This time I read Paragraph 12 to Paragraph 16. First, I skimmed the Paragraph 12 and my attention was directed to the four dashes (-). Two of them appear in the first sentence and the other two appear in the last sentence. We know dashes are used to separate parts of sentences, but here they have other functions. For example, in the first sentence “Another group of showoffs---much more sympathetic types---are showoffs who are basically insecure”, the phrase between the two dashes is an explanation to the “another group of showoffs”, so the function of this dash is to explain the other kind( kind)of showoffs. In the last sentence “and whatever the message---I’m smart, I’m a fine human being---showoffs have many different techniques for talking about it”, in my opinion, the first dash is used to give examples for the front word “message”. Because there are many messages they can show, here the author just gives two examples. The second dash indicates the finish of giving examples.
When I read Paragraph 15, I found there was a difficult point “the quiet mother of four…” what’s the meaning of “four”? Does it mean(means) there are four mothers and the quiet mother is one of them or it means the quiet mother has four children? I was confused. After I consulted the relative books, I know(knew) the “four” means four children. Suddenly, I found that there were another(other) two dashes here. I think the dashes here are used to give additional explanation. The function is to show us that the mother does not have the willing to show off. She is self-restraint. I suppose that the reason why the author talks about this mother is that he wants to give an evidence to correspond the last sentence of Paragraph 13 “and sometimes folks achieve great things and nonetheless do not show off about it”. The mother does not show off but she finally achieves great things.
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