Ⅰ、vocabulary

1、pompous

意思：ADJ-GRADED 自负的；自命不凡的If you describe someone as pompous, you mean that they behave or speak in a very serious way because they think they are more important than they really are.

原文：By using a more pompous phrase in his professional role he not only sounds more important; he blunts the painful edge of truth.

造句：He was somewhatpompousand had a high opinion of his own capabilities.

2、ponderous

意思：ADJ-GRADED（文章或谈话）严肃呆板的，冗长乏味的，生硬的 Ponderous writing or speech is very serious, uses more words than necessary, and is rather dull.

原文：Clutter is the ponderous euphemism that turns a slum into a depressed socioeconomic area, garbage collectors into waste disposal personnel and the town dump into the volume reduction unit.

造句：He had a dense, ponderous style.

3、prune

意思：.VERB 动词删去；除去；削减If you prune something, you cut out all the parts that you do not need.

原文：Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly.

造句：Firms are cutting investment and pruning their product ranges.

4、garnish

意思：VERB 动词给（菜肴）加装饰菜 If you garnish cooked or prepared food, you decorate it with a garnish.

原文：This is the problem of writers who set out deliberately to garnish their prose.

造句：She had finished the vegetables and wasgarnishing the roast.

原文引申为“修饰、润色”的意思，似乎把prose比作精美的菜肴，对文字的润色比作加装饰菜，非常地形象生动

5、plunge

意思：VERB 动词（尤指向水中）纵身投入，一头进入If something or someone plunges in a particular direction, especially into water, they fall, rush, or throw themselves in that direction.

原文：Yet you vow to be worthy of the task, and, casting about for grand phrases that wouldn't occur to you if you weren't trying so hard to make an impression, you plunge in.

造句：He ran down the steps to the pool terrace andplunged in.

这里的plunge in 引申为“一头陷入（某种误区中）”，与前面vow to be worthy of the task 一起构成一种较为戏谑、诙谐的语境，读来很有趣味

Ⅱ、reflection

First, then, learn to hammer the nails, and if what you build is sturdy and serviceable, take satisfaction in its plain strength.

 But you will be impatient to find a "style"—to embellish the plain words so that readers will recognize you as someone special. You will reach for gaudy similes and tinseled adjectives, as if "style" were something you could buy at the style store and drape onto your words in bright decorator colors. (Decorator colors are the colors that decorators come in.) There is no style store; style is organic to the person doing the writing, as much a part of him as his hair, or, if he is bald, his lack of it. Trying to add style is like adding a toupee. At first glance the formerly bald man looks young and even handsome. But at second glance—and with a toupee there's always a second glance—he doesn't look quite right. The problem is not that he doesn't look well groomed; he does, and we can only admire the wigmaker's skill. The point is that he doesn't look like himself.

风格从来不是由华丽的词藻成就的，越是简洁就越有力。这里用了钉子和假发两个比喻，前者在于说明简洁的力量，简洁的用语对文章整体的架构起到莫大的作用；后者说明华丽的辞藻反倒是海市蜃楼，经不起琢磨推敲，初看很漂亮，却是不牢固的。因此真正有功底的人流露出的文字就越平实，这就是一些大师不动声色的玄机所在。