--- url: https://gaojian.site/new-concept/book-4/39-what-every-writer-wants.md description: 新概念英语第四册：What Every Writer Wants。精读、词块回忆、双向译练、句法、逻辑与FSRS复习。 --- # 作家之所需 ## 课文学习台 {#study} ### 第1段 I have known very few writers, but those I have known, and whom I respect, confess at once that they have little idea where they are going when they first set pen to paper. They have a character, perhaps two; they are in that condition of eager discomfort which passes for inspiration; all admit radical changes of destination once the journey has begun; one, to my certain knowledge, spent nine months on a novel about Kashmir, then reset the whole thing in the Scottish Highlands. I never heard of anyone making a "skeleton", as we were taught at school. In the breaking and remaking, in the timing, interweaving, beginning afresh, the writer comes to discern things in his material which were not consciously in his mind when he began. This organic process, often leading to moments of extraordinary self-discovery, is of an indescribable fascination. A blurred image appears; he adds a brushstroke and another, and it is gone; but something was there, and he will not rest till he has captured it. Sometimes the yeast within a writer outlives a book he has written. I have heard of writers who read nothing but their own books; like adolescents they stand before the mirror, and still cannot fathom the exact outline of the vision before them. For the same reason, writers talk interminably about their own books, winkling out hidden meanings, superimposing new ones, begging response from those around them. Of course a writer doing this is misunderstood: he might as well try to explain a crime or a love affair. He is also, incidentally, an unforgivable bore. 中文理解：我不认识几个作家，但是我所认识且尊敬的作家，纷纷承认在他们刚动笔时，不清楚文思何往。他们构思了一两个角色。他们处于一种急切而不安的状态，人们通常把这种状态称为灵感。他们都承认，一旦开始写作，原定的方向往往会发生根本改变。据我所知，有位作家花了9个月的时间写了一部关于克什米尔的小说，后来却把整个故事搬到了苏格兰高地。我从未听说过任何一位作家像学校教的那样，动笔前先“列个提纲”。 作家在剪裁修改，以及在时间安排、情节交叉，新的开头中，会觉察出素材中很多他刚动笔时没意识到的东西。这种有机的过程，往往引人进入绝妙的自我发现的境界，具有难以言表的魅力。一个朦胧的形象浮现于作家的脑海里，他左添一笔，右添一划，形象反而消逝了；可是，仍有东西存在，待作家捕捉到方能罢休。有时，作家著书的激动，并不会随着著作的完成而消散。我听说一些作家，只读自己写的书； 好比青少年，作家们站在镜前，却无法看清镜中形象的确切轮廓。 出于同样的原因，作家会没完没了地谈论自己的书，揭露隐晦含义，强加新含义，总是乞求周围人给些反馈。 作家这么做，当然容易被误解；他解释自己的作品，简直就像试图解释一桩罪行或一场恋爱一样。顺便说一句，他也还是个不可饶恕的无聊的人。 * **at once**：起初 / 终于 / 马上 / 首次 / 再一次；这些时间词不能随意互换，先看原文把哪两个阶段接起来。 * **nothing but**：远非 / 只是 / 绝非；特别注意 anything but 带否定含义，nothing but 通常表示只有。 #### 1. I have known very few writers, but those I have known…whom…confess that they…where…when… 并列复合句，but 前句为主谓宾结构，but 后句为主谓+宾语从句. 主语those 由定语从句修饰，and 连接的这个定语从句可以看作是两个定语从句，一个I have known，一个whom I respect. that 引导的宾语从句为主谓宾结构，后面跟where 引导的同位语从句修饰idea，该从句为主谓结构，在这个从句中，包含一个when 引导的时间状语从句，为主谓宾结构. #### 2. They have a character; they are in…which…; all admit…once…; one spent nine months…reset thing… 并列复合句，全句以分号分成四句话，第一句主谓宾结构；第二句主系表结构，带有一个which 引导的定语从句，为主谓宾结构；第三句为主谓宾结构，带有一个once 引导的时间状语从句，主谓结构；第四句为主谓宾结构. #### 3. I heard of anyone…as… 复合句，主句主谓宾结构，后面as 引导方式状语从句，主谓结构. #### 4. the writer comes to discern things which…when… 复合句，主句主谓宾结构，包含一个which 引导的定语从句修饰things，为主系表结构，介词短语in his mind 作表语，该定语从句中又有一个when 引导的时间状语从句，为主谓结构. 句首的两个地点状语在翻译时作并列结构理解. #### 5. process is of an indescribable fascination. 简单句，主系表结构. #### 6. image appears; he adds a brushstroke and another, and it is gone; but something was there, and he will not rest till… 并列复合句，全句以分号分成三句，第一句为主谓结构；第二句为主谓（宾）结构的并列句；第三句为主系表结构和主谓结构，在第三句的后句中，有一个till 引导的时间状语从句，为主谓宾结构. #### 7. the yeast outlives a book he… 复合句，主句主谓宾结构，后面跟了一个定语从句为主谓结构. #### 8. I have heard of writers who...; they stand..., and cannot fathom the outline…\[感谢微 博网友@东晋之家指出原来的主干提取有误20211117] 复合句，以分号分成两句，前句为主谓宾结构，后面有一个who 引导的定语从句修饰writers，为主谓宾结构. 分号后句为并列句，主谓（宾）结构. 这句话似乎用了典，旧版新概念英语中对此句并无特别注释，新版的中文注释认为用了古希腊那耳喀索斯的典故. 古希腊神话中Narcissus 那耳喀索斯是绝美的少年，相传他不能看到自己的长相，方能长寿，一次打猎归来，他在池水中看到了自己脸庞的倒影，被这绝美的脸庞深深吸引，无法离开，憔悴而死. 英语中，以他名字而来的词语narcissism 即为自恋，这里作者想借此表达，那些只读自己写的书的作家，便是如此自恋，后面几句接着数落这些自恋的作家有哪些地方令人讨厌. 不过即便不了解这段典故，只是认为像青少年那样，对自我的认知并不清晰，没有自知之明也可以. 这里的adolescents用了复数，而古希腊神话中的美少年只有一位，是否用典，读者可以自己判断. #### 9. writers talk about their own books… 简单句，主谓宾结构. 后面是伴随状语. 句中superimpose 在教材中为super-impose，现在多用superimpose，我直接做了修改. #### 10. a writer is misunderstood: he might try to explain a crime or a love affair. 并列句，该句以冒号分成前后两句，冒号在这里表达进一步解释说明. 前句为主谓结构，后句为主谓宾结构. 这里的意思是，他只说自己书中的事情未免让人误解，也应该讲点别的. #### 11. He is an unforgivable bore. 简单句，主系表结构. 这里的incidentally 是顺便说一句的意思，我个人感觉这里有点双关的味道，也就是上一句多讲了一些犯罪和情爱的故事，也是这个作家顺便多说的，这个顺便多说的内容，即便他说了，也很无聊，并不能让人原谅他只讲自己书 中的事情. ### 第2段 This temptation to cover the distance between himself and the reader, to study his image in the sight of those who do not know him, can be his undoing: he has begun to write to please. 中文理解：试图去抚平作者自己和读者之间鸿沟的作法，或想探究那些不认识自己的读者眼中的自我形象，会毁了作家——他已经开始为取悦他人而写作了。 #### 1. This temptation…who…can be his undoing: he has begun to write… 复合句，主句为主系表结构，中间有一个who 引导的定语从句，为主谓宾结构. 冒号后面为另一个句子，予以解释原因，我在翻译中改为了破折号，该句为主谓结构. ### 第3段 A young English writer made the pertinent observation a year or two back that the talent goes into the first draft, and the art into the drafts that follow. For this reason also the writer, like any other artist, has no resting place, no crowd or movement in which he may take comfort, no judgment from outside which can replace the judgment from within. A writer makes order out of the anarchy of his heart; he submits himself to a more ruthless discipline than any critic dreamed of, and when he flirts with fame, he is taking time off from living with himself, from the search for what his world contains at its inmost point. 中文理解：一两年前，一位年轻的英国作家发表了中肯的看法。他认为，写作的才华以初稿为准，而写作的艺术在于后面的改稿。也是基于此因，作家和其他艺术家一样，没有休息之所，也没有群体或活动能让他得到安逸；也没有外界的评断能取代作家内心的评断。作家要从内心的杂乱中理出头绪；作家要比任何评论家所希望的还要严格地要求自己，而当他在意浮名时，他就从自我生活中，从对自己内心最深处世界的追寻中脱离了出来。 * **dreamed of**：梦想或想到 / 彼此；of 后可接 -ing；each other 表示关系是双向的。 * **the search for**：造成伤害 / 一瞥 / 寻找 / 在顶部；harm 常作不可数名词，search for 后说明寻找对象。 #### 1. writer made observation…that… 复合句，主句主谓宾结构. that 引导的同位语从句修饰observation，为并列结构，均为主谓宾结构，里面包含一个that 引导的定语从句修饰the drafts. back 在这里即ago 之意. #### 2. the writer has no resting place, no crowd or movement in which… no judgment which… 复合句，主句为主谓宾结构，两个no 开头的并列宾语，各有一个定语从句予以修饰，定语从句也都是主谓宾结构. #### 3. A writer makes order; he submits himself than…when…he is taking time off… 复合句，分号分为前后两句，前句为主谓宾结构. 分号后面为并列复合句，以and 相连. and 前句为主谓宾结构+than 引导的比较状语从句，该从句为主谓结构，and 后句，主句为主谓结构，前面有一个when 引导的时间状语从句，主谓宾结构. 最后的状语中有一个what 引导的宾语从句作for 的介词宾语，这个属于成分中的细分，为主谓结构. 文中的his 斜体为教材本身所加，作强调之意. ## 学完这一课 选一个可以讨论的判断，说明依据，再加上一句限制或不同情况。 [Nce · 本册复习台](/new-concept/book-4/review) · [三册选择地图](/new-concept/) *译文与解析据吴应时整理资料及本站首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第169—173页，2022年2月第2版。*