WRITING

 

 

   I don’t much like to write. I like to have written but I love to rewrite because rewriting is where the game is won or lost. Rewriting is the essence of writing. I love to replace a merely serviceable word with one that has more precision or more color or more surprise, or to replace an awkward phrase with one that’s more graceful¹, or to strengthen the transition between one sentence and another.

   With every change, I feel that I’m getting nearer to where I’d finally like to arrive. And as I see my piece growing in clarity and simplicity² and brevity and strength right before my eyes on a word processor screen, I feel a purer pleasure than I’ve ever felt in writing before. You can have that same pleasure andthat same satisfaction of literally³ seeing your work improve. Then comes the best moment of all. You push the print key and go and have a beer and listen to the machine typing your piece exactly the way you want it.

 

写作指导

 

      我不太喜欢动笔写，但我喜欢写作完成后的感觉。我最喜欢的是修改，因为修改是决胜的关键。修改是写作的精华部分，我很乐意用更准确或更富有色彩或更出人意料的词来取代仅仅是有用的词，或者用更加得体的词组替代那些生硬的词组，再或者加强句子之间的承接。

每做一次改动，我都会觉得我离自己原定的目标越来越近。看到屏幕上自己的作品变得更加简洁明了、更简明扼要、更具有说服力，我就会感到前所未有的真正的快乐。当然，你也可以享受同样的快乐，同样感受到在你自己的作品得到改进后的满足感。接下来的就是最美妙的时刻。按下打印键，去拿一罐啤酒，听着你的得意之作从机器打印出来的声音。

 

1 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

2 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。