·1．Marriage Proposal to Bernard ShawOnce a beautiful and dissolute British actress wrote to propose marriage to Bernard Shaw． She said she did not mindBernard Shaws old age and ugliness because he was a genius． And if they could combine the beauty of the woman with the talents of the great man，that would be greatly harmonious． “With your wisdom and my appearance，our children must be perfect．”Bernard Shaw answered，in a letter，that her imagination wassplendid，“But，what if the children take my appea……
·2．The Reason of the FamineIn one dinner party，a capitalist eyed bony Bernard Shawup and down regretfully， and said in all seriousness，“Look atyour appearance，it really makes people believe that all the Britishare starving．”Bernard Shaw，examining the potbellied capitalist，said，“But，I know as soon as I saw you the reason why Britain is suf－fering from famine．”2．闹饥荒的原因在一次宴会上，一个资本家用遗憾的目光上下打量着瘦骨嶙峋的肖伯纳，一本正经地说：“看看你的模样，真叫人以为英国人都在挨饿。”肖伯纳审视着大腹便便的资本家说：“但是，我一见到你，就知道英国正在闹饥荒的原因了。”……
·3．Good to Write Poorly at the BeginningOnce Chekhov met a young writer．The moment he sawChekhov，the writer said，in great distress，that when he beganwriting，he could not write well no matter how hard he tried．Hisstyle of writing often went against the expression of his ideas，and he was in deep agony for his clumsiness and his situation．On hearing it，Chekhov，instead of giving slightest comfort，saidsurprisingly，What are you talking about？It is good to writepoorly at the beginning．”The young writer ……
·4．An Exhausting StruggleBalzac once said artistic creation was “an exhausting strug-gle”．He believed that only by tenacious work and fearing notafraid of difficulties could you show your talent．It was just likethe soldiers charging the fortress，not relaxing your effort foreven a moment．Once Balzac wrote for hours on end， he was so tired that hecould not hold out any longer．He ran to a friends home andplunged headlong on the sofa．He wanted to sleep，but he told hisfriend he must be woken up within……
·5．Hallucination of BalzacAs soon as he took the pen to start writing，Balzac seemed tohave been possessed so much so that he often had hallucinationsof what he wrote．Once a friend went to Balzacs home．He knocked the door，and heard Balzac was having a heated argument with someone：“You ruffian， Ill teach you a lesson！”The friend opened the door hurriedly only to find that there was only Balzac in theroom．It turned out that Balzac was bitterly attacking the base conduct of the character that he was ……
·6．Lose？Gain ？In his diary entry of August 2，1882，Lewis Carroll （author and publisher）estimated that even if he sold the entire 2,000—copy first printing of Alice in Wonderland he would lose￡200．By selling another 2,000 copies，he would make ￡200．If he sold additional copies，he would then realize a bigger gain， but “that I can hardly hope for．”Before his death，in 1898，about 180,000 copies had been sold．6．亏损？赢利？刘易斯·卡罗尔（作者和出版人）在1882年8月2日的日记中估计，即使他的《艾丽丝漫游奇境记》第一版的2,000本全卖掉，他会亏损200英镑；如果再卖出2,000本，他可以赚20……
·7．Experiencing Realistic DetailsNovelists sometimes go to great lengths in personally expe－riencing realistic details to enhance the immediacy in their art．Frederick Forsyth（American novelist）may have topped them all．When his novel The Dogs of War appeared in ，few readersknew that this tale of a group of mercenaries who had overthrownan African government was based on Forsyths own attempt to dojust that—to overthrow，with the help of thirteen men，thegovernment of Equatorial Guinea by kidnapping i……
·8．St．Nicholas Described by IrvingTo support the American Revolution，the American authorWashington Irving used a Dutch St．Nicholas to contrast thepatriotic， hardworking Dutch－Americans with the soft living British．The St．Nicholas described in Irvings Knickerbocker History was not the traditional serious holy saint who protectedtravelers and rewarded good children．Instead he was very muchlike the Dutch immigrants —a happy，fat little man，but ridingthrough the air in a sleigh pulled by reindeer．And ……
·9．Unusual EchoesOnce Mark Twain and two friends were sitting in a restau－rant．One friend had just returned from a trip to Vermont． Thefriend said that the air in the mountains of Vermont was veryclear．In many places the echo of a voice came back five timesstronger than the original voice．The second friend said that wasnothing．In Colorado，where he lived，in many places the echoof a voice spoken in the morning came back in the afternoon．Mark Twain laughed．Then he said，Listen！The echoeswhich you hav……
·10．Mark Twains Speechmaking Strategy （1）When he first began his speaking career，Mark Twain re－called，he used a full page of notes to keep him from getting mixedup．He would write down the beginning of key sentences，to takehim from one point to another and to protect him from skipping ．For a typical evenings lecture，he would write and memorize key beginnings．The plan failed．Twain would remember the sentences，allright，but forget their order．He would have to stop，consult hisnotes，and thereby spoil ……
·11．Mark Twains SpeechmakingStrategy（2）Mark Twain tried several ways in making speeches，butfailed．Then his great idea came—that its hard to visualize letters，words and sentences，but pictures are easy to recall．Theytake hold ．They can make things stick…Especially if you draw them yourself．Twain was no artist，mind you ，but that didnt stop him．“In two minutes I made six pictures with a pen，”he reported，“and they did the work of the catch－sentences ，and did itperfectly．”Having once drawn the picture……
·12．He Once Had Thoughts of SuicideTheodore Dreisers novel Sister Carrie，Which is now con- sidered an American classic，was an immediate success in Londonwhen it was published at the turn of the century ．But when it waspublished in the U．S．it received no enthusiasm and was vir-tually suppressed because the wife of the publisher so disap－proved of the realistic story of the deterioration of a man causedby an immoral girl．Dreiser had been a successful journalist ，andhe suddenly now found him……
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