Chapter 1 Gist
Writers should develop a voice that's enjoyable not only in its musical line but also in its avoidance of breeziness, condescension and clichés. Breeziness is crude, corny and verbose. Worse still, it's harder to read than good English. Clichés are the enemy of taste. Writers with good taste would choose words that have surprise, strength and precision. Although a perfect taste is a God-given flair, a certain amount can be acquired by studying the writers who have it. The trick is to imitate other writers and embrace the eloquence in our own language heritage.
Chapter 2 Expressions
1. The writer sounds confident; he's not trying to ingratiate himself with the reader.
ingratiate oneself (with sb) : to try very hard to get sb's approval
His policy is to ingratiate himself with anyone who might be useful to him.
2. But the most pathetic thing about the breeding style is that it's harder to read than good English.
pathetic: 可悲的(useless, unsuccessful that they annoy you)横堡；可憐的 (making you fell sympathy)
You're pathetic! Here, let me do it.
The child looked a pathetic sight.
pathetic fallacy : 萬物有情謬想 a literary term for the attributing of human emotion and conduct to all aspects within nature. It is a kind of personification that is found in poetic writing when, for example, clouds seem sullen, when leaves dance, or when rocks seem indifferent.
3. He knows that the tools pf grammar haven't survived for so many centuries by chance; they are props the reader needs and subconsciously wants.
prop: (n.) [countable] 支撐物；支柱姥宝；道具?
Ann looks after costumes and props.
She was becoming an emotional prop for him.
4. If you're smitten by the urge to try the breezy style, read what you've written aloud and see if you like the sound of your voice.
smite：[sma?t] (v.) 1. old use, to hit sb with a lot of force 重擊翅萤；2. biblical, to destroy, attack, or punish sb打擊，懲罰
We should smite the evil invaders and tear them to pieces.
God will smite our enemies
過去式： smote
過去分詞： smitten
5. Every art form has a core of verities that survive the fickleness of time.
verity: an important principle or fact that is always true SYN truth
the eternal verities of life
Facing with such immutable verity, maybe, we should redefine its significance.
fickle: (a.) （天氣）多變的，無常的套么；sb who is fickle is always changing their mind about people or things they like, so that you cannot depend on them 薄情的? (o.) faithful
fickleness: (n.) eg. the fickleness of fame
6. One person's beautiful object is somebody else's kitsch.
kitsch:[k?t?] 來源于德語, 指“媚俗的藝術”培己，粗劣的作品，迎合低級趣味的作品（內容空洞又俗氣胚泌，刻意討好大眾）
In modern art, the massive copy of image and streamline production by the so-called "New generation" artists have become the phenomenon of advanced commercial Kitsch.
kitschy: (a.)
7. An intuition that knows when a casual or a vernacular phrase dropped into a formal sentence will not only sound right but will seem to the inevitable choice.
vernacular: [v?r?n?kj?l?(r)] (n.) 本國語省咨；方言(local vernacular)? -- a form of a language that ordinary people use, especially one that not the official language.
Galileo wrote in the vernacular to reach a larger audience.
In some churches, they speak Latin, but in others they use the vernacular.
(ad.) 本國的；本國語的玷室；方言的
vernacular American speech
vernacular architecture
8. From their comments I realized that several of them thought I was being facetious.
facetious: [f??si:??s] saying things that are intended to be clever and funny but are really silly and annoying 滑稽的
facetious comments
One possible, and only somewhat facetious, answer is that I've read too much Dickens.
9. Had I sprung Wilbur Cross's prose on a generation that had never been exposed to notability of language as a means of addressing the populace?
spring sth on sb: to tell sb sth or ask them to do sth when you do not expect it and are not ready for it
It's not fair to spring this on her without any warning.
10. A writer with an ear for language will reach for fresh imagery and avoid phrases that are trite.
trite: a trite remark, idea etc is boring, not new, and insincere
Her remarks sounded trite and ill-informed.
triteness: (n.)
tritely: (ad.)? eg. tritely familiar replies
Chapter 3 Thoughts
The common assumption is that the style is effortless. In fact the opposite is true: the effortless style is achieved by strenuous effort and constant refining.
Inexperienced writers miss this point. They think that all they have to do to achieve a causal effects is to be "just folks" -- good old Betty or Bob chatting over the back fence. They want to be a pal to the reader. They're so eager not to appeal formal that they don't even they to write good English.
我喜歡的中文作家大多都是上個世紀的零蓉，像老舍，林語堂穷缤，汪曾祺敌蜂，沈從文，梁實秋等津肛。這些老一代的作家文字功底之強大是現(xiàn)代作家所難以企及的章喉，他們可以自由駕馭文字的風格，既可以很雅致也可以很市井很“俗氣”身坐。汪曾祺是出了明的雅俗同賞秸脱，他經常在同一篇文章里雅俗自由而流暢地切換，比如他的《胡同文化》部蛇，既有這樣的口頭語：“有窩頭摊唇，就知足了。大腌蘿卜涯鲁，就不錯巷查。小醬蘿卜，那還有什么說的抹腿∷北悖”也有這樣古典的書面語：“西風殘照，衰草離披幢踏，滿目荒涼，毫無生氣许师》坎酰”或俗或雅，都有著作者的匠心在里面微渠。華麗而不晦澀搭幻，平淡而依然余味醇厚，所以即使過去了那么久逞盆，卻依然讀起來沒有距離感和陌生感檀蹋。反而現(xiàn)在的一些滿是時下流行詞的網絡文學經常讓我看得云里霧里，不知所云云芦。有的文章中出現(xiàn)過“種草”俯逾、“老鐵”等詞贸桶，看似是趕時髦，卻讓人有種粗制濫造之感桌肴。雙十一的時候在京東上買了一堆書皇筛，但好幾本都很失望，語言華麗者華而不實坠七，語言平淡者也依然言之無物水醋。那些作家與上一代的經典作家相比，就像是新酒與陳年老酒的區(qū)別彪置，即使同樣是口語化的表達枫绅，但因為前者缺少一個慢慢發(fā)酵的過程障般，所以他們的文字讀起來是廉價而無味的，后者則是經過了細致的釀造和選擇的過程，是一種洗去鉛華后的真純唾琼。
