一 詞，詞組
1.arduous
【句】Coming home from an arduous day at the hospital, he would go straight to his yellow pad and write his tensions away.
【解】arduous指費(fèi)力的，需要花費(fèi)很多時(shí)間、精力等。比如說寫論文，辦手續(xù)。書中指的是在醫(yī)院的一天工作很多很累人，Dr. Brock一回家就直接拿起了黃色便簽本開始寫字，把白天工作的焦慮感一寫而空。
2.drudge
【句】I said that professional writers are solitary drudges who seldom see other writers.
【解】drudge一般作名詞，指做著無聊、困難工作的人。作者就說專業(yè)作家的工作是無聊的，困難的，是單打獨(dú)斗的。他們不會(huì)去和別的作家見面聊天，就像Dr. Brock那樣。
二 摘抄
1. But all of them are vulnerable and all of them are tense. They are driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper, and yet they don’t just write what comes naturally. They sit down to commit an act of literature, and the self who emerges on paper is far stiffer than the person who sat down to write. The problem is to find the real man or woman behind the tension.
【評(píng)】作家在寫作時(shí)，就如作者所說他們都受著內(nèi)心的驅(qū)動(dòng)要將自己的想法呈現(xiàn)出來（driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper），這是脆弱（vulnerable）的一面；但是由于作品是要和讀者見面的，作者會(huì)反復(fù)修改，作品早已不是第一次提筆寫出的樣子，這也可以理解為充滿張力，緊張（tense）的一面。這種在自然流露和反復(fù)取舍之間的平衡，就決定了作品和作家之間的關(guān)系深淺。
2. Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about,but who he or she is. I often find myself reading with interest about a topic I never thought would interest me—some scientific quest, perhaps. What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his field.…It’snot necessary to want to spend a year alone at Walden Pond to become involved with a writer who did.
This is the personal transaction that’s at the heart of good nonfiction writing. Out of it come two of the most important qualities that this book will go in search of:humanity and warmth. ...
【評(píng)】如果作者說作家最終完成的作品不再是作品本身的內(nèi)容而是作家這個(gè)人的話，那我認(rèn)為這應(yīng)該是作者認(rèn)為的non-fiction的理想狀態(tài)。他會(huì)看平時(shí)完全不感興趣的話題，只因?yàn)樽骷业膶懽鳠崆楦腥玖怂?；他可以通過讀作品去了解一個(gè)作家，而不用真去瓦爾登湖住上一年才能體會(huì)梭羅的散文內(nèi)涵。這種作家和作品的共鳴、互相滲透應(yīng)該可以稱作personal transaction了吧。但是讀來讓人覺得是在直接和作者交流，能窺探寫作者內(nèi)心世界和周遭境遇的作品又有多少呢？因此好的non-fiction才不多吧，這也就是作者接下來要探討的要點(diǎn)了：humanity和warmth。文字要有humanity，即人性，才會(huì)有溫度warmth，才能打動(dòng)人心。期待作者接下去的闡述，如何寫好的非虛構(gòu)作品，如何讓文字有人性和溫度。
3.Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.
【評(píng)】簡(jiǎn)潔是如今越來越珍貴的特質(zhì)了。越來越多的文字充滿浮夸，堆砌辭藻，10個(gè)字能說清楚的能湊1000個(gè)字。多余的詞，反復(fù)說著同一個(gè)意思的文字，沒有意義的浮華辭藻等等，對(duì)于非虛構(gòu)作品都是能省則省的。后面作者的稿子能看出有許多修改，讀完就能發(fā)現(xiàn)，刪去的多數(shù)是前后文講過的冗贅語。刪改后，意思不變，文筆更加簡(jiǎn)潔。
Another word:
第一天做筆記，又是周一比較忙，簡(jiǎn)書也第一次用，好多生詞沒來得及加在筆記中，就暫時(shí)放下了。明天大概會(huì)更加游刃有余。
