Scrupulous

英  ['skruːpjʊləs]  美  ['skrupjələs]

adj. 细心的；小心谨慎的；一丝不苟的

Scrupulous表达的是极度地勤勉尽责，对细节小心谨慎，生怕有任何的差错。它的名词是scruple，愿意是粗糙的圆石和焦虑，说的就是因为担心出错的细致态度。中文最贴合的词语是“顾忌”。一个人如果缺乏道德考量，我们就说他没有moral scruple.

"the research has been carried out with scrupulous attention to detail"
研究的执行过程谨慎入微。

"she's too scrupulous to have an affair with a married man"
她小心慎微，担心和已婚男人发生任何关系。

Scrupulous还有“出于良心”的含义，当然它的来源还是事主的一丝不苟的态度。

I have been scrupulous about telling them the dangers.
我已经本着良心将危险告知他们。

《1984》的作者乔治奥维尔在论写作心理时有一段精彩的描述：

“A scrupulous writer in every sentence that he writes will ask himself... What am I trying to say? What words will express it? And he probably asks himself... Could I put it more shortly? But you are not obliged to go to all this trouble. You can shirk it by simply throwing open your mind and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you.”

一位谨慎入微的作者在写作每一句话时都会问自己…… 我想要说什么？什么样的文字能够表达它？他还可能问自己…… 我能够更简单地表达吗？ 但是你并没有义务经历这些麻烦，你可以省去这些直接敞开心智，把脑中现成，汹涌而来的短语直接倾泻出来，它们自然会为你构筑出句子。

无独有偶，著名编剧Julien Green也说过：

A scrupulous man will never produce a great novel.

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我是明道创始人任向晖，通过写作而学习，通过学习而存在。