01-Subject, Reader, and Kinds of Writing
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.
当然，通常情况下，你根本没有选择的自由。你必须为商务会议写一份报告，或就英语课指定的题目写一篇文章。那么问题就不是写什么，而是如何写得切合主题。这个问题我们将在第五章和第六章讨论。
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.
当你可以为自己选择一个主题时，它应该让你感兴趣，也应该让其他人感兴趣，至少是潜在的。好的写作主题应该在你的经验和技巧范围内，尽管最好的主题是能扩展你的经验和技巧。它既不应大到无人能完成，也不应狭小琐细到到无人关心。
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情。你是你写作主题的重要部分。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。好的作品是有个性的。读者喜欢感知工作中的思想，听到清晰的声音，对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，那么你会很有趣的。与其说趣味在于主题，不如说在于作者如何处理它。
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.
你并不想让读者反感。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追随你。引导他们，让他们的任务和主题允许的一样简单，这都是你作者的职责。
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：“我能期待他们知道什么，不知道什么？”、“读者相信什么和看重什么？”、“我怎么通过我说的来影响读者？”、“什么样的态度和主张会得到读者的认同？”、“什么会冒犯读者？”、“读者对我的思想可能有什么异议？我该如何预期和应对这些异议？”
Readers may be annoyed if you over estimate 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 along way. Readers have egos too.
如果你高估了读者的知识，他们可能会恼火。说一些不寻常的话似乎是一种贬低，是在说:“我知道的比你多。” 另一方面，刻意追求显而易见的东西也意味着对读者的评价很低。你不要告诉读者轮子是什么，他们知道。评估读者的知识水平或者感知他们的信仰和价值观是不容易的事。对读者的敏感性只能来自于经验，不完美的经验。然而，机智和尊重是很重要的。读者也有自我意识。
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 indifferent kinds of prose. The most common is prose that informs, which, depending on what it is about, is called exposition, description, or narration.
一个作家可能希望对他或她的读者产生的各种影响——告知，说服，娱乐——导致不同类型的散文。最常见的是具有启发性的散文，根据其内容的不同，被称为阐述、描述或叙述。
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.
阐述的作用是解释。包括事物的运行原理——内燃机工作原理；思想——经济学理论；日常生活的事实——有多少人离婚了；历史——为何卡斯特攻击小大角；充满感情的争议性话题——堕胎、政治、宗教。但无论它的主题是什么，阐述揭示了一个特定的头脑在想什么、知道什么或相信什么。论述是按照逻辑来建构的。它围绕因果、真与假、少与多、正与负、一般与特殊、断言与否定来组织。它的运行是由诸如therefore,however, and so, besides, but not only, more important, in fact, for example等连接词来表示的。
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.
描述处理感知——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，按排成一种重要的模式。与阐述的逻辑不同，模式具有空间特性，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.
叙述的主题是一系列相关的事件——一个故事。它的问题是双重的：既要将事件按时间顺序排列，又要揭示这些事件的重要性。
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 bein 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信仰。它通常是关于有争议的话题，经常以论证的形式诉诸理性，提供证据或逻辑证明。另一种说服性形式是讽刺，它嘲笑愚蠢或邪恶，有时以微妙的形式，有时以粗鄙的形式。最后，说服可以以雄辩的形式，诉诸理想和高尚的情操。
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.
以娱乐性为主的写作包括小说、个人随笔和小品。本书中较少关照这些内容。这当然很重要，但它与日常需要的距离比阐述或说服更遥远。
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个你可能会发展成一篇短文的主题。考虑一些与你的观点和信仰相关的话题，而不是关于事物、地点或如何做的项目。选择你感兴趣的，在你的经验范围内，但具有挑战性的主题。具体一点:不要简单地写“我的工作”，而应该写上“我最喜欢(或最讨厌)这份工作的哪一点。”
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.
选择列表中的一个主题，撰写一段关于您可能为之开发的读者的段落。考虑一下你希望如何影响这些读者，你希望他们理解和感受什么。想想他们的常识、价值观、态度和偏见;无论他们和你年龄相仿，年龄比你大还是比你小，来自相似还是不同的背景;还有你希望他们怎么看你。