词汇&表达

circulate:

- " A student asked if we found it useful to circulate in the literary world."

a piece of writing circulates or is circulated = copies of it are passed round among a group of people.  （文章等）传递、传阅、散发

drudge:

- " I said that professional writers are solitary drudges who seldom see other writers."

[someone] they have to work hard at a job which is not very important or interesting. 苦工；做乏味工作的人（tedious, menial, or pleasant work)

Not if I can help it: 

- 我尽量避免

gusto:

- " He described with gusto the joys of weaving them （symbols） through his work."

Doing something with gusto = with energetic and enthusiastic enjoyment. （做某事的）热情、兴致、精力

weave symbols through his work:

将（素材等）编入（故事或设计中） weave details into a story or design = include 

enormously:

enormous ADJ. extremely large (in size or amount) 巨大的；极多的

-“At the end Dr. Brock told me that he was enormously interested in my answers - it had never occurred to him that writing could by hard.”

从没想到写作可以很难。

bewilder:

使困惑；使糊涂；使不知所措。 something bewilders someone

= puzzle, perplex, mystify, confound [= cause bafflement（阻碍、迷惑） or confusion]

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句子理解

* "Some people write their first draft in one long burst and then revise; others can't write the second paragraph until they have fiddle endlessly with the first."

对比，但是避免了形式上的重复。前一句是肯定句，后一句是否定句（can‘t……until）。值得学习。

- fiddle with = change it in minor ways 小改动；略微变动；稍稍修改

* "They sit down to commit an act of literature, and the self who emerges on paper is far stiffer than the person who sat down to write."

- commit an act of literature

commit: 承诺；保证（做）；忠于（某人） = decide to give your love, support, or effort to someone or something in a serious or permanent way

- the self 与 the person 是同义改写，避免单调。

- be far +比较级 than

- 这句话的意思要联系上下文：

But all of them are vulnerable and all of them are tense. They are driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper, and yet they don't sit down to commit an act of literature, and the self who emerges on paper is far stiffer than the person who sat down to write. The problem is to find the real man or woman behind the tension.

不论是有什么习惯的作家，都是脆弱且焦虑的。被一时冲动激发想要将他们的一部分写在纸上，但是，坐下来写的时候不是这样。写在纸上的人物（the self who emerges on paper）比写这个的人/作家（the person who sit down to write）更“rigidly formal / lacking ease or grace”——紧张。【stiff=tension】

* "What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his field. How was he drawn into it? What emotional baggage did he bring along?"

- hold:

吸引住（注意力）；保持（兴趣）

同义：

draw into 吸引

- He brings along emotional baggage:

他有情怀。

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总结

PERSONAL TRASANCTION: the heart of good nonfiction writing

可以理解为：非小说的文学作品，核心在于作者的个人魅力。

Chapter 1 读后感：

可以体会到这篇文章的语言并不复杂，没有语言考试和GRE中的那些“长难句”，略读一遍，也能知道其中的大概意思。但是，当我进行整理时，重新认识一些单词、句子，才发现其中的妙处。例如：

描述得形象、有画面感：

He would go straight to his yellow pad and write his tensions away.

紧凑的句式：

Whatever form the sentences take will reflect the writer at his most natural.

稍微复杂的句式，且意思很有哲理：

I said that writing is a craft, not an art, and that the man who runs away from his craft because he lacks inspiration is fooling himself.