1.Don't Use Adverbs 1.不要用副詞 The adverb is not your friend. Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They’re the ones that usually end in -ly. With adverbs, the writer usually tells us he or she is afraid he/she isn’t expressing himself/herself clearly, that he or she is not getting the point or the picture across. 副詞并不是你的朋友，副詞是用來修飾動詞，形容詞或其它副詞的。它們通常以ly結(jié)尾。作者通常用副詞來表達那些自己無法解釋清楚的意思及表明的觀點。 There are numerous usage "rules" regarding the placement of adverbs in prose: one shouldn't split a compound verb or infinitive with them (so no "to boldly go" or "must be heartily congratulated"); 關(guān)于在散文中放置有太多的用法規(guī)則了：我們不應(yīng)該讓副詞出現(xiàn)在復(fù)合動詞或動詞不定式中，因而我們不能說"to boldly go"或"must be heartily congratulated"。 One must place them closest to the word they are modifying (so no "Quickly the news anchor corrected himself"; go with "The news anchor quickly corrected himself"); 我們必須要把它放在離其所要修飾的詞最近的地方（所以我們不能說"Quickly the news anchor corrected himself"，而應(yīng)該是"The news anchor quickly corrected himself"）。 One shouldn't start a sentence with them, especially if the adverb in question is hopefully; 我們不能把副詞放在句首，尤其是“hopefully”這個詞。 One should know when to use a flat adverb (like quick in "move quick" and safe in "drive safe") and when to use an inflected -ly adverb (like "quickly move aside" and "safely drive the truck"); 我們應(yīng)當(dāng)知道什么時候用單純形副詞（像是 “move quick”中的“quick”,“drive safe”中的“safe”）什么時候用加ly的副詞（像是"quickly move aside"中的“quickly”和"safely drive the truck"中的“safely”）2. Never Use the Passive Voice 2.不要用被動語態(tài) Never use the passive where you can use the active. 能用主動語態(tài)的話就不要用被動語態(tài) English verbs have two voices: active and passive. We use the active voice in sentences like this one, and it shows who is doing the acting (we are) and what is being acted on (the active voice). But the passive voice is often used in more formal sentences, like this one, where the actor—here, the invisible writer of this sentence, who is the one using the passive voice—is hidden from view. Here are a few examples of sentences written in the active voice and then recast in the passive voice:英語的動詞有2種語態(tài)：主動語態(tài)和被動語態(tài)。我們在本句中就使用了主動語態(tài)，它能體現(xiàn)誰（我們）在進行動作，什么動作（主動語態(tài)）在被進行。但是被動語態(tài)卻更常在正式場合中使用，像這句，演員在哪里-這里，這句話的隱形作者，也就是使用被動語態(tài)的這個人-從當(dāng)前默默隱去了。以下的幾個例子，都是主動語態(tài)的，并且改寫成了被動語態(tài)： The teacher told us to use the active voice. vs We were told to use the active voice. 老師告訴我們要使用主動語態(tài) 和 我們被老師告知要使用主動語態(tài)。 The police questioned the suspect. vs The suspect was questioned. 警察詢問了嫌疑人 和嫌疑人被警察詢問了。 I made a mistake. vs Mistakes were made. 我犯了一個錯誤 和 錯誤被犯了 You'll notice that the passive voice seems to distance an action from its perpetrator, or it makes the thing being acted on ("we," "the suspect," and "mistakes" above) more important than the doer. For this reason, the passive voice is very common in more formal writing, where the authors want to keep the perpetrator of the action or the speaker distant. 你會發(fā)現(xiàn)，被動語態(tài)使得一個行動和行動者分離開來，或是動作被進行的一方（“我們”“嫌疑人”和以上的“錯誤”）顯得比進行動作的一方更加重要。因此，被動語態(tài)在正式寫作中比較常見，作者想要讓進行動作的一方或說話人能產(chǎn)生一種距離感。3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. 3.永遠不要用除了 “said”的動詞來進行對話 The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with "she asseverated," and had to stop reading to get the dictionary. 對話的范疇屬于人物，動詞是作者非常關(guān)心的。但是，“said”這詞遠遠不及嘟囔，喘息，警告，撒謊等詞更具侵入性。我曾經(jīng)注意到瑪麗•麥卡錫用“她鄭重地聲明”來結(jié)束了一個對話，那時我不得不停止閱讀去查了字典。 This is a rule that is often repeated, something that is supposedly the province of "showing, not telling." But this is less a rule of writing and more of a personal preference of Leonard's. 這是一個經(jīng)常被提及的規(guī)則，有時其職責(zé)據(jù)稱是“要顯示，而不是講述”。但這不太像寫作的規(guī)則反正更像是倫納德的個人喜好。 Of course, lots of these non-said dialogue markers are almost as old as said itself is. Check your dictionary and you’ll see that dialogue verbs like crow, yell, whisper, and groan are contemporaries of said and had ample use in Old English as well as in Modern English. 當(dāng)然了，這些非言語類的對話標識本身也像“said”這詞一樣的老。查你的字典看看，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些對話動詞比如，crow,啼叫，yell叫喊，whisper低語，和groan咆哮雖都是當(dāng)代的言語詞，但在古英語和現(xiàn)代英語中都有著廣泛的應(yīng)用。4.Omit Needless Words 4.刪掉多余的單詞 Along with advice about the passive voice and keeping your writing in the same verb tense is this often-quoted axiom: omit needless words. 和在寫作中對被動語態(tài)的建議及要保持時態(tài)一致一樣被經(jīng)常引用的還有：刪掉多余的單詞。 The question is, of course, what’s a needless word and who gets to say? Take this paragraph: 那么問題就是，什么叫多余的單詞，誰說了算？我們拿下面這段來舉例： Sitting beside the road, watching the wagon mount the hill toward her, Lena thinks, “I have come from Alabama: a fur piece. All the way from Alabama a-walking. A fur piece.” Thinking although I have not been quite a month on the road I am already in Mississippi, further from home than I have ever been before. I am now further from Doane’s Mill than I have been since I was twelve years old. 坐在路邊，看著貨車爬上了她這邊的山丘，莉娜心想，“我來自于阿拉巴馬這么一個皮毛之地。阿拉巴馬所有的路都必須得步行。一個皮毛之地啊�！北M管我離家還不到一個月，我已經(jīng)到了密西西比，比我以前任何時候都離家遠。這比我12歲那年離多恩的磨房要更遠了。 If we have words in our language (and our dictionaries), then it is because they are needful, not needless. And though we tend to focus on the meaning of words, we can’t deny that they can have extra-semantic uses. 如果我們的語言中（字典中）出現(xiàn)單詞，那是因為它們是必需的。盡管我們關(guān)注的常常是單詞的意思，但我們不可否認它們也有額外的語義作用。5.Avoid Colloquial Language 5.避免口語化 Slang is everywhere. When we use it in everyday life to communicate with friends informally, it’s usually fine. In fact, sounding too formal around our friends is kinda weird. Slang, or colloquial language—to use the formal term—is not appropriate in academic writing and many professional communication situations. 俚語無處不在。在非正式場合我們跟朋友們進行日常交流時，用俚語還是不錯的。實際上，和朋友在一起時用很正式的語言交流有一點奇怪。俚語，或是口語-用在正式的場合下-出現(xiàn)在學(xué)術(shù)寫作和許多專業(yè)溝通時卻是很不合時宜的。 Some writing teachers tell their students to avoid certain classes of words: slang, jargon, new words whose meaning isn’t apparent. The idea behind this is that you don’t want the words you use to snag the audience’s attention and detract from the point you’re making. This is a guideline that many of us learn as we go through school, where most of our writing is more formal and academic, and it’s a good guideline to follow in academic and formal writing. 一些寫作老師告訴他們的學(xué)生要避開特定的某類單詞：俚語，術(shù)語，意思模糊的新詞。言下之意就是，你也不想在使用這些詞語時吸引了讀者的注意力，卻使得他們在理解你的觀點時分了心。這是我們很多人在學(xué)校學(xué)到的寫作原則，在學(xué)校里我們大部分的寫作還是比較正式且學(xué)術(shù)的，在學(xué)術(shù)和正式的寫作時，這個原則非常受用。 But context is everything. Sometimes writers and editors will forget that not all writing is academic writing, and they’ll expand on the rule a bit to say that one shouldn’t use words that aren’t entered into a dictionary (regardless of what one is writing).但是內(nèi)容至上。有時候作者和編輯會忘記并非所有的寫作都跟學(xué)術(shù)有關(guān)，他們會闡述說不要用字典里不存在的單詞。（不管是在寫什么）。 Dictionaries follow the language. A new word appears; people begin to use that word more and more; it shows up consistently in edited prose; we eventually enter it into the dictionary. If writers are supposed to avoid words that aren’t entered into the dictionary, then the whole process falls apart at the third step. 字典是追隨著語言的。新詞出現(xiàn)了，人們用的越來越多了，它在編選的散文中一直出現(xiàn)著，新單詞才被收錄進字典。如果作者們都避免用字典里沒有的單詞，那么這整個過程在第三步時就崩塌了。 In short, keep your audience in mind, but certainly use words that aren’t in the dictionary. We like reading them as much as we like collecting them. 簡言之，我們要把讀者放在心里，但我們肯定是要用到字典里沒有出現(xiàn)過的詞。我們喜歡閱讀且收集它們。
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