hit the nail on the head

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1、HittheNailontheHead1.Haveyoueverwatchedaclumsymanhammeringanailintoabox?Hehitsitfirsttooneside,thentoanother,perhapsknockingitovercompletely,sothatintheendheonlygetshalfofitintothewood.Askilfulcarpenter,ontheotherhand,willdrivehomethenailwithafewfirm,deftblows,hittingiteachtimesquarelyonthehead.So

2、withlanguage;thegoodcraftsmanwillchoosewordsthatdrivehomehispointfirmlyandexactly.Awordthatismoreorlessright,aloosephrase,anambiguousexpression,avagueadjective,willnotsatisfyawriterwhoaimsatcleanEnglish.Hewilltryalwaystogetthewordthatiscompletelyrightforhispurpose.2.TheFrenchhaveanaptphraseforthis

3、.Theyspeakof"lemotjuste,"thewordthatisjustright.Storiesaretoldofscrupulouswriters,likeFlaubert,whospentdaystryingtogetoneortwosentencesexactlyright.Wordsaremanyandvarious;theyaresubtleanddelicateintheirdifferentshadesofmeaning,anditisnoteasytofindtheonesthatexpresspreciselywhatwewanttosay.Itisnoto

4、nlyamatterofhavingagoodcommandoflanguageandafairlywidevocabulary;itisalsonecessarytothinkhardandtoobserveaccurately.Choosingwordsispartoftheprocessofrealization,ofdefiningourthoughtsandfeelingsforourselves,aswellasforthosewhohearorreadourwords.Someoneonceremarked:"HowcanIknowwhatIthinktillIseewhat

5、Isay?"Thissoundsstupid,butthereisagreatdealoftruthinit.3.Itishardworkchoosingtherightwords,butweshallberewardedbythesatisfactionthatfindingthembrings.Theexactuseoflanguagegivesusmasteryoverthematerialwearedealingwith.Perhapsyouhavebeenasked"Whatsortofamanisso-and-so?"Youbegin:"Oh,Ithinkhe'squitean

6、icechapbuthe'srather..."andthenyouhesitatetryingtofindawordorphrasetoexpresswhatitisabouthimthatyoudon'tlike,thatconstituteshislimitation.Whenyoufindtherightphraseyoufeelthatyourconceptionofthemanisclearerandsharper....4.SomeEnglishwordshaveacommonrootbutareusedinverydifferentsenses.Considerhumana

7、ndhumane,forexample.Theiroriginisthesameandtheirmeaningsarerelated,buttheirusageisdistinct.Ahumanactionisnotthesamethingasahumaneaction.WecannotspeakofaDeclarationofHumaneRights.——Thereisaweaponcalledahumanekille