On Writing Well by William Zinsser

PART 1 Gist

Chapter 7 Usage

Guardians of usage not only should keep the language from becoming sloppy but also ought to welcome any new word or phrase that will bring strength or color. The good usage, in Zinsser's perception, consists of using good words to express oneself clearly and simply to someone else. There are two helpful approaches: separating usage from jargon and separating good English from technical English.

Chapter 8 Unity

Unity is the anchor of good writing. Unity refers to the unity of pronoun, unity of tense and unity of mood. This principle also requires writers to think small, i.e. to cover one subject intensively and leave readers with only one provocative thought.

PART 2 Expressions

1. It would probably be pushing my luck to describe a man who compulsively visits circus sideshows as a freak freak.

push one's luck/ push it: informal, to do sth or ask for sth, especially sth you have done or asked for before, when this is likely to annoy sb or involves a risk （想再度好运）贪心；得寸进尺

If she doesn't want to go, don't push it.

It's 26 miles, so you're pushing your luck if you want to hike it in a day.

2. I don't consider them slang, or put quotation marks around them to show that I'm mucking about in the argot of the youth culture and really know better.

muck: (n.) 污泥； （v.）muck about/ around: to behave in a silly way, especially when you should be working or paying attention SYN mess around, fool around  鬼混；捣乱

Stop mucking about and listen!

Some of the boys were mucking around on bikes.

argot: [ˈɑ:gəʊ]/[ˈɑ:rgət] jargon, expressions used by a particular group of people

teenage argot

3. I'm glad we took into full membership all sorts of robust words that previous dictionaries derided as "colloquial".

colloquial: [kəˈləʊkwiəl] 口语的；会话的

His stumbling attempts at colloquial Russian amused her.

colloquialism (n.) 白话；口语

Slang is mingled with jargon and colloquialism.

4. Only 66 percent of our panel rejected the verb "to contact," once regarded as tacky.

tacky: a tacky thing looks cheap or badly made, and shows poor taste(俗气的); a tacky person does not have good judgment about what is socially acceptable （缺乏教养或风度的）

tacky ornaments

It's kind of tacky to give her a present that someone else gave you.

5. Our apparent rule of thumb was stated by Theodore M. Bernstein, author of the excellent The Careful Writer:"..."

rule of thumb: 经验法则 a rough figure or method of calculation, based on practical experience

As a general rule of thumb, children this age should not spend more than one hour on homework.

6. Webster, long a defender of the faith, muddied the waters in 1961 with its permissive Third Edition.

muddy the waters/ the issues: to make a situation more complicated or confusing than it was before, used to show disapproval

The defense is trying to muddy the waters by painting the wife as bad. Whether she was good or bad is not the issue.

7. It adds a tinge of sarcasm that otherwise wouldn't be there.

a tinge of :一丝色调 a very small amount of color, emotion or quality

There was a tinge of sadness in her voice.

tinge: (v.) give sth a small amount of a particular color, emotion or quality

the light of the setting sun tinges the buildings with delicate colors.

8. You learn to write by writing. It's a truism, but what makes it a truism is that it's true.

truism: a statement that is clearly true, so that there is no need to say it 自明之理

His speech was just a collection of clichés and truism.

9. He is a real person taking us along on a real trip, and we can identify with him and Ann.

identify with sb/ sth: to feel sympathy with sb or be able to share with their feelings

He identified with our distress.

identify sb with sth: to think that sb is very closely related to or involved with sth, such as a political group

She has always been identified with the radical left.

identify sth with sth: to think that sth is the same as, or closely related to sth else

the attempt to identify crime with poverty and social problems

10. When your zest begins to ebb, the reader is the first person to know it.

ebb/ ebb away: (v.) to gradually decrease

Linda's enthusiasm began to ebb away.

be at a low ebb: to be in a bad state or condition

His confidence is at a low ebb.

PART 3 Thoughts

It would be foolish to reject a word as perfect as "dropout", or to pretend that countless words and phrases are not entering the gates of correct usage every day, borne on the winds of science and technology, business and sports and social change.

作家本身也是时代的产物，不可避免地会有时代的刻印。我很喜欢一个旅行散文作家陶立夏。我第一次读她的散文集的时候，最大的惊喜就是她的文章里经常夹杂着英文小诗或者句子，而且她总是直接写英文原句而不是改写成中文翻译。比如一篇名为《过路人》的散文里有这样一段话:"我最擅长的事情就是打包行李，走得远远的，充当一个礼貌安静的游客。--Hi, there. How are you doing? -- Great, everything is just fine.  -- Enjoy. -- Thanks. 生而为人，只是经过这个世间。"她甚至有一篇全文中文的文章直接用了一个英文篇名 I can feel the emptiness. 这样的文章如果出现在高中生作文里估计会被老师狠批一顿吧。想起高中时写作文被要求在引用外国名人或数学公式时必须改写成中文，比如Peter写作彼得，α写作阿尔法。但这种刻意的回避反而令人觉得很别扭。传统的散文作家比如三毛、席慕容以及雪小禅等，在她们的作品里看不到这种中英文的互相穿插，但这并不代表这就是一种不可改变的程式或规范。时代在改变，作家本人的经历和受教育程度也在改变。比如，陶立夏她本身外语专业出生，翻译过几本英文小说并且长期在国外旅游和生活，她散文里穿插的英文不会让人感觉是一种炫技或浮夸，而是一种当下的真实感受和想法，是一种“我手写我心“。如果刻意改成中文的话，反而会像央视引进的英文电影配音版一样变得不自然。就像她在一片文章里写的，“我无法让所有人满意，我也无法取悦所有人” 写作者不必让自己迎合主流规范而改变个人的写作风格和喜好，真实的自己才是最有魅力的。