Content:
Part I | Principles
1. The Transaction
2. Simplicity
3. Clutter (Writing clean English Sentence)
4. Style (Preserving your identity)
5. The audience (Who am I writing for)
6. Words (The only tools you’ve got)
7. Usage (What is good usage)
Part II | Methods
8. Unity (Anchor of good writing)
9. The lead and the ending
10. Bits and pieces
Part II | Forms
11. Nonfiction as Literature
12. Writing About People: The Interview
13. Writing About Places: The travel article
14. Writing About Yourself: The Memoir
15. Science and Technology
16. Business Writing:Writing in Your Job
17. Sports
18. Writing About the Arts Critics and Columnists
19. Humor
Part III | Attitudes
20. The Sound of Your Voice
....
Words and Expressions:
1. My commodity as a writer, whatever I’m writing about, is me. And your commodity is you.
Commodity是可数名词，本文中是第二个意思。
1 (economics)a product or a raw material that can be bought and sold
▶rice, flour and other basic commodities
▶a drop in commodity prices
▶Crude oil is the world's most important commodity.
2 (formal) a thing that is useful or has a useful quality
▶Water is a precious commodity that is often taken for granted in the West.
2. I spent several days and nights in mid-September with an ailing pig.
ailing本意是sick， 也可以引申表示经济或者组织。
ailing ★☆☆☆☆
1.ADJ 处境困难的;境况不佳的;衰退的
An ailing organization or society is in difficulty and is becoming weaker.
【搭配模式】：usu ADJ n
The rise in overseas sales is good news for the ailing American economy.
海外销售额的上升对于不景气的美国经济来说是个好消息。
2.ADJ 生病的；抱恙的；体衰的
If someone is ailing, they are ill and are not getting better.
【STYLE标签】：OLD-FASHIONED 过时
He is said to be ailing at his home in Washington.
据说他身体欠佳，正呆在华盛顿的家中。
3. The writer sounds confident; he’s not trying to ingratiate himself with the reader.
VERB 使得到…的欢心;讨好
If someone tries to ingratiate themselves with you, they do things to try and make you like them.
【语法信息】：V pron-refl with n
【语法信息】：Also V pron-refl
【语用信息】：disapproval
Many politicians are trying to ingratiate themselves with her.
许多政客都设法讨她的欢心。
4. One person’s beautiful object is somebody else’s kitsch.
kitsch /kɪtʃ/
1.N-UNCOUNT 庸俗的艺术作品；迎合低级趣味的拙劣作品
You can refer to a work of art or an object as kitsch if it is showy and thought by some people to be in bad taste.
...a hideous ballgown verging on the kitsch...
近乎俗丽的难看的舞会礼服
Collectors of Fifties kitsch should pop over to Brussels for the flea market.
50年代庸俗艺术作品的收藏者应该到布鲁塞尔的跳蚤市场去看看。
2. Kitsch is also an adjective.
Blue and green eye shadow has long been considered kitsch.
蓝色和绿色的眼影一直被认为是俗气的。
...kitsch pop culture.
品位不高的通俗文化
5. Every art form has a core of verities that survive the fickleness of time.
verity:
N-COUNT 真理;事实
The verities of something are all the things that are believed to be true about it.
【搭配模式】：usu pl
【语域标签】：FORMAL 正式
...some verities of human nature.
人性中一些真实的东西
6. a world where people in authority are the top brass...
top brass
N-SING-COLL 高级军官;高管;要员
In the army or in other organizations,the top brass are the people in the highest positions.
【搭配模式】：also no det
【语域标签】：BRIT 英
【语域标签】：INFORMAL 非正式
...a reshuffle of the army's top brass.
军队高级军官的调整
…a press conference attended by top brass from Sony Records.
索尼唱片公司的高管参加的新闻发布会
7. So I studied Governor Cross’s words to see how they had weathered the passage of time.
weather做动词有两个含义，这里表示 “经受住”。
1. V-ERG (使)风化;(使)褪色;(使)受到侵蚀
If something such as wood or rock weathers or is weathered, it changes colour or shape as a result of the wind, sun, rain, or cold.
【语法信息】：V
【语法信息】：beV-ed
【语法信息】：Also V n
Unpainted wooden furniture weathers to a grey colour...
没有上漆的木制家具会褪成灰色。
This rock has been weathered and eroded.
这块岩石经风吹日晒已被侵蚀。
weathered
The facade of the building was a little weathered...
楼正面有点儿斑驳。
The man had a worn,weathered face.
这个男人有张饱经沧桑的脸。
2.VERB 经受住，渡过(难关等)
If you weather a difficult time or a difficult situation, you survive it and are able to continue normally after it has passed or ended. to weather the storm→see:storm;
【语法信息】：V n
The company has weathered the recession...
这家公司从经济萧条中挺了过来。
The government has weathered its worst political crisis.
政府平安度过了其最严重的政治危机。
Thoughts:
我曾经做过一个小实验，用同事的邮箱发了一封邮件给另一个我们都认识的同事，点发送之前我让同事先review一下，免得露出马脚。她说“这一看就不是我的风格...我不会用这样的词，也不会用这样的句型...” 结果证明，这的确是我的风格，即使用了别人的邮箱，也会被接收方识破。
事后我问她 "你为什么不用这样的词和句型呢，很标准的用法啊”, 得到的反馈是“不为什么，不喜欢”。
你看，taste on writing 就是这么一件无奈的事情，我们必须学会面对它，接受它，改进它。
Taste is an invisible current that runs through writing, and you should be aware of it.
如何提高taste， zinser给出了非常实用的建议：
写作是为了传递自己的声音，而非迎合。
