Have you ever stopped and thought about the quality of your writing? Are you sure it’s considered to be good writing? Are you getting the right message across, or are your readers confused as to what you’re trying to accomplish?
你有沒有停下來想一想自己的寫作質(zhì)量?你確定你的寫作技巧比較好?你寫的內(nèi)容別人能正確理解嗎?還是說你的讀者對你到底想表達什么內(nèi)容感到迷惑?
1. Express, not impress.
是表達,而不是印象
Good writing is not about the number of words you’ve produced, the quality of the adjectives you’ve written or the size of your font–it’s about the number of lives you’ve touched! It’s whether or not your reader understands you. It’s about expression, not impression.
寫得好不好不在于你用了多少詞、你用的形容詞的質(zhì)量或你使用的字體大小——而在于你寫的東西感動了多少人!寫得好不好是看你的讀者是否理解你。它是關(guān)于表達,而不是印象。
2. Simple sentences work best.
簡單的句子效果最好。
示例:
- The only possible option in order to accelerate the growth of the food industry is to focus on the fact that the target market of this business demands convenience, competence and cost-effectiveness.
-要想加快食品行業(yè)的發(fā)展,最可能的方式是聚焦于目標市場對便利性、管轄權(quán)和成本效益的要求上。
- Better: The food industry can grow faster if food trucks focus on convenience, competence and cost-effectiveness.
-更好的寫法:如果食品交易聚焦于便利性、管轄權(quán)和成本效益,那么食品行業(yè)會發(fā)展得更快。
3. Active, rather than passive.
主動,而不是被動
示例:
- The offering price was established by the real estate vendor and the negotiation process was initiated by the real estate buyer.
-定價是由房地產(chǎn)商決定的,協(xié)商過程是由購房者發(fā)起的。
- Better: The real estate vendor set the offering price, and the real estate buyer started negotiating.
更好的寫法:房地產(chǎn)商定價,購房者展開協(xié)商。
4. Know who your target audience is.
了解目標受眾
Who are you writing for? Who do you expect to read your article, your book, or your blog post? Will they care about what you’re talking about? Will they understand the message that you’re trying to get across? Good writing isn’t generic; it’s specific because it’s targeted towards a group of people with something common binding them.
你為誰寫作?你期望誰來讀你的文章、你的書或你的博客?他們關(guān)心你寫的內(nèi)容嗎?他們會理解你想表達的信息嗎?好的寫作不是泛泛的;而是具體的,因為它針對的是一群有共同特征的人。
5. Read it aloud.
大聲朗讀
Reading your works out loud allows you to notice something that you might not have noticed if you were just reading it silently. Go on, read them out loud now. Also, try to listen to your work objectively as you read it. Are you making sense? Or are you simply stringing a couple of words together just to fill a gap?
把你的作品朗讀出來,這會讓你注意到默讀時所忽略的內(nèi)容。現(xiàn)在就把它們朗讀出來吧。另外,當你朗讀時,試著客觀地去傾聽你的作品。你寫的有理嗎?還是只是把幾個詞湊在一起來填補空白?
6. Avoid using jargon as much as possible.
盡量避免使用行話。
Not everyone in your audience will know what a “bull market” is. Not everyone knows that “pyrexia” is basically the same thing as “a fever”. And surely you can come up with a better term for high blood pressure than “hypertension”?
不是每個讀者都知道“牛市”是什么。不是每個人都知道“pyrexia” (注:發(fā)熱的臨床用語)和“fever”基本上是一個意思。當然,你可以造一個比"hypertension"更好的詞來表示高血壓。
7. In terms of words, size matters.
詞的長短也很重要。
Please, don’t strain yourself by browsing the Internet, looking for complicated and fancy-sounding words. Less is always more.
請不要讓自己忙于瀏覽互聯(lián)網(wǎng)來尋找復(fù)雜及花哨的詞。少即是多。
示例:
- The man gave me a look so sharp that I sincerely believed it could pierce my heart and see my innermost fears.
-那名男子看我的眼神如此的犀利,我真的相信它能刺穿我的心,看清我內(nèi)心的恐懼。
- Better: The man glared at me.
更好的寫法:那名男子瞪著我。
8. Being positive is better than being negative–even in writing!
肯定比否定要更好——即使在寫作中!
示例:
- I did not think that the unbelievable would not occur.
-我不認為令人難以置信的事情不會發(fā)生。
- Better: I thought the unbelievable would happen.
-更好的寫法:我認為令人難以置信的事情是會發(fā)生的。
9. Set aside time for revising and rewriting–after you’ve written the whole content.
留下時間來修改和重寫——在你寫完全部內(nèi)容后。
I’m not suggesting that you should edit each time you’ve finished a paragraph–that would just be tedious. What I’m telling is that you should first give yourself some time to finish the content prior to editing. Write away. Don’t edit yet. Don’t focus on the grammar yet. Don’t worry about the syntax, the synonym, the antonym or the order that you’re using.
我不是建議你每次寫完一段話就修改一下——那樣會很乏味。我建議你在編輯之前,應(yīng)該給自己一些時間來完成寫作的內(nèi)容。寫下來。先不要編輯。不要注重語法。不要擔心語法、同義詞、反義詞或你用詞的順序。
Write for yourself, but mostly, write for your target audience. Write the message clearly and don’t be afraid to express your thoughts. Don’t censor yourself yet. Let the words flow. Don’t erase what you’ve written yet.
為你自己寫作,但最重要的是,為你的目標受眾寫作。把內(nèi)容清晰地寫下來,不要害怕表達自己的思想。不要審查自己。讓你的文字流動。先不要刪除你所寫的內(nèi)容。
All the editing and the fixing will come later.
編輯內(nèi)容和調(diào)整內(nèi)容可以稍后進行。
10. Write. All the time.
寫下來。每時每刻。
Good writing is simply always writing. Write when you’re sad. Write when you’re scared. Write when you don’t feel like writing.
好的寫作技巧就是一直在寫。悲傷時去寫,害怕時去寫,不想寫的時候還要寫。