托福寫作的五條“偽規(guī)則”

Whether we're experienced writers or just beginners, we all follow certain rules. Not all rules of writing, however, are equally valid or useful.

無論我們是經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的作家還是寫作新手，我們都遵循一定的規(guī)則來寫作。但是，并非所有的規(guī)則都有用。

Before applying the principles of effective writing, we need to find out which rules are worth taking seriously and which ones aren't really rules at all. Here we'll look at five phony rules of writing. Behind each one lies a reasonably good idea, but there are also good reasons why these so-called rules should sometimes be broken.

在使用有效的寫作規(guī)則之前，我們先要分清哪些規(guī)則值得認(rèn)真學(xué)習(xí)，而哪些規(guī)則根本算不上規(guī)則。在此，我們著重了解五條偽規(guī)則。每條偽規(guī)則背后都有值得借鑒的地方，但是有時(shí)我們也不必遵循這些所謂的規(guī)則。

01

Never use the first person pronoun ("I" or "we") in an essay.

不要在文章里使用第一人稱(“我”和“我們”)

Our choice of a personal pronoun should depend on what we're writing about and our reason for writing. In an essay based on personal experience, for example, the I point of view is not only natural but practically unavoidable. (Substituting "one" and "oneself" for "I" and "myself" usually leads to awkward writing.)

人稱的選擇應(yīng)基于寫作的內(nèi)容及原因。比如，在一篇描述個(gè)人經(jīng)歷的文章中，第一人稱視角不僅自然，而且無可避免。(用其他人稱代替第一人稱則顯得奇怪。)

On the other hand, critical essays, term papers, and lab reports are commonly presented from the third-person point of view (he, she, it, they) because the subject of the paper, not the writer, should be the focus of attention.

另一方面，評(píng)論性文章、學(xué)期論文、實(shí)驗(yàn)報(bào)告通常采用第三人稱(他、她、它、他們、她們、它們)，因?yàn)檫@類文章的重點(diǎn)在內(nèi)容上而非作者。

2

An essay must contain five paragraphs.文章必須包含五個(gè)段落

Although most essays contain a beginning, a middle, and an end, there's no official limit on the number of paragraphs that should appear in an essay.

盡管大多數(shù)文章包含開頭、主體、結(jié)尾部分，但是文章到底應(yīng)該有幾段卻沒有一個(gè)具體的規(guī)定。

Many instructors use the five-paragraph model to introduce students to the basic structure of an essay. Likewise, some standardized essay exams appear to encourage the simple five-paragraph theme. But you should feel free to move beyond the basics (and beyond five paragraphs), especially when dealing with complex subjects.

許多老師用五段論模型向?qū)W生介紹寫作的基本結(jié)構(gòu)。同樣的，標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化寫作考試也喜歡簡(jiǎn)單的五段論文章。但是，拋開這個(gè)基本的框架(拋開五段論)可以讓你的寫作過程更加隨心所欲，尤其是當(dāng)你在解決復(fù)雜的問題時(shí)。

3

A paragraph must contain between three and five sentences.每一段應(yīng)包含三到五句話

Just as there's no limit to the number of paragraphs that may appear in an essay, no rule exists regarding the number of sentences that make up a paragraph. If you check out the works by professional writers, you'll find paragraphs as short as a single word and as long as two or three pages.

就像文章沒有固定的段落數(shù)一樣，每一段中要寫幾句話也沒有嚴(yán)格的規(guī)定。如果你看看專業(yè)作者的文章，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)有的段落短到只有一個(gè)詞，而有的段落則長(zhǎng)達(dá)兩到三頁。

Instructors often encourage beginning writers to build paragraphs with at least three to five sentences. The purpose of this advice is to help students understand that most body paragraphs need to be developed with specific details that prove or support the main idea of a paragraph.

老師經(jīng)常鼓勵(lì)初學(xué)者把每段話寫上至少三到五句話。這個(gè)建議的目的是幫助學(xué)生了解大部分的主體段需要用具體的細(xì)節(jié)展開來支撐該段的主要論點(diǎn)。

4

Never begin a sentence with "And" or "But."不要用“并且”和“但是”作為段落開頭

It's true that most often the conjunctions "and" and "but" are used to join words, phrases, and clauseswithin a sentence. But on occasion these simple transitions can be used effectively to show that a fresh sentence is building on a previous thought ("And") or shifting to a contrary point of view ("But").

雖然and(和，并且)，but(但是)這一類連詞可以在句中連接兩個(gè)詞語、短語以及從句，但是，有時(shí)這些簡(jiǎn)單的過渡詞能有效地告訴讀者這一句話是建立在上一句的想法上的(用and的時(shí)候)，或者這一句話與上一句話意思相反(用but的時(shí)候)。

Because "and" and "but" are so easy to use (and to overwork) at the beginning of a sentence, instructors often discourage students from using them there at all. But you know better.

因?yàn)閍nd和but很容易在段落開頭使用(也容易濫用)，老師經(jīng)常會(huì)完全反對(duì)學(xué)生使用。但你現(xiàn)在知道這樣不對(duì)了。

5

Never repeat a word or a phrase in the same sentence or paragraph.不要在同一句話或同一段中重復(fù)詞語或短語

A sound rule of writing is to avoid needless repetition. No good comes from boring our readers. On occasion, however, repetition of a key word or phrase can be an effective strategy for focusing the reader's attention on a main idea. And it's certainly better to repeat a word than to indulge in elegant variation.

合理的寫作建議是避免無用的重復(fù)。讓讀者乏味不會(huì)帶來好處。但是，有時(shí)重復(fù)關(guān)鍵詞是個(gè)有效的方法讓讀者的注意力保持在論點(diǎn)上。直接重復(fù)使用某個(gè)詞要比換個(gè)同義詞更好。

Cohesive writing flows smoothly from one sentence to the next, and repeating a key word or phrase can sometimes help us achieve coherence.

流暢的文章從一句話過渡到下一句話時(shí)是十分行云流水的，重復(fù)使用關(guān)鍵詞有時(shí)可以達(dá)到流暢的效果。