On Writing Well c18

1.words and expressions

trot out

They will trot out the hard-won words of their college education.

反复提出，反复说陈旧的观点或过时的信息；If you say that a person trots out old ideas or information, you are criticizing him or her for repeating them in a way that is not new or interesting. [V P n (not pron)] [Also V n P] [disapproval] [Informal]

Was it really necessary to trot out the same old stereotypes about Ireland?

真的有必要反复提关于爱尔兰的那套老看法吗？

delude

So don’t be deluded that criticism is an easy route to glory.

verb

    ~ sb / yourself (into doing sth) to make sb believe sth that is not true

  欺骗；哄骗

  SYN  deceive :

  [VN]

  Don't be deluded into thinking that we are out of danger yet.

  不要误以为我们已脱离危险。

  You poor deluded creature.

  你这上了当的可怜虫。

  He's deluding himself if he thinks it's going to be easy.

  他要是以为那事很容易,那就是自己欺骗自己。

  [VN that]

  She had been deluding herself that he loved her.

  她一直欺骗自己说他爱着她。

oblivion

How adroitly Ozick warms up the waters, beckoning us to return to the literary landscape of her own college years and thereby understand her amazement at the tale of near oblivion she is about to unfold.

noun [U]

1. when something is completely forgotten or no longer important

• 被完全忘却，被遗忘:

»sink / slip / pass etc into oblivion

»Wind power presents too many advantages to be allowed to sink into oblivion.

  风力具有很多优点，不该受到忽视。

»The loser's name has been consigned to oblivion (=completely forgotten) .

  失败者的姓名湮没无闻了。

2. the state of being unconscious or of not noticing what is happening

• 无感觉（知觉）的状态; 漠视:

»the oblivion of sleep

  睡眠中的无知觉状态

»He had drunk himself into oblivion.

  他喝得烂醉。

2.summary

1.One is that critics should like, or better still love, the medium they are reviewing.

2.don’t give away too much of the plot.

3. use specific detail.

4.avoid the ecstatic adjectives that occupy such disproportionate space in every critic’s quiver words.