十招讓你遠離寫作累贅
快樂學堂
累贅是英語寫作中常見的弊病之一。改掉這個壞習慣，我們可以遵循一個宗旨：不要轉彎抹角（don’t waste words），而應簡明扼要（get to the point）。檢查和修改文章時，我們應該去掉意思含糊不清、重複或誇張的詞語。換句話說，就是除去沒有用的東西，做到準確扼要。
1. 減少從句。校對時，盡量將長的從句改成短一點的短語。如：
Wordy[冗長的，囉嗦的]: The clown who was in the center ring was riding a tricycle.
Revised[修改]: The clown in the center ring was riding a tricycle.（處在中心圈的那個小醜騎著一輛三輪車。）
Wordy: The clown at the end of the line tried to steal everyone’s attention.
Revised: The last clown tried to steal everyone’s attention.（隊伍最後的那個小醜想讓所有人都注意到他。）
3. 避免用there is、there are和there were做句子開頭。如果there is、there are和
there were對句子沒有實際意思，請避免使用這類開頭。如：
Wordy: There is a prize in every box of Quaker cereal.
Revised: A prize is in every box of Quaker cereal.（每盒桂格麥片裏都有一個獎品。）Wordy: There are two security guards at the gate.
Revised: Two security guards stand at the gate.（門口站著兩個警衛。）
4. 不要濫用修飾語。不要使用對表達句子意思作用不大的修飾語（如very、really、totally等）。如：
Wordy: By the time she got home, Mary was very tired.
Revised: By the time she got home, Mary was exhausted.（回到家時，瑪麗已經精疲力竭。）
Wordy: She was also really hungry.
Revised: She was also hungry/famished[極饑餓的].（她也很餓。）
5. 避免累贅。用簡明扼要的詞語代替累贅、詞不達意的表達方式。記住：不必要的詞對我們要表達的意思沒有任何作用（或隻有些微影響），它們隻會令讀者厭煩，分散其注意力，所以去掉它們吧！
Wordy: At this point in time, we should edit our work.
Revised: Now we should edit our work.（我們現在應該修訂作品了。）