Vocabulary

1.And finally he agreed to spend his mornings writing in that retrospective vein.

retrospective:

n A retrospective is an exhibition or showing of work done by an artist over many years, rather than his or her most recent work.

adj 1)Retrospective laws or legal actions take effect from a date before the date when they are officially approved.

2)Retrospective feelings or opinions concern things that happened in the past.

vein:

n 1)Your veins are the thin tubes in your body through which your blood flows towards your heart.

2)Something that is written or spoken in a particular vein is written or spoken in that style or mood.

3)A vein of a particular quality is evidence of that quality which someone often shows in their behaviour or work.

4)A vein of a particular metal or mineral is a layer of it lying in rock.

5)The veins on a leaf are the thin lines on it.

最后他终于同意用自己早上的时间来写一个回顾性大纲。

2.Now he can hardly believe what a liberating journey he is embarked on.

embark on:着手做某事If you embark on something new, difficult, or exciting, you start doing it.

When someone embarks on a ship, they go on board before the start of a journey.

3.She has rung us into her Mississippi girlhood with the chiming of clocks up and down the stairs and even out onto the sleeping porch.

chiming:

v When a bell or a clock chimes, it makes ringing sounds.

n 1)A chime is a ringing sound made by a bell, especially when it is part of a clock.

2)Chimes are a set of small objects which make a ringing sound when they are blown by the wind.

chime in: If you chime in, you say something just after someone else has spoken.

porch:

n 1)A porch is a sheltered area at the entrance to a building. It has a roof and sometimes has walls.

2)A porch is a raised platform built along the outside wall of a house and often covered with a roof.

Excerpt

Of all the subjects available to you as a writer, the one you know best is yourself: your past and your present, your thoughts and your emotions. Yet it's probably the subject you try hardest to avoid.

Writing about one's life is naturally related to how long one has lived.

Which brings me to memoir as a form.

One secert of the art is detail.

But the most interesting character in a memoir, we hope, will turn out to be the person who wrote it.

The best gift you have to offer when you write personal history is the gift of yourself. Give yourself permission to write about yourself, and have a good time doing it.

这章关于如何写作个人回忆录。

一直以来都觉得，写回忆录是年长者的特权，年轻人没有多大经历可供书写。或者，真诚地把生命中重要的事情都记下来，会有羞耻感。仿佛在向别人展示赤裸的自己一样。因此也避免去看其他人的回忆录，总觉得那里面要么都是旁人的私密事，要么就是商业运作的产物。今天读完这章，反思自己为什么会出现这种想法，大概还是和从小受到的教育有关。不要表现自己，要含蓄，要谦让。自我在这个过程中被压得很低，平日里几乎没有存在感。想起来批评沈三白的人说，莫非历史上如芸娘一样的人很少么？不，她们是存在的，只是没有记载罢了。又想起来前段时间读坂本龙一的《音乐即自由》，虽说近似回忆录，然而教授在其中的留白很多，只匆匆记上几笔大事。东方人确实含蓄，因而魏晋放任达旦才如此为人所推崇啊【我都在写些啥orz】