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Corrected sentence:
The librarians’ policy—they established it two years ago in ’10—forbids removal of the 16th-century Dutch manuscript; the academic researcher was red-faced mad about it.

These two sentences contain three punctuation errors. The first occurs in the second word—librarians’. The apostrophe—to show possession—should come after the final letter, s, because more than one librarian helped set the policy. (Note the plural pronoun “they” in the subsequent phrase.) The second error is the lack of a comma before 10. When a year is shortened to two digits—in this case, ’10 from 2010—a comma is required to indicate the missing numbers. (Otherwise there is nothing to indicate it is a year; the policy could have been created in Room 10.) The third error is the absence of a hyphen in the compound modifier “red-faced.” These little punctuation marks dispel confusion and add to the readability of the text.
這兩個句子共有三處標點符號錯誤。第一個錯誤出現在第二個字「librarians’」，所有格符號應該加在最後一個 s 後面，因為訂立規範的管理員不只一個人（可從接下來複數代名詞「they」看出）。第二個錯誤是數字「10」前面少了一撇，以縮寫代表年代時，就必須用一撇代表省略的數字，例如本句以「’10」代表 2010 年，否則會讓人看不出指的是年分，或許會誤以為這份規範是在「10」號室制定的。第三個錯誤則是複合修飾詞「red-faced」少了連字號。這幾個小小的標點符號有助釐清語意，讓句子更容易閱讀。

Words, like motor vehicles, need signposts and signals to keep them from running together. Punctuation frees words to move readers, to instruct and inspire them. The following example of writing either contains inappropriate punctuation or lacks marks that are needed. Note: The example may contain more than one punctuation error. The first TPS Fan to correct the writing sample as we believe it should be corrected will win a NTD200 eslite bookstore and shopping mall Gift Certificate.
文字就像汽車，需要交通標誌與燈號才不會打結，標點符號可以釋放文字，讓字句能打動、指引、啟發讀者。以下範例可能標點符號不正確，或少了必需的標點符號。注意，句中可能不只有一個標點符號錯誤。最先改正錯誤，並寫出最佳解答的一位 TPS 粉絲，將能贏得兩百元誠品圖書商場購物禮卷。

題目Contest Sentence:

The librarian’s policy—they established it two years ago in 10—forbids removal of the 16th-century Dutch manuscript; the academic researcher was red faced mad about it.

很多字詞並非表面所見的意思，字詞的組合會產生不同的解釋。這樣的慣用法，我們稱之為「比喻」。一個成功的比喻，作者本身必須相當瞭解字詞的源起。以下的句子為讀者介紹一個比喻及其來源。
Imagery buries itself in language and takes on new meaning. The transplanted and transformed sets of words are called “figures of speech.” For a figure of speech to be effective, however, a writer must first understand the original meaning of the phrase. The following sentence contains a common figure of speech. Its original meaning is explained.

“The young playwright and his lady were quite happy to waste the afternoon cleaning the grimy shelves together, becoming grimy themselves, for love is blind.”
「年輕的劇作家和情人興高采烈地浪費一個下午，一起清理髒兮兮的架子，自己也弄得髒兮兮，畢竟愛情是盲目的。」

Blindness is a matter of degree. A totally blind person discerns no light striking his pupils and lives in a totally dark world. People who are legally blind sometimes still see light and can make out shapes and shadows enough to function haltingly in a familiar environment. In either case, the absence of clear vision is a handicap that most people can only imagine. It affects all the senses, with smells, sounds, and tactile sensations becoming more pronounced to offset the loss of sight. Even physical movement is affected, with blind people moving very cautiously.
眼盲有程度區別，全盲的人完全無法分辨射進瞳孔中的光線，活在完全黑暗的世界裡。法律上宣判為眼盲者，有時仍可見到一些光線，能分辨形狀與影子，在熟悉的環境中摸索著行動。無論是哪一種，失去清晰的視力這種障礙，多數人都只能想像。這會影響所有的感官，嗅覺、聽覺與觸覺都會變得更敏銳，以抵銷失明的影響。連動作也會受到影響，失明的人動作會比較小心翼翼。

In saying that love is blind, the writer first of all is not being original. He is guilty of using a cliché. The phrase generally is attributed to English writer William Shakespeare, who actually used it in several of his plays. What is meant by it is that, like a person without sight, a person in love cannot always see the reality of a situation. The object of his love—whether it be a person, an object, or an abstraction—clouds his judgment and muddles his thinking. Some university researchers have shown that love can alter the way a brain functions as an analytical organ.
本句說愛情是盲目的，首先這句話並非原創，用在句中略嫌老套。這句話一般認為由英國作家莎士比亞所創，他在自己好幾齣劇本中都用了這句話。這句話的意思是，陷入愛情的人就像失明的人一樣，無法看清狀況的真相。他愛情的對象－無論是人、物或是抽象概念，都蒙蔽了他的判斷力，混淆他的思慮。有些大學研究者發現，愛情能夠干擾大腦的分析功能。

Correct best answer: Replace “meakly” with “meekly.”

“Whatever happened,” the monk meekly asked, “to virtue, to integrity, to the reckless idea that selflessness cuts a wider swath through life than does self-centeredness?”

Monks generally are meek. They are not meak, which is a hook attached to a long handle. It is possible the writer was suggesting that the inquiring religious leader meant his statement to be a hook with which he might drag his listener into a more virtuous lifestyle. But that is too obscure to be effective language. To be meek is to be slow to react to a personal affront, to patiently endure, to be quietly wise. These markers generally characterize monks and many other religious leaders. While a poor speller might not have noticed the word difference, that is no excuse.
僧侶通常很 meek（溫順）；他們並不是 meak（長柄鉤）。作者可能想暗示，這位提問僧侶的話，就像一把鉤子，可以鉤住聽者，將他們帶往更有美德的生活方式。但這種用法太隱晦，難以理解。溫順表示對加諸個人的羞辱不會迅速反應，耐心容忍，並有沉靜的智慧。僧侶與許多其他宗教領袖多半都有這些特質。拼字技巧拙劣的人大概沒有注意到這兩個字的差別，不能找藉口。

撰寫學術文章時，每字每句都需要謹慎著墨。改變幾個字就會使完整的一句話變得令人摸不著頭緒。下列的句子中，為使這句話能完整且有意義的表達，請選出你認為會令人感到困惑的字，我們將提供7-11/星巴克咖啡NTD200元禮券，給予挑出混淆字，並寫出最佳替代字的第1位粉絲，最適的解答與獲獎的粉絲姓名，將於明天公佈於本TPS的專頁。請將你的答案寫在下方，獲得免費購物禮券的幸運兒可能就是你哦!
Every word is important in a well-written academic paper. Changing just a word or two can turn a clear sentence into a confusing one. Tell us what word you would change in the following puzzling sentence to render it more meaningful. The first best answer will receive a NTD200 7-11/Starbucks Gift Certificate.

題目Contest Sentence:
“Whatever happened,” the monk meakly asked, “to virtue, to integrity, to the reckless idea that selflessness cuts a wider swath through life than self-centeredness?”

並非所有與學術議題相關的文章，就能稱之為「學術文章」。本篇專欄將節錄不同學術議題的內容，分析常見的寫作錯誤，並分享潤修與寫作的技巧。
Not all articles written on academic topics are written in proper academic English. In this "This is not academic writing" column we examine short excerpts from academic texts to illustrate common writing errors and explain how to correct them.

Unacceptable 不被認可的文章

“The youngish design team began the project with the cocky attitude of industrial designers who’ve done it before. The future car was assembled only in their minds, but they knew what they wanted. Studying the computer picture of a bare chassis, the young designers began to make some very critical choices. With the click of a mouse, the bolted subframes were neatly fused to the main chassis in a true all-in-one package that makes the rattles go away and the chassis more rigid. The team leader looked around the room for any objection to his design change and didn’t find any, just nods of agreement.”

There is no shortage of improvements to be made with this passage. The first sentence alone contains three shortcomings: 1) “Youngish” doesn’t tell us if the team is actually young or just younger than some other teams; 2) “cocky attitude” overstates the case and is pure slang; and 3) “who’ve” is a contraction, which is unacceptable. In the next sentence, now the designers are described as “young.” They also make “very critical” choices. The “very” is superfluous; “critical” is sufficient description. The subframes were “neatly” fused, which either means some welding work is not neat, or that the writer is being wordy. I suspect it is the latter.
這段文章該改進的地方還不少，第一句話就有三個缺點：1) “Youngish”（年輕的）不知道是說設計團隊實際上年齡很輕，或只是比其他團隊年輕；2) “cocky attitude”（趾高氣揚的態度）略嫌誇大，而且表達也太俚俗；3) 用 “who’ve” 縮寫也不恰當。到了下一句話，設計師又成為 “young”（年輕的）了，他們還下 “very critical”（極為關鍵）的決定，其實 “very” 是多餘的，用 “critical” 形容就夠了。形容副車架焊接 “neatly”（工整），也許表示有些焊接做得不夠工整，也可能是作者太囉嗦；我認為應該是後者。

Acceptable 認可的文章

“The youthful design team settled into the project with the serene confidence of more veteran industrial designers. The future car was only envisioned at this point, but they knew what they wanted. As they studied the computerized rendition of a bare chassis, the novice designers began to make critical choices. With a mouse click, the bolted subframes were fused to the main chassis in a true monocoque configuration that reduces rattles and reinforces the rigidity of the chassis. The team leader looked around the room for any objection and found none.”

Answer: We believe the sentence is best completed this way:

“The towering new skyscraper reached heavenward on its steely spine, around which the structure swayed like bamboo stalks in the wind.”

The sentence is about the architecture and stability of a modern tall building. One method to provide structural integrity to such buildings is to give them a core of steel beams that provides rigidity and yet has the capacity to flex in the event of tectonic or atmospheric events. In completing the sentence, the writer is asked to describe this flexing. An allusion to just about any vertical living plant might do, but the bamboo seems particularly apt because some varieties grow upward as a single stem before flowering, not unlike skyscrapers that reach high before being adorned with exterior materials—except that bamboo rise a lot more quickly.
本句形容現代摩天大樓的結構與穩定性，這類建築要保持結構完整，一個方法就是以鋼樑為建築骨幹，除了堅固，在地震與氣候變化時還可以彎曲。完成這個句子必須傳達出這種彈性；任何垂直生長的植物都可以用來比喻，不過竹子特別適合，因為有些品種的竹子開花前，會以單一莖幹向上生長，與摩天大樓先向上蓋，然後再修飾外部的狀況並無二致－只不過竹子往上長的速度快得多了。

No formula exists for the writing of a superior sentence, but this much is known: The best sentence has no weak part. The following sentence is incomplete. In five or fewer words, complete the sentence in a way that strengthens the whole of it. The first TPS Fan to complete the sentence as we believe it is best completed will win a NTD200 Eslite Bookstore and Shopping Mall Gift Certificate. Another Eslite certificate will be awarded to the first Fan to complete it in an alternate way that, in our estimation, also is effective. The explanation and the names of the winners will be published tomorrow on this TPS Fans page.
怎麼寫出好句子沒有標準答案，不過起碼我們知道，優秀的句子每個環節都很完美。下面有一句未完成的句子，請用五個字以內完成句子接龍，寫出完整的句子。最先完成句子，並寫出最佳解答的一位TPS 粉絲，將獲得兩百元誠品圖書商場購物禮卷；另增設特別獎一名，頒給符合文意又別具創意的粉絲。接龍解答與獲獎粉絲姓名將在明天公布於本 TPS 專頁，敬請密切鎖定、先睹為快！

題目Contest Sentence:

“The towering new skyscraper reached heavenward on the strength of its steely core, around which the structure swayed like ___ ___ ___ ___ ___.”

很多字詞並非表面所見的意思，字詞的組合會產生不同的解釋。這樣的慣用法，我們稱之為「比喻」。一個成功的比喻，作者本身必須相當瞭解字詞的源起。以下的句子為讀者介紹一個比喻及其來源。
Imagery buries itself in language and takes on new meaning. The transplanted and transformed sets of words are called “figures of speech.” For a figure of speech to be effective, however, a writer must first understand the original meaning of the phrase. The following sentence contains a common figure of speech. Its original meaning is explained.

“The research team was stumped by the experiment’s results until they realized the tested mice came from the batch of animals containing the mutant strain.”
「實驗結果讓研究人員遇到阻礙，直到後來他們發現作測試的這批小鼠帶有突變基因。」

In many pioneering places, pioneers felled trees and constructed their rudimentary homes with the logs. Most of these settlers were either ranchers or farmers; in any case, as they developed their properties, they proceeded to remove the stumps left from the log-felling. The rooted portion of the tree was dug around and chopped with axes before being pulled out with a team of livestock. Sometimes the stumps resisted all efforts to dislodge them and had to be dynamited. When a settler was unable to uproot and haul away a stump, he was said to be “stumped.”
在許多墾殖地，拓荒者會砍伐樹木，用木材建造簡陋的房子。他們多半從事農牧業，要進一步墾殖時，便會著手移除砍樹後留下的樹樁 (stump)；首先在深植土壤的根系附近挖掘，用斧頭砍伐，再用牲口將樹樁拉起。有時用盡各種方法，樹樁還是絲毫不動，得用炸藥去炸。若開墾者無法掘起、拔出樹樁，就代表他 “stumped”（遇到阻礙了）。

The research team also experienced failure as it interpreted the results of its experiment. The results didn’t square with the team’s expectations and it couldn’t discover why. Team members were “stumped” or stymied by the test results, and failure to understand the results of a controlled experiment does not help advance a scientific cause. Finally, the team realized that the test animals were not the intended ones and the confusion was cleared up. Imagery that enlivens language without falling into the category of cliché always is welcome in academic papers.
本句中，研究小組解釋實驗結果時，也同樣遇到問題，實驗結果和預期不符，但無法解釋。實驗結果讓研究小組 “stumped”（遇到阻礙），他們無法理解對照實驗的結果，找出科學的解釋。最後，研究小組終於發現實驗動物不符研究標準，解決了疑惑。學術論文中，應該多用這類活絡語言的想像力，避免落入俗套的窠臼。

Suggested answer: “The traditional musicians played lilting music on their bamboo pipes, the melodies drifting along the five-note scale like swallows wafting on the wind.”

The music played by the Chinese instrumentalists was described as “lilting,” with melodies “drifting.” Clearly, the tunes were buoyant and uplifting and the verb in the metaphor about swallows needs to mesh with the music’s description. In comparing the music to swallows “wafting” on the wind, the writer creates an image of smooth and graceful movements. Other “w” words that might have been chosen include “winging” and “wandering” and, possibly, “whistling,” but none carries the suggestion of buoyancy and gentleness that most accurately describes the music.
本句形容國樂家吹奏的音樂 “lilting”（輕快）、旋律 “drifting”（飄揚），顯然曲調活潑昂揚，因此句中燕子的比喻，必須選擇能和音樂的描述融合在一起的動詞。將音樂比喻為燕子在風中 “wafting”（飄盪），能創造一種流暢優美的動作形象。其他 w 開頭的字還有 “winging”（飛翔）、“wandering”（飄泊），或是 “whistling”（呼嘯），但都沒有活潑輕快的感覺，無法精準描述句中形容的音樂。