西雅图夜未眠注释.doc

Some Words and Expressions that You May not Know
Five minutes in the microwave.
A "microwave oven" cooks food much faster than other ovens.
My shrink. Call him.
A "shrink" is a very slangy but widely used word for a psychologist.
Loss of spouse support group.
A "spouse" is a husband or wife, and a "support group" is a group of people with the same type of problem e together to support each other emotionally.
Hug a friend.
"To hug" a person is to hold them close to your chest, or to embrace them.
Work is the only thing that will see you through this.
In this case, "to see a person through" a difficult situation is to help them survive it.
Don't mind him; He's just a guy who lost his wife.
"Don't mind" him is a way of telling a person to ignore or not pay attention to him.
Take a couple weeks off.
"To take off" some time from work is leave the job in order to relax or go on vacation.
I'll move on...and in a few months, boom, I'll be fine.
"To move on" from a difficult situation is to leave it behind." Boom" is the word used for the sound of an explosion, or as here, a sudden or dramatic change. If a person is "fine," they're doing OK.
Seattle. Chicago. Baltimore.
Three important American cities: Seattle is in the state of Washington, on the West coast, Chicago is in Illinois, in the Midwest, and Baltimore is in Maryland, on the East Coast.

Harold, who ran off with his secretary.
"To run off" with a person is to go away with them. It can imply, as in this case, in order to have a sexual affair.
He came back, because Irene threatened to put the dog to sleep if he didn't.
"To threaten" a person is to warn them that they face punishment or other bad consequences if they do not act in a certain way. "To put an animal to sleep" is a very gentle way of saying to kill them, often because they are suffering.
Don't mention the IRS or the Federal Prison system.
The Internal Revenue System, which is the US anization that is responsible for