【干货】如何提高英文写作逻辑？

【干货】英文写作逻辑训练5大技巧

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本期导读

本期与大家分享英文原版写作书，名为The little red writing book。本书从英文写作结构，写作风格及英文语法等三个维度详细介绍了英文写作技巧。今天着重和大家分享英文写作逻辑结构的训练方法。
英文写作逻辑结构有多重要？写作是英文学习中最难的部分，英文写作需要调用全面的综合的英语语言技巧，不仅仅要求掌握扎实的语法、词汇等基础知识，还要求学习者了解英文的逻辑和思维。实际上，国内的英文教育从小学到大学主要以 grammar-oriented 的教学方式，即绝大部分的英文教学关注的是词汇量和语法，而对于英文思维的训练少之又少。加之受到中文思维的影响，英文写作对中国学生而言难上加难。中国传统思维注重“悟”和“感觉”，主张借助直觉和体会从总体上模糊而直接地把握认识对象内在的本质，倾向于以经验为基础去理解事物，呈现的是感性的表达和判断。而西方的思维则具有浓厚的实证，理性和思辨的色彩。大家如果读过古希腊哲学家的著作，便会发现，他们对自然界的观察和实验渗透着理性的思维和哲学的思辨，他们非常注重事物之间的内在联系。
了解中西方思维差异以后，我们才能在学习英文的过程中有意识地对我们的思维方式进行训练，提升英文写作水平。本期概括归纳了5个很有效的写作逻辑框架，和大家一起分享。

技巧 1： Top-down approach

至上而下描述法
何谓至上而下的写作方法？简而言之，当我们在写作的时候，为了让读者更加清晰了解写作意图，写作遵从“总体”到“细节”的原则，也就是总分原则去描述事物。在这本写作小红书中，作者以生活中的场景为例：场景1：“Sheila can do you something for me when you’re down-town? If you’re taking the subway to Main Street, get off and take the first exit out of the subway and walk down to Cross Street. At the intersection of Cross Street and Vine, you’ll find a Sandy’s Stationary store. Can you go in and pick up a couple of reams of A5 paper? ”

场景2：“Sheila can you do something for me when you’re down-town? I need a couple of reams of A5 paper. The best place to get them is Sandy’s Stationary store. You can take the subway to Main Street, get off and take the first exit out of the subway and walk down to Cross Street. The store is at the intersection of Cross Street and Vine.”
相信大家都非常熟悉以上的对话场景，说话的人希望Sheila 帮忙买A5纸。实际上，两个场景想表达的内容差不多，但是由于表述的逻辑结构不同，表达的效果完全不同。在第一个场景中，由于说话的人一开始并没有说清楚要帮什么忙，所以听者很困惑不知道对方要干嘛，直到听到最后一句才反应过来对方的真正目的是希望自己帮忙买A5纸。在现实生活当中，遇到类似情况，听的人很可能会让说的人再重复一遍前面的细节内容因为等对方听到最后一句真正意图的时候才想起来前面的细节。而第二个版本，说话的人在一开始就非常清晰地表达了自己的要求，并且在接下来的表达中和对方详细说明了帮助的具体方式。所以不管是写作还是口语，组织语言的逻辑结构非常重要。我们首先需要明确表达的目的，然后提供具体的说明或者解释，让对方快速理解表达的目的。

技巧 2：Break things down 细节列举法

所谓细节描述法就是清晰的列出写作具体目的，也可以理解为listing 即列举法，罗列和概括接下来文章的内容。这种方法通常会用在段落的topic sentence, 也就是段落的中心句。好的中心句子能够起 “ 窥一斑而见全豹“ 的效果。
例1：“ I would like to show who I am through a discussion of three special turning points in my personal and career development: when I switched from an English major to an education major , whenI spent a year teaching in South Korea, and when I completed my graduate degree in business“
这里用三个When向读者详细说明了接下来作者要讨论的三个人生和职业转折点，这样做的好处是能够让读者清晰抓取作者接下来的表达意图。
例2：“ Based on information taken from a recent survey, this report summarizes the three biggest problems that our company faces, namely employee turnover, store thefts, and poor customer service.“
这类写作常见于商业报告和学术写作中，主要为方便读者快速提取作者的写作目的和文章主干内容，对接下来作者想表达的内容做出预测。
总而言之，好的英文写作，一定是具有鲜明的或者自圆其说的逻辑框架，能够让读者找到内在的联系，从而达到读者和作者之间有效的沟通。

技巧 3：Use transition words
衔接词的使用

衔接词（transition words）也叫 “signposting words”指路词或“signal words” 信号词，其主要作用有四个：1）体现对比 2) 解释说明 3）呈现内容的连续性 4）时间的起止。以下图形列举了若干常见的衔接词。

正确使用这些词汇能够让读者找到作者所表达的事物之间的内在联系。比如，当我们使用for instance 的时候，读者预测到接下来作者要举例子来说明问题；使用in conclusion的时候，意味着作者要做出结论。这些词汇有效地体现了作者的创作逻辑和思路，同时也帮助读者更好理解作者要传达的意思。

技巧 4：
Employ the six basic writing structures
灵活运用6种经典写作框架

常见的写作逻辑框架有：
1）分类法（categorical）
将事物进行合理分类，将同一特质的事物归为一类。
例：I like apple, orange and watermelon.
I would like to talk about America, China, and Britain.
2）评估法 (evaluative)
根据事物的好坏，优劣，美丑等进行评价性分类。
例：Advertising brings a range of negative impacts.
Let’s talk about what voters think: those for, those against, and those undecided.
3)时间顺序法（chronological）
根据事物发展的时间顺序进行描述。
例：The bar chart shows the sales of clothes from June to August.
4) 比较法 （comparative）
比较两个事物，或者一个事物的正反两面。
例：Let’s compare our company to our competitors in terms of size, products and resources.
We will share our most important goals and minor goals.
5) 排列顺序法 (sequential)
根据顺序逻辑进行写作，典型的写作类型如流程图写作。
例: The process of chocoloate production can be outlined in seven steps.
6) 因果分析法（causal）
因果分析法为写作最常见的逻辑论证方法。
例如：Let’s talk about the primary causes of global warming and the likely effects of global warming .

技巧 5：Keep like things together
物以类聚结构法

简而言之，就是事情一件件说，把一件事情表达清楚的情况下，再说另外一件事情，切忌交叉描述引导读者理解混乱。大家看以下两个版本：
版本1: In 1981,Roger Sperry received the Nobel Prize for his proof of the split-brain theory. According to Dr. Sperry, the brain has two hemispheres with different, but over-lapping functions.
The left side of the brain is responsible for analytical, linear, verbal, and national thought. Left-brain thinking is “spotlight” thinking. The right hemisphere is holistic, imaginative , nonverbal ,and artistic . It is the left brain that a person relies on when balancing a checkbook, remembering names and dates, or setting goals and objectives. Whenever a person recalls another person’s face, becomes engrossed in a symphony , or simply daydreams, that person is engaging in right-brain functions. Right-brain thinking is “floodlight” thinking and right-brain processes are , to the chagrin of many, less often rewarded in school. Since most of the Western concepts of thinking come from Greek logic, which is a linear logic system,left-brained processes are most rewarded in the Western education system.
In summary, the right and left hemispheres of the brain each specialize in distinct types of thinking processes. In the most basic sense, the left brain is the analytical side while the right brain is the creative side.

版本2: In 1981, Roger Sperry received the Nobel Prize for his proof of the split-brain theory. According to Dr. Sperry, the brain has two hemispheres with different, but overlapping functions. The right and left hemispheres of the brain each spe-cialize in distinct types of thinking processes. In the most basic sense, the left brain is the analytical side while the right brain is the creative side.

The left side of the brain is responsible for analytical, lin-ear, verbal, and rational thought. Left-brain thinking is “spotlight" thinking; it is the left brain that a person relies on when balancing a checkbook, remembering names and dates, or setting goals and objectives. Since most of the Western concepts of thinking are derived from Greek logic, which is a linear logic system, left-brained processes are most rewarded in the Western education system.
The right hemisphere is holistic, imaginative, nonverbal, and artistic. Whenever a person recalls another person's face, becomes engrossed in a symphony, or simply daydreams, that person is engaging in right-brain functions. Right-brain thinking is "floodlight" thinking but, to the chagrin of many, these processes are less often rewarded in school.

通过对比，可以看出，两个版本的文章组织结构都非常清晰，都有开头，主体和结尾。然而，在细节描述过程中，第一个版本很容易把读者绕晕，作者选择了将两个复杂的事物进行交叉描述，而两个复杂事物的交叉描述很容易造成读者阅读障碍和理解困难。相反，第二个版本中，作者选择的表述逻辑是先把一件事情说清楚以后再说另外一个事情。这样的好处是，可以把两件事情都表达清楚。在表达每件事情的过程中，作者有技巧地采用总分的方式进行描述；先表达左脑的特点，再具体描述其如何影响人们的行为，再表达右脑的特点及其影响，使得读者一目了然。

参考书目:
[1] Royal, Brandon. 2022. The little red writing book. The Writer's Digest Books.

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