美国资深ESL专家教你怎样提高英文写作（三）

今天的英文写作建议跟之前EWIS曾经写给大家的《3招教你写好英文议论文》中提到的建议非常一致：不要追求华丽的辞藻和复杂的句子，要尽量简洁明了。希望大家读完这一篇之后能对这一点有更深刻的认识，并运用到自己的写作当中去。

Learning to write – in English 英文写作的学习——语言的运用

Is there any difference between writing in your language and English? The answer is “no and yes.” If you can get your ideas from your mind into someone else’s mind clearly, quickly, and economically when you write in your language, that will help you when you write in English. However, there are some things that make writing in English different than writing in other languages.

在你用你的母语和英文写作的时候有什么差别吗？这个问题的答案既是肯定又是否定的。如果你在使用自己的母语写作时可以将你的想法清晰、迅速、便捷地传递到其他人的脑海里，那么这将对你的英文写作产生很大的帮助。但是，用英文跟用其他语言来写作还是有一些差别的。

What’s different about writing in English? William Zinsser, who used to teach writing at Yale University, answers this question as well as anyone. Let me summarize it for you.

那么差别到底在哪呢？曾在耶鲁大学教写作课的威廉-辛瑟对这个问题给出了答案，下面我来总结一下。

What is good English? 什么才是好的英语？

Zinsser says that good English is……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.

辛瑟认为好的英语是：“平实而有力的，并且能够用大量不同的词汇来准确表达所写的意思。如果能够正确使用，好的英语能够将任何技术性或是复杂的主题清楚地解释给读者。”

He says that writers need to begin by using short, simple nouns that express the basics of everyday life – house, home, child, chair, bread, milk, sea, sky, earth, field, grass, road. He strongly warns against trying to find “impressive” nouns.

辛瑟认为写作的人在开始的时候需要使用简短的名词来表达日常生活的点滴，比如房屋、家庭、孩子、椅子、面包、牛奶、大海、天空、土地、田野、草原、道路等。他极力反对使用那些“华丽”的辞藻。

Zinsser says that short, plain, active verbs are the writer’s best tools. If you use active verbs, your writing will automatically be clear, warm, and energetic. For an example, read this famous sentence from Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden:

辛瑟还相信那些简短而平实的主动行为动词（注：相对于动词被动形式而言）是写作者最好的工具。当你使用主动行为动词的时候，你的作品自然而然地就变得清晰、温馨，并充满活力。我们可以读一下这个从亨利•大卫•梭罗的《瓦尔登湖》中节选的名句：

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front (face) 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.

“我去到树林是因为我希望自由地生活，去面对大自然最本质的东西，看看我是否能够不去遵循它的规律；我还想看看当我死的时候是否能够发现其实我也生存过。”

Notice the short, active verbs – went, wished, live, front (face), see, learn, teach, die, discover, lived. Now see what happens when Zinsser turns this active sentence into a passive sentence:

请注意这些简短的主动性动词——went, wished, live, front (face), see, learn, teach, die, discover, lived。现在我们来看看当辛瑟将这些主动句变成被动句时所发生的变化：

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.

“由于一种对自由生存和接触到自然本质的愿望，对潜在于自然之中知识的渴求，以及一份对于在死亡之时未曾活出精彩人生的担忧，促使我这个去树林里的决定产生了。”

The sentence slows down. It’s not nearly as clear. And, compared to the original, it’s boring.

很明显，这整个句子的节奏变慢了，句子意思也变得不那么清晰明了。而且相对于原句，这个句子显得很乏味。

Rules for writing good English 用“好英语”写作的法则

Zinsser says there are four rules – he calls them principles – for writing good English:

辛瑟认为用好英语写作有四个法则，他称其为原则：

1. Be clear. If your writing isn’t clear, you might as well not write because no one will understand.

1. 清晰。如果你写不出清晰的作品，那还是不要写了，因为别人也读不懂。

2. Write simply. Simple is good. Don’t try to impress. Be willing to write simple sentences with short words.

2. 简洁。简洁是种美德。不要追求华丽，尝试用简短的词语写成简单的句子。

Listen to the simplicity and clarity of Barack Obama’s writing in his book Dreams from My Father:

我们可以看看奥巴马总统在他的回忆录《我父亲的梦想》中用到的简单而又明了的句子：

At night, lying in bed, I would let the slogans drift away, to be replaced with a series of images, romantic images, of a past I had never known.

“在夜里，我躺在床上让那些无谓的口号离我而去，将它们换成一系列的图像——浪漫的图像，图像里是那些我从来不知道的过去。”

They were of the civil rights movement, mostly, the grainy black-and-white footage that appears every February during Black History Month. . . . A pair of college students . . . placing their orders at a lunch counter teetering on the edge of riot. . . . A county jail bursting with children, their hands clasped together, singing freedom songs.

“这些图像都是关于民权运动的，大部分是那些每年二月份黑人历史月时放映的老旧黑白胶片里的内容。闭上眼，我看见两名大学生在因暴乱而摇晃的餐台上点了两份午餐…...我还看到城市监狱里坐着很多这些孩子，他们紧握彼此的手，唱着自由的歌。”

3. Be brief. Short – words and sentences – are always better than long. Zinsser says that…

3. 简短。简短的词语和句子永远都比冗长的强。辛瑟说过：

…short sentences are better than long sentences. Short words are better than long words. Don’t say currently if you can say now. Don’t say assistance if you can say help. Don’t say numerous if you can say many…. Don’t call someone an individual [five syllables!]; that’s a person, or a man or a woman….

“短句比长句好，短单词比长单词好。如果你能用‘now’就不要用‘currently’；能用‘many’就不要用‘numerous’。不要将一个人称为‘individual ’（这个词有5个音节呢！），称其为‘person’、‘man’或是‘woman’。”

（注：EWIS认为上文所举的这几个例子有些极端，因为这几个词在平常英语文章当中并不少见。但是本文作者的论点是很明显的，那就是短好过长、简单好过复杂，这点EWIS是完全赞成的。）

4. Be human. Be yourself. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. Again, don’t try to impress. Let your readers hear your voice, not someone else’s.

4. 带入情感。做你自己，不要试着去成为别人。需要再次强调的是，不要选择华丽，让你的读者听到你本人的声音，而不是别人的。

When you begin to write 开始写作的时候……

Don’t forget – “simple is good. Short is better than long. Long…nouns are the enemy. Active verbs are your best friend. One thought per sentence.” 不要忘了——“简单就是好，简短好过冗长。冗长的名词是好作品的敌人，主动性动词是你的挚友。一句话只表达一个意思。” You will need to use compound and complex sentences – sometimes. You will need to use passive voice – sometimes. But use them the way you use any other tool – properly and only when they’re needed. 有时候，你也需要使用一些并列句和复杂句以及被动语态。但是它们就像任何其他工具一样，你要知道如何正确的运用，而且只在有需要的时候使用。 - See more at: http://successfulenglish.com/2010/09/learning-to-write-in-english/#sthash.5RceTZMN.dpuf