On Writing Well 11.14

Vocabulary

1.Nobody has made the point better than George Orwell in his translation into modern bureaucratic fuzz of this famous verse from Ecclesiastes.

bureaucratic:Bureaucratic means involving complicated rules and procedures which can cause long delays.官僚主义的

cratic:参加的，统治者的

fuzz:

1)Fuzz is a mass of short, curly hairs.细毛，绒毛

2)The fuzz are the police.警察

verse: 1)Verse is writing arranged in lines which have rhythm and which often rhyme at the end 诗，诗体2)A verse is one of the parts into which a poem, a song, or a chapter of the Bible or the Koran is divided.诗节，诗行

chapter and verse:If you say that someone gives you chapter and verse on a particular subject, you are emphasizing that they tell you every detail about it.详细内容，具体细节

2.Dr. Fleishman was the first adult in my experience who admitted that youth has no monopoly on verbal sludge.

monopoly: 1)If a company, person, or state has a monopoly on something such as an industry, they have complete control over it, so that it is impossible for others to become involved in it.垄断，专营 

2)A monopoly is a company which is the only one providing a particular product or service.垄断企业，专卖者

3）If you say that someone does not have a monopoly on something, you mean that they are not the only person who has that thing独有，独具

verbal: 1)You use verbal to indicate that something is expressed in speech rather than in writing or action. 口头的，非书面行动的

2)You use verbal to indicate that something is connected with words and the use of words.文字的

3）In grammar, verbal means relating to a verb. 动词的

3.They vanished without a trace.

vanished: 1)If someone or something vanishes, they disappear suddenly or in a way that cannot be explained.消失，失踪

2）If something such as a species of animal or a tradition vanishes, it stops existing. （物种）灭绝

Excerpt

All the pieces of paper that circulate through your office every day are forms of writing. Take them seriously.

Institutions can be warmed up. Administrators can be turned into human beings. Information can be imparted clearly and without pomposity.

If you work for an institution, whatever your job, whatever your level, be yourself when you write.

这一章关于如何进行商务写作。看见商务写作，我脑海里第一反应是小时候翻一位堂姐的英语商务写作书，里面充斥着大量专业名词，要求写作者务必做到专业、简洁。从此我就对商务写作感到惧怕，觉得它们非常严肃沉重，冷冰冰不近人情，是社会精英才能写作的东西。因此读这章的时候我其实非常抗拒，一半时间用来和自己脑子里的刻板印象作斗争了……

作者在这篇里强调了clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity，用许多例子来证明humanity的重要性。Dr. Ray B. Dawson的通知让我想起前面作者说的，paragraph 1 is a disaster, paragraph 2 isn't much better, paragraph 3 begins to have a somewhat human quality, and by Paragraph 4 you begin to sound like yourself.