On Writing Well 11.13

Vocabulary

1.I was sure we were in for chaos.

chaos:Chaos is a state of complete disorder and confusion.混乱，杂乱，紊乱e.g.The world's first transatlantic balloon race ended in chaos last night

2.It depended on the chimpanzee's state of attention.

chimpanzee:A chimpanzee is a kind of small African ape.黑猩猩

3.Electronic and fluidic circuits also have memory.

fluidic:流体的，液体的

fluid:液体；流动的；流畅优美的；不稳定的

fluidity:流动性

fluidics:应用流体学

circuit: 1)An electrical circuit is a complete route which an electric current can flow around.电路

2)A circuit is a series of places that are visited regularly by a person or group, especially as a part of their job.巡游

3)A racing circuit is a track on which cars, motorbikes, or cycles race.赛车道

4)A circuit of a place or area is a journey all the way round it.环形，环游

4.The example of the linseed oil is just piquant enough to make us wonder what "memory" really is.

piquant: 1)Food that is piquant has a pleasantly spicy taste.辛辣的，开胃的

2)Something that is piquant is interesting and exciting.引人入胜的。

Summary

Writing students usually have fear of science, while chemist or physicist or engineer have fear of writing. In fact, writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly can write clearly, about anything at all. Fact and deduction are the ruling family. Describing how a process works is valuable for two reasons. It forces you to make sure you know how it works. Then it forces you to take the reader through the same sequence of ideas and deduction that made the process clear to you. And the principle of scientific and technical writing applies to all nonfiction writing. Leading readers who know nothing, step by step, to a grasp of subjects they didn't think they had an aptitude for or were afraid they were too dumb to understand. Use your own experience to connect the reader to some mechanism that also touches his life. Another way to help your readers understand unfamiliar facts is to relate them to sights they are familiar with. Just write like a person and not like a scientist.

这篇讲如何写作科普文章。想起来读《上帝的手术刀》时，颜宁先生在序言里写，一个好的科普作家，同时也是对这个专业理解很好的人。科普作品的写作，是真的很考验能力。文笔不错但理解不到位，写不好；理解透彻，文字表达能力不好，也写不了。所以《细胞生命的礼赞》才那么让人惊喜。近来读过最好的科普作品，要算《众病之王：癌症传》了。初读时还未接触临床，半是懵懂，把它当做故事来读也非常开心。等学了预防医学后再读，又是不同感受。现在学内外科，老师讲课时，回想起来，颇觉该再读一遍。学分生的时候找了沃森的《双螺旋》来读，那本作为科普读物就有些不够好；《创世纪的第八天》则着重于发展的历史与其中个人所起作用，总觉得……不是太有趣。前几天读完的《最年轻的科学》，是刘易斯托马斯写他亲历的医学发展，很多脑洞可以说非常棒了。不过如果纯以普通读者的角度来看，这本书科普的成分要低一些【啊我在写些啥】