On Writing Well - CH20

一. 感想

"The Sound of Your Voice" 这一章，Zinsser讲到了以下要点：

Don't alter your voice to fit your subject.

The effortless style is achieved by strenuous effort and constant refining.

Finding a voice that your readers will enjoy is largely a matter of taste.

Freshness is crucial.

Never hesitate to imitate another writer.

Find the best writers in the fields that interest you and read their work aloud.

因此，若想带给读者轻快而有趣，新鲜而引人入胜的阅读感受，写作者是要通过长期而持续的修炼和领悟才能做到的。其中，模仿喜欢的作家的作品来进行习作，不失为是一条捷径。大可不必担心会因此而失去个性，因为只有经过大量的模仿和思考，我们才能逐步形成自己的风格。当自己的风格形成了，无论你写什么，都"Be Yourself"就好，无需为题材而改变自己。

读到这些理论之前，我曾在自己的阅读和写作中有过一些模糊的体会。例如，若是某个阶段我读的书很有意思，那一时期自己写的东西就会有意无意地与作者的语言风格所接近。其实很多时候都是下意识地模仿，由于连续输入的强烈印象，再加上喜爱的缘故，便自然而然地受其影响，写作中就有了它的影子。

前段时间因为工作需要，我要从普通观众（爱好者）的角度，写一写看机器人对抗赛转播的观后感。在整个写作过程中，我一直在竭力避免从技术的角度去分析转播的情况，而是不断思考作为一个机器人爱好者（实际上我不仅不是，就连游戏经验也没有）会更关心哪些问题，又如何才能轻快、有趣地表述出来。

当时倍觉力不从心，我发现即使我写清了所有的要点，文章也不够吸引人，因为太正式了，一点儿也不好玩。那时候我便意识到，想要做到“好玩”，需要更深的功底（包括写作本身和背景知识）。当我们没有技术负担了，才能轻松地玩起来，写得更有意思，从而吸引读者。

二. 字词

1. breezy

(1) 原文：What they write is the breezy style.

(2) 字典解释：a breezy person is happy, confident, and relaxed

(3) 造句：When I talk to foreigners, I try to sound breezy, although I'm pretty nervous.

2. ingratiate

(1) 原文：He's not trying to ingratiate himself with the reader.

(2) 解释：巴结，讨好

(3) 造句：He always ingratiates himself with anyone who might be useful to him.

3. bummed out

(1) 原文：Frankly, the whole deal kind of bummed me out.

(2) 解释：失望

(3) 造句：This result bummed me out.

4. shut-eye

(1) 原文：Believe you me, a guy can lose a heckuva lot of shut-eye.

(2) 字典解释：sleep

(3) 造句：I wanna get some shut-eye after lunch.

5. shorthand

(1) 原文：They are everywhere in the air around us, familiar friends just waiting to be helpful, ready to express complex ideas for us in the shorthand form of metaphor.

(2) 字典解释：a shorter but less clear way of saying something

(3) 造句："Relocated" is shorthand for "given a worse job a long way away.

6. intangible

(1) 原文：Saying that isn't much help—taste is a quality so intangible that it can't even be defined.

(2) 解释：不可捉摸的，难以理解的

(3) 造句：The cathedral has an intangible air of holiness about it.