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。
今日名言分享：
今天是On Writing Well马拉松阅读的第18天，继续精读精析第三章Clutter。
今天的内容涉及让表达简练的策略方法了，特别注意！
今天的精读内容，建议熟记：
  • put brackets around every component in a piece of writing that wasn't doing useful work
  • Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. 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? 
  • Simplify, simplify. 
【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。
Is there any way to recognize clutter at a glance? Here's a device my students at Yale found helpful. I would put brackets around every component in a piece of writing that wasn't doing useful work. Often just one word got bracketed: the unnecessary preposition appended to a verb ("order up'), or the adverb that carries the same meaning as the verb ("smile happily.), or the adjective that states a lmown fact ("tall skyscraper"). Often my brackets surrounded the little goalie's that weaken any sen-tence they inhabit ("a bit," "sort of'), or phrases like "in a sense: which don't mean anything. Sometimes my brackets surrounded an entire sentence—the one that essentially repeats what the previous sentence said, or that says something readers don't need to know or can figure out for themselves. Most first drafts can be cut by 50 percent without losing any information or los-ing the author's voice. 
My reason for bracketing the students' superfluous words, instead of crossing them out, was to avoid violating their sacred prose. I wanted to leave the sentence intact for them to analyze. I was saying, °I may be wrong, but I think this can be deleted and the meaning won't be affected. But you decide. Read the sentence without the bracketed material and see if it works." In the early weeks of the term I handed back papers that were fes-tooned with brackets. Entire paragraphs were bracketed. But soon the students learned to put mental brackets around their own clutter, and by the end of the term their papers were almost clean. Today many of those students are professional writers, and they tell me, "I still see your brackets—they're fol-lowing me through life." 
You can develop the some eye. Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly 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 ifs beautiful? 
Simplify, simplify. 
【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。
Is there any way to recognize clutter at a glance? Here's a device my students at Yale found helpful. I wouldput brackets around every component in a piece of writing that wasn't doing useful work. Often just one word got bracketed: the unnecessary preposition appended to a verb ("order up'), or the adverb that carries the same meaning as the verb ("smile happily.), or the adjective that states a known fact ("tall skyscraper"). Often my brackets surrounded the little qualifiers that weaken any sentence they inhabit ("a bit," "sort of'), or phrases like "in a sense," which don't mean anything. Sometimes my brackets surrounded an entire sentence—the one that essentially repeats what the previous sentence said, or that says something readers don't need to know or can figure out for themselves. Most first drafts can be cut by 50 percent without losing any information or losing the author's voice. 
【表达梳理&解读】
  1. at a glance 看一眼就…， 马上; （注意是介词at，不是in）
  2. a device 方法; 策略; 手段; (回应Is there any way to recognize clutter at a glance?)
  3. put brackets around...把……用括号围起来
  4. a piece of writing 一篇文章 
  5. wasn`t doing useful work 没有任何作用
  6. appended to 附加于……（在原文中属于过去分词短语; 当分词短语做名词后置定语时，都可以改为定语从句：which is/was/are/were appended to...）
  7. carries the same meaning as... 和……有同样的意思
  8. inhabit 存在，出现
  9. figure out for themselves 自己搞明白
  10. first drafts 初稿
  11. be cut by 50 percent 删减一半
My reason for bracketing the students' superfluous words, instead of crossing them out, was to avoid violating their sacred prose. I wanted to leave the sentence intact for them to analyze. I was saying, "I may be wrong, but I think this can be deleted and the meaning won't be affected. But you decide. Read the sentence without the bracketed material and see if it works." In the early weeks of the term I handed back papers that were festooned with brackets. Entire paragraphs were bracketed. But soon the students learned to put mental brackets around their own clutter, and by the end of the term their papers were almost clean. Today many of those students are professional writers, and they tell me, "I still see your brackets—they're following me through life." 
  1. superfluous words 多余的用词
  2. crossing them out 划掉他们
  3. leave the sentence intact 保留句子的完整性 （补语：宾补和主补（即表语）都可以用形容词来充当。另外，五大句型中，带主补的主系表，带宾补的主谓宾宾补都是很多人易出错的地方。旋元佑《语法俱乐部》第一章对此特别梳理过。后台回复：语法俱乐部，可下载该书电子版）
  4. festooned with 充满了……，……到处都是
  5. put mental brackets around their own clutter 在脑海中把那些多余的表达括起来（mental这个词在这里的使用特别值得注意。到了mental这个阶段，也就是从他律变成自律了。学习本身其实最重要的，就是就是自律这两个字。）
  6. following me through life 伴随了我一生
You can develop the same eye. Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. 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? 
Simplify, simplify. 
【表达梳理&解读】
  1. develop the same eye 发展出同样的眼睛（暗含的意思（connotation）是：拥有相同的技能，即发现多余表达，删除多余表达的能力）
  2. prune it ruthlessly 无情地删除它 
  3. can any thought be expressed with more economy? 有没有什么想法可以表达地更经济简练？
  4. pompous or pretentious or faddish? 浮夸的、自命不凡的或流行的
  5. hanging on to 紧抓
【深度挖掘】
今天讲一个词汇语法之外的的语言问题：connotation。汉语是特别讲究
暗含的意思（connotation）
以下内容来自网站：(下划线标记的是重要内容, 蓝色斜体对应的是蓝色字的隐含意)
https://literarydevices.net/connotation/
Connotation Definition
Connotation refers to a meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly. Words carry cultural and emotional associations or meanings, in addition to their literal meanings or denotations. 词汇本身就包含有一定的文化或情感的隐含义
For instance, “Wall Street” literally means a street situated in Lower Manhattan, but connotatively it refers to wealth and power. （华尔街是财富和权力的象征）
Positive and Negative Connotations
Words may have positive or negative connotations that depend upon the social, cultural, and personal experiences of individuals. For example, the words childish, childlike and youthful have the same denotative, but different connotative, meanings. Childish and childlike have a negative connotation, as they refer to immature behavior of a person. Whereas, youthful implies that a person is lively and energetic. （词有褒贬，褒贬的确定由社会、文化以及个人经验来定！这层意思词汇书里没有，语法书里也没有！所有有的时候才会出现老外说的每个词都知道，字面意思也知道，但就是不知道他到底要说什么的尴尬局面）
Common Connotation Examples 
Below are a few connotation examples. Their suggested meanings are shaped by cultural and emotional associations: 
“He’s such a dog.” – In this sense, the word dog connotes shamelessness, or ugliness.
“That woman is a dove at heart.” – Here, the dove implies peace or gentility.
“There’s no place like home.” – While home may refer to the actual building someone lives in, connotatively, it most often refers to family, comfort, and security.
“What do you expect from a politician?” – Politician has a negative connotation ofwickedness and insincerity. To imply sincerity, the word statesperson might be used.
“That woman is so pushy!” – Pushy refers to someone who is loud-mouthed, insisting, and irritating.
“My mom and dad worked hard to put me through college.” – The words Mom and Dad, when used in place of mother and father, connoteloving parents, rather than simply biological parents.
Function of Connotation
In literature, connotation paves way for creativity by using figures of speech like metaphor, simile, symbolism, and personification. Had writers contented themselves with only the literal meanings, there would have been no way to compare abstract ideas to concrete concepts, in order to give readers a better understanding. Therefore, connotative meanings of words allow writers to add to their works dimensions that are broader, more vivid, and fresher. （表达含蓄的实现需要借助隐喻、明喻、象征、拟人等修辞格。表达的含蓄，会让文章显得很有创意，也更容易让读者理解作者想传递的主旨。）
这次的On Writing Well第三章Clutter的精读精析就到此结束。第三章的精读到此也完全结束！接下来要精读第四章：style
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！）
  • put brackets around every component in a piece of writing that wasn't doing useful work
  • Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. 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? 
  • Simplify, simplify. 
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