Ch 3-4|On Writing Well (10.31)

一 词，词组

1.organic

There is no style store; style is organic to the person doing the writing, as much a part of him as his hair, or, if he is bald, his lack of it.

organic的基本义是“和生物器官有关的”，在这里是指“不可或缺的一部分”。风格之于作家，就如同人的一部分。

2.out on a limb

Americans are unwilling to go out on a limb. A generation ago our leaders told us where they stood and what they believed. Today they perform strenuous verbal feats to escape that fate.

out on a limb指“得不到他人支持，处于孤立无援的境地”。这里是说以前美国领导人还会明确告诉公众他们的立场和信仰，可是现在他们只会说冗长迂回的话，竭力避免揭示自己。毕竟一旦犯了错或作出了承诺，想要收回就难办了。

3. in ratio to

Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there.

ratio是“比例”的意思，常用结构“ratio of A to B”，表示“A比B的比例”。这里in ratio to指“随……而成比例增长”，和昨天出现过的in proportion to是同样的意思。

4. drape

Consider all the prepositions that are draped onto verbs that don’t need any help.

drape本义是指布料及布料悬挂下来的样子，作动词时表示松垮地盖住，批等。在这里是说一些动词本来不需要介词，这些多余的介词就成了动词的累赘，好像是布料松松地搭在上面似的。

5. harbor

As for any worries that the public might harbor, his message was “leave it to Al,” though what he actually said was ....

harbor作名词时表示“避风港，港湾”，作动词时通常表示“存有某种想法或感情”，且通常是负面的。这里就指公众怀有的担忧。

二 干货

bracket the clutter as follows:

1. the unnecessary preposition appended to a verb (“order up”)(free up, face up to)

2. the adverb that carries the same meaning as the verb (“smile happily”)

3. the adjective that states a known fact (“tall skyscraper”)

4. the little qualifiers that weaken any sentence they inhabit (“a bit,” “sort of”)

5. phrases that don’t mean anything(“in a sense”)

6. an entire sentence that essentially repeats what the previous sentence said

7. a sentence that says something readers don’t needto know

8. a sentence that can figure out for themselves

1.多余的介词 order up ，free up , face up to

2.和动词意思重复的副词 smile happily

3.多此一举的形容词 tall skyscraper

4.减弱句子力量的限定词 a bit，sort of

5.说了像没说一样的短语 in a sense

6.重复前一句意思的句子

7.读者没必要知道的东西

8.读者能自己读出来的东西

三 摘抄

1. Be grateful for everything you can throw away.

这句话理解起来有许多方式。对于写作而言，是去除不必要的内容。对于人而言，是认清对于自己不重要的东西。和近年来兴起的断舍离有异曲同工之妙 - 在乎的少了，才会真正的在乎该在乎的东西。

2. Assume that you are the writer sitting down to write. You think your article must be of a certain length or it won’t seem important. You think how august it will look in print. You think of all the people who will read it. You think that it must have the solid weight of authority. You think that its style must dazzle. No wonder you tighten; you are so busy thinking of your awesome responsibility to the finished article that you can’t even start. Yet you vow to be worthy of the task, and, casting about for grand phrases that wouldn’t occur to you if you weren’t trying so hard to make an impression, you plunge in.

这一段作者假想在提笔写作前，写作者可能的内心活动。他会想文章完成之后的一系列情景，却迟迟无法动笔。他对自己的文章设定了太高的期望值，于是千方百计找寻最宏伟的语言，想给读者留下最深刻的印象。因此，文章不免流于捏造，有生硬之感。我认为这就是后面所说的a self-conscious attempt at a fancy prologue（顺便提一下，我本来看的是第25版，作者这句话原来是a self-conscious attempt at a fancy introduction）。写作者太过在意读者，反而使自己在作品中的分量变少，“不像自己”了。

四 总结

Chapter 3: Clutter

Simplicity is the key to good non-fiction writing.

Chapter 4: Style

Believe in your own opinions and write it on confidently.

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作者假想写作前的一系列心理活动很像拖延症患者的内心戏啊，这不就是我自己吗，感觉被戳中痛点了。