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There is a channel down which your work pours. That channel must be kept clear, free-running. At all costs it must be so kept. Pain does not clog it, nor misfortune.
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● channel：水流之道。pours：如水一般地倾泻而下。本文作者并不主张文章应该“不加点窜，一气呵成”。一本大书，可能经年累月，始能竣工。可是在这许多年月之中，作家不可让杂务分心；宜专心一致，把全副精神放到写作里去。如此文思畅达，文章亦如长江大河，滔滔不绝，往前直流。
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● clear：没有阻碍。不要让石块污泥来阻碍水的行进。
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● At all costs：不惜任何代价。so即是clear, free-running。
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● Pain：人生的病痛；甚至是因写作用脑过度而产生的病痛。clog：阻塞。人生有病痛，有不幸之事，但是作家能忍受，决不让这些事阻断他写作。孟子曰：“原泉混混，不舍昼夜，盈科而后进，放乎四海。”这句话送给作家也是合适的。
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What clogs the channel is laziness, inattention, timidity, the propensity to lie to oneself, to avoid looking straight at a situation—perhaps at the situation of your own work, the story or chapter you have just finished or thought you had finished. The most scrupulous honesty is necessary, in a writer. To know what one is doing, to ask oneself from time to time, Why am I writing this book? Whom am I trying to reach with my messsage, and have I message? (You have, or you shouldn’t be writing.) By a message I do not mean a moral. I mean a central idea which caused you to write your piece in the first place. Or your story, or your book, or any particular chapter in your book.
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● 写作的阻碍是：一、懒惰；二、注意力不够，不用心；三、胆怯（难写的怕写，不合一般趣味的不敢写）；四、……。
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● propensity：倾向。to lie：说谎。作家对自己说谎，那么不真实的描写，不是由衷而发的意见都可以随随便便写出来了。
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● looking straight at a situation：正视某一情境。“正视”就是把一个情境仔细研究过，仔细想过，不歪曲，不掩饰，不畏惧，不加以美化。
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● 有些情境是你还没有写的，有些情境是你已经写过的。假如你草草了事，就算写好，那么你写作之“流”，就算给阻塞住了。
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● story：单独的一篇故事。chapter：书里的一章。thought：你自以为已经写好（但事实上可以修改之处很多）。
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● scrupulous：多所顾忌，小心翼翼。honesty：随时责问自己，我有没有据实写下？我有没有敷衍塞责？假如能够“不自欺”，就是“诚实”。
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● To know：此系不完全句子。To know与to ask恐系说明honesty者。
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● reach：送达；说给谁听？message：使命，道理。
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● 括弧里面的话，是作者代你答复。你自己问自己：我有没有什么要紧的话要对人说呢？代答：有的；否则你也不会写作了。be writing：问话的时候，你“正”在写作，故用进行式。
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● By A I mean B：我所说的A，意思就是B。这种句法，是常常可以看见的。这里message一字，意义欠明。作者作进一步的说明。她说她用这个字，并不是指的moral。moral在这里是名词，解作“寓意，教训”。《伊索寓言》于每则故事终了，必列一行moral，说明本故事用意是劝人如何如何。近代人的写作，不可能有如此浅显之寓意，所以这里的message并不是指moral。
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● 可是你在写作之初，必有一中心思想；你一开头（in the first place）所以要写这篇东西（piece）（或某篇故事，或某一本书，或书里的某一章），就是受这个中心思想的驱使的。
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I am trying to say that your central idea need not be noble. It can be frivolous or shabby. But it must be looked at honestly by the writer. There can be no cessation, during composition, of this honesty of purpose. No cessation of caring. No slacking of this high wire on which you have elected to dance. No turning to easier, less hazardous matters.
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● 话愈说愈多了，我所想要说明的，就是你的中心思想不一定是要高贵的（不一定要冠冕堂皇）。
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● frivolous：没有什么了不起的（并不高明伟大）。shabby：陈旧的，（并无新意）。可是作家一定要诚实地正视这个思想。
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● during composition：在写作的过程中。no cessation of this honesty of purpose：一心一意地把握住你的宗旨。cessation：停止。后面跟着No开头的三句，都是不完全的句子，句首There can be都省掉了。作者喜用不完全句子，大约是模仿口语之故。四句平行式的句子，也可以使语气通顺。
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● caring：用心。
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● slacking：放松。high wire：高架钢丝。elected：挑选。你既然选中了要在钢丝上跳舞，那么钢丝不可放松。写作之难，可以和走钢丝相比。因为钢丝既不可松，脚步尤其错乱不得也。
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● turning to：改写。less hazardous：危险性较少的东西。文章往往写到中途写不下去了，那时一定要“不背初衷”，坚持写下去，不可马虎了事。至于写作之所以有危险性者，大约是因为有些东西很难写，不用心写就有“写坏”的危险。
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The writer is in the position of a person who has accepted a grave responsibility, a task that is within his powers—his best powers—and which he has dedicated himself to accomplish. It means that the writer must live, during working hours, at the peak of his capacity. If one’s best hours, best productive hours, are, say, four out of the twenty-four, it means that the other twenty hours must be ordered to this effect.
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