罗素三原则 诺贝尔文学奖得主教你写英语作文

历届诺贝尔文学奖得主中，伯特兰·罗素或许是最多才多艺的一位。他不仅在写作上有相当高的造诣，还是著名的哲学家、数学家和社会活动家。他的著作包括《西方哲学史》（A History of Western Philosophy ）、《中国问题》（The Problem of China）等。

在《我如何写作》（How I Write）一文中，罗素对议论文作者提出了三个建议。它们不仅是英语作家们的金科玉律，同样也适用于参加托福、雅思、GRE考试的英语学习者。

1.Never use a long word if a short word will do.

1.能用短词就不要用长词。

2.If you want to make a statement with a great many qualifications, put some of the qualifications in separate sentences.

2.如果想在一句话里加入许多修饰语，请把它们分散到若干个句子中去。

3.Do not let the beginning of your sentence lead the reader to an expectation which is contradicted by the end.

3.不要在句子开头给读者某种期待，却在句末表达相反的意思。

罗素举了一个例子：

Human beings are completely exempt from undesirable behaviour-patterns only when certain prerequisites, not satisfied except in a small percentage of actual cases, have, through some fortuitous concourse of favourable circumstances, whether congenital or environmental, chanced to combine in producing an individual in whom many factors deviate from the norm in a socially advantageous manner.

他认为改成下面这样会更简洁易懂：

All men are scoundrels, or at any rate almost all. The men who are not must have had unusual luck, both in their birth and in their upbringing.