Vocabulary

stone; rock; pebble

obstinate person; stubbornness; pigheadedness

saving; savings; accumulation; putting aside; reserving

blushing; getting red in the face

painful; heartrending; trying

endless; boundless; innumerable

piece; slice; strip; scrap

to break; to snap; to be cut; to split; to crack

Celsius; centigrade

folding; collapsible; telescopic

to break; to be broken; to snap; to fracture

joint; knuckle

theory; doctrine

to explain; to preach; to advocate

persuasiveness; powers of persuasion; cogency

constantly; always; continually; steadily

incessantly; without a pause

point; tip; end; nozzle

first (of all); firstly; to begin with; before anything else

a short while ago; a moment ago; just now; some time ago

1000 yen

1,000 yen bill

to tear to pieces; to tear to shreds; to tear up

to account for; to make up; to take up

to taper to a point; to become pointed; to become sharp

fighter (aircraft)

bottle opener; corkscrew

laundry; the washing

to roast; to parch; to toast; to boil down

(Japanese) rice cracker; senbei

to flatter; to soft-soap; to sweet talk; to cajole; to instigate

to fan (oneself, flames, etc.)

envious; jealous

to flash (e.g. lightning); to flicker; to glitter; to sparkle; to gleam

last (i.e. immediately preceding); previous; ex-; former

in front (of); before (e.g. a building)

getting an advance (on one's salary)

preface; foreword; preamble

dispensing with the preliminaries ...

such; like that; that sort of