The Sense of Style is not a reference manual in which you can find the answer to every question about hyphenation and capitalization. Nor is it a remedial guide for badly educated students who have yet to master the mechanics of a sentence. Like the classic guides, it is designed for people who know how to write and want to write better. This includes students who hope to improve the quality of their papers, aspiring critics and journalists who want to start a blog or column or series of reviews, and professionals who seek a cure for their academese, bureaucratese, corporates, legalese, medicalese, or officialese. The book is also written for readers who seek no help in writing but are interested in letters and literature how language works at its best.
作者在这地方说明了本书的目的,因为之前已经有了经典elements of style 等供读者学习,这本书的目的他就写的更清楚,我把自己对号入座,不算知道怎么写,但是希望写的更好。
Dear Abby: My wife sleeps in the raw. Then she showers, brushes her teeth and fixes our breakfast --- still in the buff. We're newlyweds and there are just the two of us, so I suppose there's really nothing wrong with it. What do you think? ---Ed
Dear Ed: It's O.K. with me. But tell her to put on an apron when she's frying bacon.
in the raw / in the buff
这两个表达都是指赤身裸体的 naked 和另一个表达 in the altogether 意思是一样的
fix our breakfast
If you fix some food or a drink for someone, you make it or prepare it for them. 准备 (食物、饮料等)
这里fix和prepare是一个意思,如果朋友到家里来做客,你也可以说 Let me fix you a drink.
Dear Abby: Our son married a girl when he was in the service. They were married in February and she had an 8 1/2-pound baby girl in August. She said the baby was premature. Can an 8 1/2-pound baby be this premature? ---Wanting to know
Dear Wanting: The baby was on time. The wedding was late. Forget it.
One pound is equal to 0.454 kilograms.
一磅差不多九两,接近一斤,8 1/2 pound 相当于差不多七斤六两,二月结婚八月就诞下七斤多的“早产”宝宝,
The baby was on time. The wedding was late.