Content:
Part I | Principles
1. The Transaction
2. Simplicity
3. Clutter (Writing clean English Sentence)
4. Style (Preserving your identity)
5. The audience (Who am I writing for)
6. Words (The only tools you’ve got)
7. Usage (What is good usage)
Part II | Methods
8. Unity (Anchor of good writing)
9. The lead and the ending
10. Bits and pieces
Part II | Forms
11. Nonfiction as Literature
12. Writing About People: The Interview
13. Writing About Places: The travel article
14. Writing About Yourself: The Memoir
15. Science and Technology
....
Words and Expressions:
1. Scientific and technical material can be made accessible to the layman.
1.N-COUNT 外行；门外汉
A layman is a person who is not trained, qualified, or experienced in a particular subject or activity.
The mere mention of the words 'heart failure', can conjure up, to thelayman, the prospect of imminent death...
一提“心脏衰竭”四字，外行人就联想到命不久矣的情景。
There are basically two types called, inlayman's terms, blue and white asbestos.
基本上有两种，用外行话说就是青石棉和白石棉。
2.N-COUNT （基督教中的）平信徒，在俗教徒
A layman is a man who is involved with the Christian church but is not a member of the clergy or a monk.
In 1932, one Bostonlaymanwrote to Archbishop William O'Connell in support of Father Coughlin.
1932年，波士顿一名平信徒致函大主教威廉·奥康奈尔，声援库格林神父。
2. A tenet of journalism is that “the reader knows nothing.”
N-COUNT (理论、信仰的)基本原则，根本信条
The tenets of a theory or belief are the main principles on which it is based.
【搭配模式】：with supp
【语域标签】：FORMAL 正式
Non-violence and patience are the centraltenets of their faith...
非暴力和忍耐是他们的信仰的核心原则。
The judge's ruling was based on the simple commonsensetenetthat no man is above the law.
法官的判决基于一个常识性原则，即谁也不能凌驾于法律之上。
3. There was a chimpanzee in California with a talent for playing ticktacktoe.
N-COUNT 黑猩猩
A chimpanzee is a kind of small African ape.
4. It is part of the large ferment of modern brain research in progress in laboratories.
1.N-UNCOUNT 骚动;动乱;动荡
Ferment is excitement and trouble caused by change or uncertainty.
The whole country has been in a state of politicalfermentfor some months.
几个月来，整个国家一直处于政治动荡状态。
2.V-ERG (使)发酵
If a food, drink, or other natural substance ferments, or if it is fermented, a chemical change takes place in it so that alcohol is produced. This process forms part of the production of alcoholic drinks such as wine and beer.
【语法信息】：V
【语法信息】：V n
【语法信息】：V-ed
The dried grapes are allowed tofermentuntil there is no sugar left and the wine is dry...
让干葡萄发酵，直到糖分全部脱出，酒无甜味。
To serve the needs of bakers, manufacturersfermentthe yeast to produce a more concentrated product.
为了满足面包店主的需要，制造商让酵母发酵，以生产出浓度更高的产品。
...partiallyfermented wine.
部分发酵的葡萄酒
fermentation
Yeast is essential for thefermentation that produces alcohol.
酿酒要发酵,而发酵必须有酵母。
5.that incredible three-pound package of tissue that can imagine the farthest reaches of the universe and the ultimate core of the atom but cannot fathom its own functioning
1.N-COUNT 英寻(度量单位，等于 1.8 米或 6 英尺，用于指水深)
A fathom is a measurement of 1.8 metres or 6 feet, used when referring to the depth of water.
【搭配模式】：oft num N
We sailed into the bay and dropped anchor in fivefathoms of water.
我们驶进海湾，将锚抛进 5 英寻深的水里。
2.VERB 透彻理解;深入了解;弄清…的真相
If you cannot fathom something, you are unable to understand it, although you think carefully about it.
【语法信息】：V wh
【语法信息】：V n
【语法信息】：V P wh
【语法信息】：V P n (not pron)
【语法信息】：Also V n P
【搭配模式】：no cont
I really couldn'tfathomwhat Steiner was talking about...
我真搞不懂斯坦纳在说些什么。
Jeremy's passive attitude was hard tofathom.
杰里米的消极态度令人费解。
Fathom out means the same as fathom.fathom out 同 fathom
We're trying tofathomout what's going on...
我们在尽力搞清楚发生了什么事情。
I'm having difficulty using my video editing equipment and can'tfathomout the various connections.
我不会使用视频编辑设备，而且搞不清各种各样的连接。
6.Through evolution the vulture has the most efficient structure one can imagine—a space frame in bone.
1.N-COUNT 兀鹫;秃鹫
A vulture is a large bird which lives in hot countries and eats the flesh of dead animals.
2.N-COUNT 趁火打劫的人;乘人之危的人
If you describe a person as a vulture, you disapprove of them because you think they are trying to gain from another person's troubles.
【语用信息】：disapproval
【FIELD标签】：JOURNALISM 新闻
With no buyer in sight for the company as a whole, thevultures started to circle.
由于公司目前找不到买主，趁火打劫者开始围攻。
7. You can achieve the same rapport, whatever your subject.
N-SING 和睦;友善;亲近
If two people or groups have a rapport, they have a good relationship in which they are able to understand each other's ideas or feelings very well.
【搭配模式】：also no det
He said he wanted 'to establish arapportwith the Indian people'...
他说他想“同印度人民建立友好关系”。
The success depends on goodrapportbetween interviewer and interviewee...
成功取决于采访者与被采访者之间的良好沟通。
You have an intellectualrapport, a kind of easy companionship that makes me really jealous.
你机智友善、平易近人，真是让我嫉妒。
Thoughts:
作为理工科出身，我个人觉得科技类文章是最能体现“隔行如隔山”的，每个字都认识，但连在一起就不知道什么意思的情况经常出现。而且科技类书籍，从入门级到进阶到专业级，每一级都有一定的门槛，不太容易实现跨级，只有把每一级搞懂了，才能上升到下一级。每一级又有每一级特有的专业用语。
所以，科技类写作更需要考虑audience，你的audience在这个专业领域的哪一层，决定了你的写作风格。
Zinser这章讲的其实更像是科普类的写作，也就是说audience在第一层，专业知识为零或者很少。
对于科普类写作，当然最重要的是深入浅出+语言通俗。
也就是说，要想读者看明白，作者要想的明白（逻辑思维），说的好玩（语言表达）。
举个很简单的例子，教爷爷奶奶、爸爸妈妈和同龄人用手机，无论是方法还是内容，是不是都不一样。
教爷爷奶奶的是不是话最多，但听起来最简单？（零基础，最难）
教同龄人的是不是话虽少，但内容更复杂？（基础雄厚，最简单）
想想看，你最擅长哪个？
科普类写作也是如此。读者呈金字塔型分布，零基础的占大多数，最专业的位于塔尖。这就要求科普类写作要按倒金字塔结构，先从一个简单的点入手，由点及面，逐步扩展，最终形成完整的论述。
总之，越简单的东西覆盖范围越广。
（zinser推荐的IEEE spectrum，属于应用科学领域，因为有应用场景，所以读起来比理论类要好懂一些）
