stark contrast	clearly visible contrast
an influx	a great number of people appeared suddenly
expatriate	a person that lives outside his country
sprawling	widespread, untidy
to sprawl	to widespread
to send sb sprawling	to make sb lie on the ground
to disclose	to make sth appeared
hideaway	a place to hide
ubiquitous	present almost everywhere
the ebb and flow	the fluctuation
revenue	income, usually from taxes
a smash hit	sth that is suddenly very successful
a smasher	a very attractive person
spouse	husband/ wife
kin	close relative
helpings	portions of food
to come across	to find sth unexpectedly
to give over	to devote to
to creep	to move by crawling
to inflict	to cause sb to suffer from sth/ to force sb to accept you
swarms	of birds
shoals	of fish
to spurn	to refuce contemptuously
to wrinkle	to frown
to take on	to undertake