---
url: https://gaojian.site/new-concept/book-4/39-what-every-writer-wants.md
description: 新概念英语第四册：What Every Writer Wants。精读、词块回忆、双向译练、句法、逻辑与FSRS复习。
---

# 39 · 作家之所需

### 第1段

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; one, to my certain knowledge, spent nine months on a novel about Kashmir, then reset the whole thing in the Scottish Highlands. I never heard of anyone making a "skeleton", as we were taught at school. 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. A blurred image appears; he adds a brushstroke and another, and it is gone; but something was there, and he will not rest till he has captured it. Sometimes the yeast within a writer outlives a book he has written. 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. For the same reason, writers talk interminably about their own books, winkling out hidden meanings, superimposing new ones, begging response from those around them. Of course a writer doing this is misunderstood: he might as well try to explain a crime or a love affair. He is also, incidentally, an unforgivable bore.
This temptation to cover the distance between himself and the reader, to study his image in the sight of those who do not know him, can be his undoing: he has begun to write to please.
A young English writer made the pertinent observation a year or two back that the talent goes into the first draft, and the art into the drafts that follow. For this reason also the writer, like any other artist, has no resting place, no crowd or movement in which he may take comfort, no judgment from outside which can replace the judgment from within. A writer makes order out of the anarchy of his heart; he submits himself to a more ruthless discipline than any critic dreamed of, and when he flirts with fame, he is taking time off from living with himself, from the search for what his world contains at its inmost point.

中文理解：我认识的作家很少，但在那些我认识又尊敬的作家中，大家都坦率承认：初次落笔时，自己并不清楚要写向何方。他们也许只有一个人物，或者两个人物，处在一种急切又不安的状态里，人们通常把这叫作灵感。他们都承认，写作一旦开始，原定的方向便可能彻底改变。我确切知道的一位作家，花了九个月写一部以克什米尔为背景的小说，后来却把整个故事搬到了苏格兰高地。我从没听说谁像学校教的那样，先列一个“骨架”。在拆开重组、安排节奏、交织情节、重新开头的过程中，作家逐渐从素材里看出一些东西，那是起初动笔时还没有清楚意识到的。这个自然生长的过程，常带来惊人的自我发现，有一种难以形容的魅力。一个模糊的形象浮现，他添一笔、再添一笔，形象却消失了；可那里分明确实有过什么，他不把它抓住，就不肯罢休。有时，一本书写完了，作家内心的发酵还没有停止。我听说有些作家只读自己的书；他们像站在镜前的少年，仍弄不清眼前形象的确切轮廓。出于同样的原因，作家会没完没了地谈自己的书，挖掘隐藏的意思，叠加新的解释，恳求周围人回应。这样做当然容易被误解：他简直像是在解释一桩罪行，或一段恋情。顺便说一句，他也实在无聊得让人难以忍受。
他想跨越自己与读者之间的距离，想从那些不认识自己的人眼中看清自己的形象；这种诱惑可能毁了他，因为他已经开始为讨好别人而写作。
一两年前，一位年轻的英国作家说过一句很中肯的话：初稿靠才华，之后的修改才见艺术。也正因如此，作家和其他艺术家一样，没有可以安顿下来的终点，没有可以依赖的人群或思潮，也没有任何外部评判能代替内心的判断。作家要从内心的混乱中建立秩序，对自己施加的约束，比任何评论家设想的都更严酷。当他与名声调情时，其实是在暂时逃离与自己的相处，逃离对内心世界最深处的追寻。

* **set pen to paper**：开始动笔；固定表达动笔，不只是把笔放在纸上。

* **passes for**：被当作；可带作者保留或讽刺意味，不等于已经证明。

* **radical changes**：根本变化；radical是彻底，不只是激动或速度快。

* **to my certain knowledge**：据我确知；undefined

* **beginning afresh**：重新开始；afresh强调重新来过，不一定是新地点。

* **self-discovery**：自我发现；undefined

* **indescribable fascination**：难以形容的吸引力；undefined

* **A blurred image**：模糊的形象；blurred可说视觉或心中不清楚的图景。

* **captured it**：捕捉到它；undefined

* **nothing but**：只有；强调排他范围，不等于not only。

* **hidden meanings**：隐藏的意义；理解深层不等于任意附会，需要文本依据。

* **begging response**：恳求回应；undefined

* **might as well**：不妨；还是……吧；表示没有更好的选择，不是强烈建议或必然结果。

* **his undoing**：使他失败的原因；较书面，说明毁掉某人的关键弱点。

* **pertinent observation**：切中要点的评论；observation可指评论，不限于肉眼观察。

* **the first draft**：初稿；初稿与定稿不同，revision是进一步塑造。

* **judgment from within**：内在判断；undefined

* **makes order out of**：从……中整理出秩序；out of说转变的起点，不是单纯离开。

* **submits himself to**：使自己接受；不是submit a document的提交材料义。

* **flirts with fame**：暂时追逐名声；比喻试探性接近，不一定作正式决定。

#### 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…where…when…

并列复合句，but 前句为主谓宾结构，but 后句为主谓+宾语从句. 主语 those 由定语从句修饰，and 连接的这个定语从句可以看作是两个定语从句，一个 I have known，一个 whom I respect.

that 引导的宾语从句为主谓宾结构，后面跟 where 引导的同位语从句修饰 idea，该从句为主谓结构，在这个从句中，包含一个 when 引导的时间状语从句，为主谓宾结构.

#### 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; one, to my certain knowledge, spent nine months on a novel about Kashmir, then reset the whole thing in the Scottish Highlands.

并列复合句，全句以分号分成四句话，第一句主谓宾结构；第二句主系表结构，带有一个 which 引导的定语从句，为主谓宾结构；第三句为主谓宾结构，带有一个 once 引导的时间状语从句，主谓结构；第四句为主谓宾结构.

#### I never heard of anyone making a "skeleton", as we were taught at school.

复合句，主句主谓宾结构，后面 as 引导方式状语从句，主谓结构.

#### 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.

复合句，主句主谓宾结构，包含一个 which 引导的定语从句修饰 things，为主系表结构，介词短语 in his mind 作表语，该定语从句中又有一个 when 引导的时间状语从句，为主谓结构.

句首的两个地点状语在翻译时作并列结构理解.

#### This organic process, often leading to moments of extraordinary self-discovery, is of an indescribable fascination.

简单句，主系表结构.

#### A blurred image appears; he adds a brushstroke and another, and it is gone; but something was there, and he will not rest till he has captured it.

并列复合句，全句以分号分成三句，第一句为主谓结构；第二句为主谓（宾）结构的并列句；第三句为主系表结构和主谓结构，在第三句的后句中，有一个 till 引导的时间状语从句，为主谓宾结构.

#### Sometimes the yeast within a writer outlives a book he has written.

复合句，主句主谓宾结构，后面跟了一个定语从句为主谓结构.

#### 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.

博网友@东晋之家指出原来的主干提取有误20211117]

复合句，以分号分成两句，前句为主谓宾结构，后面有一个 who 引导的定语从句修饰 writers，为主谓宾结构. 分号后句为并列句，主谓（宾）结构.

这句话似乎用了典，旧版新概念英语中对此句并无特别注释，新版的中文注释认为用了古希腊那耳喀索斯的典故. 古希腊神话中 Narcissus 那耳喀索斯是绝美的少年，相传他不能看到自己的长相，方能长寿，一次打猎归来，他在池水中看到了自己脸庞的倒影，被这绝美的脸庞深深吸引，无法离开，憔悴而死. 英语中，以他名字而来的词语 narcissism 即为自恋，这里作者想借此表达，那些只读自己写的书的作家，便是如此自恋，后面几句接着数落这些自恋的作家有哪些地方令人讨厌.

不过即便不了解这段典故，只是认为像青少年那样，对自我的认知并不清晰，没有自知之明也可以. 这里的 adolescents 用了复数，而古希腊神话中的美少年只有一位，是否用典，读者可以自己判断.

#### For the same reason, writers talk interminably about their own books, winkling out hidden meanings, superimposing new ones, begging response from those around them.

简单句，主谓宾结构. 后面是伴随状语. 句中 superimpose 在教材中为 super-impose，现在多用 superimpose，我直接做了修改.

#### Of course a writer doing this is misunderstood: he might as well try to explain a crime or a love affair.

并列句，该句以冒号分成前后两句，冒号在这里表达进一步解释说明.

前句为主谓结构，后句为主谓宾结构. 这里的意思是，他只说自己书中的事情未免让人误解，也应该讲点别的.

#### He is also, incidentally, an unforgivable bore.

简单句，主系表结构. 这里的 incidentally 是顺便说一句的意思，我个人感觉这里有点双关的味道，也就是上一句多讲了一些犯罪和情爱的故事，也是这个作家顺便多说的，这个顺便多说的内容，即便他说了，也很无聊，并不能让人原谅他只讲自己书 中的事情.

#### This temptation to cover the distance between himself and the reader, to study his image in the sight of those who do not know him, can be his undoing: he has begun to write to please.

复合句，主句为主系表结构，中间有一个 who 引导的定语从句，为主谓宾结构. 冒号后面为另一个句子，予以解释原因，我在翻译中改为了破折号，该句为主谓结构.

#### A young English writer made the pertinent observation a year or two back that the talent goes into the first draft, and the art into the drafts that follow.

复合句，主句主谓宾结构. that 引导的同位语从句修饰 observation，为并列结构，均为主谓宾结构，里面包含一个 that 引导的定语从句修饰 the drafts.

back 在这里即 ago 之意.

#### For this reason also the writer, like any other artist, has no resting place, no crowd or movement in which he may take comfort, no judgment from outside which can replace the judgment from within.

复合句，主句为主谓宾结构，两个 no 开头的并列宾语，各有一个定语从句予以修饰，定语从句也都是主谓宾结构.

#### A writer makes order out of the anarchy of his heart; he submits himself to a more ruthless discipline than any critic dreamed of, and when he flirts with fame, he is taking time off from living with himself, from the search for what his world contains at its inmost point.

复合句，分号分为前后两句，前句为主谓宾结构. 分号后面为并列复合句，以 and 相连.

and 前句为主谓宾结构+than 引导的比较状语从句，该从句为主谓结构，and 后句，主句为主谓结构，前面有一个 when 引导的时间状语从句，主谓宾结构.

最后的状语中有一个 what 引导的宾语从句作 for 的介词宾语，这个属于成分中的细分，为主谓结构. 文中的 his 斜体为教材本身所加，作强调之意.

## 学完这一课

限定经验样本，再转述其中的共同现象。

[Nce · 本册复习台](/new-concept/book-4/review) · [三册选择地图](/new-concept/)

*译文依据整理稿，由本站按中文表达重新校订；解析据吴应时整理资料及首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第169—173页，2022年2月第2版。*