来源： "The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing"/牛津写作指南
书号： ISBN 978-0-425-17640-5
译者与年份：吴和平，2019年
版权声明：英文版原著版权归原书作者及企鹅出版社所有，以下中文版由吴和平试译，仅限于用于个人学习，转载请注明出处，遵守著作权法及其他相关法律的规定。
Chapter 1/第一章
Subject, Reader, and Kinds of Writing/主题、读者，以及写作类型
Choosing a Subject/选择一个主题
Often, of course, you are not free to choose at all. You must compose a report for a business meeting or write on an assigned topic for an English class. The problem then becomes not what to write about but how to attack it, a question we'll discuss in Chapters 5 and 6.
关于选择写作的主题，通常情况下，你根本没有选择的自由。你必须为一个业务会议撰写会议报告，或者根据一节英文课指定的主题来写作。那么，问题来了，这不是写什么的问题，而是怎么切题展开写作的问题，关于这一问题，我们将在第五章和第六章进行讨论。
When you can select a subject for yourself, it ought to interest you, and interest others as well, at least potentially. It should be within the range of your experiences and skill, though it is best if it stretches you. It ought to be neither so vast that no one person can encompass it nor so narrow and trivial that no one cares.
当你可以自主选择写作主题时，它应该能唤起你自己的兴趣，也应该唤起其他人的兴趣。写作主题至少能潜在地唤起人们的兴趣。尽管最好的写作主题是那些能延展你既有的经验技能的主题，它也至少应该在你个人的经验和技能范围以内。写作主题既不应该宏大到没人能接受，也不应该太偏门、太琐碎，以至于没人在意。
Don't be afraid to express your own opinions and feelings. You are a vital part of the subject. No Matter what the topic, you are really writing about how you understand it, how you feel about it. Good writing has personality. Readers enjoy sensing a mind at work, hearing a clear voice, responding to an unusual sensibility. If you have chosen a topic that is of general concern, and if genuine feeling and intelligence come through, you will be interesting. Interest lies not so much in a topic as in what a writer has made of it.
不要害怕表达你自己的观点和感受。你是你的写作主题的重要组成部分。不管是什么主题，你实际上都是在写你是如何理解的，你是如何感觉的。好文章是有人格魅力的。读者喜欢在阅读你的文章中感觉到你的思想，听到一个清晰的声音，对（你的）不寻常的情感做出反应。如果你选择了一个受到普遍关注的主题，并且伴随着这个主题展开的是你的真情实感和智慧，那么你（写的东西)一定会唤起读者的兴趣。没有什么比作者本身就是构成主题的一部分，更能唤起读者的兴趣了。
About Readers/关于读者
You don't want to repel readers. This doesn't mean you have to flatter them or avoid saying something they may disagree with. It does mean you must respect them. Don't take their interest for granted or suppose that it is the readers' job to follow you. It's your job to guide them, to make their task as easy as the subject allows.
你并不要让读者排斥你写的东西。但这并不意味着你必须奉承他们，或者避免说出读者可能不赞同的话。这确实意味着你必须尊重他们。不要想当然地判断读者的兴趣所在，也不要以为读者就应该跟着你（的写作脉络）。你的工作是充当读者的向导，让他们获得尽可能便捷的阅读体验。
Ask yourself questions about your readers: what can I expect them to know and not know? What do they believe and value? How do I want to affect them by what I say? What attitudes and claims will meet with their approval? What will offend them? What objections may they have to my ideas, and how can I anticipate and counter those objections?
问问你自己这些关于读者的问题：“我能期待他们（在阅读文章时）知道什么，不知道什么？”、“ 读者相信什么和重视什么？”、“我怎么通过我说的来影响读者？”、“哪些态度和主张会得到读者的认可？”、“什么会冒犯读者？”、“读者对我的想法可能有什么反对意见？我该如何预期和应对这些反对意见？”
Readers may be annoyed if you overestimate their knowledge. Tossing off unusual words may seems a put-down, a way of saying, "I know more than you." On the other hand, laboring the obvious also implies a low opinion of readers: don't tell them what a wheel is; they know. It isn't easy to gauge your readers' level of knowledge or to sense their beliefs and values. Sensitivity to readers comes only with experience, and then imperfectly. Tact and respect, however, go a long way. Readers have egos too.
如果你高估了读者的既有知识，他们可能会被触怒。随意使用一些特殊词汇，是一种贬低读者的做法，是显摆“我比你懂的多。” 另一方面，如果作者啰嗦一些显而易见的东西，也有暗讽读者没文化之嫌。你不要告诉读者诸如“轮子是什么？”这种问题。作为作者，评估读者的知识水平、感知他们的信仰和价值观，这并不是一件容易的事。对读者的敏感度只能来自于作者的写作经验，而且是不完美的经验。然而，得体的表达方式和尊重读者是大有帮助的。别忘了：读者也有自尊心。
Kinds of Writing/关于写作类型
The various effects a writer may wish to have on his or her readers - to inform, to persuade, to entertain - result in different kinds of prose. The most common is prose that informs, which, depending on what it is about, is called exposition, description, or narration.
作者可能对自己的读者可能有以下各种希望达到的目的——为了告知、为了说服，为了取悦——这导致我们有不同类型的文体。最常见的是起到告知作用的文章("prose that informs")，取决于它是关于什么内容的，被分为exposition（说明文? 科学论文？）, description（写景状物文？）, 或者narration（记叙文）. (译者注：目前本人才疏学浅尚不能准确译出这三种不同的"prose that informs"的对应中文用词，待研究透彻后迭代更新中文译文）
Exposition explains. How things work - an internal combustion engine. Ideas - a theory of economics. Facts of everyday life - how many people get divorced. History - why Custer attacked at the Little Big Horn. Controversial issues laden with feelings - abortion, politics, religion. But whatever its subject, exposition reveals what a particular mind thinks or knows or believes. Exposition is constructed logically. It organizes around cause/effect, true/false, less/more, positive/negative, general/particular, asserting/denial. Its movement is signaled by connectives like therefore, however, and so, besides, but not only, more important, in fact, for example.
Exposition这种文章解释（事物），例如解释内燃机的运行原理，解释一种经济学理论的想法。它也描述日常生活的一些事实：“有多少人离婚了？”，或描写一些历史知识：“为什么卡斯特攻击小巨角”。Exposition这种文章也包括带有感情色彩的，有争议的问题——堕胎、政治、宗教等等。但无论它的主题是什么，Exposition都要揭示出，（作者作为）一个特定的心智，是如何思考、理解或相信一些事的。Exposition这种文章是依照逻辑进行构建的。它围绕着以下这些逻辑进行组织：“原因/结果、是真/是假、是多/是少、正面/负面、通常/特殊、断言/否认”。它的行文标志是诸如以下之类的连接词：“因此、然而、而且、不仅如此，不但...而且、更重要的是、事实上、举例来说。 ”
Description deals with perceptions - most commonly visual perceptions. Its central problem is to arrange what we see into a significant pattern. Unlike the logic of exposition, the pattern is spatial: above/below, before/behind, right/left, and so on.
Description 这种文章用来描述感知——最常见的是视觉感知。它的核心问题是把我们观察到的事物，识别成一种重要的模式。与Exposition的逻辑不同，所谓模式，是由空间特性的，诸如：上/下、前/后、右/左，等等。
The subject of narration is a series of related events - a story. Its problem is twofold: to arrange the events in a sequence of time and to reveal their significance.
叙述文的主题是一系列相关的事件——一个故事。它有双重难题：既要将事件按时间顺序排列，又要并揭示这些事件本身的（不同的）重要性。
Persuasion seeks to alter how readers think or believe. It is usually about controversial topics and often appeals to reason in the form of argument, offering evidence or logical proof. Another form of persuasion is satire, which ridicules folly or evil, sometimes subtly, sometimes crudely and coarsely. Finally, persuasion may be in the form of eloquence, appealing to ideals and noble sentiments.
说服性的文章试图改变读者的思维或认知。它通常有关一些有争议的话题，经常以争论的形式诉诸推理，提供证据或逻辑证据。另一种说服性的文章形式是讽刺，它嘲笑愚蠢或邪恶的人或事，有时以微妙的形式，有时以粗鄙的形式。最后，说服性的文章可以用雄辩的口才，以美好的、高尚的情感来打动读者。
Writing that is primarily entertaining includes fiction, personal essays, sketches. Such prose will receive less attention here. It is certainly important, but it is more remote from everyday needs than exposition or persuasion.
娱乐性的写作包括小说、个人随笔、短剧等等。本书中较少关照这些内容。它们当然很重要，但它在如今的写作需求中，已经不如Exposition或者Persuasion这两种离我们更近。
For Practice/关于（写作的）实践
>List ten or twelve topics you might develop into a short essay. Think of topics that deal not so much with things, places, or how-to-do projects as with your opinions and beliefs. Pick subjects that interest you and are within your experience, yet challenging. Be specific: don't simply write "my job" but something like "what I like most(or hate most) about my job."
>列出10到12个可能让你写成短文的话题。考虑选择那些并非和太多具体的事情和地点有联系的话题，考虑选择那些按照你的观点和想法，应该具体怎么做的项目。选择那些让你感兴趣，在你的经验范围内，但又有挑战性的话题。话题可以具体点，例如，不要泛泛而谈“我的工作”，而是使用类似“我最喜欢（或最讨厌）的工作”这种话题。
>Selecting one of the topics on your list, compose a paragraph about the readers for whom you might develop it. Consider how you wish to affect those readers, what you want them to understand and feel. Think about their general knowledge, values, attitudes, biases; whether they are your age or older or younger, come from a similar or a different background; and how you would like them to regard you.
>从你的主题清单上选择一个主题，用一段话描述你可能发展的目标读者群体。想一想你打算如何影响这些读者，你想让他们读懂什么？感受什么？想一想，你的读者都具备哪些常识、哪些价值观、什么态度、什么偏好？读者们的年龄是不是和你一样大？或者比你大？或者比你年轻？ 你们是否来自相似的背景还是不同的背景？以及，你期待他们如何看待你？
(Chapter 1 ends/第一章结束)