Words and Expressions

1.dullard

If you lose the dullards back in the dust, you don't want them anyway.

【义】someone who is stupid and has no imagination 愚人，无想象力的人。

【例】Teachers' unions loathe him, and parents are indignant when their dullard offspring are made to take a year's lessons again.

2. deify

The war has deified her and she is the darling of the home front, feted at conference tables, praised in every smoking car, her girlish ways and curious habits the topic of many an excited husbandryman（农场主） to whom yesterday she was a stranger without honor or allure.

- husbandry

【义】to treat someone or something with extreme respect and admiration 崇拜；把……神化；奉若神明

3. irk

The question that begins this chapter has irked some readers.

【义】if something irks you, it makes you feel annoyed 使恼怒，使气愤

【例】His outspoken honesty continues to irk those in power or who are privileged, but endears him to ordinary people.

4. cliche（cliché）

It's the common currency of newspapers and of magazines like People - a mixture of cheap words, made-up words and cliches that have become so pervasive that a writer cam hardly help using them.

【义】n. 陈词滥调 adj. 陈腐的

- a mixture of cheap words, made-up words and cliches 堆砌了廉价的、杜撰的词汇和陈词滥调的（混合物）

5.plod

If all your sentences move at the same plodding gait, which even you recognize as deadly but don't know how to cure, read everything aloud.

【义】to walk alone slowly, especially when this is difficult 沉重缓慢地走，步履艰难地走

- move at the same plodding gait 以缓慢的步伐移动；进展缓慢

感悟 - Thoughts || 为自己而写作

第五篇开头抛出了一个疑问：Who am I writing for?

作者的答案是：文章要写给你自己。第一步是要让自己满意。如果你的作品真的合你的心意，自然也会有别的读者认可你的作品。

Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what was written by earlier masters. Writing is learned by imitation.

至于文章的字句文笔，不要写成堆满了陈词滥调的新闻文体。写作从模仿开始。养成阅读的习惯。要保证不断地输入，要输出的时候才不至于没有文字可写，不至于枯竭。写作的前题应该是阅读。

Notes || On Writing Well （Chap.5&6）