1 Interesting Language Points
1.1 the quick and the dead
The writer who cares about the usage must always know the quick from the dead.(from Chap.5)
(biblical)all people, including those who are alive and those who are dead
In this situation, the writer?uses "the quick from the dead" to indicate that a writer shall recognize old-fashioned usages to use a word precisely.
All human-beings, the quick and the dead, head to the ultimate meaning for which philosophers have been looking.
1.2 launder
It's a fitting irony that under Richard Nixon "launder" became a dirty word.(from Chap.5)
1. to put money which has been obtained illegally into legal businesses and bank accounts, so that you can hide it or use it
2. (formal)to wash and iron clothes, sheets etc
The CEO accused of laundering outraged the mob.
1.3 at the helm
...it satisfies your readers' subconscious need for order and reassure them that all is well at the helm.(from Chap.6)
in charge of something; guiding a ship or boat
She, the first female monarch at the helm, was seldom considered as a real controller of the country.
2 Good Words
I think a sentence is a fine thing to put a preposition at the end of.
We turned out to be liberal in accepting new words and phrases, but conservative in grammmar.
Nobody can write a book or an article "about" something. Tolstoy couldn't write a book about war and peace, or Melville a book about whaling. They made certain reductive decisions about time and place and about individual characters in that time and place--one man pursuing one whale. Every writing project must be reduced before you start to write.
3 Summary in Chinese
第七章接著上一章講述了作者對(duì)于單詞用法的看法赁严。通篇以他在American Heritage Dictionary做專家參與評(píng)判一個(gè)詞匯用法是否夠格的經(jīng)歷為線索扰柠，舉出大量實(shí)例告訴我們究竟怎樣算作合格的單詞用法。后面還講到了作者所在的評(píng)審團(tuán)認(rèn)為評(píng)判語法應(yīng)當(dāng)比評(píng)判單詞嚴(yán)格疼约，評(píng)判技術(shù)性詞匯要松得多卤档。對(duì)于尼克松的“水門事件”中的洗錢（launder）這一詞的發(fā)明（很有趣的是這個(gè)詞與漢語“洗”相近，所以令人推測這個(gè)詞是由英語直譯來程剥，同時(shí)更有意思的是“水門事件”以及之后衍生的各種“門”事件也是從英語中直譯）劝枣，作者認(rèn)為這就是很好的詞匯用法的例子。
第八章“文章前后一致”開啟了本書的第二部分织鲸，即“寫作的方法”舔腾。作者首先說一致應(yīng)該人稱一致，時(shí)態(tài)一致搂擦，情感一致稳诚。作者舉了一篇失敗的旅游文章，說明了文章風(fēng)格前后多變意味著這篇文章四不像瀑踢。真正的一篇文章應(yīng)該對(duì)于一個(gè)話題采桃、一個(gè)議題進(jìn)行討論，于此展現(xiàn)作者的情感丘损，對(duì)社會(huì)的看法，乃至價(jià)值觀工扎、世界觀徘钥、人生觀。而一個(gè)失敗的作者就是試圖什么都寫肢娘，實(shí)際卻是ticky十足呈础。這讓我聯(lián)想到了數(shù)學(xué)的基本組成部分：命題。對(duì)于數(shù)學(xué)學(xué)科的學(xué)習(xí)正是學(xué)習(xí)一個(gè)個(gè)的命題橱健，并借此對(duì)數(shù)學(xué)這個(gè)整體進(jìn)行了解而钞。中學(xué)之前的數(shù)學(xué)幾乎無法稱之為數(shù)學(xué)，那只是利用簡單的數(shù)學(xué)知識(shí)解決實(shí)際問題拘荡。大學(xué)的高等數(shù)學(xué)等后續(xù)內(nèi)容更不是臼节。只有真正的基礎(chǔ)數(shù)學(xué)才具有本源性。而基礎(chǔ)數(shù)學(xué)就是從一個(gè)個(gè)的命題的證明或推翻達(dá)到的珊皿。雖然人文科學(xué)與自然科學(xué)鴻溝巨大网缝，但這二者卻頗有些相似之處。
