英文寫作終極指南：簡潔纔是王道

英文寫作終極指南：簡潔纔是王道！

What is good writing?

什麼樣的文章是好文章？

It depends on what country you're from. We all know what's considered “good writing” in our own country. We grow up immersed in the cadences and sentence structure of the language we were born into, so we think, “That's probably what every country considers good writing; they just use different words.” If only! I once asked a student from Cairo, “What kind of language is Arabic?” She said, “It's all adjectives.”

這取決於你來自何處。我們都知道在自己的國家好文章是什麼樣的。我們從小到大，已經熟知我們母語的抑揚頓挫和句子結構，於是我們認爲，其他國家所謂的好文章也應該是這樣，只不過用的語言不同。要是這樣就好了！我有次問一個來自開羅的學生：“阿拉伯語是什麼樣的語言？”她回答說：“都是形容詞。”

Well, of course it's not all adjectives, but I knew what she meant: it's decorative, it's ornate, it's intentionally pleasing. But all those adjectives and all that decoration would be the ruin of any journalist trying to write good English. No proverbs, please.

當然，不可能都是形容詞，我知道她的意思：阿拉伯語是一種注重雕飾和閱讀快感的語言。但是太多形容詞和太多雕飾都不利於英文的新聞寫作。千萬別使用那麼多諺語。

Spanish also comes with a heavy load of beautiful baggage that will smother any journalist writing in English. 西班牙語也一樣，有太多不利於英文寫作的修飾語。

English is not as musical as Spanish, or Italian, or French, or as ornamental as Arabic, or as vibrant as some of your native languages. But I'm hopelessly in love with English because it's plain and it's strong. It has a huge vocabulary of words that have precise shades of meaning; there's no subject, however technical or complex, that can't be made clear to any reader in good English - if it's used right. Unfortunately, there are many ways of using it wrong. Those are the damaging habits I want to warn you about today.

英語不像西班牙語、意大利語或者法語那樣富有音律美，也不像阿拉伯語那樣華麗，可能也不像你們的母語那樣生動鮮活，但我就是無可救藥地熱愛英語，因爲它平實有力，擁有海量意義鮮明的詞彙。描述一樣事物，不管多高科技多複雜，在標準英語中讀者都看懂 - 如果描述準確。不幸的是很多人都不能正確使用英語。以下就是我希望大家避免的一些錯誤習慣。

First, a little history. The English language is derived from two main sources. One is Latin, the other is Anglo-Saxon. The words derived from Latin are the enemy - they will strangle and suffocate everything you write. The Anglo-Saxon words will set you free.

首先，瞭解英語的歷史。英語來源於拉丁語和安格魯-撒克遜語。來自拉丁語的單詞是我們的宿敵 - 它們會使你的寫作佶屈聱牙。安格魯-撒克遜語才能解開你的束縛。

How do those Latin words do their strangling and suffocating? In general they are long, pompous nouns that end in-ion - like implementation and maximization and communication (five syllables long!) - or that end in-ent - like development and fulfillment. Those nouns express a vague concept or an abstract idea, not a specific action that we can picture. Here's a typical sentence: “Prior to the implementation of the financial enhancement.” That means “Before we fixed our money problems.”

拉丁詞語是怎麼束縛你的文體的呢？一般來說都是些長並華而不實的單詞，以ion結尾，像implementation、maximization、 communication (五個音節那麼長！)或者以ent結尾，像development和fulfillment。這些詞語描述的都是一個模糊或抽象的概念，不是我們能夠明確說明的行動。一個典型句子就是：財政強化計劃實施之前。其實就是說：解決錢的問題之前。

Believe it or not, this is the language that people in authority in America routinely use. They think those long Latin words make them sound important. It no longer rains in America; your TV weatherman will tell that you we're experiencing a precipitation probability situation.

不管你信不信，這些就是美國的高層人士常用語。他們認爲這些長長的拉丁單詞能突顯自己的身份。美

國已經沒有下雨這一說了，天氣預報員只會提到降水概率這個詞。

I'm sure all of you, newly arrived in America, have already been driven crazy trying to figure out the instructions for ordering a cell phone or connecting your computer, or applying for a bank loan or a health insurance policy, and you assume that those of us who were born here can understand this stuff. I assure you that we don't understand it either.

我相信你們所有人剛來美國的時候，都曾爲訂購手機、上網、申請銀行貸款、購買健康保險的流程說明而抓狂，並認爲我們美國人讀得懂這些東西。其實我們一樣看不懂。

Those long Latin usages have so infected everyday language in America that you might well think, “If that's how people write who are running the country, that's how I'm supposed to write.” It's not. Let me read you two typical letters I recently received in the mail. (I keep letters like this and save them in a folder that I call “Bullshit File.”)

這些拉丁詞在日常英語中的大量使用也許讓你產生錯覺，認爲“如果統領這個國家的人是用這些詞寫作的，那麼我也應該這樣寫作。”不是這樣的。我來給你們讀兩封此類典型的電子郵件吧。(我會保存這一類的郵件，放在一個命名爲“廢話”的文件夾裏。)

The first one is from the president of a private club in New York. It says, “Dear member: The board of governors has spent the past year considering proactive efforts that will continue to professionalize the club and to introduce efficiencies that we will be implementing throughout 2009.” That means they're going to try to make the club run better

第一封來自紐約一傢俬人俱樂部的老闆：“親愛的會員：在過去的一年裏董事會一直在考慮如何做出更積極的努力以繼續增強俱樂部的職能以及2009年將落實的各項便利措施。”這其實表示說他們將努力使俱樂部運營得更好。

A

“As we a Data conversions “正如我們之前所商談過的，我們於九月底完成了系統轉換。數據轉換還牽涉了額外步驟和調節措施。

[translation: it took longer than we thought it would to make our office operate better]

翻譯：改進我們的工作所花費的時間比預計要長。

We apologize if you were inconvenienced as we completed the verification process.

如果在覈準系統期間您感到不方便，我們對此致以歉意。

[we hope we've got it right now]

翻譯：我們希望現在一切正常。

Further enhancements will be introduced in the next calendar quarter.

下一季度我們將繼續改進。

[we're still working on it]. ”

翻譯：我們還在研究這事。

Notice those horrible long Latin words:

看看這些嚇人的拉丁詞：

mmunicated, conversion, reconciliation, enhancements, verification.

商談，轉換，調節，改進，覈准。

So if those are the bad nouns, what are the good nouns? The good nouns are the thousands of short, simple, infinitely old Anglo-Saxon nouns that express the fundamentals of everyday life: house, home, child, chair, bread, milk, sea, sky, earth, field, grass, road … words that are in our bones, words that resonate with the oldest truths. Don't try to find a noun that you think sounds more impressive or “literary.” Short Anglo-Saxon nouns are your second-best tools as a journalist writing in English.

如果這些都是不合適的詞語，那麼哪些纔是合適的詞呢？就是能夠表達基本日常生活的幾千個簡短而古

老的安格魯-撒克遜名詞：房子，家庭，孩子，椅子，麪包，牛奶，大海，天空，大地，田野，小草，馬路??這些我們銘記於心、迴響着古老真理的詞。不要試圖找一個你覺得更讓人印象深刻或更“文學”的詞。短小的安格魯-撒克遜詞是你在進行新聞寫作時第二位的好幫手。

What are your best tools? Your best tools are short, plain Anglo-Saxon verbs. I mean active verbs, not passive verbs. If you could write an article using only active verbs, your article would automatically have clarity and warmth and vigor.

你最好的幫手又是什麼呢？簡短平易的安格魯-撒克遜動詞。我說的是主動態動詞，不是被動態。如果你能寫一篇全用主動態的文章，那肯定是一篇清晰、親切又有力的好文章。

One of my favorite writers is Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau's writing moves with simple strength because he uses one active verb after another to push his meaning along. Here's a famous sentence from him:

Henry David Thoreau是我最喜歡的作家之一。Thoreau的文筆簡潔而遒勁，因爲他總是使用主動態來傳情達意。下面是他寫的一個很有名的句子：

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of nature, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

我去森林是因爲我希望在思考中生活，只面對最真實的自然本質。我想看我是不是能學到自然教與我的東西，不希望在我臨死時發現自己從未真正活過。

Now let me turn that sentence into the passive:

現在把主動態都換成被動態：

A decision was made to go to the woods because of a desire for a deliberate existence and for exposure to only the essential facts of life, and for possible instruction in its educational elements, and because of a concern that at the time of my death the absence of a meaningful prior experience would be apprehended.

由一個于思考中生活並面對真實的自然本質的想法催生出前往森林的決定，能夠受教其中也是原因之一，此外還出於對臨死時懊悔沒有真正活過的擔憂之情。

All the life has been taken out of the sentence. But what's the biggest thing I've taken out of that sentence? I've taken Thoreau out of that sentence. He's nowhere to be seen.

這個句子立馬變得沒有生機。但是我從中剝離的最大元素是什麼？是Thoreau。整句中完全不見說話人的身影。

So fall in love with active verbs. They are your best friends.

總之，建立起你與主動態動詞的關係，它們纔是你最好的朋友。