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The language is technical English; as a science writer, you are supposed to translate it into popular English. But
before you attempt to interpret it, let me give you some advice. First, read it once, fast. You don’t understand a
thing? You’re running about average! Read again, this time thoroughly, word for word. Still don’t get it? You’re not
supposed to – if you do, I salute you. But I expect you to read once, twice, thrice. Only then are you ready to get
to the heart of it.
Now you try understanding it:
The onset of the Green Revolution in the late sixties and early seventies brought unprecedented increases in
food production in favorable areas of the developing world. However, many regions in less-favored, rainfed
areas such as the semi-arid tropics (SAT) have been bypassed. The SAT covers parts of 55 developing countries
populated by about 1.4 billion people, of which 560 million (40%) are
classified as poor, and 70% of these live in rural areas. The SAT has
The language is technical
English; as a science writer,
you are supposed to
translate it into popular
English. But before you
attempt to interpret it, let me
give you some advice. First,
read it once, fast. You don’t
understand a thing? You’re
running about average!
very short growing seasons, separated by very hot and dry periods.
Natural soil fertility is very low and pest and disease pressure are intense.
With persistent drought and land degradation as the overarching
constraints, SAT farmers face perennial risks in improving their
productivity and livelihoods.
So, can you explain that as a magazine writer or a columnist in a
newspaper? Of course not. Just looking, I can’t do it myself.
So, what do you do? Here’s what you can do. First, get to a PC. (Don’t
tell me you cannot be bothered; if you’re a writer, you’re either afraid, in
awe, or an enemy of information technology.) Then type the text as you
see it – never mind the italics, never mind the indents left and right –
just type. Don’t ask someone to type it for you; you do it – but not using
a typewriter, for God’s sake. (One of my favorite writers, Ray Bradbury,
still uses the typewriter exclusively and rides the bicycle only, as far as
I know – me, I ride only a bicycle and type exclusively on the keyboard of the Hilarios’ PC.) I do it all the time, been
doing this for 20 years. Writing is a do-it-yourself kit, some assembly required. If you didn’t know it, typing is
assembly required, as you will shortly see me demonstrate.
You know what happens when you type onscreen? There are two ways the words and their meanings are registered
in your brain: by touch and by sight. You’re two times better off toward understanding your material this way.
Some of the meanings of the words, sentences get into your head, even if you are not referring to the dictionary
or encyclopedia for terms you don’t understand. (But it’s better if you do refer while reading when you meet a word
you don’t understand; just right-click on the word. Me, more often, I refer to the dictionary and the Internet.)
After you have typed those two paragraphs above, read them once, twice, thrice. Still don’t understand much of
it? Then it’s time for Enter to Enter. I’m assuming you have typed the text: For the first paragraph, position your
Choosing Joy