1705007623

1705007624 ● 一本书有时要五六年才写得完，那时的苦不是irksome所能表示，只好说是painful了。痛苦之外，更有anxiety（忧虑；原文作：忧虑跟着这种纪律一起来的）。

1705007625

1705007626 ● rhythm：节奏。每天写三五百字，成了习惯，生活好像有了“拍子”。几天不写，拍子就断掉了。momentum：（物理学中的）动量；冲劲，势头。写文章有一股劲，隔了一个时候不写，这股劲就没有了。作家一面以纪律约束自己，一面又担心文章脱了节，泄了气。

1705007627

1705007628 ● lest是连词：唯恐；所怕的是。break和be，都是虚拟式。你所担忧的事尚未发生，而且不一定发生，所以要用虚拟式。普通语法书里规定：lest后面要用should（即should break），这里没有用。不用should，单用虚拟式动词也可以。

1705007629

1705007630 If you are a morning worker, with your best hours from, say, nine to one, your afternoons will have to be devoted to outdoor exercises, neglected housework if you are a wife, the tender loving care and feeding of family or whatever is necessary to make daily life go on, clearing the decks for tomorrow morning and keeping you in top health besides.

1705007631

1705007632 ● morning worker：早晨工作的人。前面说过best productive hours。有些人适宜于早晨工作，有些人适宜于晚上工作，今以早晨工作的人为例。

1705007633

1705007634 ● will have to be：这里的will不含“将来”的意思。在“条件句子”里，前面“if”clause假如用现在式，后面的主句通常用将来式。这是习惯用法如此，那个将来式仅是表示“猜测”，并不表示“将来”。have to be：不得不。devoted to：奉献给。下面跟五样东西。

1705007635

1705007636 1. outdoor exercises：户外运动。作家为保持身心康健计，也该锻炼身体。

1705007637

1705007638 2. 受到忽略了的家务（假如你是个主妇）。

1705007639

1705007640 3. 照顾子女等等。

1705007641

1705007642 4. 这是个暗喻：“清除甲板”是海军作战前的准备。作家为明天早晨的工作，此时亦可稍事准备，如买稿纸、墨水，整理书桌等。

1705007643

1705007644 5. 保持自己的康健（睡个午睡亦自不妨）。top是形容词：上好的；“巅峰状态”。

1705007645

1705007646 When five P. M. comes, if you are a biographer or historian you will have to stop what you are doing with fly screens or hemlines and begin reading for tomorrow’s writing or for next week’s or next month’s writing, depending upon how you plan your research for a long book. With a pencil in hand, making notes or marking passages, you will read on and off until ten o’clock, when you go to bed. I myself usually climb in bed with my notes in hand for tomorrow’s start, read them over casually, trying not to think, and turn out the light. I am a firm believer in the action of the subconscious during sleep. At supper or dinner that evening, you have not overeaten because it would disturb your sleep, and you know from experience that eight hours of sleep are necessary to put you through a morning’s work, though you know also, from experience, that you can afford to miss one night’s sleep occasionally. But not two nights, unless you are prepared to sacrifice your work on the third morning.

1705007647

1705007648 ● 本段第一句的will，意义同上段。fly screens：防苍蝇的纱窗。hemlines：衣服的镶边。下午你本来在装纱窗，或者做各种家庭杂务。到五点钟，你应该开始读书。（假如你所写的是传记或历史；其实写小说的人，暇时也该拿名著小说一读，读写并进，是有助于灵感的启发的。）

1705007649

1705007650 ● depending upon：你所准备的是明天的，或是下星期的，或是下个月的写作，究竟是明天的还是下个月的，就看（“倚靠”）你写这部长书的时候，如何计划你的研究工作了。

1705007651

1705007652 ● marking passages：在书中某几段文章上做记号。read on and off：断断续续地读。when you go to bed：“那个时候”，你上床睡觉了。这种补充用的定语从句（non-restrictive clause），中国学生不大会用。文章如求松散自然，这一种的用法是值得模仿的。

1705007653

1705007654 ● climb in bed：前面刚说go to bed，这里不好再说go to bed了。又，go to bed并不含有多少“动作”的意义，climb in bed才是真正的动作。casually：随随便便地。turn out the light：关掉电灯。

1705007655

1705007656 ● the action of the subconscious：潜意识的作用。上床前不用脑筋思想，因为睡熟以后，潜意识也会替你“思想”。“灵感”之来，人莫能测。但是神经如果放松，优游自得，灵感可能不召自来。

1705007657

1705007658 ● disturb your sleep：晚饭多吃，有妨睡眠。睡眠不好，第二天写文章就没有精神。

1705007659

1705007660 ● miss one night’s sleep：偶然一晚上失眠，也无大害。

1705007661

1705007662 ● But not two nights：这是不完全句子。全文是：You cannot afford missing two nights’ sleep.

1705007663

1705007664 Long ago, when I was in my twenties, I came across an awe-inspiring saying, in French: “If you abandon art for one day, she will abandon you for three.”

1705007665

1705007666 ● In my twenties：我二十几岁的时候。came across：遇见；读到（这么一句使人肃然起敬的话，原文是法文）。

1705007667

1705007668 ● 这句话是：你假如把艺术搁置一天，她就会把你丢弃三天。意思同中文格言“一曝十寒”，“拳不离手，曲不离口”相仿。

1705007669

1705007670 ● art这里是“人格化”了，故代名词用she。通常英文里是用it来代替art的。

1705007671

1705007672 It is true. It is all too lamentably true. Even with Friday’s notes sitting on your table staring you in the face—a map to guide you into Saturday’s territory—even then, if you skip Saturday’s work, on Sunday those selfsame notes will likely have gone dead. They will sit there, avoiding your eye. No message comes up; they are cold script. If Saturday’s interruption has been forced from outside, something I could not help, like going to the oculist, I work every bit as well next day. Probably because I have sat in the oculist’s office raging and impatient, with my chapter never out of mind. On the other hand if I succumb to invitation and go out to lunch, an interesting lunch on a working day, I am ruined. Or even an interesting dinner, which should not, practically speaking, interfere with morning working hours at all! But a dinner party means what shall one wear, or going to the hairdresser, or even looking in the shops for a new dress, and this is fatally distracting. Giving a party is the finish, in my judgment, to several days’ work.

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