Words

1. 

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

solitary - adj. | a solitary person or object is alone, with no others near them.

drudge - n. | a person who does hard, menial, or tedious work

这两个词点出了作者对于写作人的看法：独自一人一点点去打磨自己的作品。联系上下文大概也可以猜到两个词语的意思。

2.

Perhaps a sentence has been so shoddily constructed that the reader could read in several ways.

shoddily - adv. | carelessly or badlly

这个词可以作为badlly的替换，之前几乎想不到badly有什么词可以替换。

3.

They obviously missed something, and they go back over the mystifying sentences, or over the whole paragraph, piecing it out like an ancient rune, making guesses and moving on.

piece - v. | (1) to complete, enlarge, or extend by an added piece or something additional [to piece out a library with new books.]; (2) to mend (a garment, article, etc.) by adding, joining, or applying a piece or pieces; patch.

rune - n. | 古代北欧文字; 芬兰古诗; 神秘的符号 （类似下面这种）

rune

之前基本没见过piece作为动词用。从字面来理解，piece作动词带有一种从小处一点点做起来的意思。文中可以理解为“像研究古文字一样，一点点地去摸索，去润色修改。

4. 有趣的短语或搭配 （下面这些词语并不难理解，但是在自己的写作中写不出这些精准有趣的搭配）

tremendous fun

circulate in the literary world

a man of letters

bring emotional baggage along

clotted language （”凝结、结块的语言“，好形象）

muddy thinker （muddy 对应 clear）

a galaxy of electronic devices

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Thoughts

Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard.

这段话没什么理解的难点，但对于我来说特别有共鸣。大学以前，老师对我们在作文上的训练，往往更在意辞藻的铺排，以及如何在短时间内能够洋洋洒洒一篇得高分，几乎没有人给我们机会在写作时细细琢磨，准确地表达自己的想法。平日里习作时，我写作文的速度是很慢的，总是一句话想了又想，这个样导致我在模拟考的时候，有几次无法在规定时间完成（我也知道考试作文又得算另外一回事）。一度认为是自己速度太慢或是天赋不够，非常羡慕那些20、30分钟能写千字作文的同学。多希望那时有人能告诉我写作本来应该是什么样子，哪怕只对我说"it is because it is hard".