2015-10-16 ｜【深度好文】英文写作必杀技你值得拥有

【深度好文】英文写作必杀技你值得拥有

2015-10-16

我们一起回想一下最令人印象深刻的名著开头：

“Jesus swept.” 《圣经》

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” 《双城记》

“Call me Ishmael.” 《白鲸记》

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” 《危机》

这些句子有一个共同的特点：简单明了，令人过目不忘。

记得刚开始学习英文时，我们努力牢记那些“高大上”又长又难念的词汇，罗列在作文中，便能轻松得高分。当我们来到美国才发现，无论在学校还是职场，这样写作反而会遭差评。小纽仰天长啸：这到底是为什么？

原来，在英文写作中，

简洁才是王道， Simplicity is king!

Keep it tight. Keep it right. Avoid flabby prose. 保持紧凑，用法正确，别啰嗦。

做到这三点，你的写作能力就会所向披靡。

小纽为大家总结了几个保持写作简洁的方法，拿出来跟大家分享：

简单词汇替代复杂短语

a great number → many
at this point in time → now
despite the fact that → although
for the purpose of → to/for
whether or not → whether
gave approval → approved
came to a realization → realized
due to the fact that → because

简单词汇替代复杂词汇

utilize → use

until such time as → until

during the course of → during

in the event that → if

funding → money

拒绝发明创造

有一些词可能你觉得是存在的，但是其实是你想象出来的，比如下面这些：

irregardless (✗) regardless (✔ )

orientate (✗) orient (✔ )

careful scrutinization (✗) careful scrutiny (✔ )

monetize (✗) make money (✔ )

少用both…and…

当“both…and…”介绍的两个词简单明了时，直接只用“and”即可。

例如：milk and cheese, men and women

当介绍的内容比较复杂，不能一眼辨析时，使用“both…and…”可以提醒读者前方有长难句，请保持警惕！

例如：If we are going to be successful diplomats, we must be both skilled and obvious listeners in all conversations and concise, accurate reporters when we relay valuable new information to our supervisors.

绝不啰嗦

true fact
my personal opinion
free gift
end result
truly excellent/outstanding
very unique
extremely intense

在以上短语中，后面的关键词中已经包含了前面修饰词的意思了，不需赘述。比如，最常见“unique”一次，就有非常特别的意思，本身已经表达了很高的程度，所以不需要在前面加“very”。

好话不说第二遍

each and every one
last and final
any and all
first and foremost
full and complete

以上例子中，只需要用两个词的其中一个，读者就已经能明白意思了，干嘛还要多费口舌？例如，“each and every one ”中只需要用“each one”或者 “every one”就可以了。

好好说话，说明白话

“He’s some kind of football player.” (亲，你需要告诉我他到底是什么样的球员啊？)

“Oh， ya’ know, it was like, and the he goes… ya’ know?” (亲，你想说啥？)

“We all have a kind of tendency to use some extra words here and there and the result is that quite often we have a tendency to put our readers to sleep, as it were.” （亲，读完后你睡着了吗？）

好好说话的版本：“We all have a tendency to use extra words, which will often put our readers to sleep.”（简单干净，棒棒哒）

End

这些小tips，希望对你在英文写作中有所帮助。来，再跟我重复一遍，simplicity is king!

以上大部分内容引自小纽最爱的语法小册子：Please Don’t Do That! – The Pocket Guide to Good Writing。

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