英語寫作如何措辭？4條建議送給你

Selecting the right words is an essential part of communicating, whether you’re writing a wedding speech or a technical report. You need to choose words that are appropriate for your subject matter, that pitch your message at the right level for your audience, and words that most clearly convey what you are trying to say.

無論你在寫婚禮致辭還是科技報告，選擇正確的詞對錶達信息而言都十分重要。你需要選擇適用於主題的詞彙，向特定受衆清晰地表達你的想法。

1. Choose everyday words 選擇日常用詞

It is true that English has a vast and varied vocabulary. However, we mostly communicate using only a fraction of those words. They are all standard, everyday words such as tall, eat, forget, and good. Those are the words that people are most used to. So, if you use them rather than more flowery words, your writing will be easier for people to read and process.

英語的詞彙的確豐富多樣，但在交流時我們多數只用到一小部分。這些詞彙都是標準的日常用詞，如：tall（高的），eat（吃），forget（忘記），good（好的）。這些都是人們最常用的詞。所以，如果你的文章少用華麗辭藻而多用日常用詞，對讀者而言便更曉暢明瞭。

2. Choose appropriate formal, neutral, and informal words 選擇恰當的正式用語、中性詞、非正式用語

English is very rich in synonyms. But very often synonyms do not mean exactly the same thing. They are used in distinct styles of writing; some are more formal; some are example, dozens of words express the idea ‘to steal’, but they are all different. Just to examine three of them: purloin is definitely formal, while steal is ‘neutral’, that is to say it is neither formal nor informal. But nick is definitely informal: you would be surprised to find it in a newspaper report of a crime!

英語中有很多近義詞，但近義詞並非意思完全一致。近義詞用於不同的寫作風格，有些正式，有些口語化。比如，很多詞都表達“偷”這一概念，但又都不盡相同。我們以其中三個詞爲例：“purloin”一定是正式用語，而“steal”則是中性詞，既不是正式用語也不是非正式用語。然而，“nick”則一定是非正式用語。如果你在犯罪新聞報導上看到它，一定會驚訝萬分。

3. Use inclusive vocabulary 使用包容性詞彙

It is important to respect groups in society such as people with disabilities, older people, ethnic minorities, and so forth. One way of doing this is to choose appropriate, non-stereotyping words. In particular, the words you use should be gender-inclusive and not suggest a masculine bias. There are several ways of doing this. For example, when referring to professions it is nowadays standard to avoid words that refer only to one sex, such as actress (use actor) or policeman (use police officer).

尊重社會不同羣體很重要，特殊羣體有殘障人士、老年人、少數民族羣體等等。表達尊重的一種途徑就是使用恰當的、非歧視性的語言。尤爲重要的是，你應當選擇不分性別的詞彙，而不能暗含對男性的偏袒。這樣做的方式有很多。舉個例子，如今提及到某種職業，較爲規範的做法是避免使用只涉及某一性別的詞語，如用actor來替代actress，用police officer替代policeman。

4. Enrich your vocabulary 豐富詞彙量

By widening your vocabulary you will have more words to choose from, which means you are more likely to know a word that most precisely conveys your message. Reading is an excellent way to learn new words. However, before you use them, be sure to check the meanings of any words that are new to you in a dictionary!

通過擴大詞彙量，你有更多的詞彙可供選擇，這就意味着很有可能你可以找到一個能夠最精確表達你想法的詞語。閱讀是學習新單詞的最佳途徑。但是，在使用任何一個新單詞之前，請務必翻翻字典查詞意！

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