英语修辞与写作·3.2　写文章的几个要领

3.2A　注重内容，避免两种倾向

1） 内容是文章的主体，又是文章的灵魂，言之无物的东西算不上好文章。为此，本章开头讲到写文章的基本步骤时首先强调要有酝酿，要打开思路，并建议使用提纲，把思考到的内容加以条理化，以便更好地把内容表达出来。有人认为，写文章就要提起笔来自由发挥，用不着顾及什么步骤，因为那样会束缚思想、限制内容。其实这是一种误解。我们也曾听说，某位诗人触景生情，一首好诗脱口而出；或某位作家灵机一动，一篇文章一气呵成。其实，即便是这样，也是诗人和作家观察生活的结果，脑海里早有某种酝酿，在某种触发下写出了东西，这好比“十月怀胎，一朝分娩”。对于我们青年学生来说，生活经验不够，写作基本功不够，应当在一般规律指导之下练就写作本领。

2） 这里所说的避免两种倾向，是指文章的内容展不开或者中心不突出。在笔者接触的美国学生中，写文章时通常能开门见山，中心内容突出，但毛病是三言两语，几句话写下来，文章就结束了。而东方学生似乎相反，写的东西往往较长，但兜圈子的话多，读者难以抓住作者的主题。我们还有的学生一见写文章就感到“话不投机”似的，既写不出多的话，又写不到点子上。这是由于思路没有打开的缘故，或者说脑筋没有开动。此外，也还有个知识积累的问题。古人说：“读得多胸中有主，写得多笔下生花”；“熟读唐诗三百首，不会写诗也会吟”。多读书，多积累知识，多观察生活，是写好文章的必要准备。这对我们学习写作是大有好处的。

3.2B　遵循规则，力求规范

1） 这里所说的规则，指拼写、移行、大小写等。试看下面两个不合规则要求的句子：

a. last wednesday they argued for hours about the best place for a holiday.

b. Last Wednesday, they spent an hour in arguement about where to go for a holiday.

上述a句句首字母l和表示周日（星期三）的为首字母w均应大写，Last Wednesday后应加逗号，句尾应加上句号，b句中的arguement拼写错误，where不应移行。这些都违反了英语的基本规则，因而未达到规范要求。

2） 关于拼写、移行、大小写等规则，一般教科书和语法书中均有说明。这里需要指出的是，不同书中的移行规则可能不尽相同，或详略不一。如果使用电脑，其中编辑程序会自动处理移行问题；如果用手写或用打字机，则首先记住两点：一是尽量避免移行，二是不得已要移行而又非确有把握从哪个字母开始移时，最好查对词典：凡中间有黑圆点的字，可从黑点后边的字母往下行移，有几个黑点则表示有几种不同的移法，没有黑点的字不可移行，如：change（不能移行），change·a·ble（两种移法），change·ful（一种移法），change·a·bil·i·ty（四种移法），等。

3.2C　提高修辞技巧，写出个人风格

1） 提高修辞技巧和写出个人风格体现了继承和发展的关系，或者叫做学习和创新。有人问：是不是每个会写文章的人都系统地学过修辞技巧？显然，实际情况并不一定如此，但我们可以说，每个会写文章或善于辞令的人都肯定具有较高的修辞涵养。有这样一个例子：一个男青年乘公交车站在一个女青年的后边。突然遇到急刹车，男青年朝前踉跄一步，碰了女青年一下。那女子很不高兴，白一眼道：“德性!”男青年感到委屈，但未以牙还牙地回骂，而是轻声辩白：“不，这是惯性!”说得女青年扑哧一笑。一字之差，赢得了令人满意的效果。这是为什么？因为使用了修辞学上的“仿化”或“换语”（分别见第13章和第14章），既得体，又诙谐。有些人不一定上过修辞学课，甚至未读过修辞学著作，但善于从其他读物和别人的言谈中学习各种说话和写文章的技巧，因而不论出口的话或出手的文章都显得很有教养。

2） 俗语云：青出于蓝而胜于蓝。不论绘画、武术、戏曲各界，都有高徒出自名师，然又自成一派，与师长齐名，甚至超过师长。这些徒弟的共同点在于：他们一方面很好地继承了师长的技艺，另一方面又有所发展，形成了自己的独特风格。我们在本书中讨论的修辞技巧，有些是大家熟悉的，甚至从小就学会了（如我曾听到两个美国小姐妹用夸张形容口渴：“I'm dying of thirst!” “I can drink the whole sea!”），也有些是比较生疏的，或者只知其然而不知其所以然。如能进一步加以系统化、条理化，就会更加得心应手地运用，并逐步在实践中形成自己的风格。

英语中的风格有不同含义，如某个知名作家的风格（Hemingway's style），某种特殊文体（an academic style）等，但这里需要强调一点：风格不是表面的装饰，而是内在美的体现；谁能根据主题、对象和场合灵活得体地应用各种修辞规律和手法，把话说得打动听众，把文章写得吸引读者，收到良好的效果，那就算是有了自己的风格。

练习三　（Exercise Three）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Do you make an outline when you write an essay?

2. Can you tell a “scratch outline” from a “formal outline”?

3. What do you think of the six points in revising an essay?

4. Do you think it necessary to make a draft in writing an essay?

5. Have you ever come across the problem in writing that you find it difficult to develop your ideas or expound your main point?

6. What norms do you think should be followed in preparing a fair copy of one's writing?

7. How is one's style in writing related with his/her command of rhetorical techniques?

II. Fill in each blank with a suitable word:

Instead of “stages”, researchers today （1）____________as Gordon Rohman and James Britton tend to speak of the “phases” of composition: planning, drafting, and revising. （Some people break （2）____________into “rewriting” and “editing”, or they use one of these terms instead.）

The problem with “steps” and “stages” to explain the writing process is that writing isn't linear, （though reading is.） It's recursive; like the “phases” of the moon, its phases can be repeated. But writing isn't circular, either. It goes back and forth, like alternating currents. We plan, we （3）____________, we revise, we plan again, we write ...

Planning is the “prewriting” phase of the process. In it, you look for a subject to write about, conceive ideas about that （4） ____________, gather information, and begin to select details from a growing mass of data. Because it is partly unconscious and so requires time for percolating, this is the phase that gets slighted most when you start a paper the night before it is due. （Well, come to think of it, so does drafting — and maybe revising, （5） ____________.）

The planning phase is traditionally considered the finding phase of composition; its main business is to “invent” a subject in the root sense of “to come upon”. The main （6）____________of the second, or drafting, phase is presentation. Here the writer orders what she / he is discovering into a form comprehensible to other people. But she / he goes on discovering, too. In the （7）____________phase, revision, the writer is not so much ordering as reordering what she / he has （8）____________say.

III. Go over the following passages and decide whether each of the statements is true （T） or false （F）.

Two students, identified by writing theorist Robert Brooke only as Writer A and Writer B, respond in opposing ways to what he calls “the paradox of control” in writing. What paradox do you suppose he has in mind? Who do you think, A or B, can possibly resolve it and how will he do so?

Writer A: I'm having trouble with my writing. I'm stuck; I can't figure out what I've got to say. I'm frustrated. I'm a lousy writer.

Writer B: I'm in the fun part of writing. At the moment, I don't know what I've got to say but I know if I just give myself time to wander around, to explore what I'm thinking, I'll end up with something insightful and powerful. Right now I just have to let go and let my writing do its thing.

Statements:

1. The word “lousy” is an adjective meaning “low in quality and quantity”, or simply （infml） “bad”, “poor”, “mean”, “disgusting”, etc. as “a lousy meal”, “a lousy holiday”, “to feel lousy-ill”, etc. According to the context in the above passages, we can say that both A and B are lousy writers.

2. The “paradox of control” he has in mind refers to the situation in writing when one does have something to say but hasn't formed a proper way to say it. B is probably to resolve it by giving himself time to express what he's thinking.

IV. Further reading: Go over the following passage and the notes, and try to apply what you have learned to your own experience.

Students who read for pleasure, whatever they read — science fiction, mysteries, the daily paper — have a better grasp of what written prose looks like. They have absorbed most of the conventions of punctuation, without being able to repeat the “rules”;they have a vision of how conventional spelling looks without doing drills; they understand, at least, that paragraphs are indented. In the same way, students who examine their own writing, no matter how short or simple it seems, to make sure they have made a clear point, that that point is supported with reasons, will be closer to becoming critical readers.

Note to the above passage:

1. The quotation of Elisabeth McPherson is taken from Thomas Cooley's The Norton Guide to Writing, p.60.

2. For many writers, reading is a more vital source of ideas than their own adventures. Since people learn complicated skills from other people, it figures that writers are also readers. For example, the table of contents of a big city newspaper is in face an index to the broad categories of human experience: arts, autos, books, business, fads, movies, deaths, music, political opinions, public events, etc.

3. Great writers are, generally speaking, critical readers. Some writers read widely and take extensive notes; others read a few favorite sources over and over, often memorizing the rhythms of passages they like.

参考答案
Ⅱ. 1. such　2. “revising”　3. write　4. subject　5. too　6. business　7. third　8. to
Ⅲ. 1. F　2. T