一 表达回顾

1. It is part of the large ferment of modern brain research in progress in laboratories throughout the United States and abroad.

ferment: a situation of great excitement or trouble in a country, especially caused by political change〔尤指因政治变革引起的〕动乱，骚动。 它的动词用法也很常用，表示发酵。

2. The example of the linseed oil is just piquant enough to make us wonder what “memory” really is

piquant：interesting and exciting, especially because mysterious（尤指因神秘而显得）有趣的，刺激的； 还可以形容食物是开胃的。

3. I sensed an undercurrent of fear: do things the company way and don’t risk your job trying to make the company human.

undercurrent：an emotion, belief, or characteristic of a situation that is hidden and usually negative or dangerous but that has some effect（通常指负面的或危险的）潜在的情绪（或思想等）

4. I urged them to believe in themselves as writers and not to relinquish control.

relinquish：to let someone else have your position, power, or rights, especially unwillingly〔尤指不情愿地〕放弃，交出

5. I could go on, mining every sport for its lingo and extracting from the mother lode a variety of words found nowhere else in the mother tongue.

mother lode: 原义为：a mine that is full of gold, silver etc；  引申为a place where you can find a lot of a particular type of object

例句：Her own experiences have provided her with a mother lode of material for her songs.             她自身的经历为她的歌曲提供了取之不尽的素材。

6. Hold the hype and give us heroes who are believable.

hype：advertisements and discussion on television, radio, etc. telling the public about a product and about how good or important it is (电视、广播等中言过其实的)促销广告,促销讨论

7. The rest think they are Sigmund Freud, privy to the athlete’s psychic needs and wounded sensibilities.

privy: 允许获知的；知情的；了解内情的If you are privy to something secret, you have been allowed to know about it.

8. They will trot out the hard-won words of their college education

trot out: 复提出，反复说（陈旧的观点或过时的信息）If you say that a person trots out old ideas or information, you are criticizing him or her for repeating them in a way that is not new or interesting.

9. Therefore if you want to be a critic,steep yourself in the literature of the medium you hope to make your specialty.

steep sth/sb in sth

■If something or someone is steeped in something, they are completely surrounded by or involved in it, or they know a lot about it使沉浸于；使深深浸入；使精通

10. Marquis was using the cat to leaven his impatience with a type of bore he knew well.

leaven: 给…添趣；为…增色；使生动If a situation or activity is leavened by or with something, it is made more interesting or cheerful.

二 感悟

这周的每章都很难啃，不过还是囫囵吞枣地看完了。科学写作这章对我今后的学术写做具有借鉴意义: 并不是堆上一堆术语就是好的学术写作了。商业写作章对我今后进入职场的写作也有一些启发: 站在读者的角度上，秉持高效易懂的原则。体育与文艺评论两章使我了解到专业领域写作的门道。最后一章：幽默的艺术是我最喜欢的一章。幽默的艺术不仅仅使写作生动起来，更是我们生活的调和剂。

三 summary

Chapter 15 talks about  writing in science and technology. Add human element in writing science. Use personal experience to connect the reader to some mechanism that also touches their lives. Chapter 16 explains the way of business writing. Whatever your job, whatever your level, be yourself when you write in business. Chapter 17 and 18  focus on sports and critic respectively. Sportswriter should let us know what players feel like to actually perform a sport. A critic should use specific detail, love the medium and avoid the ecstatic adjectives. Chapter 19 is about humor. Actually, humor is a strict art. Control is important to humor.