Reading Part @ Aug. 10, 2017

Chapter 4: The Gold Standard（100-114）

• Applying the Principles of Deliberate Practice
• No, the Ten-Thousand-Hour Rule isn't really a rule

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Summary:

As defined, deliberate practice is a very specialized form of practice. You need a teacher or coach who assigns practice techniques designed to help you improve on very specific skills...... And the field itself must have a highly developed set of skills that are available to be taught.

作者认为，刻意练习（deliberate practice）有两个重要的前提条件，一是对行业的要求，最好是具备 “有客观的可衡量的标准” ，这样便于找出行业顶尖人物；二是要能找到一个好老师，能够传授教导我们行业顶尖人物的训练方法/技巧，如此方能助我们事半功倍。

之后再按照有目的练习（purposeful practice）的方法，从内心出发，走出舒适区，制定明确的目标，专注练习，适时反馈，不断提升自己的心理表征，持续进步。

最后，作者还批判性的提到作家马尔科姆·格拉德威尔（Malcolm Gladwell）在其著作 《异类》中的“一万小时定律”，认为此观点不够客观真实，一万小时只是个nice round number而已，只提到了练习的“量”并没有提到“质”，也没有考虑到不同行业对“达到优秀”所需要练习的时间也不尽相同。但作者对“一万小时定律”背后所传达的“成功必须要付出多年努力练习”的这个观点还是给予了肯定。

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Reflection:

在开始阅读《刻意练习》之前，我就听说过《异类》这本书和“一万小时定律”，所以就对这两本书进行了对照阅读，因为《刻意练习》才读到一半，尚未读完，所以内容方面的好坏偏颇暂时先不多提，只是想先谈谈写作结构方面的不同：

《异类》这本书的整体写作结构有点散乱，作者的观点是分散于整本书的很多个角落的，举了很多例子来说明成功的很多因素，比如天分，社会环境，家庭背景，机遇，勤奋（一万小时），等等等等。但作者并未能很直观的将每个观点从例子里提炼总结出来，这让人看的有点费劲；（不晓得是不是因为快速阅读的是中文版的原因，还是这本书本身就比较“散乱”，有时间我会把原版书找出来再看一下）

反之，《刻意练习》的整体结构编排就比较清晰有逻辑，作者步步铺垫，再层层剥开，展现核心观点，而且举的例子也好，实验研究也好，都能很好体现作者所想表达的每一层观点，整体上写法是“总-分-总”的结构，让读者看的很顺心。

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Words and Expressions:

This is a latter-day version of "the memory place" that people have used since the time of the ancient Greeks to remeber large amounts of information.

latter-day, 形容词，regarded as a modern version of someone or something from the past，表示“过去某个人物或事物的现如今版本”，就如例句里的这个意思；
例句：Romer portrayed himself as a latter-day Robin Hood who took money and gave it to the underprivileged.

latter-day 还可以表示“近代的，现代的，当今的”，relating to a recent period of time, rather than an earlier one.
例句：Latter-day students could never meet the college entrance standards required in the 1940s.

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Thus a good rule of thumb is to seek out people who work intimately with many other professionals, such as ......

rule of thumb, a rough figure or method of doing something that is based on experience and common sense rather than exact calculation，意思是“根据实验结果或者经验得出的大概结论”.

例句：A good rule of thumb for keeping your closet organized is to get rid of any clothes you haven't worn in the past year.
仿造句：My friends told me that I should tip bellmen $1 per bag, as a rule of thumb.

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......Gladwell offered a catchy phrase: "the ten-thousand-hour rule."

catchy, 形容词，意思是“引人注意的，容易记住的”，appealing and easy to remember；例如，catchy title，吸睛的标题；

所以 catchy phrase 指的是“朗朗上口的经典语句，流行语”，a short well-known phrase made popular by an entertainer or politician, so that people think of that person when they hear it.
仿造句：There are so many catchy phrases hidden in this book.

8月英文原版读书会 图/Eric