Ch 1-2|On Writing Well (10.30)

一 词，词组

1.arduous

【句】Coming home from an arduous day at the hospital, he would go straight to his yellow pad and write his tensions away.

【解】arduous指费力的，需要花费很多时间、精力等。比如说写论文，办手续。书中指的是在医院的一天工作很多很累人，Dr. Brock一回家就直接拿起了黄色便签本开始写字，把白天工作的焦虑感一写而空。

2.drudge

【句】I said that professional writers are solitary drudges who seldom see other writers.

【解】drudge一般作名词，指做着无聊、困难工作的人。作者就说专业作家的工作是无聊的，困难的，是单打独斗的。他们不会去和别的作家见面聊天，就像Dr. Brock那样。

二 摘抄

1. But all of them are vulnerable and all of them are tense. They are driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper, and yet they don’t just write what comes naturally. They sit down to commit an act of literature, and the self who emerges on paper is far stiffer than the person who sat down to write. The problem is to find the real man or woman behind the tension.

【评】作家在写作时，就如作者所说他们都受着内心的驱动要将自己的想法呈现出来（driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper），这是脆弱（vulnerable）的一面；但是由于作品是要和读者见面的，作者会反复修改，作品早已不是第一次提笔写出的样子，这也可以理解为充满张力，紧张（tense）的一面。这种在自然流露和反复取舍之间的平衡，就决定了作品和作家之间的关系深浅。

2. Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about,but who he or she is. I often find myself reading with interest about a topic I never thought would interest me—some scientific quest, perhaps. What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his field.…It’snot necessary to want to spend a year alone at Walden Pond to become involved with a writer who did.

This is the personal transaction that’s at the heart of good nonfiction writing. Out of it come two of the most important qualities that this book will go in search of:humanity and warmth. ...

【评】如果作者说作家最终完成的作品不再是作品本身的内容而是作家这个人的话，那我认为这应该是作者认为的non-fiction的理想状态。他会看平时完全不感兴趣的话题，只因为作家的写作热情感染了他；他可以通过读作品去了解一个作家，而不用真去瓦尔登湖住上一年才能体会梭罗的散文内涵。这种作家和作品的共鸣、互相渗透应该可以称作personal transaction了吧。但是读来让人觉得是在直接和作者交流，能窥探写作者内心世界和周遭境遇的作品又有多少呢？因此好的non-fiction才不多吧，这也就是作者接下来要探讨的要点了：humanity和warmth。文字要有humanity，即人性，才会有温度warmth，才能打动人心。期待作者接下去的阐述，如何写好的非虚构作品，如何让文字有人性和温度。

3.Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.

【评】简洁是如今越来越珍贵的特质了。越来越多的文字充满浮夸，堆砌辞藻，10个字能说清楚的能凑1000个字。多余的词，反复说着同一个意思的文字，没有意义的浮华辞藻等等，对于非虚构作品都是能省则省的。后面作者的稿子能看出有许多修改，读完就能发现，删去的多数是前后文讲过的冗赘语。删改后，意思不变，文笔更加简洁。

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Another word:

第一天做笔记，又是周一比较忙，也第一次用，好多生词没来得及加在笔记中，就暂时放下了。明天大概会更加游刃有余。