On Writing Well by William Zinsser

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)；可怜的 (making you fell sympathy)

You're pathetic! Here, let me do it.

The child looked a pathetic sight.

pathetic fallacy : 万物有情谬想 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] 支撑物；支柱；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：[smaɪt] (v.) 1. old use, to hit sb with a lot of force 重击；2. biblical, to destroy, attack, or punish sb打击，惩罚

We should smite the evil invaders and tear them to pieces.

God will smite our enemies

过去式： smote

过去分词： 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.) （天气）多变的，无常的；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:[kɪtʃ] 来源于德语, 指“媚俗的艺术”，粗劣的作品，迎合低级趣味的作品（内容空洞又俗气，刻意讨好大众）

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: [vərˈnækjələ(r)] (n.) 本国语；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.) 本国的；本国语的；方言的

vernacular American speech

vernacular architecture

8. From their comments I realized that several of them thought I was being facetious.

facetious: [fəˈsi:ʃəs] 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.

我喜欢的中文作家大多都是上个世纪的，像老舍，林语堂，汪曾祺，沈从文，梁实秋等。这些老一代的作家文字功底之强大是现代作家所难以企及的，他们可以自由驾驭文字的风格，既可以很雅致也可以很市井很“俗气”。汪曾祺是出了明的雅俗同赏，他经常在同一篇文章里雅俗自由而流畅地切换，比如他的《胡同文化》，既有这样的口头语：“有窝头，就知足了。大腌萝卜，就不错。小酱萝卜，那还有什么说的。”也有这样古典的书面语：“西风残照，衰草离披，满目荒凉，毫无生气。”或俗或雅，都有着作者的匠心在里面。华丽而不晦涩，平淡而依然余味醇厚，所以即使过去了那么久，却依然读起来没有距离感和陌生感。反而现在的一些满是时下流行词的网络文学经常让我看得云里雾里，不知所云。有的文章中出现过“种草”、“老铁”等词，看似是赶时髦，却让人有种粗制滥造之感。双十一的时候在京东上买了一堆书，但好几本都很失望，语言华丽者华而不实，语言平淡者也依然言之无物。那些作家与上一代的经典作家相比，就像是新酒与陈年老酒的区别，即使同样是口语化的表达，但因为前者缺少一个慢慢发酵的过程，所以他们的文字读起来是廉价而无味的，后者则是经过了细致的酿造和选择的过程，是一种洗去铅华后的真纯。