On Writing Well 11.21

一 words and expressions

1. Perelman’s life contained more than the usual share of depression and travail.

travail：a difficult or unpleasant situation, or very tiring work痛苦，艰辛; 累人的工作，苦活

2. Writers have to jump-start themselves at the moment of performance, no less than actors and dancers and painters and musicians.

jump-start：to help a process or activity to start or become more successful启动，促进〔过程或活动〕

•Congress hopes the tax cut will jump-start the economy.国会希望减税能够推动经济发展。

3.  I need to feel a certain rapport with the person I’ll be writing about.

rapport：friendly agreement and understanding between people融洽，和睦关系

二 Thoughts

这章所讲的attitude有：enjoyment，fear和confidence。

I thought they were putting out the paper just for me. To be one of those editors and writers was my idea of the ultimate American dream.

从这里可以看出作者对于写作的喜爱，对他来说是一种无比享受的事。想想自己也有一些喜欢读的杂志，曾经也幻想自己能成为editor。

Writing is such lonely work that I try to keep myself cheered up. Nobody thinks of the effort they made every morning to turn on the switch.

由前文的enjoyment转到了fear。虽然作者热爱写作，但不得不说，它也是一个孤独的过程。

How can you fight off all those fears of disapproval and failure? One way to generate confidence is to write about subjects that interest you and that you care about.

怎样克服fear呢？其中一个办法是保持自信，写你感兴趣的事。

They didn’t ask because I had another kind of credential: sincerity. It was obvious to those men that I really wanted to know how they did their work. Remember this when you enter new territory and need a shot of confidence. Your best credential is yourself.

Every such reduction of the unfamiliar will reduce your fear.

可是万一遇到你不熟悉的领域呢？那就要做到：sincerity，传达你所知道的，你的真情实感。