unit2--7
The author discusses competitive showoffs in this paragraph. He shows us what the competitive showoff is. And then he gives out [us]detailed examples. There are many long sentences in this article. I am accustoming to it gradually.
The author uses five ‘---‘(dash, used to separate two closely related parts of one sentence) in one sentence. Why? Any special reasons are there? So long a sentence but beautiful and fluently [fluent]. These dishes [dashes]here stand for paralleling. The relation of ‘more’, ‘better’ and ‘deeper’ is apposition. Then the author tells a story, [in] which a competitive mother showoffs [showoff is]showing off she is much more loved by her daughter than the other one who is saying a sweet card received from her little daughter. She interrupts a mother’s happiness to satisfy her showing off.
Clearly, this kind of showoffs is offensive and never nice. It is a way of hurt [hurting]friendship and cause [causing]blunder and repentance. Of course this is not welcomed by people. I don’t know the meaning of ‘rivalry’. I look it up in dictionary. ‘Rivalry’ means ‘competition, the condition of being a rival or rivals’. So the sentence means in order to show off their superiority, the competitive o showoffs need to spend more on working, studying, and so on.