Chapter 10 (part 2) 2017.11.07

Expressions

That carry an invidious meaning or some overtone of judgement.

unpleasant, especially because it is likely to offend people or make you unpopular 令人不快的，惹人反感的 【书面】

I don’t like baseball movies that go into slow motion when the batter hits a home run, to notify me that it’s a pregnant moment.

耐人寻味,意味深长的

pregnant pause/silence

He stopped, and there was a pregnant pause.

他停住了，那是个意味深长的停顿。

pregnant with sth

containing a lot of a quality formal 蕴涵丰富的…，饱含… 【正式】

Every phrase in this poem is pregnant with meaning.

这首诗的片言只语都充满深意。

... and the camps are infested with laconic men who have spent a lifetime appraising talent.

大批出没，让我想起前文中的swarm，也是指成群的。“that vast swarm of people who are famous for being famous...”

...spotted an empty seat next to a weathered man in his sixties who ...

经过风吹雨打的; 饱经风霜的

No subject is too specialized or too quirky if you make an honest connection with it when you write about it.

Honest在这里不是诚实的意思，也许是努力认真的意思

*honest work is done using your own efforts and without cheating 用正当手段的，努力认真的

I bet he’s never done an honest day’s work in his life!

我敢说他这辈子从未认认真真工作过一天！

Writing is an evolving process. Not a finished product.

There’s nothing more interesting than the truth... color is organic to the fact. Your job is to present the colorful fact.

Summary

1. 留意某些单词和表达方式中对性别的歧视；

2. 可以使用he or she、we和you(可以增强亲近感）来代替he，用通用词代替特指词，尽量使用无性别指向的词汇；

3. 修改是写作的精髓：

reshape-改变语句顺序；

tighten-增强思路的连贯（时间、地点、因果、转折），突出中心意义；

refine-注意语言的音律节奏、增加事实细节、使用生动而恰当的词汇（通过朗读来检查）；

4. 非小说作者的任务是将有趣的事实用文字呈现出来，不需要画蛇添足地添砖加瓦；相信读者的智商，留下想象和思考的空间；

5. 根据兴趣选题才能更好地抓住读者。没有愚蠢、无聊、奇怪、太专业的话题，只要写得好，读者自然会愿意读。

Reflection

It’s interesting that Zinsser pointed out that “men get mugged; a woman who gets mugged is a shapely stewardess or an pert brunette.”It’s a classic act of materializing women, and we seldom notice that it could steal the point of the report. It almost turns a social news into a gossip news.

I’m also enlightened about the size of vocabulary that carrys a sexual prejudice. We should stay alert to these words and usage，and try to diminish the use of such expressions in our own writing.