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今天给大家推荐一本著名的英文写作小册子，据说北美学习语言相关专业的大学生都是人手一册。
很偶然知道的它，是在陳冠中的《事後》一书，当年他在波士顿大学留学，沈承怡教授的一大怪招就是要全班熟背The Elements of Style （《风格的要素》），即便当时班上有一半美国学生的本科专业就是英文。William Strunk 是康奈尔大学教授，最早于1918年写了这本书，而White是他学生，后来突然想起老师的作品，便重新编辑出版了这个册子，所以算是两人合著。
The Elements of Style 行文干脆有力，直指要害，就像是一位满腹学识的老教授略显蛮横地告诉你，什么是最准确、最传统、最有风格的写作规则，是的，RULES。从标点符号的使用，句子、段落的组合，到格式惯例，误用表达。最后一章关于STYLE的总结更是精彩得让人忍不住要背下来。
相信对于我们这些非Native Speaker，读过这本册子才会意识到，十几年的英语学习过程中积累了多少错误，尤其是习惯性的错误：比如怎样滥用了FACT FEATURE HOWEVER VERY 这些词，怎样不明就里地乱用逗号分号句号，以及怎样被所谓作文高分教材误导而不知格调地去使用complicated sentences and fancy words。
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“All writing is communication; creative writing is communication through revelation—it is the Self escaping into the open. No writer long remains incognito.”
“The mind travels faster than the pen; consequently, writing becomes a question of learning to make occasional wing shots, bringing down the bird of thought as it flashes by.”
“Rather, very, little, pretty—these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words. ”
“Opinions scattered indiscriminately about leave the mark of egotism on a work. ”
“The intent is to suggest that in choosing between the formal and the informal, the regular and the offbeat, the general and the special, the orthodox and the heretical, the beginner err on the side of conservatism, on the side of established usage. No idiom is taboo, no accent forbidden; there is simply a better chance of doing well if the writer holds a steady course, enters the stream of English quietly, and does not thrash about. ”
Strunk & White - The Elements of Style, 4th Edition.pdf
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