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1、Unit1TextAHitthenailonthehead恰到好处AlanWarner1)Haveyoueverwatchedaclumsymanhammeringanailintoabox?Hehitsitfirsttooneside,thentoanother,perhapsknockingitovercompletely,sothatintheendheonlygetshalfofitintothewood.Askillfulcarpenter,ontheotherhand,willdrivethenailwithafewfirm
2、,deftblows,hittingiteachtimesquarelyonthehead.Sowithlanguage;thegoodcraftsmanwillchoosewordsthatdrivehomehispointfirmlyandexactly.Awordthatismoreorlessright,aloosephrase,anambiguousexpression,avagueadjective,willnotsatisfyawriterwhoaimsatcleanEnglish.Hewilltryalwaystoget
3、thewordthatiscompletelyrightforhispurpose.你见过一个笨手笨脚的男人往箱子上钉钉子吗?他先是左敲敲,然后右敲敲,有时还会将整个钉子锤翻,结果钉子只敲进一半。而一个娴熟的木匠,只需坚实巧妙地正对钉头敲几下,就能一钉到底。语言也是如此。一位优秀的艺术家选择词语时会力求准确有力地表达自己的观点。差不多的词,不准确的短语,模棱两可的表达,含糊不清的修饰,都无法满足一个力求用词精确的作家的要求。他会一直寻找那个能准确表达他意思的词。2)TheFrenchhaveanaptphraseforthis.They
4、speakof“lemotjuste,”(theexactword)thewordthatisjustright.Storiesaretoldofscrupulouswriters,likeFlaubert,whospentdaystryingtogetoneortwosentencesexactlyright.Wordsaremanyandvarious;theyaresubtleanddelicateintheirdifferentshadesofmeaning,anditisnoteasytofindtheonesthatexpr
5、esspreciselywhatwewanttosay.Itisnotonlyamatterofhavingagoodcommandoflanguageandafairlywidevocabulary;itisalsonecessarytothinkhardandtoobserveaccurately.Choosingwordsispartoftheprocessofrealization,ofdefiningourthoughtsandfeelingsforourselves,aswellasforthosewhohearorread
6、ourwords.Someoneonceremarked:“HowcanIknowwhatIthinktillIseewhatIsay?”thissoundsstupid,butthereisagreatdealoftruthinit.法国人有一个很贴切的短语来表达这个意思,即“lemotjuste”,恰到好处的词。有很多关于精益求精的作家的故事,比如福楼拜可以花几天时间力求使一两个句子在表达上准确无误。在浩瀚的词海里,词与词之间有着微妙的区别,这使我们很难找到能准确表达我们意思的词。这不仅是扎实的语言功底和相当的词汇量的问题,还需要人
7、们绞尽脑汁,细致观察。措辞是认识过程的一个步骤,也是自我情感表达,使自己以及听众和读者深刻理解的一个环节。有人提出:“在我思想未成文前,我怎么知道自己的想法?”这听起来似乎很离谱,但它确实很有道理。3)Itishardworkchoosingtherightwords,butweshallberewardedbythesatisfactionthatfindingthembrings.Theexactuseoflanguagegivesusmasteryoverthematerialwearedealingwith.Perhapsyou
8、havebeenasked“Whatsortofamanisso-and-so?”Youbegin:“Oh,Ithinkhe’squiteanicechapbuthe’srather…”andthenyou