Day 10 (Nonfiction as Literature & Writing about People)

Summary

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chapter 11 (Nonfiction as literature): No matter fiction or nonfiction, writers must follow their hearts.

chapter 12 ( Writing about people———The interview）: Writing about people with humanity, warmth and truth.

Words and Expressions

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,...and the host came on and greeted me with strenuous joviality of his trade.

1 strenuous adj. 热烈的, 激烈的

eg: Avoid strenuous exercise after dinner.

But the great preponderance of what writers now write and sell, what book and magazine publishers publish and what readers demand is nonfiction.

2 preponderance n. （数量上的）优势

eg: A preponderance of well-educated parents are in our school.

..., Mrs. Miniver, a stiff-upper-lip novel about the early days of the Battle of Britain.

3 stiff-upper-lip 原来是指保守的英国人，现在用来形容人的坚定沉着，不露感情。（从字面上看，“上唇不动”就是表示一个人面无表情，不动声色吧）

看到这个词的时候觉得很熟悉，原来是Mockingbird 的歌词 

...dozens of other major American writers were working journalists before they were canonized in the church of literature.

4 canonize v. 推崇，把......奉为圣徒

eg: Kim Il Sung is canonized in North Korea.

..., or the people being interviewed will veer off at an angle you couldn't have foreseen. 

5 veer off 谈话偏离主题 （和后面出现的stray off 是一个意思）

eg: The headmaster always likes veering off the subject in faculty meetings.

Thoughts

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The ear makes allowances for missing grammar, syntax and transitions that the eye wouldn't tolerant in print. The seemingly simple use of a tape recorder isn't simple; infinite stitchery is required.

作者在这段中讲到用录音的方式去采访别人的一些弊端，这里就是其中一点。作者说到我们听到的内容可以接受语言上的错误比如语法，句式但是一旦它们被印刷到纸上我们所看到的是容忍不了这样的错误的。也就是说采访的时候如果我们用录音的方式，在之后写的过程中还是要对语言内容进行再一次的记录。那看似方便省事的方式其实还是需要后面很多的加工。看到这里，我又联想的昨天用微信发消息举的例子。如果我们发语音消息确实自己方便，（其实有时候自己再要回去找信息也要一条条听，也增加了麻烦。）但是听的人很烦的，有些人一口气发60秒语音，里面包含很多信息，如果碰上语言表述和组织能力不好的人我们还要去反复听好几遍，这真的是一种麻烦别人的行为。但是如果发文字，一般发送的人也不能忍受错别字，病句之类的问题，还有信息表述确切与否的问题，至少发出前还会看一下，有时候会修改一下。那么，我们收到文字信息也能快速游览并从中获取重要信息。所以书中一些写作的道理联系到生活实际就真的不难理解。