance what will happen next. Since no new social rules or instructions have been set up yet, everything seems to be temporary or unfixed.Usage note predict, anticipatepredict 和 anticipate 都是動(dòng)詞，都含有“預(yù)言；預(yù)料”之意。11 Similarly, they fall in and out of love, quit one job and try another or even shift to a new career.(Para. 4)Meaning: Likewise, they fal in and out of love, give up one job and try another, or changeto a pletely different profession.Meaning beyond words: Before they final y settle down, col ege graduates need to accumulate life experiences – to discover themselves during their odyssey years.12 So, we need to recognize this new stage, the odyssey years, which many now consider to be an unavoidable stage in reaching adulthood. (Para. 4)Meaning: Therefore, it is necessary to recognize this unavoidable new stage, where young people explore life in order to reach adulthood.13 People who were born prior to the 60s or 70s in the last century tended to frame their concept of adulthood based upon achieving certain acplishments: moving away from home, being financially independent, finding the right spouse and starting a family. (Para. 5)Meaning: People born before the 1960s or 1970s were likely to define the term adulthood according to certain acplishments, such as moving away from home, having financial independence, and starting a family with a good husband or wife.*tend to do sth.: usu. do a particular thing 傾向于；往往會(huì)；易于做某事*People tend to need less sleep as they get older. 隨著年紀(jì)的增長(zhǎng)，人們需要的睡眠會(huì)變少。We’re trying to make people more sensitive to the difficulties faced by working mothers.我們正在努力使人們更理解上班族媽媽所面臨的困難。*sensitive to 表示 “對(duì)…過敏的；對(duì)…理解的”。例如：*A sensitive person is easily upset by other people’s remarks or behavior. 敏感的人很容易因他人的言論或行為而生氣。例如：*I am sensible of the suffering you are undergoing. 我清楚你正在經(jīng)歷的痛苦。A sensible person makes good decisions and adjustments based on reason rather than emotion. 一個(gè)明智的人會(huì)根據(jù)理智而不是情感來做出合理的決定和判斷。t accurately describe the man. 他問我那個(gè)搶劫了我的男人是否有什么不尋常之處，但我不能準(zhǔn)確地描述那個(gè)男子。It’s not unusual for teenagers to go through a phase when they feel ashamed of their parents, afraid that they might not live up to their friends’ standards. 青少年經(jīng)歷為自己的父母感到羞愧的階段是很平常的，他們生怕自己的父母達(dá)不到他們朋友所設(shè)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。例如：*Great minds in general look at life in a way peculiar to themselves. 一般來說，偉大的思想家都以自己獨(dú)特的眼光來看待生活。*It was not unusual for me to e home at two or three in the morning. 凌晨?jī)扇c(diǎn)回家對(duì)我來說是很平常的事。例如：*The wine has a peculiar taste. 這種酒有種獨(dú)特的味道。（狀語表示時(shí)間）Usage note: peculiar, characteristic, unusualpeculiar, characteristic 和 unusual 都可用作形容詞，都含有表示“有特點(diǎn)的；有特色的”等意思，但有細(xì)微差別。（狀語表示方式）*With our food running out, we had to walk to a vil age for help. 由于我們的食物即將吃完，我們不得不步行到一個(gè)村子尋求幫助。例如：*She sat down at the table, with each dish emitting a delicious smell . 她在餐桌旁坐了下來，每道菜都散發(fā)出撲鼻的香味。t feel like a failure! Staystrong, be positive, and keep focused! Someday you will look back and wonderat the vast changes as you passed through the odyssey years.Language Points:1 Most of us know about the phases of life which we label to parallel different age groups and life stages: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. (Para. 1)Meaning: Most of us know about the different life stages that we describe according to different age groups: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age.2 We think of infancy before childhood and middle age before old age, with each unique phase bringing its own peculiar set of challenges. (Para. 1)Meaning: We sequence the life stages of infancy, childhood, middle age and old age according to their natural order, with each particular life stage facing its own featured challenges.Sentence structure note:“with＋名詞/代詞＋現(xiàn)在分詞”作獨(dú)立主格結(jié)構(gòu)“with＋名詞/代詞＋現(xiàn)在分詞”構(gòu)成獨(dú)立主格結(jié)構(gòu)，主要用作狀語，可以表示伴隨、方式、原因、時(shí)間等。t expect to achieve their goals right away butknow that they must have the strength, capacity and confidence to endure overthe long term. If you39。s beneficial to know that even though graduatesare delaying many things after college, surveys show they still hold highlytraditional aspirations. For example, this contemporary generation ratespar