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Professor Pedantic 教授的考究學問
【學術專欄】
TPS的編輯教授在此歡迎關於學術文章的所有詢問，當然，其實他並沒有足夠的時間給你。他擁有終身教職的教授身份，也是著名的學術巨作作者。即便如此，他仍大方地接受你們的詢問。將關於學術方面的詢問寫在下方，你將獲得教授的親自指導，陶冶對學術的探索與啟發。
The professor awaits your query on academic writing, though in all honesty, he doesn’t have a lot of time for you. He is a tenured full professor and working on yet another magnificent academic tome. Even so, he has graciously consented to entertain your question. Submit it and prepare to be edified.
QUESTION: My grammar is nearly always perfect in my papers. I’m not bragging; it is just an innate ability. But sometimes I believe I care too much about being grammatically correct and too little about the flow of thought. What is the middle ground?
每次寫論文我的文法都很完美，我不是在吹牛，只是天生對文法比較拿手。不過有時候，我覺得我太注重文法，沒有注意思想傳達是否流暢。文法正確與表達流暢間，怎麼取得中庸之道呢？
Good question. It reminds me of a fellow I know who would spend as long as an hour carefully trimming his beard and mustache without realizing how ragged his hair looked at the back of his head. The total effect was less than awesome. It indeed is possible to become too word-centric in composing a paper and, in doing so, lose sight of the purpose of the paper—to communicate an idea clearly and completely. Word consciousness is the equivalent of navel-gazing. In the end, you might know your navel perfectly, but you have sacrificed the whole body of your work to it.
問得好，這讓我想起一個同事，他會花一小時仔細修剪鬍鬚和短髭，卻沒注意到自己後腦勺頭髮有多亂，結果整個人看起來實在不怎麼樣。有時寫論文確實會太在意遣詞用字，而忘了論文的目的是要清楚完整地表達想法。只注意字詞就像盯著肚臍眼看，最後可能發現自己的肚臍很完美，卻忽略了整體作品。
I would suggest two general guides to help steer you away from excessive concentration on individual words and sentence structure. The first is that you pay relatively little attention to grammatical soundness in working up an early draft of a paper. The first draft can be as rough as bark on a black walnut tree; so long as the direction and thrust of a paper is established, word choice and sentence framework matter little. There is plenty of time in later drafts to revise, clean up, and smooth out the content. Run with your ideas first and see where they take you.
我想提出兩點概括性的建議，幫助你不要過度執著於個別的詞彙或句子結構。首先，在寫初期草稿時，不要花太多心力注意文法是否正確。第一份草稿可以和黑核桃樹的樹皮一樣粗糙，只要建立起文章的方向與目標，遣詞用字與句子結構不是太重要。之後的草稿還有很多時間可以修改、刪節與潤飾內容，先跟著你的想法走，看看可以寫出什麼。
The second suggestion is that you not become enslaved by grammar. Rules of writing are established to free language, not to restrain it. If the framework of a sentence is too rigid, or word choices are too precise, life is sucked right out of the writing. It becomes stilted, or wooden, or vapid. You are quite right to be concerned about focusing too much on words and too little on the integrity of a thought being conveyed. In the end, a paper is about ideas, not words. Carefully chosen and assembled, a paper’s words should almost disappear behind the power of the idea.
第二個建議是不要過於拘泥文法，建立寫作規則不是為了限制語言，而是為了釋放語言、讓語言盡情表現。如果句子結構太僵硬，選字太嚴格精確，文章就會失去生氣，變得矯揉造作、呆板，甚至乏味。你擔心自己過於注重文字，忽略了想要傳達的想法是否完整，這是很好的。畢竟，論文最重要的不是文字，而是想法。文章的字句要仔細選擇、組合，但不應該蓋過思想的力量。
The professor awaits your query on academic writing, though in all honesty, he doesn’t have a lot of time for you. He is a tenured full professor and working on yet another magnificent academic tome. Even so, he has graciously consented to entertain your question. Submit it and prepare to be edified.
QUESTION: My grammar is nearly always perfect in my papers. I’m not bragging; it is just an innate ability. But sometimes I believe I care too much about being grammatically correct and too little about the flow of thought. What is the middle ground?
每次寫論文我的文法都很完美，我不是在吹牛，只是天生對文法比較拿手。不過有時候，我覺得我太注重文法，沒有注意思想傳達是否流暢。文法正確與表達流暢間，怎麼取得中庸之道呢？
Good question. It reminds me of a fellow I know who would spend as long as an hour carefully trimming his beard and mustache without realizing how ragged his hair looked at the back of his head. The total effect was less than awesome. It indeed is possible to become too word-centric in composing a paper and, in doing so, lose sight of the purpose of the paper—to communicate an idea clearly and completely. Word consciousness is the equivalent of navel-gazing. In the end, you might know your navel perfectly, but you have sacrificed the whole body of your work to it.
問得好，這讓我想起一個同事，他會花一小時仔細修剪鬍鬚和短髭，卻沒注意到自己後腦勺頭髮有多亂，結果整個人看起來實在不怎麼樣。有時寫論文確實會太在意遣詞用字，而忘了論文的目的是要清楚完整地表達想法。只注意字詞就像盯著肚臍眼看，最後可能發現自己的肚臍很完美，卻忽略了整體作品。
I would suggest two general guides to help steer you away from excessive concentration on individual words and sentence structure. The first is that you pay relatively little attention to grammatical soundness in working up an early draft of a paper. The first draft can be as rough as bark on a black walnut tree; so long as the direction and thrust of a paper is established, word choice and sentence framework matter little. There is plenty of time in later drafts to revise, clean up, and smooth out the content. Run with your ideas first and see where they take you.
我想提出兩點概括性的建議，幫助你不要過度執著於個別的詞彙或句子結構。首先，在寫初期草稿時，不要花太多心力注意文法是否正確。第一份草稿可以和黑核桃樹的樹皮一樣粗糙，只要建立起文章的方向與目標，遣詞用字與句子結構不是太重要。之後的草稿還有很多時間可以修改、刪節與潤飾內容，先跟著你的想法走，看看可以寫出什麼。
The second suggestion is that you not become enslaved by grammar. Rules of writing are established to free language, not to restrain it. If the framework of a sentence is too rigid, or word choices are too precise, life is sucked right out of the writing. It becomes stilted, or wooden, or vapid. You are quite right to be concerned about focusing too much on words and too little on the integrity of a thought being conveyed. In the end, a paper is about ideas, not words. Carefully chosen and assembled, a paper’s words should almost disappear behind the power of the idea.
第二個建議是不要過於拘泥文法，建立寫作規則不是為了限制語言，而是為了釋放語言、讓語言盡情表現。如果句子結構太僵硬，選字太嚴格精確，文章就會失去生氣，變得矯揉造作、呆板，甚至乏味。你擔心自己過於注重文字，忽略了想要傳達的想法是否完整，這是很好的。畢竟，論文最重要的不是文字，而是想法。文章的字句要仔細選擇、組合，但不應該蓋過思想的力量。