Nov.21 Enjoyment,Fear and Confidence（Ch21）

PART ONE VOCABULARY

1.travial/ˈtræveɪl/

because I knew  that Perelman’s life contained more than the usual share of depression and travail.

an unpleasant experience or situation that involves a lot of hard work, difficulties and/or suffering

e.g.the travails of life in post-war Britain

2.portentous

and his article was written in mock-scientific museum-expedition style, duly portentous.

(formal,disapproving)very serious and intended to impress people   SYN pompous

e.g.a portentous remark装腔作势的言论

3.whimsy /ˈwɪmzi/

who was admired for his deadpan coverage of human-interest and animal-interest stories, managed to make whimsy a serious beat.

a way of thinking or behaving, or a style of doing something that is unusual and not serious, in a way that is either amusing or annoying

4.venerated /ˈvenəreɪt/

the political column of Walter Lippmann, America’s most venerated pundit,

venerate somebody/something (as something) (formal)

to have and show a lot of respect for somebody/something, especially somebody/something that is considered to be holy or very important

SYN  revere

PART TWO THOUGHTS

写作是非常孤独的，Zinsser 提到他尝试让自己欢悦起来，只有把自己逗乐了才能逗乐读者。大部分的人缺少幽默感，世界上很多人在尝试逗乐他们。同时作者说到如果你的写作想传递快乐，就写你尊敬的人吧。

恐惧是写作中容易出现的负面情绪，作者则是强迫自己重写，今天重写不了的话就等到明天。同时写作的真诚性也会帮助你减少恐惧。

提高自己自信的办法就是写自己感兴趣关注的东西。

拓宽写作领域，当你去采访相关行业的专家时，不要怕被看做傻瓜，相信你的感觉发掘你所需要的。