More vocabulary tasks

madcap - сумасбродный (amusingly eccentric, impulsive, reckless)
"Oh, what a madcap little moster I had been."

sophomore - второй курс, второкурсник (a second-year college or high school student)
puddinghead - болван, олух (a stupid person, a fool)
"At nineteen, I certainly didn't know the answer, although I already knew more about death than most of the other puddingheads in my sophomore class at the University of Miami."

trail off - умолкать, затихать (to become silent, to stop)
"He thinks, um..., I started and then trailed off."

naïveté - наивность (naivety, innocence)
"And to be truthful, I couldn't think of anything to say to Deb's incredible naïveté either."

ulterior - скрытый (something that is not revealed; hidden)
beef up - укреплять, усиливать (increase, strengthen, improve)
"I admit I had a minor ulterior motive in heading for the office so early and I beefed it up by stopping for pastries."

gruesome - ужасный, отвратительный (grisly, extremely unpleasant, ghastly)
"I had been on the scene of hundreds of murders, many of them so gruesome and savage that they shocked even me."