Content:
Part I | Principles
1. The Transaction
2. Simplicity
3. Clutter (Writing clean English Sentence)
4. Style (Preserving your identity)
5. The audience (Who am I writing for)
6. Words (The only tools you’ve got)
7. Usage (What is good usage)
Part II | Methods
8. Unity (Anchor of good writing)
9. The lead and the ending
10. Bits and pieces
Part II | Forms
11. Nonfiction as Literature
12. Writing About People: The Interview
13. Writing About Places: The travel article
14. Writing About Yourself: The Memoir
15. Science and Technology
....
Words and Expressions:
1. Scientific and technical material can be made accessible to the layman.
1.N-COUNT 外行；門外漢
A layman is a person who is not trained, qualified, or experienced in a particular subject or activity.
The mere mention of the words 'heart failure', can conjure up, to thelayman, the prospect of imminent death...
一提“心臟衰竭”四字，外行人就聯想到命不久矣的情景。
There are basically two types called, inlayman's terms, blue and white asbestos.
基本上有兩種，用外行話說就是青石棉和白石棉。
2.N-COUNT （基督教中的）平信徒，在俗教徒
A layman is a man who is involved with the Christian church but is not a member of the clergy or a monk.
In 1932, one Bostonlaymanwrote to Archbishop William O'Connell in support of Father Coughlin.
1932年，波士頓一名平信徒致函大主教威廉·奧康奈爾，聲援庫格林神父。
2. A tenet of journalism is that “the reader knows nothing.”
N-COUNT (理論、信仰的)基本原則，根本信條
The tenets of a theory or belief are the main principles on which it is based.
【搭配模式】：with supp
【語域標簽】：FORMAL 正式
Non-violence and patience are the centraltenets of their faith...
非暴力和忍耐是他們的信仰的核心原則。
The judge's ruling was based on the simple commonsensetenetthat no man is above the law.
法官的判決基于一個常識性原則，即誰也不能凌駕于法律之上。
3. There was a chimpanzee in California with a talent for playing ticktacktoe.
N-COUNT 黑猩猩
A chimpanzee is a kind of small African ape.
4. It is part of the large ferment of modern brain research in progress in laboratories.
1.N-UNCOUNT 騷動;動亂;動蕩
Ferment is excitement and trouble caused by change or uncertainty.
The whole country has been in a state of politicalfermentfor some months.
幾個月來，整個國家一直處于政治動蕩狀態。
2.V-ERG (使)發酵
If a food, drink, or other natural substance ferments, or if it is fermented, a chemical change takes place in it so that alcohol is produced. This process forms part of the production of alcoholic drinks such as wine and beer.
【語法信息】：V
【語法信息】：V n
【語法信息】：V-ed
The dried grapes are allowed tofermentuntil there is no sugar left and the wine is dry...
讓干葡萄發酵，直到糖分全部脫出，酒無甜味。
To serve the needs of bakers, manufacturersfermentthe yeast to produce a more concentrated product.
為了滿足面包店主的需要，制造商讓酵母發酵，以生產出濃度更高的產品。
...partiallyfermented wine.
部分發酵的葡萄酒
fermentation
Yeast is essential for thefermentation that produces alcohol.
釀酒要發酵,而發酵必須有酵母。
5.that incredible three-pound package of tissue that can imagine the farthest reaches of the universe and the ultimate core of the atom but cannot fathom its own functioning
1.N-COUNT 英尋(度量單位，等于 1.8 米或 6 英尺，用于指水深)
A fathom is a measurement of 1.8 metres or 6 feet, used when referring to the depth of water.
【搭配模式】：oft num N
We sailed into the bay and dropped anchor in fivefathoms of water.
我們駛進海灣，將錨拋進 5 英尋深的水里。
2.VERB 透徹理解;深入了解;弄清…的真相
If you cannot fathom something, you are unable to understand it, although you think carefully about it.
【語法信息】：V wh
【語法信息】：V n
【語法信息】：V P wh
【語法信息】：V P n (not pron)
【語法信息】：Also V n P
【搭配模式】：no cont
I really couldn'tfathomwhat Steiner was talking about...
我真搞不懂斯坦納在說些什么。
Jeremy's passive attitude was hard tofathom.
杰里米的消極態度令人費解。
Fathom out means the same as fathom.fathom out 同 fathom
We're trying tofathomout what's going on...
我們在盡力搞清楚發生了什么事情。
I'm having difficulty using my video editing equipment and can'tfathomout the various connections.
我不會使用視頻編輯設備，而且搞不清各種各樣的連接。
6.Through evolution the vulture has the most efficient structure one can imagine—a space frame in bone.
1.N-COUNT 兀鷲;禿鷲
A vulture is a large bird which lives in hot countries and eats the flesh of dead animals.
2.N-COUNT 趁火打劫的人;乘人之危的人
If you describe a person as a vulture, you disapprove of them because you think they are trying to gain from another person's troubles.
【語用信息】：disapproval
【FIELD標簽】：JOURNALISM 新聞
With no buyer in sight for the company as a whole, thevultures started to circle.
由于公司目前找不到買主，趁火打劫者開始圍攻。
7. You can achieve the same rapport, whatever your subject.
N-SING 和睦;友善;親近
If two people or groups have a rapport, they have a good relationship in which they are able to understand each other's ideas or feelings very well.
【搭配模式】：also no det
He said he wanted 'to establish arapportwith the Indian people'...
他說他想“同印度人民建立友好關系”。
The success depends on goodrapportbetween interviewer and interviewee...
成功取決于采訪者與被采訪者之間的良好溝通。
You have an intellectualrapport, a kind of easy companionship that makes me really jealous.
你機智友善、平易近人，真是讓我嫉妒。
Thoughts:
作為理工科出身，我個人覺得科技類文章是最能體現“隔行如隔山”的，每個字都認識，但連在一起就不知道什么意思的情況經常出現。而且科技類書籍，從入門級到進階到專業級，每一級都有一定的門檻，不太容易實現跨級，只有把每一級搞懂了，才能上升到下一級。每一級又有每一級特有的專業用語。
所以，科技類寫作更需要考慮audience，你的audience在這個專業領域的哪一層，決定了你的寫作風格。
Zinser這章講的其實更像是科普類的寫作，也就是說audience在第一層，專業知識為零或者很少。
對于科普類寫作，當然最重要的是深入淺出+語言通俗。
也就是說，要想讀者看明白，作者要想的明白（邏輯思維），說的好玩（語言表達）。
舉個很簡單的例子，教爺爺奶奶、爸爸媽媽和同齡人用手機，無論是方法還是內容，是不是都不一樣。
教爺爺奶奶的是不是話最多，但聽起來最簡單？（零基礎，最難）
教同齡人的是不是話雖少，但內容更復雜？（基礎雄厚，最簡單）
想想看，你最擅長哪個？
科普類寫作也是如此。讀者呈金字塔型分布，零基礎的占大多數，最專業的位于塔尖。這就要求科普類寫作要按倒金字塔結構，先從一個簡單的點入手，由點及面，逐步擴展，最終形成完整的論述。
總之，越簡單的東西覆蓋范圍越廣。
（zinser推薦的IEEE spectrum，屬于應用科學領域，因為有應用場景，所以讀起來比理論類要好懂一些）
