一、字詞表達
1.Consider all the prepositions that are draped onto verbs that don't need any help.
preposition? A word that shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word.
drape a covering for a widows.
drape在這里用的十分巧妙，表明寫作中需要簡化的是一些無意義的連接詞。
2.Clutter is the ponderous euphemism that turns a slum into a depressed socioeconomic area ……
euphemism? An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant.
euphemism在句中為笨拙的隱語
3.Clutter is political correctness gone amok.
amok? freaked out and violently pissed off.
4. Beware of all the slippery new fad words: paradigm and parameter, prioritize and potentialize. They are all weeds that will smother what you write.
slippery? being such as to cause things to slip or slide.
句中指那些奪人眼球但轉瞬即逝的生僻用法，如用paradigm代替model和example。
5.So much for early warnings about the bloated monsters that lie in ambush for the writer trying to put together a clean English sentence.
bloated （unpleasantly）swollen or puffed as with water or air.
ambush? a surprise attack.
6.If what you build is sturdy and serviceable, take satisfaction in its plain strength.
sturdy? strong and firm.
serviceable? 意為useful，與句中的build對應，將寫作比喻為建筑，建造的樓房和寫出的文字一樣，是扎實且實用的。
7.This is the problem of writers who set out deliberately to garnish their prose.
garnish? decorate; add a garnish to; decorate sth. with small items.
二、閱讀感悟
第三章Clutter是對第二章Simplicity的進一步延伸，可簡要概括為“刪繁就簡”、“唯陳言之務去”。本章開篇，Zinsser將clutter比喻為文章中的雜草，雜草生命力極強，一如繁瑣的用詞層出不窮、傳播極快，除去它們確實需要花一番功夫。
Fighting cultter is like fighting weeds——the writer is always slightly behind. New varieties sprout overnight, and by noon they are part of American speech.
隨后，Zinsser給出了幾個clutter的定義。
1.Clutter is the laborious phrase that has pushed out the short word that means the same thing.
2.Clutter is the ponderous euphemism that turns a slum into a depressed socioeconomic area.
3.Clutter is the official language used by corporations to hide their mistakes.
可見，那些看起來冗長晦澀的表達正是clutter。Zinsser告訴我們，那些long words并沒有顯得多么好、多么高級，寫作的關鍵在于清晰、明確，幾個簡單的詞匯和語句可以表達清楚時，何必大費周折寫出那些令人費解的表達呢？當然，那些隱語和委婉用詞也有用武之地，比如有些企業想要用來遮掩自己的錯誤，于是就替換掉了敏感用詞。
最后，Zinsser告訴我們發現并解決文章中clutter的方法。用括號把句子中無用的成分圈出來，這些無用的成分可能是一到兩個詞，也可能是意義重復的句子，如果發現刪掉這些詞句對文章意義并無影響，那么就可以放心地刪去。他強調，在刪去之后，要仔細審視存留下來的部分。
Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy? Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging on to something useless just because you think it's beautiful?
寫作并非是要寫出一堆華麗而毫無用處的辭藻，而是用于實際的溝通與表達，即“文從字順各執意”。
在第四章Style中，Zinsser首先指出，寫作猶如木工，要從最基礎的木料與釘子做起，打好基礎，實用而有力的詞句才能夠保證整篇的文章的完整性，而不至于分崩離析。
在談到個人風格的問題上Zinsser認為，風格并非體現在修飾詞句之中，而是個人特點的一部分，盲目的給文章增加華而不實的修飾就好像是帶了個假發套一樣，只會失去自己的特點。形成風格的基本原則是“be yourself”。
那么該如何做呢？Zinsser指出，在寫作中應當放松、充滿自信。許多人在寫作時思前想后，總是進入不了狀態，而事實上，寫作應當是作者在放松的狀態下表達自己，這樣才能在文字中流露出個人特色。
Zinsser認為在nonfiction的寫作中，直接使用第一人稱能夠讓讀者更容易領會作者意圖，但在某些文體中需要避免直接出現“I”。不過，在思考或者打草稿時我們可以使用第一人稱，因為寫作本身是一件非常個人化的事。
Belive in your own identity and your own opinions. Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it.
