Preface

‘You must beware of thinking too much about Style,’ said my kindly adviser, ‘or you will become like those fastidious people who polish and polish until there is nothing left.’

‘Then there really are such people?’ I asked eagerly. But the well-informed lady could give me no precise information about them.

I often hear of them in this tantalizing manner,and perhaps one of these days I shall have the luck to come across them.

前言

“您应该注意，别把太多心思花在风格上，”有人好心劝我，“要不然会像那些个抠字眼儿的人，一个劲儿地精雕细琢，到头来什么都抠没了。”

“当真有这样的人吗？”我热切地问道。可是那位见多识广的女士没能给我有关这种人的确切见识。

常常听人如此吊胃口地谈起他们，也许这几天我有幸会碰到他们。