英文科研写作的风格
Highlights from Chapters 4 <<On Writing Well>> by William Zinsser
1.
If the nails are weak, your house will collapse. If your verbs are weak and your syntax is rickety, your sentences will fall apart.
2.
There is no style store; style is organic to the person doing the writing, as much a part of him as his hair, or, if he is bald, his lack of it.
3.
Readers want the person who is talking to them to sound genuine. Therefore a fundamental rule is: be yourself.
4.
No rule, however, is harder to follow. It requires writers to do two things that by their metabolism are impossible. They must relax, and they must have confidence.
5.
No wonder you tighten; you are so busy thinking of your awesome responsibility to the finished article that you can’t even start.
6.
Writers are obviously at their most natural when they write in the first person. Writing is an intimate transaction between two people, conducted on paper, and it will go well to the extent that it retains its humanity. Therefore I urge people to write in the first person and put up a fight.
7.
Style is tied to the psyche, and writing has deep psychological roots. The reasons why we express ourselves as we do, or fail to express ourselves because of “writer’s block,” is partly buried in the subconscious mind.
8.
Sell yourself, and your subject will exert its own appeal. Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.
9.
“Who am I writing for?” It’s a fundamental question, and it has a fundamental answer: You are writing for yourself. Don’t try to visualize the great mass audience. You are writing primarily to please yourself, and if you go about it with enjoyment you will also entertain the readers who are worth writing for.
10.
In terms of craft, there’s no excuse for losing readers through sloppy workmanship. First, work hard to master the tools. Simplify, prune and strive for order. Think of this as a mechanical act, and soon your sentences will become cleaner.