Benjamin Franklin may be the most prolific man in all of American history.
本杰明·富蘭克林可能是整個美國歷史上最多產的人。
In his NYT bestsellingBenjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Isaacson writes of Franklin—
在有關他的紐約時報最暢銷的“本杰明·富蘭克林：一個美國人的生活”里，華特·艾薩克森寫到：
“[He was] the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become.”
（他是）他那個時代最有成就的美國人并且在創造美國應該成為的社會類型上最有影響力。
Franklin’s?literal rags to riches story is jam-packed with insights on writing and a better life.
富蘭克林的文字散落在豐富的故事中，充滿了對寫作和好生活的洞見。
Born into poverty with 16 siblings, Franklin dropped out of school at age 10. How did Benjamin Franklin go from primary school dropout to the most accomplished American in all of history?
出生在有16個兄弟姐妹的貧困家庭，富蘭克林在10歲時就輟學了。那么本杰明·富蘭克林是怎么從一個小學輟學生成長為美國歷史上最有成就的人的呢？
I wanted to find out.
我想找到答案。
In my own quest to teach myself how to write, I dug into Franklin’sautobiography. Guess what?He wasn’t born with it.
在我自己探尋教自己怎樣寫作時，我挖掘了一下富蘭克林的自傳。你猜怎么著？他也不是天生就會（寫作）。
By his late twenties, Franklin had become independently wealthy through his publications of thePennsylvania Gazetteand his famedPoor Richard’s Almanack.
在二十多歲時，富蘭克林變得獨立并富有，通過出版他的《賓夕法尼亞州公報》及他著名的《窮理查德年鑒》。
Yet, as a teenager, Franklin wasnota good at writing. Determined to improve but with no teachers and no money, he decided to teach himself.
是的，在十幾歲時，富蘭克林不是一個好作者。決心要提高但是沒有老師也沒有錢，他決定自學。
His autobiography tellsexactlyhow he did it.
他的自傳準確講述了他是怎么做到的。
Most writing advice today sucks. It’s palm-in-face bad. Internet forums are infected with impractical advice like “just read more” or “keep trying kiddo!”.
今天的大部分關于寫作的建議都是垃圾。簡直就是打臉?；ヂ摼W論壇上流傳著未經實踐的建議如“要多讀”或“堅持嘗試，老兄！”
Franklin’s advice, written almost 200 years ago, is the cure. He offers specific, actionable and immediate steps you can use to start improving your writingtoday.
富蘭克林的建議，差不多200年前寫下的，是良藥。他提供了特別的，可行的并且直接的步驟，你今天就可以用來開始提高你的寫作。
Let’s dig in…
讓我們開始動手吧
1. DISSECT AND RECONSTRUCT
打散再重構
At age 16, Ben finds out he’s bad at writing. His spelling and grammar are good, but…
16歲的時候，本發現自己寫作很爛。他的拼寫和語法不錯，但是...
“I fell far short in elegance of expression, in method and in perspicuity…”
我感覺嚴重欠缺優雅的表達，缺少方法和簡明性...
(Perspicuity means “clarity”. I didn’t know it either.)
(Perspicuity意思是簡明性。我也不知道它。)
Determined to improve, Ben takes up one of his favorite magazines, The Spectator…
決定要提高，本拿起了他喜歡的一本雜志：觀察者
“I took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, try’d to compleat the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. ThenI compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them.”
“我取其中幾頁，然后，標注簡短的觀點在每個句子旁，放幾天，然后，不再看這本書，努力完成這幾頁，詳細表達標注的觀點，盡可能完整的達到它之前的樣子，用任何我掌握的合適的詞語。最后，我對比我的“觀察者”和原始文章，找到自己的錯誤，改正他們?！?/p>
Wow, that’s some practical advice.
哇哦，這是多么實在的建議。
Here it is again:
Take good writing and jot short notes for each sentence.
Put the notes aside and come back in a few days.
Try to “rewrite” the piece using only the notes (and in your own words).
Compare with the original and correct your faults.
下面是總結：
取好的寫作材料，對每句話摘記簡短的筆記；
把筆記放到一邊放幾天；
努力“重寫”那段，僅僅使用筆記提醒（使用你自己的詞語）；
和原始文字對比，糾正自己的錯誤；
2. CONVERT TO POETRY (AND BACK AGAIN)
轉換到詩歌（再轉回來）
Next, Franklin tackles his mastery of the English vocabulary.
接下來，富蘭克林處理對英語詞匯的掌握。
He uses a technique that all master learners—be they soccer players, mathematicians or wall street traders—understand.To accelerate learning, add artificial constraints.Lose your hands and you shall learn to type with your feet.
他使用了所有大師級學習者使用的技巧—無論是足球運動員，數學家，華爾街交易員—都知道。想要加速學習，添加人工限制。失去雙手你將去學習用腳打字。
Franklin recognizes writing poetry can accelerate his development as a writer—
富蘭克林意識到寫詩可以加速他發展成為作家--
But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme,would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master of it.
但是我發現我想要單詞庫存，或者準備好搜集和使用它們，我想我應該已經掌握了如果我曾經寫過詩。因為不斷有機會使用相同意思但不同長度的單詞，為了符合格式，或不同的聲音節奏，將使我持續尋找變化，并趨向于固定那個變化在頭腦中，并讓我掌握它。
But not satisfied with just an idea (something I always stress here), hemakes it into an actionable exercise—
但是不滿足于僅僅是個想法（我要強調這點），他把它做成了可行的練習--
Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verse; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again.
因此我找了些故事并把它們轉化成詩；因此，過段時間，當我徹底忘記文章時，再把他們寫回來。
Here it is again:
Take a story and convert it to poetry
Wait a few days
Convert your poem back to a story
這里是總結：
找個故事，把它改寫成詩；
放幾天；
把你的詩再轉換回故事；
Repeat regularly (and vary the limitations) to see impressive gains in writing ability.
有規律的重復（使用不同的限制）來看看在協作能力上可觀的收獲。
UNDERSTAND STRUCTURE
理解結構
Now proficient in crafting sentences and selecting words, Franklin turns to the overall structure of his writing—
現在富蘭克林能嫻熟的操縱句子選擇詞語了，他又轉向寫作的整體結構--
I also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences and compleat the paper.This was to teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts.
我有時會打亂我的提示筆記，然后幾周后努力把他們再排成最好的順序，在我開始形成句子和完成文章之前。這是用來鍛煉自己安排想法的方法。
Here it is again:
Take your notes from EXERCISE #1 and jumble them up
Wait a few weeks
Reassemble the sentences as best as you can
Get feedback by comparing to the original
總結一下：
取你在練習1中的筆記（紙條）并把它們打亂；
等幾周；
重新組合句子，盡你所能；
和原始文本進行比較，進行總結；
This exercise teaches writers (1) to see and understand structure and (2) how to create it.
這個練習教寫作者：（1）看到并理解結構（2）怎樣創建它。
4. THE SECRET SAUCE
4.秘密調料
That’s plenty to work on already, but there’s one last ingredient to the Benjamin Franklin’s success formula .
已經有不少事要做了，但是這里有最后一個要素，在富蘭克林的成功公式里。
Franklin’s secret sauce—
富蘭克林的秘密調料
My time for these exercises and for reading was at night, after work or before it began in the morning, or on Sundays, when I contrived to be in the printing-house alone, evading as much as I could the common attendance on public worship…
我做這些練習和閱讀的時是在晚上，在工作后或者在早上工作前，或者在周日，當我故意單獨待在印刷室，盡量逃避公共禮拜活動...
Franklin would surely tell you this: all his advice is useless without the secret sauce.
富蘭克林當然會告訴你：他所有的建議如果沒有這個秘密調料是毫無用處的。
And the secret sauce isobsession.
這個秘密調料就是癡迷。
Want more? I’ll be covering?how to cultivate obsession in a future post. For now, considerThe Open Circle—a weekly cocktail of ideas from smart dead people and actionable lessons from my own personal experiments.Join here.
想要更多？我將會說說如何培養癡迷，在將來的文章里?，F在，考慮下“開放圈”—每周的來自聰明的前人那里想法及來自我個人經驗的可行的課程。點擊這里加入。
As always, share your comments below!
和往常一樣，在下面分享你的評論！
原文鏈接：
http://marketmeditations.com/benjamin-franklin-learn-to-write/
