Words and Expressions

1. affinity

,or feels an affinity for your sense of humor of your vision of life,

【义】①a strong feeling that you understand sb/sth and like them or it

          ②a close relationship between two people or things that have similar qualities, structures or features.

这个词就比like,love高级些

2.crotchet

let's look at a few writers to see the pleasure with which they put on paper their passions and their crotchets.

crotchet有小钩；奇想；四分音符的意思。这里是诀窍，妙计的意思。

crotcheteer: 想法古怪的人；异想天开的人

3.a rich vein of

It avoids the pretentiouness that infects so much writing by people doing worthy work, and it allows for a rich vein of humor and common sense.

【义】particular style        hit/strike particular style 形成风格，具有风格

          a rich vein of humor 大量幽默元素

4.divine

Paine's phrase is like poetry and the other four are like oatmeal---which is the divine mystery of the creative process.

【义】adj. ①coming from or connetced with God or a god

                    divine law 天道  divine will大意

                  ②wonderful; beautiful 绝妙的；非凡的；极美的

            v. (formal) to find out sth by guessing

这里的意思是绝妙的

5. plod

If all your sentences move at the same plodding gait, which even you recognize as deadly but don't know how to cure, read them aloud.

【义】v. to walk slowly with heavey steps, especially because you are tired.

plod along/on ：to make very slow progress, especially with difficult or boring work 进展缓慢（尤指艰难枯燥的工作）

plodding gait  举步难行

Skills

Question

Paine's phrase is like poetry and the other four are like oatmeal---which is the divine mystery of the creative process.

I don't understand why compare the creative process to oatmeal(燕窝？？)？

My Thinking

1.写作逻辑很重要→训练逻辑思维，读点讲逻辑的书

2.写好后要大声朗读。写论文更是如此，你自己都不想读的东西，难道还拿去恶心别人？