Some people say that governing a big country is like cooking small and fresh. Being able to cook something fresh may not necessarily govern the country, but knowing some principles of cooking something fresh is very likely to become a good editor. In order to give hydrologists a delicious cultural meal, I will talk to you about the editing of internal publications based on some cooking experience.
From Man-Han Banquet to Boiled Fish —— On the Orientation of Publications
When the word "abundance" is mentioned, people will immediately associate it with the Manchu-Chinese banquet. So how did the Manchu-Chinese banquet come into being? I haven't seen it, and I believe not many people have. Boiled fish and Sichuan food are generally eaten by people. Interested people can try to cook at home. To publish and run our publication, the first thing to consider is positioning. That is, do you want to be a big and complete "Man-Han banquet" or a unique "boiled fish". If the specialty of boiled fish is boiled fish, then I think the core of the publication is the core of the work of the unit. For example, the core content of our hydrological publication is the word hydrology, so we must grasp it well. We don't want to make the internal publication of a hydrological system big and complete, and we don't want to put everything in it. The layout of our publication is very limited. The world is so big and there is so much information. Can you adapt? Therefore, publications must highlight the characteristics of hydrological industry, and the selected articles should carry forward the main theme of hydrology, be close to hydrology and the actual work and life of employees, so that employees can see the publications they want to read and "eat" the cultural feast they want to eat. Of course, boiled fish is not the only dish in the boiled fish shop. It is also good to decorate other items appropriately, but pay attention to the degree. You can't write the signboard of "boiled fish", but it is basically western food.
Eat more seasonal dishes-on the planning of publications
Ordinary families usually eat some seasonal dishes. Leek and Toona sinensis are served in spring, cucumber and eggplant in summer, beans and loofah in autumn, and cabbage and potatoes are the most eaten in winter. Although greenhouse vegetables are out of season now, eating more seasonal vegetables is good for our health and wallets. The same is true of publications. Each issue is published in different periods. When planning, we should pay attention to let employees eat "seasonal dishes". If you plan to publish a publication in the flood season, you can no longer list drought monitoring as the theme, and you should no longer list articles about spring in the winter publishing plan. Planning should be done in advance, and editing is like thinking that leeks will be listed in spring. For example, flood control is the focus of our hydrological department. Considering that there may be floods in the flood season, leave the layout of flood season forecast in advance and say hello to the relevant authors. Once there is a flood, we will immediately organize manuscripts to ensure that hydrologists can read relevant articles as quickly as possible, just like eating leek jiaozi in spring. In addition, in order to let employees eat "seasonal dishes", editors must have the ability to grasp policies. Editors should always keep abreast of the development of the country, water conservancy and hydrology and know what "seasonal dishes" are. For example, a few years ago, they said to guard against death and risk their lives to measure water conditions. Now they talk about "two changes", people-oriented and safety first. We should understand these changes and some new things, such as broadening the field of hydrological services and hydrological modernization. Editors should always keep these new things in mind and keep collecting them. In the planning stage, they should take these things into account and reflect them in the articles in the publication.
Never tire of food, never tire of details —— On peer-reviewed editors
Confucius said, food is not tired of essence, and food is not tired of detail. This sentence is very suitable for our editor. Processing a manuscript is like cooking a specific dish, and you should take the trouble to do it thoroughly. This process includes not only finding out the writing purpose of the manuscript from a macro perspective, but also checking the relevance between the manuscript and the publication or even the column, that is, checking whether the content of the manuscript fits with the positioning of the publication, and then seeing which column the manuscript is most suitable for according to the specific content. In addition, the manuscript with strong timeliness depends on whether it is suitable for publication in this issue and so on. When these problems are solved, it's time to edit the specific manuscript.
If a manuscript in your hand is exactly what you want, then your review is over and you should edit it. This is our most important task. The relationship between this job and cooking is roughly as follows: first, choose the right dishes and wash them well. Choosing and washing vegetables is nothing more than removing useless things from the dishes, and so is the first procedure of editing the manuscript, that is, deleting all useless parts of the manuscript, such as some rhetoric, so that it will not be edited again. Second, cooking is very important. We should not only have a comprehensive grasp of the concept, main content and logical structure of the manuscript, but also carefully sort out whether the words and expressions are standardized. It's easy to say, but it's really difficult to do. After a dish is fried, if you want to have a good effect, you should give it a good name. Another important task of the editor is to give the article a "dish name"-a good title. The title is the eye of the article, and a good title can attract more readers' attention. There is a lot of knowledge in it, so let's talk about it later.
By the way, cooking needs to prepare some tools such as knives and chopping boards, and editing also needs some tools. The Modern Chinese Dictionary (5th edition) just published in July this year is an authoritative reference book. You should buy one. It is also necessary to prepare laws and standards promulgated by some countries, such as the use of figures in publications, the use of punctuation marks, the general principles of quantity, unit and conformity, and the first batch of variant characters promulgated by the State Language Committee (this thing is very important and must be available).
Orderly Service —— On Column Setting and Arrangement
The dishes on a table should not be placed at sixes and sevens, let alone at sixes and sevens, which is the same as the column design of publications. The guests came. After reading the menu and ordering the menu, the dishes were served, followed by soup, staple food and finally some fruits. The column order of our publication should also be orderly and basically fixed, and it is not allowed to set columns because of manuscripts. The specific method of "Hebei Hydrology" is: there should be a preface or a brief introduction of this issue at the beginning of the publication, followed by a table of contents, which is convenient for readers to grasp the leading content of this issue, just like a guest looking at a menu, knowing what this issue has and what he wants to see. After the table of contents, some important columns should be given priority in the text. For example, columns reflecting major policies and events of the unit should be compiled in front, and some important articles should be compiled in these columns. This is like serving a big dish. There must be several big dishes or even signature dishes in each issue, otherwise no one will read their publications in a few days. Just like serving soup, southerners attach great importance to soup, which can bring people a lot of nutrition and is easy to absorb. Our work experience and technical discussion column is a pot of soup, from which we can learn working methods and skills. The column reflecting the working and living conditions of hydrologists is placed in the back position, just like eating staple food. This kind of column is very close to the ordinary life of workers. Although there are not many tricks, it is essential for everyone to solve the problem of eating enough. For some literary manuscripts, they should be put at the end and decorated, just like a fruit platter. Although you can't fill your stomach, it can also bring some freshness and pleasure to people and leave a good impression.
Color, Taste, Shape and Nutrition —— On Layout Design
For the layout design of a specific manuscript, just as a good dish needs not only color, fragrance and nutrition, but also shape, publications also pay attention to layout design. On the premise that we don't have color printing, layout design mainly solves the harmonious relationship among black, white and gray (black refers to index questions, photos and black lines, white refers to spaces between words and lines, and gray refers to words). Black is the soul of newspaper layout. Without black, it seems that you can't sleep. Pay attention to the stimulating effect of black. White is a page of life, and the lack of white makes people breathless. When designing a page, paying attention to the area, spacing and contrast of black and white is an important link to form a one-sided level. Gray is the flesh and blood of the layout. A layout lacking gray is too noisy and has too strong contrast, losing its credibility and information component. Too dense, like a black pimple, very uncomfortable; The row is too thin, leaving too much white space, which seems loose. Layout design is to use the language of the layout to reflect the aesthetic feeling, but also reflects the importance and Excellence of the manuscript. In addition, pay attention to the use of fonts. The general principle is that the text should be in Song style and the titles can be flexible and diverse. However, the titles of some important articles, such as the working ideas of the unit, should be solemn and concise, using bold and song typeface. Review articles and important articles, such as commentator's articles and editors' notes, and wipe them; Literary articles can be mastered flexibly; No matter the title or the text, it is forbidden to use traditional Chinese characters.
Taste salty and sweet —— On proofreading and verification
I have heard such a story that there is a custom in a place. When a new daughter-in-law comes in, she must cook and prepare dishes for the guests on the wedding day. On this day, in a newly-married family, the bride was very conceited in cooking, and the groom stood by, insisting that every dish should be tasted first, so in this way, one bite at a time, one dish at a time, and all the guests praised its delicious food. One of the dishes is sweet and sour pork ribs. Zhang Sanxian tasted it first and cheered loudly. He said it was delicious. I'll eat a plate first. Say that finish, just bite by bite. The bride was very angry at the groom's gluttony, but she was speechless and had to cook another dish. In the evening, when all the guests left, the bride angrily asked the groom why he was greedy. The groom said, I knew you were going to wronged me. It's a good thing I left one. Just try it. The bride ate a piece, frowned, spat out ribs, blushed and said, I used salt as sugar. Salt is sometimes mistaken for sugar, so is our publication. This requires us to work hard on verification and proofreading. There is a famous saying in the western press: "If your mother says she loves you, please check if it is true!" A competent editor always attaches great importance to verifying relevant details. For things you are not sure about, you can look up information, consult a dictionary or consult relevant professionals. Don't write them off, but read them from beginning to end. Proofreading is equally important. The publishing industry requires "three schools and one reading". We are short of hands, but it is necessary to proofread it carefully twice.
Cooking is a hard job. It's foggy all day, and it's even worse to stay in front of the fire in summer. But a chef has the advantage of being a chef, that is, he can taste every dish before serving, whether it is delicacies or home cooking. Being an editor is like being a chef. There are ups and downs. In daily work, although editors often feel dizzy and their glasses are getting thicker and thicker all day, every time they open letters or emails, they can always catch a glimpse of the author's articles, especially good articles, which always makes editors happy. This is the so-called "reluctance".