词汇大师(Wordmaster)--A Guide to Writing

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: some new elements in "The Elements of Style."

RS: "The Elements of Style" is a little book that for decades has served countless¹ writers and editors. The two authors have long since passed away, but another edition of their work has just come out: "The Elements of Style Illustrated²."

AA: The artist Maira Kalman based colorful and often whimsical illustrations on examples used in the book. She also worked with the young composer Nico Muhly to turn the examples into songs. The songs were performed recently in the Main Reading Room of the New York Public Library.

RS: We'll play some of the music later. But first we talk to Jack³ Hart, who calls himself "an old journalism⁴ school professor." He's the writing coach at the Oregonian newspaper in Portland. And he is a big fan of "The Elements of Style."

JACK HART: "It originated at Cornell University. It was originally produced by a professor named William Strunk in 1919. It was a handout⁵ in his classes and, as I recall, was only about forty-three pages long. And it was some basic principles that he wanted to pass along to his students in his writing courses.

"It really reflected the way American English had evolved through the second half of the nineteenth century and captured the sense that -- for the first time, I think really -- English was being regarded as a way to express rather than to impress. We were moving away from the really flowery Victorian English to a much more clear, direct way of expressing ourselves.

"One of the students in his courses at Cornell was a young man named E.B. White. [He] went on, became one of the best-known writers at the New Yorker magazine, maybe best known in this country for some of his children's books like 'Charlotte's Web.'

And in the fifties, White was asked to dust off Professor Strunk's handout and expand on it a little bit, and that became the first published version of 'The Elements of Style' in this country. And it was really embraced by newspaper journalists, print journalists in general. And that made it especially influential⁶ as a model for how American English should be written."

AA: "Well, just the other day I was trying to figure out should we use lie or lay in a particular sentence. How do you remember it, or do you keep going back to your 'Elements of Style'?"

JACK HART: "Actually I'm at a hospital today for a medical procedure and the nurses keep telling me to 'Lay down on the table.' And I keep saying 'No, no, no! It should be lie down on the table,' because I remember my Strunk and White.

"But I think more important here are the principles of clarity and gracefulness⁸ in writing that White, who was an especially clear and witty⁹ and graceful⁷ writer himself, added in the Chapter Five of 'Elements of Style,' that he added in the published version."

RS: "And what does that entail¹⁰?"

JACK HART: "Well, first of all, to write direct sentences, to not back into sentences, to start with a subject and then follow up with a verb, a predicate, and an object. To avoid passive voice, to use active verbs, to write 'Jack hit the ball' rather than 'The ball was hit by Jack.' This is a way of expressing yourself that really has become standard throughout the English-speaking world.

"I think 'The Elements of Style,' the book, has probably been more influential than any other source when it comes to influencing the way we write. There are ten million copies of this book in print. It gathers dust on millions of bookshelves, but is actively¹¹ used by millions of people as well. Another quarter-million are produced every year. We're now moving into the fifth edition of the book, this new illustrated edition, so it's everywhere."

RS: "Does it change with every edition?"

JACK HART: "You know, really not much. When it was produced by Professor Strunk at Cornell, the students referred to it as 'The Little Book,' and I think one of the secrets of its success is that it's short and it really does cut to the heart of the matter. And it's still a relatively¹² short, direct book of just a hundred and some pages. So it's been updated a little bit. You know, it's a little more politically correct, there are examples drawn¹³ more from the modern world. So yeah, it's been buffed up a little bit, but it's still the same old 'Elements of Style.'"

AA: Jack Hart is a managing editor and the writing coach at the Oregonian newspaper in Portland. He's also the author of a book due out next summer called "A Writer's Coach."

RS: Now here is a little of that musical adaptation of "The Elements of Style."

(MUSIC)

AA: And that's Wordmaster for this week. Our e-mail address is...........and our segments are online at voanews.com/wordmaster. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

---

Illustrations provided by Penguin Press; copyright Maira Kalman, 2005

 

1 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

2 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

5 handout   

n.散发的文字材料；救济品

参考例句：

• I read the handout carefully.我仔细看了这份分发的资料。
• His job was distributing handout at the street-corner.他的工作是在街头发传单。

6 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

7 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。

8 gracefulness   

参考例句：

• His manly beauty and more than common gracefulness were instantly the theme of general admiration. 他那男子气的美和出众的优雅风度马上成了大家赞扬的话题。 来自辞典例句
• Magnanimousness, tastefulness gracefulness are basic traits and characters of Shan cuisine. 这即是陕菜的基本特征及品性、风格。 来自互联网

9 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

10 entail   

vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要

参考例句：

• Such a decision would entail a huge political risk.这样的决定势必带来巨大的政治风险。
• This job would entail your learning how to use a computer.这工作将需要你学会怎样用计算机。

11 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

12 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

13 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。