諾貝爾文學獎得主教你寫英語作文

歷屆諾貝爾文學獎得主中，伯特蘭·羅素或許是最多才多藝的一位。他不僅在寫作上有相當高的造詣，還是著名的哲學家、數學家和社會活動家。他的著作包括《西方哲學史》（A History of Western Philosophy ）、《中國問題》（The Problem of China）等。

在《我如何寫作》（How I Write）一文中，羅素對議論文作者提出了三個建議。它們不僅是英語作家們的金科玉律，同樣也適用於參加托福、雅思、GRE考試的英語學習者。

1.Never use a long word if a short word will do.

1.能用短詞就不要用長詞。

2.If you want to make a statement with a great many qualifications, put some of the qualifications in separate sentences.

2.如果想在一句話里加入許多修飾語，請把它們分散到若干個句子中去。

3.Do not let the beginning of your sentence lead the reader to an expectation which is contradicted by the end.

3.不要在句子開頭給讀者某種期待，卻在句末表達相反的意思。

羅素舉了一個例子：

Human beings are completely exempt from undesirable behaviour-patterns only when certain prerequisites, not satisfied except in a small percentage of actual cases, have, through some fortuitous concourse of favourable circumstances, whether congenital or environmental, chanced to combine in producing an individual in whom many factors deviate from the norm in a socially advantageous manner.

他認為改成下面這樣會更簡潔易懂：

All men are scoundrels, or at any rate almost all. The men who are not must have had unusual luck, both in their birth and in their upbringing.

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