The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing——牛津?qū)懽骰局改?/p>

書號：ISBN 0-425-17640-1

版權(quán)說明：英文版原著版權(quán)歸原書作者及出版社所有，以下中文版由徐望麟編譯，僅限于用于個人學(xué)習(xí)。轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處，遵守相關(guān)著作權(quán)法的規(guī)定。

00-Introduction

00-介紹

Two broad assumptions underlie this book: (1)that writing is a rational activity, and (2) that it is a valuable activity.

這本書的基礎(chǔ)是兩個廣泛的假設(shè):（1）寫作是理性活動；（2）寫作是有價值的活動。

To say that writing is rational means nothingmore than that it is an exercise of mind requiring the mastery of techniques anyonecan learn. Obviously, there are limits: one cannot learn to write like Shakespeare or Charles Dickens. You can't become a genius by reading a book.

說寫作是理性的只不過意味著它是一種思維的鍛煉，需要掌握任何人都可以學(xué)習(xí)的技巧。顯然，這是有限制的:一個人不可能學(xué)會像莎士比亞或查爾斯狄更斯那樣寫作。讀書不能使你成為天才。

But you don't have to be a genius to write clear, effective English. You just have to understand what writing involves and to know how to handle words and sentences and paragraphs. That you can learn. If you do, you can communicate what you want to communicate in words other people can understand. This book will help by showing you what good writers do.

但你不必是天才才能寫出清晰、有效的英語。你只需要理解寫作涉及的內(nèi)容（包括什么），知道如何處理單詞、句子和段落。這些你都可以學(xué)習(xí)。如果你這樣做了，你就可以用別人能理解的語言來表達(dá)你想表達(dá)的東西。這本書將向您展示優(yōu)秀作家的作品，對您有幫助。

The second assumption is that writing is worth learning.It is of immediate practical benefit in almost any job or career. Certainly there are many jobs in which you can get along without being able to write clearly. If you know how to write, however, you will get along faster and farther.

第二個假設(shè)是寫作是值得學(xué)習(xí)的。它幾乎對任何工作或職業(yè)都有直接的實(shí)際好處。當(dāng)然，有很多工作，即使你不能清楚地書寫，你也能應(yīng)付。但是，如果您會寫，就會適應(yīng)得更快，走得更遠(yuǎn)。

There is another, more profound value to writing. We create ourselves by words. Before we are business people or lawyers or engineers or teachers, we are human beings. Our growth as human beings depends on our capacity to understand and to use language. Writing is a way of growing. No one would argue that being able to write will make you morally better. But it will make you more complex and more interesting—in a word, more human.

寫作還有另一個更深刻的價值。我們通過文字創(chuàng)造自己。在我們成為商人、律師、工程師或教師之前，我們是人。我們作為人類的成長依賴于我們理解和使用語言的能力。寫作是成長的方式。沒有人會說，能夠?qū)懽鲿屇阍诘赖律细?。但它會讓你更?fù)雜，更有趣，一句話，更人性化。