The antonym would be freeze.
The metaphor for life in this poem is a game of Monopoly with no winner. The poem describes a situation in which, through the process of trying to beat out the other competitors in the game, no player ultimately wins (see the "Crabs in a Bucket" metaphor for a similar idea).
Answer:
First, add the grade values together: 4 + 3 = 7 points. Then divide by the number of grades in the calculation (in this case, two). That leaves you with 7 ÷ 2 = 3.5 points as your average score.
