On Writing Well, Chap7&8, Day4

Words & Phrases

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• hassle
  A.noun
  ①Uncountable and countable(trouble)麻烦
  to be a hassle to do [something]; 做某事很麻烦
  ②Uncountable(pestering)纠缠
  don't give me any hassle! 别跟我顶嘴！
  B.transitive verb 不断烦扰
  to hassle [somebody] to do [something] 缠着某人做某事
  to feel hassled about [something] 对某事物感到烦心
  to hassle [somebody] with complaints 老是向某人抱怨
  stop hassling me! 别老烦我！

Earlier I mentioned an incident of college students hassling the administration, and in the last chapter I described myself as a word freak.

• hold the fort
  尽他人代责
  To keep some place in line or operational in someone else's absence.

It proves that formal syntax can’t hold the fort forever against a speaker’s more comfortable way of getting the same thing said.

• the advent of
  noun Uncountable
  (of technique, product)出现:the time when something first begins to be widely used
  (of person)到来
  the advent of a new era
  新时代的到来

Before the advent of computers it wasn’t needed.

• provocative
  ①(sexually suggestive)撩人的‹smile, pose, dress›
  ②(causing controversy) 引起争议的‹book, title›(causing offence) 挑衅的 ‹comment, behaviour›
  he is being deliberately provocative
  他是在蓄意挑衅

As for what point you want to make, every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn’t have before.

• myriad
  A.noun
  无数
  a myriad of [something], myriads of [something];
  无数的某物

a myriad of choices

B.adjective 无数的

myriad stars/colours 繁星/色彩斑斓

Thoughts

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1. 词语的用法很重要，在写作中尽量要用对词。对于一些新词和新用法要谨慎使用。
2. 写作中的统一性很重要，时态的一致性，人称的一致性亦或是情绪的一致性都是很重要的。

Therefore think small. Decide what corner of your subject you’re going to bite off, and be content to cover it well and stop. This is also a matter of energy and morale. An unwieldy writing task is a drain on your enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the force that keeps you going and keeps the reader in your grip. When your zest begins to ebb, the reader is the first person to know it.

3. 写作时要确定一个基本点，不要尝试概括描述所有的东西。