Nov.9 On Writing Well（Ch13）

"So when you write about a place, try to draw the best out of it."每次读Zinsser的文章都深觉自己读书太少，今天看完之后把《瓦尔登湖》、《万物简史》、《林中漫步》列入书单。

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PART ONE VOCABULARY

1.desolate

and here— desolate, roughly surfaced, lined with eucalyptus and lemon groves— is Banyan Street.

desolate：a place that is desolate is empty and looks sad because there are no people there无人居住,

e.g.a bleak and desolate landsacpe

其他意思：someone who is desolate feels very sad and lonely孤独凄凉

2.distill,adroit

McPhee distills its essence in a paragraph that is adroit both in detail and in metaphor:

distill:to get the main ideas or facts from a much larger amount of information提取

distill something into something

adroit：clever and skilful, especially in the way you use words and arguments精明能干、尤指口齿伶俐

e.g.an adroit negotiator

3.lyrical

Also resist straining for the luminous lyrical phrase to describe the wondrous waterfall.

lyrical：1. beautifully expressed in words, poetry , or music抒情的 、浪漫的、热情奔放的

e.g.lyrical poetry

2.wax lyrical to talk about and praise sth in a eager way热情地讨论（赞美）

4.groaning,platitude

The other big trap is style. Nowhere else in nonfiction do writers use such syrupy words and groaning platitudes.

platitude:a statement that has been made many times before and is not interesting or clever– used to show disapproval老生常谈，陈词滥调

groan：to make a long deep sound because you are in pain, upset, or disappointed, or because something is very enjoyable呻吟，叹息

e.g.to groan with pain/pleasure，

还有抱怨的意思to complain sth等于moan SYNgrumble,whine

e.g.They are always moaning and groaning about how much thay have to do.

idiom：groan under the weight of sth被某物的折磨下喘不过气

动词短语

groan with sth：to be full of sth

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PART TWO THOUGHTS

People and places are the twin pillars on which most nonfiction is built. Every human event happens somewhere, and the reader wants to know what that somewhere was like.

上次讲了如何写采访，这次讲了游记。如何写游记呢？从两方面

1.Distill the important from the immaterial.游记并非事无大小全部写下，那叫日记。要写出"Find

those distinctive traits."具有独特有特色的才能吸引读者，保证每个细节都是有意义的

2.风格，切记用情感泛滥，煽情的单词，以及老生常谈的呻吟。

讲到游记，我想起高中所学的陶渊明的《桃花源记》

忽逢桃花林，夹岸数百步，中无杂树，芳草鲜美，落英缤纷。渔人甚异之。复前行，欲穷其林。林尽水源，便得一山，山有小口，仿佛若有光。便舍船，从口入。初极狭，才通人。复行数十步，豁然开朗。土地平旷，屋舍俨然，有良田美池桑竹之属。阡陌交通，鸡犬相闻。其中往来种作，男女衣着，悉如外人。黄发垂髫，并怡然自乐。

短短数句把桃花源描绘出来，没有陈词滥调。忽然遇到桃花林，风景优美吸引的渔人前行。

还有苏轼的《前赤壁赋》与《后赤壁赋》，一样的赤壁景色，诗意却不同。

清风徐来，水波不兴。举酒属[6](zhǔ)客，诵明月之诗，歌窈窕(yǎo tiǎo)之章。少(shǎo）焉，月出于东山之上，徘徊于斗(dǒu)牛之间。白露横江，水光接天。纵一苇之所如，凌万顷（qǐng）之茫然。浩浩乎如冯（píng）虚御风，而不知其所止；飘飘乎如遗世独立，羽化而登仙。

后赋

江流有声，断岸千尺，山高月小，水落石出。曾日月之几何，而江山不可复识矣！