I had no idea then how boys wooed girls. I guessed it was a matter of joshing and shared nothings and hours of scuffing through autumn leaves and even more hours of clenches during the slow numbers at the sock hop. - Edmund White, My Women https://archive.is/20121204150452/www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/050613fa_fact

Prior to his apprehension, the offender (Li Chaolin), was manager of the Marketing Department under Shiyan City's (Wuyan) motor car fittings plant and director of the (Maojian) District Office of Finance…

a disappointed tone / face / silence

Except in broken country, the sand cloud seems to glide steadily over the desert like a moving carpet, and the wind is comparatively gustless.