Chapter 2 方法(Methods)
本章部分吸取了《The Elements of Style》中關于副詞、時態、轉折詞的使用方法，比如盡量少用副詞，這些原則在中文里同樣適用，值得每個人反復斟酌。
8.Unity一致性
You learn to write by writing.
只有寫才能學會如何寫。
All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem.
所有寫作最終都是為了解決一個問題。(闡述事實、表明態度)
One choice is unity of pronoun.
前后人稱要盡量一致（第一人稱“我”和第三人稱“他”不要隨意切換）。
Instead of controlling his materials, his materials is controlling him. That wouldn’t happen if he took time to establish certain unities.
（前文為一個游記）我們不應該被寫作材料牽著鼻子走，而是要花時間好好組織素材，讓文章有連貫性。
Nobody can write a book or article about something.Tolstoy couldn’t write a book about war and peace, or Melville a book about whaling. They made certain reductive decisions about time and place and about individual characters in that time and place---one man pursuing one whale. Every writing project must be reduced before you start to write.
沒人可以就某事寫本書或文章。托爾斯泰無法寫本書來描述戰爭與和平，麥爾維爾也無法寫出一本關于白鯨的書。他們只是對時間和空間做了些簡化，只描寫了在那個具體時間和具體地點下一個追逐白鯨男人的性格。在你開始寫之前，你的主題必須要有刪減。
Therefore think small. Decide what corner of your subject you’re going to bite off, and be content to cover it well and stop.
因此，想小一點。決定好你要寫主題的哪一小塊，然后把它說透了，就停筆。
As for what point you want to make, every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn’t have before. Not two thoughts, or five--- just one. So decide what single point you want to leave in the reader’s mind.
對于你想表達的觀點，每個成功的非虛構作品應該在讀者心中有且只留下一個有觸動的想法，這個想法是他從來沒有過的。不是兩個也不是五個，只有一個，所以你要想好給讀者頭腦中留下什么樣的觀點。
9.The leading and the Ending開頭和結尾
The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn’t induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn’t induce him to the third sentence , it’s equally dead.
任何文章中最關鍵的就是第一句。如果它沒能吊起讀者的胃口往下讀第二句，那么你的文章就掛了，如果第二句不能引起讀者往下繼續第三句，你還是掛了。
Your lead must capture the reader immediately and force him to keep reading. It must cajole him with freshness, or novelty, or paradox, or humor, or surprise, or with an unusual idea, or in interesting fact, or a question. Anything will do, as long as it nudges his curiosity and tugs at his sleeve.
你的開頭必須迅速俘獲讀者，并能推著他繼續。開頭要以新奇、自相矛盾、幽默、驚喜、不尋常的觀點、有趣的事實，或者一個問題來釣住讀者。任何只要能調動讀者好奇心并拴住他們的方法，都可以使用。
But take special care with the last sentence of each paragraph---it’s the crucial springboard to the next paragraph.
要小心處理每段的最后一句話，因為它是到下一段的關鍵跳板。
You Should collect more material than you will use. Every article is strong in proportion to the surplus of details from which you can choose the few that will serve you best.
你收集的素材應遠大于你文章所要使用的量，文章的力度很大程度上跟你所能提供服務于文章主題的細節數量成正比。
Another moral is to look for your material everywhere, not just by reading the obvious sources ad interviewing the obvious people.
另一個啟示就是要隨處搜集你的素材，而不僅僅是通過大家都熟知的書或人作為信息來源。（路邊的廣告牌、玩具上的包裝說明、藥品上的聲明等）
Another approach is to just tell a story. It’s such a simple solution, so obvious and unsophisticated, that we often forget that it’s available to us. But narrative is the oldest and most compelling method of holding someone’s attention; everybody wants to be told a story.
另一個方法就是開頭講個故事。它如此簡單明了，也不高深以至于我們經常忘了用。敘事其實是最古老也最引人入勝的抓住讀者注意力的方法，人人都想聽個故事。
Sometimes you can tell your whole story in the first sentence:
In the beginning God created heaven and earth.? ---The BIBLE
有時候你可以在第一句中講述整個故事：
起初，上帝創造了天地。----圣經
The perfect ending should take your readers slightly by surprise and yet seem exactly right. They didn’t expect the article to end so soon, or so abruptly, or to say what is said. But they know it when they see it. Like a lead, it works.
完美的結尾應該帶給讀者以小驚喜卻又不唐突，讀者沒預料到文章會那么快結束，或者已說完了它該說的，但是當他們看到，他們就知道要結束了。
For the nonfiction writer, the simplest way of putting this into a rule is : when you’re ready to stop, stop. If you have presented all the facts and made the point you want to make , look for the nearest exit.
對于非虛構類作者，最簡單的原則就是：當你準備好結束時，就結束。如果你已經呈現了所有想表達的事實和觀點，尋找最近的出口，結束它。
10.Bits & Pieces零零碎碎
Verbs? are the most important of all your tools.
動詞是最重要的表達。
Most adverbs are unnecessary.
大部分副詞都是多余的。(比如“的”、“了”、“呢”、“吧”。)
Don't overstate.
不要過度陳述。
Writing is not a contest...Forget the competition and go at your own pace. Your only contest is with yourself.
寫作不是競賽。保持自己的節奏，忘掉和別人的比拼，你唯一要戰勝的是自己。
The Quickest Fix:Surprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it.
解決一個棘手句子的最快速方法就是刪掉它。
Keep your paragraphs short.
段落要短。
Almost of nonfiction writers think in paragraph units, not in sentence units. Each paragraph has its own integrity of content and structure.
大多數非虛構類作家都是以段為內容單元，而非句子。每段自有其故事的完整性和結構。
Rewriting is the essence of writing well:it's where the game is won or lost.
修改才是寫好文章的本質，也是勝負所在。
You won’t write well until you understand that writing is an evolving process, not a finished product. Nobody expects you to get it right the first time, or even the second time.
只有你明白了寫作是一個進化過程，而不是一個成品，你才能寫好文章。沒有人指望你第一次就做好，第二次也不。
Most rewriting consists of reshaping and tightening and refining the raw material you wrote on your first try. Much of it consists of making sure you’ve given the reader a narrative flow he can follow with no trouble from beginning to end.
大多數修改主要是使你的初稿更緊湊、更精準、也更瘦身。是為了有個更好的敘事結構，可以引導讀者從開始到結尾，不會有閱讀困難。
The longer I work at the craft of writing, the more I realize that there’s nothing more interesting than the truth.
我寫作時間越長，就越意識到沒有什么比真實更有趣。
The reader plays a major role in the act of writing and must be given room to play it. Don’t annoy your readers by over-explaining---by telling them something they already know or can figure out.
讀者在寫作中也扮演著重要角色，要給他們空間去參與。過度解釋——告訴讀者他們已經知道或者他們能自己搞明白的東西，往往會使他們厭煩。
No area of life is stupid to someone who takes it seriously. If you follow your affections, you will write well and will engage your readers.
只要你認真對待，生活中就沒有什么是愚蠢而你不能寫的領域。追隨你的熱愛，你就能寫好，這也會吸引你的讀者。
To be continued...
未完待續...
