1. he made his presence felt - he left some visible tracks in hystory.
Exapmle:
He made his presence felt by creating a lot of wonderful statues which you can admire in our local museum.
2. patience is his middle name.
This probably means the man in question is a very patient person.
3.I was pleasantly surprised by my exam results
This person was not certain of the exam results, so he was pleasantly surprised by the good results of these examinations.
4.he tried to persuade him not to throw in the hat at this time.
Can you write down the rest of the text? From this extract it is not clear (at least not to me) what is axactly meant. It may be, for instance, he tried to persuade him not to throw in the hat (of a begglar) because he had done it before.
5. he suffers a slate of torture
Another wierd sentence ... It sounds like "He is tortured very much". (I am not sure, so add the rest of the original text here)
6. police have unearthed a plan of terrorism
Unearth - disclose/detect, so police have disclosed/detected a plan of terrorism.
7. i feel terra firma under my feet
I have not my Latin dictionary installed in the comp, but the words terra firma obviously mean solid ground; so I feel solid ground under my feet.
