This is not academic writing 學術文章不是這麼寫的
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
“Archaeologists long have deemed lower Central America to have a cultural history quite separate from the so-called “higher civilizations” of adjacent Mesoamerica and South America. This is partly because of geographic factors and partly because the neighboring civilizations were superior. This professional view of the region’s inferior status is changing as new archaeological research reveals the internal cultural forces that shaped the region as much as did external threats. Furthermore, lower Central America’s geological parentage as a volcanic region seems to have both frustrated and enhanced its development, periodically blasting it apart, but also creating fertile soils.”
This paragraph from a paper about the archaeology of a region suffers from poor word choices. In two instances, the choices are judgmental: Neighboring civilizations are called “superior” when in fact they were just “more dominant,” and the region’s status is called “inferior” when in fact it was “subordinate.” Also, the use of “so-called” is unnecessary to describe “higher civilizations,” since the latter already is in quotes. The writer is at least partially inaccurate to refer to external “threats” of the region’s neighbors when in some cases it probably was external “influences” that came into play. Finally, writing about volcanoes “blasting it apart” is colorful imagery but less accurate than writing “erupting and killing.” What else do you see?
本段文章討論中南美洲考古學，遣字用字不慎理想。文章中兩個用字帶有評斷意味，一是描寫鄰近地區的文化更 “superior”（優越），但實際上只是 “more dominant” （較為主要）而已，而當地的文化也並非較 “inferior”（低劣），應說 “subordinate” （較為次要）。此外，“higher civilizations” （更優越的文明）已經用引號括起，所以前面也不需要加 “so-called”（所謂的）幾個字。作者說鄰近區域造成外來的 “threats”（威脅）也不盡正確，因為有時候應是造成外來的 “influences”（影響）。最後，描寫火山 “blasting it apart”（爆裂）很生動，但不如 “erupting and killing” （爆發並造成死亡）來得正確。你還找得到其他錯誤嗎？
Acceptable 認可的文章
“Archaeologists have long deemed lower Central America to have a cultural history incidental to the “higher civilizations” of adjacent Mesoamerica and South America. This is partly attributed to difficult geography and partly to more dominant neighboring civilizations. Now this view of the region’s subordinate status is changing as new research reveals internal cultural forces that shaped the region as much as did external influences. Furthermore, lower Central America’s geological parentage as a volcanic region seems to have both inhibited and enhanced its development, periodically erupting and killing, but also creating fertile volcanic ash soils.”
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
“Archaeologists long have deemed lower Central America to have a cultural history quite separate from the so-called “higher civilizations” of adjacent Mesoamerica and South America. This is partly because of geographic factors and partly because the neighboring civilizations were superior. This professional view of the region’s inferior status is changing as new archaeological research reveals the internal cultural forces that shaped the region as much as did external threats. Furthermore, lower Central America’s geological parentage as a volcanic region seems to have both frustrated and enhanced its development, periodically blasting it apart, but also creating fertile soils.”
This paragraph from a paper about the archaeology of a region suffers from poor word choices. In two instances, the choices are judgmental: Neighboring civilizations are called “superior” when in fact they were just “more dominant,” and the region’s status is called “inferior” when in fact it was “subordinate.” Also, the use of “so-called” is unnecessary to describe “higher civilizations,” since the latter already is in quotes. The writer is at least partially inaccurate to refer to external “threats” of the region’s neighbors when in some cases it probably was external “influences” that came into play. Finally, writing about volcanoes “blasting it apart” is colorful imagery but less accurate than writing “erupting and killing.” What else do you see?
本段文章討論中南美洲考古學，遣字用字不慎理想。文章中兩個用字帶有評斷意味，一是描寫鄰近地區的文化更 “superior”（優越），但實際上只是 “more dominant” （較為主要）而已，而當地的文化也並非較 “inferior”（低劣），應說 “subordinate” （較為次要）。此外，“higher civilizations” （更優越的文明）已經用引號括起，所以前面也不需要加 “so-called”（所謂的）幾個字。作者說鄰近區域造成外來的 “threats”（威脅）也不盡正確，因為有時候應是造成外來的 “influences”（影響）。最後，描寫火山 “blasting it apart”（爆裂）很生動，但不如 “erupting and killing” （爆發並造成死亡）來得正確。你還找得到其他錯誤嗎？
Acceptable 認可的文章
“Archaeologists have long deemed lower Central America to have a cultural history incidental to the “higher civilizations” of adjacent Mesoamerica and South America. This is partly attributed to difficult geography and partly to more dominant neighboring civilizations. Now this view of the region’s subordinate status is changing as new research reveals internal cultural forces that shaped the region as much as did external influences. Furthermore, lower Central America’s geological parentage as a volcanic region seems to have both inhibited and enhanced its development, periodically erupting and killing, but also creating fertile volcanic ash soils.”
Posted at 2011-10-13 10:20:02
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