大家好，我是英语干货君，马拉松阅读的发起者，精读精析自学英语的实践者。
之后的每篇文章将分享值得熟记的名言一则，封面配图也会选用该名言。
今天是On Writing Well马拉松阅读的第16天，开始精读精析第三章Clutter。这次对精读精析的方式进行了一些调整。另外，以后在精读精析时，会选择相关的英语学习书籍分享给大家。
这篇精读中的内容，建议熟记以下内容：
  • Fighting clutter is like fighting weeds—the writer is always slightly behind. 
  • A small detail, you may say—not worth bothering about. It is worth bothering about. Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there. 
  • Examine every word you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose. 

【原文通读】
建议先通读一遍，了解大意，看哪些表达会让你心存疑惑，或想深入探究。
Fighting clutter is like fighting weeds—the writer is always slightly behind. New varieties sprout overnight, and by noon they are part of American speech. Consider what President Nixon's aide John Dean accomplished in just one day of testimony on television during the Watergate hearings. The next day everyone in America was saying "at this point in time' instead of "now".

Consider all the prepositions that are draped onto verbs that don't need any help. We no longer head committees. We head them up. We don't face problems anymore. We face up to them when we can free up a few minutes. A small detail, you may say—not worth bothering about. It is worth bothering about. Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there. "Up" in "free up" shouldn't be there. Examine every word you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose. 
Take the adjective "personal," as in "a personal friend of mine," "his personal feeling" or "her personal physician." It`s typical of hundreds of words that can be eliminated. The personal friend has come into the language to distinguish him or her from the business friend, thereby debasing both language and friendship. Someone's feeling is that person's personal feeling--that's what "his" means. As for the personal physician, that's the man or woman summoned to the dressing room of a stricken actress so she won't have to be treated by the impersonal physician assigned to the theater. Someday I'd like to see that person identified as "her doctor." Physicians are physicians, friends are friends. The rest is clutter. 
【原文精读】
精读提示：加粗为需要注意的表达，会给出参考翻译；其后若有（），则括号里的内容是对该表达进行解读，字体为红色；标记为绿色的为建议熟记的内容；另外，为了阅读的流畅，会把要深入探究的内容标记为橙色背景，放在文章最后统一进行梳理。
Fighting clutter is like fighting weeds—the writer is always slightly behind. New varieties sprout overnight
, and
by noon
they are
part of
American
speech
.
Consider
what President Nixon's
aide
John Dean
accomplished in just one day of testimony on television during the Watergate hearings
.
The next day
everyone in America was saying "at this point in time'
instead of
"now".

【表达梳理&解读】
  1. Fighting clutter is like fighting weeds—the writer is always slightly behind. 与表达啰嗦的斗争就像要铲除杂草一样——作者总是有些许的落后。
    （这个句子有三处值得注意：一是fighting clutter is like fighting weeds用了明喻（simile）这种修辞格；二是破折号在这里的使用是为了对前句语意进行补充说明；三是the writer is always slightly behind中，三个副词连起来使用，充当的却是主系表句式结构中的表语成分（副词作表语的情况不太多）！另外，fight这个单词的使用也值得深入学习。）
  2. New varieties sprout overnight 新变化会在一夜之间出现很多
  3. by noon 到了中午
  4. part of ……的部分 （注意和a part of在使用时的区别！）
  5. speech 语言
  6. consider 考虑一下……吧 （这时所构成的句子可以理解为祈使句）
  7. aide 助手 
  8. accomplished in just one day of testimony on television during the Watergate hearings 仅靠水门事件听证会期间一天电视上播放的证词就完成了 （拆分下accomplished后面的内容：in just one day是介词短语做时间状语来修饰accomplished，其后的of testimony on television是介词短语做后置定语来修饰名词day，其中on television也是介词短语做后置定语，但修饰的是名词testimony，最后的介词短语during the Watergate hearings也是介词短语做后置定语，修饰的也是名词testimony。其实整体就是一个过去分词短语，里面使用了四个介词短语来对accomplished的信息进行补充说明。 英语学习中，两类词是特别灵活的，一个是动词：谓语动词，非谓语动词，即动词摇身一变，可以充当任何句子成分；一个是介词：介词短语，即可作定语（形容词），又可作状语（副词）。学习英语必须多在这两类词上下功夫！）
  9. the next day 次日（注意和next day在使用时的区别！）
  10. instead of 而不是
Consider all the prepositions that are draped onto verbs that don't need any help. We no longer head committees. We head them up. We don't face problems anymore. We face up to them when we can free up a few minutes. A small detail, you may say—not worth bothering about. It is worth bothering about. Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there. "Up" in "free up" shouldn't be there.Examine every word you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose. 
【表达梳理&解读】
    1. all the prepositions that are draped onto verbs that don`t need any help 所有那些紧跟着动词，但又没什么实际作用的介词
    2. no longer head committees 再也不说head committees（领导委员会）
    3. don`t face problems anymore 再也不说face problems（正视问题）
    4. a small detail, you may say—not worth bothering about. 你可能会说，这只是一个小细节，何足挂齿啊。(注意worth bothering about)
    5. in direct ratio to  和……成正比 （写作必备表达！）
    6. examine every word you put on paper 仔细检查你写在纸上的每个用词
    7. a surprising number that don`t serve any purpose 没有任何实际作用的(用词)数量是惊人的 （这里其实有省略——定语从句先行词的省略：a surprising number of words that...., 要不然语意说不通！）
Take the adjective "personal," as in "a personal friend of mine," "his personal feeling" or "her personal physician." It`s typical of hundreds of words that can be eliminated. The personal friend has come into the language to distinguish him or her from the business friend, thereby debasing both language and friendship. Someone's feeling is that person's personal feeling--that's what "his" means. As for the personal physician, that's the man or woman summoned to the dressing room of a stricken actress so she won't have to be treated by the impersonal physician assigned to the theater. Someday I'd like to see that person identified as "her doctor." Physicians are physicians, friends are friends. The rest is clutter. 
【表达梳理&解读】
    1. Take……as in……拿……中的……为例（注意和take……as an example的区别！）
    2. be typical of 是…的特点 （注意介词是of）
    3. words that can be eliminated 可以删除的用词
    4. come into the language 在语言中存在了
    5. distinguish him or her from the business friend, thereby debasing both language and friendship 将他们和商务朋友区分开，这样一来，语言和友谊都被黑化了。（注意用him or her表泛指！）
    6. as for 至于 （写作时常用的逻辑衔接词，必备）
    7. physician 内科医生（外科医生：surgeon）
    8. the man or woman summoned to the dressing room of a stricken actress 那些被叫到生病的女演员的化妆室的人（注意用the man or woman表泛指）
    9. impersonal  没有人情味的; 非个人的，和个人无关的
    10. assigned 被指派
    11. Physicians are physicians, friends are friends. 医生就是physicians，朋友就是friends。（注意这两个主句间用的是逗号，且没有使用并列连词！)
【深入探究】
  • 明喻（simile）这种修辞格和隐喻的区别是什么？
  • 副词作表语到底是怎么回事？
    在以下情况，副词可用作表语（且主要是用于系动词be后作表语）：
    1. 表示地点或位置的少数副词，如here, there, upstairs, downstairs, abroad, back等。
    He asked if anyone was there. 他问那儿是否有人。
    Are the children back yet? 孩子们回来了吗?
    2. 与介词同形的小品词有也可用作表语，如in, on, off, out, by, away, behind, up, down, over, through, around, round, below, inside, outside 等
    The engagement is off. 婚约取消了。
    The taxi is outside. 出租车在外面。
这次的On Writing Well第三章Clutter的精读精析就到此结束。
如果手里没有On Writing Well这本书，可以在公众号里回复：On Writing Well（不是留言！）获取该书电子版的下载链接。这本书是最好的英语写作指导书之一，条件允许的话，建议入手一本。
On Writing Well在豆瓣读书的评分：
    On  Writing Well京东购买链接：

最后，再回顾下这篇精读中建议熟记的内容（建议选择其中至少一个，翻译并留言，这样可以加深印象，也能一起学习讨论！）
  • Fighting clutter is like fighting weeds—the writer is always slightly behind. 
  • A small detail, you may say—not worth bothering about. It is worth bothering about. Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there. 
  • Examine every word you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose. 
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