第二步：精读重点段落

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

[1] "The trick is to not wait for the moments of inspiration, but to be working and let those moments happen while you’re working.”

• trick 秘诀，诀窍
• inspiration 灵感，启发

[2] Every Tuesday the 50 or so freelance cartoonists for the “New Yorker” submit their weekly batch of drawings for publication consideration. Some email them in and others travel to the magazine’s office at One World Trade Center to personally hand in physical copies. But all of the cartoonists have one thing in common: They’re facing terrible odds of success.

• freelance 自由记者，自由作家
• batch 一批，一组
• physical 实物的，有型的
• odds 概率，胜算
• terrible odds 极小的概率

[12] Mankoff submitted “thousands” of cartoons to the New Yorker before it bought his first one. The rejections forced him to think differently about his approach.  “At the beginning, I was trying to do jokes in the vein of established cartoonists and the New Yorker was looking for people with their own voice,” he says. By virtue of doing so many reps, Mankoff developed his unique style.

• Submit 提交
• rejection 拒绝，回绝
• established 功成名就的，已制定的

[16] In addition to contributing to the New Yorker, Johnson works three different jobs as an illustrator and storyteller. The time crunch motivates her to work fast. “After my drawing started to get better, I decided to stop wasting my time doing roughs and started drawing all of my cartoons on resume paper so they’re ready for sale,” she says. She typically begins with a caption and builds the images around it. Johnson can finish a cartoon in 30 to 60 minutes, though she can’t always guarantee it will be funny.

• In addition to 除....之外
• crunch 嘎吱嘎吱地嚼，（使）发出碎裂声
• rough 草稿，粗糙的
• guarantee 保证，保障

[18] Competing against the top illustrators in the country for one of the coveted spots in the New Yorker’s pages doesn’t phase Johnson. One might not believe her, were it not for her past experience. “I used to be a model and I had to hand my photos over to people who would smirk back at me,” she says. “Do I think handing in cartoons is hard? Try handing yourself in. I can live with rejected cartoons.”

• illustrator 插画师
• coveted 令人垂涎的，梦寐以求的
• smirk 嘲笑
• Hand in 交上，提交

[19] The New Yorker doesn’t have assignment themes, so the cartoonists are able to tickle any whimsy. That kind of freedom doesn’t mean ideas flow more fluidly. “About 95 percent of the time, I’m stuck,” says Matt Diffee. “The idea being blocked is the norm.” To get the juices flowing, he begins his weekly two-hour idea brainstorming sessions with a full pot of coffee and a blank sheet of paper. “As I empty the coffee, I fill up the paper,” he says.

• assignment 任务，作业
• tickle 咯吱
• whimsy 奇思妙想，怪念头
• stuck 卡住
• norm 标准，规范

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

Idea Sex: How New Yorker Cartoonists Generate 500 Ideas a Week

[1] "The trick is to not wait for the moments of inspiration, but to be working and let those moments happen while you’re working.”

• trick 秘诀，诀窍
• inspiration 灵感，启发

[2] Every Tuesday the 50 or so freelance cartoonists for the “New Yorker” submit their weekly batch of drawings for publication consideration. Some email them in and others travel to the magazine’s office at One World Trade Center to personally hand in physical copies. But all of the cartoonists have one thing in common: They’re facing terrible odds of success.

• freelance 自由记者，自由作家
• batch 一批，一组
• physical 实物的，有型的
• odds 概率，胜算
• terrible odds 极小的概率

[3] Each cartoonist submits up to 10 sketches, so there can be 500 entries competing for approximately 12 spots in the magazine. “On a good week, you might sell one of your batch of 10,” says cartoonist Matt Diffee. “That is 90 percent rejection.”

• entry 参赛作品
• spot 地点，处所
• rejection 拒绝，回绝

[4] This is the same problem every creative faces—on steroids: tight deadlines, a crazy competitive environment, a discerning audience, and uncertain pay. If a cartoonist fails to impress, he will miss out on a high three- to low four-figure payday.

• on steroids 某事或者某物达到了一个极致
• discerning 有辨别能力的，眼光雪亮的
• miss out 错失
• figure 数字,（数）位数

[5] So why do they do it? And how do they generate their ideas week after week? Ahead of the new film Very Semi-Serious, New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff and a handful of contributors share how they dream humorous concepts, even when they don’t feel particularly funny.

• generate 造成，产生
• handful 少数

How to Come up with a Good Idea

[6] Bob Mankoff describes the cartoon idea generation process as “idea sex.”

[7] “Ideas breed ideas,” he says. “The classic technique is by putting things together that don’t go together,” he says. He begins riffing, offering a potential cartoon setting: heaven. It has clouds, a gate, and Saint Peter. It’s a place people want to get into, but it’s hard to get into. Maybe Mankoff will do heaven as a nightclub with a bouncer? “Or heaven has barbed wire on top to keep out the undocumented angels,” continues Mankoff. “Or there is an easy pass lane into heaven and people are flying through.”

• breed 繁殖
• bouncer （夜总会）保镖
• barbed 有刺的
• barbed wire 带刺铁丝网
• undocumented 无正式文件的，无证明的
• lane 小巷，航线

[8] “Ideas breed ideas.”

[9] “That’s the basic creative process,” he says. “You float out, What if?”

[10] Mankoff sold his first cartoon to the New Yorker in 1977, became the magazine’s cartoon editor in 1997 and has written his own how-to book for cartoonists, The Naked Cartoonist. He’s always amazed by the people who tell him they have a single great cartoon idea. One idea is never enough, and it’s rarely good. “The way you get good ideas is to get a lot of ideas,” says Mankoff.

[11] Failure is important to the creative process, notes Mankoff. “You learn so much more when you’re doing something wrong and are willing to get that feedback than when you are doing something right,” he explains. “It also teaches you how to be resilient, because you’re going to need that in a competitive, creative enterprise.”

• resilient 能复原的，有韧性的
• enterprise 事业，企业
  

[One of Mankoff’s early submissions that didn’t make the magazine’s pages.]

[12] Mankoff submitted “thousands” of cartoons to the New Yorker before it bought his first one. The rejections forced him to think differently about his approach.  “At the beginning, I was trying to do jokes in the vein of established cartoonists and the New Yorker was looking for people with their own voice,” he says. By virtue of doing so many reps, Mankoff developed his unique style.

• Submit 提交
• rejection 拒绝，回绝
• established 功成名就的，已制定的

[13] Given the high rejection rate, why do people pitch cartoons to the New Yorker? “It’s a calling for people because you actually see the world as skewed,” says Mankoff. “That is how I feel about everything. I pretty much go through life joking, not just in cartooning.”

• pitch 力荐（主张），投掷
• skewed 曲解的，歪斜的
• go through 经历，经过

Rethink the Rejects

[14] For Carolita Johnson, a rejected cartoon isn’t a dead cartoon. “I would say that 80 percent of what I’ve sold, I’ve submitted more than once,” she says. “I waited on something I liked and tried it again.” She keeps an ongoing list of half-baked ideas near her unsold cartoons and continuously tries to come up with matches. “I might have a cartoon that I thought looked good at the time, but now looks stupid,” she says. “But let’s try a new drawing and maybe something will come to me.”

• ongoing 不间断的，进行的
• half-baked 不完整的，半熟的

[15] A rejected cartoon isn’t a dead cartoon.

[16] In addition to contributing to the New Yorker, Johnson works three different jobs as an illustrator and storyteller. The time crunch motivates her to work fast. “After my drawing started to get better, I decided to stop wasting my time doing roughs and started drawing all of my cartoons on resume paper so they’re ready for sale,” she says. She typically begins with a caption and builds the images around it. Johnson can finish a cartoon in 30 to 60 minutes, though she can’t always guarantee it will be funny.

• In addition to 除....之外
• crunch 嘎吱嘎吱地嚼，（使）发出碎裂声
• rough 草稿，粗糙的
• guarantee 保证，保障

[17] “I have sold cartoons that I don’t even know why they are funny,” she says. Take the image below. Johnson considered it too morbid. “It’s almost an unconscious thought that I put on paper,” she says. “Something that you don’t say, but sometimes think.” The New Yorker bought it, which emphasizes an important point about creativity and comedy. Being clever is as important as being funny. “It’s about insight rather than searching for a laugh,” says Johnson. 

• morbid 病态的
• unconscious 无意识的
• emphasize 强调，着重
• insight 洞察力，深入见解

[18] Competing against the top illustrators in the country for one of the coveted spots in the New Yorker’s pages doesn’t phase Johnson. One might not believe her, were it not for her past experience. “I used to be a model and I had to hand my photos over to people who would smirk back at me,” she says. “Do I think handing in cartoons is hard? Try handing yourself in. I can live with rejected cartoons.”

• illustrator 插画师
• coveted 令人垂涎的，梦寐以求的
• smirk 嘲笑
• Hand in 交上，提交

Grind Your Way into a Creative Zone  

[19] The New Yorker doesn’t have assignment themes, so the cartoonists are able to tickle any whimsy. That kind of freedom doesn’t mean ideas flow more fluidly. “About 95 percent of the time, I’m stuck,” says Matt Diffee. “The idea being blocked is the norm.” To get the juices flowing, he begins his weekly two-hour idea brainstorming sessions with a full pot of coffee and a blank sheet of paper. “As I empty the coffee, I fill up the paper,” he says.

• assignment 任务，作业
• tickle 咯吱
• whimsy 奇思妙想，怪念头
• stuck 卡住
• norm 标准，规范

[20] The idea being blocked is the norm.

[21] In some ways the process is clinical because he has to ship product every week, regardless of if he feels inspired. “The trick is to not wait for the moments of inspiration, but to be working and let those moments happen while you’re working,” he says.

• regardless of 不管，不顾

[22] Diffee’s cartoons are driven by words and ideas that mix surprising elements in a common context—the images come last. To loosen up his concepts, he uses word associations. Diffee’s favorite published New Yorker cartoon (below) began with him wanting to do something on the concept of writer’s block. “I wrote those words down and then thought ‘writer’s block and tackle.’ You could have a bunch of football players trying to block, but that was too wacky for me,” says Diffee. “Or it could be like a horse rider. Rider’s block? That didn’t work.”

• loosen up 放松; 缓解
• block 阻止，阻塞
• writer’s block 文思枯竭
  

[23] He cycled through 40 different concepts over a couple of years. At one point, he began adding words in front of writer’s block—ad writer’s block, business writer’s block—and that led to skywriter’s block. “As soon as I unlocked those words, I knew the drawing had to be an airplane circling in the sky,” he says. 

• Cycle 循环
• unlock  解开，开启
• skywriter 空中作家（以飞机放烟火等在空中写字）

[24] Each week Diffee generates about 150 concepts that he whittles down to 10 that he is “okay with putting my name on.” “Most of my ideas don’t fully satisfy me,” he admits. “If I have a batch of 10, there will be two that I’m really fond of, two that I’m slightly embarrassed of, and the six in the middle will be fine.” He estimates his success rate over the past 16 years is three percent, but he has parlayed the rejections into a book collection of cartoons that were too dumb, dark, or naughty for The New Yorker.

• generate 生成，产出
• whittle 削减，逐渐减少
• parlay 充分利用，连本带利地赌

[25] “We’ve [New Yorker cartoonists] always wanted to make money off the rejects, and people have tried different schemes as groups and individuals, but apart from the books we haven’t figured out a good way,” he says. “New Yorker is still the best gig in town, so the best bet is to try to sell them there eventually.”

• scheme 规划，方法
• figure out 找到，解决
• gig 临时工作