Content:
Part I | Principles
1. The Transaction
2. Simplicity
3. Clutter (Writing clean English Sentence)
4. Style (Preserving your identity)
5. The audience (Who am I writing for)
6. Words (The only tools you’ve got)
7. Usage (What is good usage)
Part II | Methods
8. Unity (Anchor of good writing)
9. The lead and the ending
10. Bits and pieces
Part II | Forms
11. Nonfiction as Literature
12. Writing About People: The Interview
13. Writing About Places: The travel article
14. Writing About Yourself: The Memoir
15. Science and Technology
16. Business Writing:Writing in Your Job
17. Sports
18. Writing About the Arts Critics and Columnists
19. Humor
Part III |Attitudes
20. The Sound of Your Voice
21. Enjoyment, Fear and Confidence
22. The Tyranny of the Final Product
23. A Writer’s Decisions
....
Words and Expressions:
1. ...that narrative—good old-fashioned storytelling—is what should pull your readers along without their noticing the tug.
tug在这里是名词，表示 使劲拉；拽。
tug
1.VERB 使劲拉;拽
If you tug something or tug at it, you give it a quick and usually strong pull.
【语法信息】：V at n
【语法信息】：V n
【语法信息】：Also V
A little boy came running up and tugged at his sleeve excitedly...
一个小男孩跑上来，非常激动地拽着他的袖子。
She kicked him,tugging his thick hair.
她一边踢他，一边扯着他那浓密的头发。
Tug is also a noun.
Bobby gave her hair a tug…
博比使劲拽了她头发一下。
I felt a tug at my sleeve.
我感到袖子被拽了一下。
2.N-COUNT 拖船;拖轮
A tug or a tug boat is a small powerful boat which pulls large ships, usually when they come into a port.
2. My article, called “The News From Timbuktu”.
Timbuktu 是mali的一个城市，坐落在撒哈拉沙漠边上，周围没有其他城镇，所以也可以用来表示“any distant or outlandish place”。
比较常见的用法是: from here to Timbuktu
3. Every town starts with dirt streets that eventually get paved as the inhabitants prosper and subdue their environment.
subdue
1.VERB 制服;征服;控制
If soldiers or the police subdue a group of people, they defeat them or bring them under control by using force.
【语法信息】：V n
Senior government officials admit they have not been able to subdue the rebels.
政府高级官员承认他们还没能制服反叛者。
2.VERB 抑制，压制，克制(感情)
To subdue feelings means to make them less strong.
【语法信息】：V n
He forced himself to subdue and overcome his fears.
他强迫自己克制并战胜恐惧心理。
4. ...surviving only because of its unique location as the junction of important camel caravan routes across the Sahara.
caravan常见的意思是第一个，但这里表示第二个意思 “(带着牲口的一群人结伴而行的)旅行队”。
caravan
1.N-COUNT 旅行拖车;大篷车;房车
A caravan is a vehicle without an engine that can be pulled by a car or van. It contains beds and cooking equipment so that people can live or spend their holidays in it.
【语域标签】：mainly BRIT 主英
in AM, usually use 美国英语通常用 trailer
2.N-COUNT (带着牲口的一群人结伴而行的)旅行队;车队
A caravan is a group of people and animals or vehicles who travel together.
...the old caravan routes from Central Asia to China.
从中亚到中国的古老的旅行线路
5. The colorful nomads who drive the caravans have traveled 1,000 miles across the Sahara
nomad
N-COUNT 游牧民;游牧部落的人
A nomad is a member of a group of people who travel from place to place rather than living in one place all the time.
...a country of nomads who raise cattle and camels.
饲养牛和骆驼的游牧国度
6. But I didn’t begrudge a minute of it.
1.VERB 妒忌；嫉妒
If you do not begrudge someone something, you do not feel angry, upset, or jealous that they have got it.
【语法信息】：V n n
【搭配模式】：usu with brd-neg
I certainly don't begrudge him the Nobel Prize.
我当然不会嫉妒他得了诺贝尔奖。
2.VERB 吝啬；吝惜；舍不得
If you do not begrudge something such as time or money, you do not mind giving it up.
【语法信息】：V n
【语法信息】：Also V -ing
【搭配模式】：usu with brd-neg
I do not begrudge the money I have lost.
我不在乎自己丢的钱。
7. I didn’t want to be put down in such a forsaken place.
ADJ (See also:godforsaken) 荒废的;无人看管的;被遗忘的
A forsaken place is not lived in, used, or looked after.
【搭配模式】：ADJ n
【STYLE标签】：LITERARY 文
The delta region of the Rio Grande river was a forsakenl and of thickets and swamps.
里奥格兰德河三角洲曾是一片遍布荆棘和沼泽的荒废之地。
...a forsaken church and a derelict hotel.
废弃的教堂和无人居住的旅馆
8. It was another salt caravan, this one fifty camels long, silhouetted against the sky.
silhouette /ˌsɪlu'ɛt/
1.N-COUNT (浅色或强光背景下衬托出的)暗色轮廓，影像,剪影
A silhouette is the solid dark shape that you see when someone or something has a bright light or pale background behind them.
The dark silhouette of the castle ruins stood out boldly against the fading light.
城堡遗迹的黑色轮廓在暮色映衬下清晰可见。
2.N-COUNT 形状;外形;轮廓
The silhouette of something is the outline that it has, which often helps you to recognize it.
...the distinctive silhouette of his ears...
他耳朵的奇特形状
The shirt's ideal worn loose over leggings or tuck it in for a streamlined silhouette.
这件衬衫最好是松松垮垮地穿在紧身裤外面，或者是塞进裤子里以显出苗条的身材。
3.PHRASE 呈侧面影像;呈黑色轮廓像
If you see something in silhouette, you see it as a dark shape with no detail except for the outline.
Even from behind in silhouette, Billy recognized the figure.
即便看到的只是背影的轮廓，比利还是认出了那个人影。
9. perhaps as a Tuareg he considered them desert riffraff.
N-UNCOUNT 乌合之众;流氓地痞;不三不四的人
If you refer to a group of people as riff-raff, you disapprove of them because you think they are not respectable.
【语用信息】：disapproval
13.I got on the plane to Bradenton for spring training not knowing whether I would be welcomed or rebuffed.
rebuff
VERB 拒绝;回绝
If you rebuff someone or rebuff a suggestion that they make, you refuse to do what they suggest.
【语法信息】：V n
【语法信息】：Also be V-ed in n
【搭配模式】：usu with supp
His proposals have already been rebuffed by the Prime Minister.
他的提议已经被首相否决了。
Rebuff is also a noun.
The results of the poll dealt a humiliating rebuff to Mr Jones.
民意调查的结果对琼斯先生很不利，让他颜面尽失。
Thoughts:
上一章讲的是如何做出写作中的big decision (matters of shape, structure, compression, focus and intention)， 而这章，通过剖析一篇完整的长文，讲到了写作中会碰到的无数个小的decision。
看完这章，有点理解zinser为什么把写作比作jigsaw puzzle了。作者的任何一个决定，就好像每块拼图的边缘一样，决定了词与词、句与句、段与段之间是否能做到严丝合缝，是否能最终形成一份完整的拼图。
No writing decision is too small to be worth a large expenditure of time.
看看写完一篇文章要做多少次决定吧 (Decide what you want to do. Then decide to do it. Then do it.)：
Write clear and pleasing sentences, and use logic as glue to hold sentences together;
Write a lead that will grab the readers (the hardest decision);
Break a long sentence into short ones (don't make one sentence do too much work);
Give readers as much information as they require;
Use funny or self-serving quotes;
Use FRESH words, and choose words carefully;
Self-discipline bordering on masochism;
Use tiny jokes as touches of humor;
Make divisions by breaking the material into manageable chunks and to take one chunk at a time;
Trust your material;
Know where to end.
别忘了最重要的: Get on the plane，出发吧！
"If a subject interests you, go after it. It’s not going to come looking for you."
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