各位好，这是新概念英语好词好句系列的第二期，关于这一系列的介绍可见：新概念英语教材中有哪些好词好句？
1.Exploring the sea-floor
Exploring the sea-floor（海底勘探）是T. F. Gaskell发表在Science Survey上的一篇科普文章，这种类型的文章除了专业术语多一点之外，理解起来并不难，因此它们也经常在托福雅思等考试的阅读题中出现。
这篇文章中出现了这样一个句子：
The continents form rugged tablelands which stand nearly three miles above the floor of the open ocean. From the shore line, out to a distance which may be anywhere from a few miles to a few hundred miles, runs the gentle slope of the continental shelf, geologically part of the continents.
加下划线的句子很明显是一个倒装结构，按正常语序应该是：
The gentle slope of the continental shelf, geologically part of the continents, runs from the shore line, out to a distance which may be anywhere from a few miles to a few hundred miles.
我们在这里不能仅仅满足于知道倒装句怎么还原，还要知道作者为什么要这样写。一般来说，使用倒装可以起到强调某一句子部分的作用。举个例子，很多同学喜欢在四六级作文的最后加上类似这样的话：Only in this way can we create a harmonious society. 这种句式也属于倒装句，强调的是”in this way”这一部分。
作者在这里使用倒装句其实是为了使描写更加形象。
From the shore line, out to a distance which may be anywhere from a few miles to a few hundred miles, runs the gentle slope of the continental shelf…
这个句子读起来感觉像在看电影长镜头：从海岸线出发，镜头慢慢向海洋深处移动，直到触及大陆架慢坡的边缘。
事实上，这种利用倒装来增强画面感的例子在文学作品中很常见。比如《经济学人》在对马尔克斯的讣告中有这么一段描写：
Inside the four walls of that room lay the immense delta of the Magdalena river, the grey frothy sea of Colombia’s Caribbean coast, the suffocating swamps of the Ciénaga, the interminable geometries of the banana plantations, and a long railway line that ran into the farthest territories of his heart.
马尔克斯在写《百年孤独》时将自己关在屋子里长达15个月，《经济学人》在写讣告时注意到了这间屋子，于是由此展开，将读者引入到《百年孤独》的情景中。上面这段描写的画面感非常强：读者从屋子的四面墙出发，进入屋子，看到了玛格达莱纳河三角洲，加勒比海的海岸，哥伦比亚的沼泽，绵延不断的香蕉园，最后沿着一条长长的铁路通往马尔克斯的内心深处。如果将句子调整为正常语序，这种画面感实际上已经消失了：
The immense delta of the Magdalena river, the grey frothy sea of Colombia’s Caribbean coast, the suffocating swamps of the Ciénaga, the interminable geometries of the banana plantations, and a long railway line that ran into the farthest territories of his heart, lay inside the four walls of that room.
2.Training elephants
Training elephants同样是一篇科普文章，里面详细介绍了训练大象的各种方法。这篇文章的用词很精巧，很多地方值得我们学习，比如：
The captive elephant, still roped to a tree, plunges and screams every time a man approaches, and for several days will probably refuse all food through anger and fear.
上面加粗的这几个单词用得很形象，rope我们一般当成名词使用，但这里用了它的动词形式：rope something to something，意思即“用绳索将……拴在……身上”，例如：Suitcases were roped to the top of the car. 手提箱用绳子固定在车顶上。
plunge在这里则指“猛冲”（to move quickly in an uncontrolled way, or to make someone or something move in this way），用来形容被拴在树上暴怒无比的大象很贴切。
through在这里则属于熟词生义，它并不是取常见的释义“通过，借助”，而是指“由于，因为”，through anger and fear即“由于愤怒和恐惧”。
又比如：
There are even stories of half-trained elephant calves who have refused to feed and pined to death when by some unavoidable circumstance they have been deprived of their own trainer. Such extreme cases must probably be taken with a grain of salt, but they do underline the general principle…
句子里面 be taken with a grain of salt 这一说法很有意思。它相传来自于罗马作家老普林尼（Pliny the Elder）的《自然史》，书中记载了一种毒品解药的制作方法，而这种解药中就包括少量的盐（a grain of salt）。因此，对于有毒或有害的东西，要向它们加入一点盐（be taken with a grain of salt），以此来减轻它们的毒性。关于短语的来源可以参考维基百科：
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_of_salt
Take something with a grain/pinch of salt 后来引申为“对……半信半疑，有保留地相信某事”。
例如我们可以说：
Considering the ubiquity of fake news on the internet, viral stories circulating on WeChat and Sina Weibo should be taken with a grain of salt.
3.What every writer wants
What every writer wants（作家之所需）这篇文章出自约翰·勒卡雷（John le Carré）之手。约翰·勒卡雷是英国著名的间谍小说作家，他的作品包括著名的《冷战谍魂》（The Spy Who Came in from the Cold）。What every writer wants中有不少地方是他平时写作过程的真实心理活动的反映。认真练习过写作的人读到这篇文章相信也会与作者产生共鸣。
举个例子，作者在文章开头就坦白了这样一个事实：
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…
与很多人的固有认知不同，很多作家在动笔写东西之前并没有一个完整的详细的大纲。因此作者在这里提到，他所认识和尊敬的作家都坦率承认在动笔之前都不知道要写什么和怎么写（注意这里at once的含义并不是“立即”，而是指at the same time），并且在写作时往往会处于急切不安的状态，而这被当成是灵感。
作者在描述这种状态时用了两个词：eager discomfort，它们写出了作家们那种既希望能够快点动笔写作，但同时又担心写不好的状态，非常传神。
又比如：
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.
作家在剪裁修改、构思时间、穿插情节、甚至从头重写的过程中，会领悟到素材中有很多东西是他刚动笔时所未意识到的。这种有机的加工过程往往达到不寻常的自我发现的境界，具有难以言表的魅力。
写作即思考，在写作的时候我们经常会发现之前一些脑海里模糊的概念通过思考慢慢变得清晰了，并且在这个过程中经常会产生一些新的想法和灵感。这就是作者所说的moments of extraordinary self-discovery，这种自我发现的过程也是写作最大的乐趣所在。
还有：
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.
后半句源自那喀索斯(Narcissus)的典故：在希腊神话中，漂亮少年那喀索斯有一次从那耳喀索斯打猎归来时，在池水中看见了自己俊美的脸。他于是爱上了自己的倒影，无法从池塘边离开，终于憔悴而死（narcissist一词也是由此而来，用来指自恋的人）。
作者在这里用那喀索斯的典故来形容那些除了自己的书，其他什么都不读的作家，以此来说明他们的自恋。
除此之外，What every writer wants一文中还有更多关于写作的精彩表述，建议各位精读全文。
推荐： 聊一聊四六级考试
上篇： 新概念英语教材中有哪些好词好句？
长按二维码关注“英文悦读”
