来自《耶鲁大学开放课程：1945年后的美国小说 第24集 第24集》

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  and I would give them "love", "your childhood"
  我给了他们"爱" "你的童年"
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  --what else--"death." i can't remember what else.
  还有 "死亡" 我想不起来其他的了
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  And so, then, they would very earnestly do it
  然后他们就非常认真的开始写
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  and then I would say, "Okay.
  然后我说 "好了
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  Now I want you to take your paper
  现在我要你们交上文章
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  and I want you to underline every single cliche that you wrote,"
  而且在每一处陈辞滥调下划上横线"
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  and they would come up with papers full of cliches.
  然后他们交上了一页又一页的陈辞滥调
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  And it was a little exercise just to get them to understand
  这只是一个小练习 让他们明白
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  that choosing a topic can get you into trouble if you choose
  如果选择不对话题 会让你陷入困境
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  a very abstract,
  比如你选择了非常抽象
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  big, important question.
  大的 重要的话题
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  Of course we want books that move us
  当然我们需要能够打动我们