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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: I was so embarrassed when I gave a paper to my friend to read and he later admitted that he had fallen asleep reading it. And this was in the morning after he had good night’s sleep! Seriously, how do I write an “eye-opening” paper?
有一次我把論文給朋友看，他讀一讀就睡著了，那時候是早上，而且前一天他睡得很飽。我覺得好丟臉！請告訴我，我該怎麼寫出讓人眼睛一亮的文章？
Writing snoozers comes naturally to most writers. It happens when their guard is down, at which time they settle for clichés, general terminology and lots and lots of words. To a reader of such tedious writing, catching a few Zs just seems like a natural response. So don’t blame the reader if your writing put him to sleep—and to your credit, you didn’t. Your goal now should be to produce content that sparkles, word choices that startle, and phrasing that engages your brain—all in support of lively ideas. Papers characterized by these elements produce cheers, not yawns.
很多作家寫的文章都會讓人昏昏欲睡，有時他們忘了保持警惕，文句陳腔濫調、了無新意，而且字數有夠多。讀到這麼乏味的文章，讀者打瞌睡也很自然。所以，如果你的文章讓人看了想睡，可不要怪對方，你當時沒這麼做是對的。現在你該做的是寫出內容生動、選詞精彩，表達引人注意的文章，同時要以生動的想法為主軸。論文有這些特色，就能獲得喝采，而不是引來呵欠聲。
A tired word dulls the senses in the same way fog muffles sounds, obscuring by its very presence. Imprecise words and phrases suggest an idea without really illuminating it for a reader. Wordiness clutters the mind without contributing anything to memory. A good writer works—that’s right, writing is work—to avoid all this tedium by crafting sentences, rather than mass-producing them. While a good writer might use some of the aforementioned unworthy elements in a first draft, he will replace them in later drafts with exacting, exciting, engaging language.
就像濃霧會悶住聲音，陳舊的用字也會讓意思模糊，造成文意晦澀不清。選詞不精確，就無法明確表達意思。用字繁瑣會阻礙思路，讀完什麼也不記得。好作家為了避免單調，會努力工作（寫作確實是一種工作），精心打造句子，而不是大量生產句子。一開始的草稿或許會有前述不理想的成份，但文句會進一步修改得更精確、有趣、引人注意。
How can you know whether your writing is boring or buzzworthy? The easiest way is to honestly gauge your own reaction to it. Are you bored by it? If you are, chances are excellent that your readers will be bored, too. Do this: Pick a low-energy sentence and spike it with a brazen word—say, “rowdy” instead of “boisterous”—and see if the sentence is energized. Or this: Sub an unusual word—say, “kerfuffle” for “disturbance”—and see if the sentence has a different lilt. Common words are great, but uncommon ones sometimes are greater. Experiment and learn.
要怎麼知道自己的文章是無趣或生動有力呢？最簡單的方法就是誠實地評估你對句子的反應，你會不會覺得句子很無聊？如果會，很有可能讀者也會覺得無聊。試試看，挑一句看起來了無生氣的句子，用比較大膽誇張的字眼，例如把「好鬥」換成「暴戾」，看看句子會不會更有活力。或者，也可以把常見的字換成少見的字，例如把「混亂」改成「騷亂」等等，看句子會不會更活潑。常見的詞彙很不錯，但有時少見的詞彙更出色。務必多多試驗，從中學習。
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: I was so embarrassed when I gave a paper to my friend to read and he later admitted that he had fallen asleep reading it. And this was in the morning after he had good night’s sleep! Seriously, how do I write an “eye-opening” paper?
有一次我把論文給朋友看，他讀一讀就睡著了，那時候是早上，而且前一天他睡得很飽。我覺得好丟臉！請告訴我，我該怎麼寫出讓人眼睛一亮的文章？
Writing snoozers comes naturally to most writers. It happens when their guard is down, at which time they settle for clichés, general terminology and lots and lots of words. To a reader of such tedious writing, catching a few Zs just seems like a natural response. So don’t blame the reader if your writing put him to sleep—and to your credit, you didn’t. Your goal now should be to produce content that sparkles, word choices that startle, and phrasing that engages your brain—all in support of lively ideas. Papers characterized by these elements produce cheers, not yawns.
很多作家寫的文章都會讓人昏昏欲睡，有時他們忘了保持警惕，文句陳腔濫調、了無新意，而且字數有夠多。讀到這麼乏味的文章，讀者打瞌睡也很自然。所以，如果你的文章讓人看了想睡，可不要怪對方，你當時沒這麼做是對的。現在你該做的是寫出內容生動、選詞精彩，表達引人注意的文章，同時要以生動的想法為主軸。論文有這些特色，就能獲得喝采，而不是引來呵欠聲。
A tired word dulls the senses in the same way fog muffles sounds, obscuring by its very presence. Imprecise words and phrases suggest an idea without really illuminating it for a reader. Wordiness clutters the mind without contributing anything to memory. A good writer works—that’s right, writing is work—to avoid all this tedium by crafting sentences, rather than mass-producing them. While a good writer might use some of the aforementioned unworthy elements in a first draft, he will replace them in later drafts with exacting, exciting, engaging language.
就像濃霧會悶住聲音，陳舊的用字也會讓意思模糊，造成文意晦澀不清。選詞不精確，就無法明確表達意思。用字繁瑣會阻礙思路，讀完什麼也不記得。好作家為了避免單調，會努力工作（寫作確實是一種工作），精心打造句子，而不是大量生產句子。一開始的草稿或許會有前述不理想的成份，但文句會進一步修改得更精確、有趣、引人注意。
How can you know whether your writing is boring or buzzworthy? The easiest way is to honestly gauge your own reaction to it. Are you bored by it? If you are, chances are excellent that your readers will be bored, too. Do this: Pick a low-energy sentence and spike it with a brazen word—say, “rowdy” instead of “boisterous”—and see if the sentence is energized. Or this: Sub an unusual word—say, “kerfuffle” for “disturbance”—and see if the sentence has a different lilt. Common words are great, but uncommon ones sometimes are greater. Experiment and learn.
要怎麼知道自己的文章是無趣或生動有力呢？最簡單的方法就是誠實地評估你對句子的反應，你會不會覺得句子很無聊？如果會，很有可能讀者也會覺得無聊。試試看，挑一句看起來了無生氣的句子，用比較大膽誇張的字眼，例如把「好鬥」換成「暴戾」，看看句子會不會更有活力。或者，也可以把常見的字換成少見的字，例如把「混亂」改成「騷亂」等等，看句子會不會更活潑。常見的詞彙很不錯，但有時少見的詞彙更出色。務必多多試驗，從中學習。
