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The best writing doesn’t waste words. It employs words efficiently. The first TPS Fan to complete the sentence below as we believe it should be completed will win a NTD200 7-11 / Starbucks Gift Certificate. Another Starbucks 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. Each brevity rule is contained in 10 Ways to Shorten & Strengthen Your Academic Paper and will be posted on the TPS Fan page as introduced.

最佳的寫作，必須有效選用字句、惜字如金。TPS推出新專欄，請你寫出簡潔、流暢的詞彙/句子。題目刊登於下方，經TPS編輯教授評選為第1位最適解答的粉絲，可獲得統一超商/星巴克咖啡NTD200元的購物禮券；增設特別獎1名，獎項給予提出符合句意又別具創意之解答的粉絲。解答與獲獎的粉絲姓名，將於明天公佈於本TPS專頁。每一項簡潔準則，皆收錄於TPS新推出之「十大簡潔英文準則」，將定期刊登本專欄，敬請密切鎖定、先睹為快。

Rule # 3: Don’t write tentatively… If a trained academic writer knows his subject, his writing will reflect it. Tentative writing indicates thinking that is not fully developed, and generally results in wordiness. In the sentence below, the writer did not write assuredly. How can the sentence best be written shorter and stronger while retaining its meaning? 

十大簡潔英文準則三：想清楚再下筆

訓練有素的學術作者會在作品中反映出對主題的認識。沒想清楚就動筆，表示想法尚未思考周延，而且文句通常較冗贅。以下這句話作者寫起來並沒有把握，要如何修改才能有效地縮短句子，加強語氣，並且維持原本句意呢？

題目 Contest Sentence:

“About a half century ago, computers were quite large by comparison to today’s computers, pretty unreliable, very difficult to operate, and almost considered a technology without a future.”