Part 4

Question 1

against the odds

Answer 1

If something happens against all odds, it happens or succeeds although it seemed impossible or very unlikely.
Some women do manage to achieve business success against all odds…
尽管困难重重，一些女性还是在商场上获得了成功。

Question 2

culminate

[ˈkʌlməˌnet]

Answer 2

The verb culminate is used to describe a high point or a climactic stage in a process. For example, the goal of a Major League baseball team is to have their season culminate in a World Series victory.
The word culminate derives from the Latin word culminatus, the past participle of culminare, which means “to top, to crown.” Don’t be afraid of the Latin: it’s on your side. Knowing the Latin origin can help you remember the meaning of culminate. Use culminate when you are referring to a crowning moment or a final conclusion: “I want my experiments combining strawberry jam with burnt toast to culminate in a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.”
The key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text.