The Day You Became A Better Writer 成为更好的写作者

I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in “business writing.” I couldn’t believe how simple it was. I’ll tell you the main tricks here so you don’t have to waste a day in class.

在参加了为期一天的 "商业写作 "课程后，我从一个糟糕的作家变成了一个好作家。

我简直不敢相信它是如此简单。我在这里告诉你主要的技巧，这样你就不必在课堂上浪费一天时间了。

Business writing is about clarity and persuasion.

商业写作是关于清晰度和说服的。

The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive.

主要技术是保持简单。简单的写作很有说服力。

A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don’t fight it.

五句中的一个好的论点比一百句话中的精彩论点更能动摇人们。不要违背它。

Simple means getting rid of extra words.

简单意味着删除多余的词汇。

Don’t write, “He was very happy” when you can write “He was happy.” You think the word “very” adds something. It doesn’t. Prune your sentences.

当你可以写“他是快乐的”时，不要写成“他是非常快乐的” 。

你认为「非常」这个词增加了一些东西。其实并没有，请修剪你的句子。

Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words. For humor, don’t say “drink” when you can say “swill.”

幽默写作很像商业写作，它需要保持简单，区别在于词语的选择。 关于幽默，当你能说「吨吨吨」时，不要说「喝」。

Write short sentences. Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren’t as smart as you’d think.

写短句。避免在一句话中包含多个想法。读者并不像你想象的那么聪明。（hhhh）

Learn how brains organize ideas. Readers comprehend “the boy hit the ball” quicker than “the ball was hit by the boy.”

了解大脑如何组织思想。读者理解“男孩打了球”比理解“球被男孩打了”更快。

Both sentences mean the same, but it’s easier to imagine the object (the boy) before the action (the hitting).

这两个句子的意思相同，但在动作（打球）之前更容易想象出对象（男孩）。

All brains work that way. (Notice I didn’t say, “That is the way all brains work”?)

所有的大脑都是这样工作的。（注意到了吗？我没有这样说：“这就是所有大脑的工作方式”）

That’s it. You just learned 80% of the rules of good writing. You’re welcome.

搞定，你刚刚学会了80%的良好写作规则。

鞭炮的bb：这是Naval提到的一篇关于写作的文章，有点远古，但都是大实话！我很喜欢。

原文链接：

https://twitter.com/naval

The Day You Became A Better Writer

https://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/06/the_day_you_bec.html