"It is/was a great day to be alive" simply means that the speaker believes that this particular day was a day that he enjoyed. That is, he is glad that he was alive on this particular day. It's a fairly common phrase used to express joy about some event or experience. It is used to describe all sorts of events, from things very personal to things very general.
Like, "I looked out over the beautiful fields, filled with flowers, and the majestic mountain towering in the distance. It was a great day to be alive."
"I just head on the news that the war is over. People are pouring out into the streets to celebrate. This is a great day to be alive."
"Today we have all sorts of conveniences to make our lives more pleasant, from the automobile to television to microwave ovens. This is a great day to be alive."
It does not normally mean that the speaker has narrowly escaped death or anything like that.
"Shoot" is simply an interjection, a word used to intensify an expression. It is a very mild word. It can be positive or negative. "Shoot, I lost my pencil." Or, "Shoot, my favorite TV show is on." If used in more extreme situations it is seen as quaint or a deliberate under-playing. You wouldn't normally expect someone to say, "Shoot, the doctor just told me I have only three weeks to live." If someone did, you'd either take that to mean that he was deliberately downplaying the seriousness of the issue, or that he is someone who is particularly mild-mannered or who does not use strong language.
When music was playing on a stereo or in the garage, she could tune it out or switch it off . . .
Switch off is used literally to designate turning or flipping a switch to end the functioning of a machine or appliance. But it may also be used metaphorically of mental function: we might speak of "switching off" your attention to some phenomenon.
In your example, where actual music is being played, switch off is probably meant literally, since it contrasts with tune out, a similar expression (drawn from 'tuning' a radio to a particular channel) which today is almost always employed metaphorically.
PARAPHRASE:
When music was playing on a stereo or in the garage, she could ignore it or turn the stereo off . . .
Best Answer
Simply means that the circumstances make it apparent to the observer that X is true.
Without knowing the full context of the statement, I can only speculate, but lets imagine a passage such as:
One can see from the circumstances that the woman is in no hurry to get to work, or other commitments so this was clearly her day off.
The key is the word clearly, which has several synonyms in this context, such as obviously or apparently...
Or even some similar phrases: