The minutes also underlines a debate focused on Fed"s commitment to maintain a low interest rate in an "relatively long period" after October. However, it does not pass out a clear signal about whether it will abandon this rhetoric in December.
【原文】
They also highlight a debate about the Fed"s pledge of low rates for a 「considerable time」 beyond October. However, the minutes send no strong signal about whether the language will be scrapped in December.
突顯：underline, highlight 焦點是：focused on, about 承諾：commitment, pledge 相當長時期：relatively long time, considerable time 10月後：after October, beyond October 傳遞：pass out, send 明確的：clear, strong 棄用：abandon, scrap 說辭：rhetoric, language
比如在口語中要表達「我今天早上開車去上班」，正常的說法是：I drove a car to work this morning. 但如果我們套用所謂的「高級辭彙」，將它換成：I drove an automobile to work this morning. 句子就會很彆扭。因為automobile是一個比較專業的名詞，用在這個語境中聽起來感覺就像「我今天早上開著一輛四輪驅動帶內燃機的交通工具去上班」。
詞典的另外一個作用是提供了大量的例句，這些例句可以讓我們明白一個單詞在具體的語境中應該怎麼用（這一點對於大詞難詞來說尤其重要）。比如這一個句子：她16歲時便作為歌手迅速成名。有同學用了went viral來表示「迅速成名」，但查看go viral的詞典解釋和例句之後你會發現，go viral一般指視頻、廣告、文章等在網上迅速走紅，病毒式傳播，而不能指歌手迅速走紅。這裡應該用 rose / shot to fame.
做到準確用詞很重要的一個前提是明確各個近義詞以及形近詞之間的區別，比如cooperation和collaboration，中文釋義都是「合作」，但兩者之間存在細微區別：cooperation表示廣義上的「合作，協作」，collaboration通常指在科學和藝術上的合作。因此，The company is building the centre in collaboration with the Institute of Offshore Engineering. 用詞會比 The company is building the centre in cooperation with the Institute of Offshore Engineering. 更加精確。
美國當代英語語料庫（Corpus of Contemporary American English，簡稱COCA）是目前最大的免費英語語料庫，它由包含5.2億詞的文本構成，這些文本由口語、小說、流行雜誌、報紙以及學術文章五種不同的文體構成。從1990年至2015年間語料庫以每年增加兩千萬詞的速度進行擴充，以保證語料庫內容的時效性。因此，美國當代英語語料庫被認為是用來觀察美國英語當前發展變化的最合適的英語語料庫。語料庫的地址是：http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/
COCA的使用操作非常簡單，在左側的搜索框內輸入有疑問的片語，點擊搜索就可以看到對應的結果。舉個例子，Compared to renting an apartment off-campus, living in a student dorm can lead to financial savings. 為了確定financial savings這個表達是否正確，可以在語料庫中搜索financial savings，我們會得到下面的結果：
用外語寫作的時候，用法拿不準的地方一定要查： -在語法和用法上有任何疑難的地方，參考H. W. Fowler的《Modern English Usage》 -在需要詞語精確釋義的情況下，最好的參考是《Oxford English Dictionary》（一般國外大學會為學生訂閱電子版 - Oxford English Dictionary）。 -腦子裡出現一個詞但想不起來是什麼的時候，使用任何一本Thesaurus，通過一個意思大概相近的詞來找。 -拿不準一個詞和介詞怎麼搭配的時候，參考《the BBI Dictionary of English Word Combinations》或者更方便的Google。 -如果自己懷疑自己的用法有錯，可查閱 British National Corpus 和 Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) 等語料庫，檢查自己的用法是否被前人使用過。
這些資源應該足以幫助你磨練寫作基本功了，剩下最重要的事應該是模仿前人寫過的作品，這一點說起來容易，但是需要長時間的磨練。如果你能夠有意識地模仿相同領域（不管你學的是人類學還是政治學）的論文和作品並長期堅持，你會發現你和他們的風格會越來越接近。寫作是一門技藝，只要方法正確、加以練習，總會臻於純熟，學術寫作更是如此。
真心想提高英文寫作基本功的話，必須養成提早起稿，反覆修改的習慣。提前幾天把英文 paper 草稿打出來，當天 不要 做什麼檢查：你剛剛寫完的東西，一切在你腦子裡還都剛剛「新鮮出爐」，這個時候是很難發現自己剛犯下的語法錯誤、用詞不當等問題的。可是你明天、後來回來再檢查的時候，就是帶著新的眼光來審視了，原先看不到的那些問題突然就變得非常醒目。 說實話，改自己的東西，一開始的時候會很痛苦：「這麼簡單的東西我也會寫錯!？」 但這是必經之路。老祖宗說寫東西要「斟字酌句、推敲」，是很有道理的。一篇東西你前後修改過3、4稿的話，以前改過你作業的老師粗粗掃一眼就知道了，質量完全會不一樣。 好文章，既需要靈感，也需要修改。缺一不可。 英文寫作如果錯誤百出的話，那估計題主的口語表達能力可能也不太理想。用上面同樣的辦法，每天看完、聽完什麼東西後，口頭複述幾分鐘，錄下來，明天回來聽（同樣，頭幾次聽自己前一天的錄音時很可能「死的心都有了」，但堅持3個月，你再聽聽你3個月前的錄音，一對照，就看到效果了。但也別隔個三五天就急著「對照看出效果」，沒那麼快的）。
According to the industrial revolution, British government confronted
with a severe obstacle of controlling the air pollution. During the Industrial Revolution, the British government was confronted
with severe air pollution.
The air pollution was contributed to the overuse of petroleum for
private automobiles. A contribute to B: A leads to B, 所以這句話因果關係反了 The air pollution was caused by the overuse of petroleum by private
automobiles.
為避免兩個by在同?一句?子出現: The main course of air pollution was the overuse of petroleum by
private automobiles.
In order to achieve the most direct result, the government brought out
the act to encourage citizens to take public transportation instead of
the private one. In order to tackle air pollution, the government adopted a policy to
encourage citizens to replace driving private cars with public
transportation.
The act included the clauses of not only raising the price of petroleum
price but also decreasing the ticket price for the public transportations.
The policy not only raises gas price but also decreases the ticket prices
for public transportation.
After following the act for several months, people came to form the
good habit of regarding the bus as their first choice to go out.
Several months later, many people came to form the habit of choosing
the bus over driving their cars when they go out.
Since then, the situation of severe air pollution had been alleviated
because of the implement of the act.
The policy has greatly alleviated air pollution.
In conclusion, raising the price of fuel is the most direct way to control
the air pollution. As shown in this example, increasing the price of fuel directly keeps air
pollution under control.
改前:141 words; 改後:111 words
（文章要寫得好就是要以盡量少得字表達同樣的意思） During the Industrial Revolution, the British
government was confronted with severe air pollution. The main course
of air pollution was the overuse of petroleum by private automobiles. In
order to tackle air pollution, the government adopted a policy to
encourage citizens to replace driving private cars with public
transportation. The policy not only raises gas price but also decreases
the ticket prices for public transportation. Several months later, many
people came to form the habit of choosing the bus over driving their
cars when they go out. The policy has greatly alleviated air pollution. As
shown in this example, increase the price of fuel directly keep air
pollution under control.
進?步修改: 整合句子 During the Industrial Revolution, the British
government was confronted with severe air pollution, the main course
of which was the overuse of petroleum by private automobiles. In order
to tackle air pollution, the government adopted a policy to encourage
citizens to replace driving private cars with public transportation, not only raising gas price but also decreasing the ticket prices for public
transportation. Several months later, many people came to form the
habit of choosing the bus over driving their cars when they go out. Overall, the policy has greatly alleviated air pollution. As shown in this
example, increase the price of fuel directly keep air pollution under
control.
Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby』s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder. —F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
從簡是指複合句從句簡化（clause reduction）。複合句其間有一些重複、空洞的元素。剔除他們，節省空間，精簡句子就是複合句從句簡化。我知道說起語法很無趣，但是，這種語法現象在地道的英文寫作中頻率頗高。我認為熟練運用這個工具是英文寫作登堂入室的標誌之一。以下是《時代周刊》一篇封面文章的節選。作者 Michael Schuman是一名「老筆杆子」，其文筆相對更注重表現力。下劃線的部分簡化了從句。
The view in most of the
world is that China is indestructible. Shrugging off the crises multiplying
elsewhere, China seems to surge from strength to strength, its
spectacular growth marching on no matter what headwinds may come. It appears inevitable that China will overtake a
U.S. mired in debt and division to become the world』s indispensable
economy. Those businessmen and policymakers looking to the future
believe China』s 「state capitalism」 may be a superior form of economic organization
in dealing with the challenges of the modern global economy.
第一個下劃線句子，如果不用從簡的手法會寫成: After China shrugged
off the crises that multiply elsewhere, it seems to surge from strength to
strength, and its spectacular growth marches on no matter what headwinds may
come. 同理，第二個下劃線句子的原型是a U.S. which is mired in debt and division…, 第三個下劃線句子的原型是: Those businessmen and policymaker who look to
the future…. 這些句子是不是有種文縐縐的「中國味」了？After, which, and, who等聯結詞用得非常熟練。但是，我認為原句用詞更為經濟，而且通過刪除不必要的元素自然地突出了句子的主要元素，顯得語言活潑有力。
標點指的是活用分號（semi-colon），冒號(colon)，破折號(em-dash)和連字元(hyphen)。通篇幾乎只用逗號和句號也是一種「中國味」。我認為這是由於我們的非專業英語教育不太重視英文這四種標點的使用，比如說高考中就很少考查這些知識點。相反，母語作者在文章中會更多地使用到這四種標點。作家Roy Peter Clark在他的Writing Tools: 50 Essential
Strategies for Every Writer中，很形象地將這些標點比喻成交通標誌——如果說句號是停車標誌 (stop sign) 的話，那麼分號就是在停車標誌下沒有完全挺穩就繼續前進(rolling stop)；冒號是黃顏色的警示標誌，提示駕駛員前方有情況；而破折號，在他看來，是讓人分心的樹榦(這點我持保留態度)。
One of the three most
famous writing mottoes is 「Kill your darlings.」 Commonly attributed to William
Faulkner and others, the sentiment seems originally to have been expressed by
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch in the early 20th century. He said, 「Whenever you feel
an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it — whole-heartedly — and delete it
before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.」 No matter
the verb, the sentiment is that sometimes a passage can be improved by the
removal of a metaphor, turn of phrase or quip to which one has become partial. True
enough, but, in my experience, the problem of a well-turned phrase hurting the larger piece doesn』t come up
all that often.
A second motto is 「Show,
don』t tell.」 This actually has two meanings, both profound and, in my
experience, always correct. The first is that, in describing a scene,
you should always try to make the reader feel that he or she is right there in
the moment, rather than hearing about it second-hand.
More generally, in making any kind of argument, well-chosen and well-deployed facts trump opinions and generalizations; by extension, strong
nouns and verbs serve as the main engine of good writing, adjectives and
adverbs as the grace notes.
節選里使用了大量簡化從句，還運用了破折號、分號以及不少的連字元。那麼這些標點的具體用法是怎樣的呢？
a.
分號：隱形膠水
Richard C. Wydick在他的法律英文寫作經典Plain
English for Lawyers中談到了分號，他描述道：「一些律師對於分號的態度就像是對野蘑菇：有些非常美味，但是有些卻是致命的；因為沒法分辨兩者的區別，那就乾脆統統避開。」Wydick自己的觀點是分號沒有那麼危險，並且十分有用。其一，分號可以用來連接兩個關係緊密的分句，這種做法的最大好處是可以增添寫作的多樣性，並且避免使用太多and之類連接詞所帶來的斷斷續續感(choppy sentences)，同時也精簡了用字。這就是為什麼我給分號起了個隱形膠水的綽號。書中的一個例子是：
The defense counsel objected to the questions; she
said that it called for information projected by the attorney-client privilege.
其二，放在已經被連接詞(therefore, however, furthermore, thus, indeed, in
fact, as a result or for example)連接的兩個從句中間，從而加強句子的節奏感。比如：
Her testimony could have been admitted under
several exceptions to the hearsay rule; for example, either the excited
utterance exception or the contemporaneous statements exception would apply.
b.
冒號：洗耳恭聽
冒號表明其後引用的內容是前邊內容的列舉、總結或闡述。每當放一個冒號，就像提醒讀者：我要開始解釋了。冒號用作列舉則可省去include/including，並在視覺上創造一個更醒目的標誌。而冒號更有價值的用法是引導對前文的總結(summary)、闡述(elaboration)或者是例證(illustration)。以下的例子也來源於「Plain
English for Lawyers」：
The plaintiff failed to prove two key elements:
negligence and proximate cause.(列舉)
The damages were staggering: $1,000,000 in medical
bills and $74,000 in lost wages. (闡釋)
Only one thing stands between us and settlement:
money. (闡述)
c.
破折號：無聲的強調
我覺得破折號(em-dash)在「中國味」寫作中是最被低估的標點，破折號可以加在被引導內容之前，用來表示停頓和解釋。比如「Plain English for Lawyers」里列舉的例子。
We need not reach the constitutional issue—that can
await another day and another set of facts.
Thirty: the promise of a decade of loneliness, a
thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm,
thinning hair.試比較原文
Thirty—the promise of a decade of loneliness, a
thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm,
thinning hair. 原文
破折號也可以像括弧一樣「括住」引導內容。但是破折號和逗號以及括弧的強調程度不同：逗號往往是中性的，它們不加強也不減弱內容的重要性；括弧往往會降低包括的內容的重要性；而破折號往往會加強包括的內容的重要性。比如Plain English for Lawyers里的幾個例子。
The judge—bristling with indignation—slammed his
gavel on the bench. （強調了法官的情緒）
Many lawyers believe that dashes are out of place
in formal writing—that dash is amateur. But if used correctly, the dash can be—and
should be—another tool for the better writer. （加強了說服的語氣）
破折號的另一種作用是標明長句中相對不重要的部分，以引導讀者的思維跨越這一部分而連接起上下文。這種弱化和上面的強調作用剛好相反，一般只用在長句中。這是因為破折號遠遠比逗號容易辨識，也沒有逗號承擔的那麼多種語法作用，所以讀者可以更方便，更有信心的跨過破折號所引導的內容來理解全句。還是「Plain English for Lawyers」的例子：
The magistrate may rule on any procedural motion—including
a motion to suppress evidence and a motion to allow or disallow discovery—at
any time following the acceptance of a plea.
大部分情況下「名詞-動詞現在時」構成了一個形容詞，比如，nerve-racking situation,
eye-opening event，self-serving comment, all-embracing definition。如果不用這種構詞法，那麼一般會用一個詞語順序完全顛倒的定語從句來代替，比如the situation that racks
my nerve. The definition that embraces all situations.（如果一個以這種方式構成的詞，習慣性地被經常使用，則連字元會被去掉，變成一個形容詞或名詞。比如sightseeing或者namedropping，本文暫不討論這幾種用法。）
·
I have not practiced as much as I should have
practice.
·
I am worried about that I might forget something.
·
What should I say during the speech contest?
這幾個句子通常會被組合為
·
Because I have not practiced as much as I should, I
am worried about that I might forget what I should say during the speech
contest.
但是可以進一步變為
·
Not having practiced as much as I should, I am
worried about forgetting what to say during the speech contest.
另外一個例子。將以下三個句子合併，就會得到一個複合句。
·
Confucius must have written on pieces of bamboo.
·
Confucius lived in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
·
Paper was not available until the Eastern Han
Dynasty.
比較常見的組合方法是
·
Confucius, who lived in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty,
must have written on pieces of bamboo, because paper was not available until
the Eastern Han Dynasty.
這個句子是不是有種文縐縐的「中國味」了？所以可以進一步變為。
Confucius, living in the Eastern
Zhou Dynasty, must have written on pieces of bamboo, paper not being available
until the Eastern Han Dynasty.
結構篇 聽在國外交換的學姐說過，在國外，professor強調英文的寫作結構是say what you want to say. Say it. Say what you have said.個人覺得這三句話簡直穩准狠地概括了英文寫作結構。其實英文寫作結構真的不難，邏輯和清晰是重點。大一時我甚至覺得英文寫作有八股文的味道，不過我們不得不承認這種嚴謹而清晰的結構可以讓人對你整個文章的中心一目了然。 所以提高英文寫作第一步，理清你的寫作結構，平時可以試著寫outline，永遠記住清晰地提出自己的觀點，有力地論證自己的觀點（concrete examples超重要啊！！！外教總是吐槽中國學生寫文章想當然，一個又一個觀點直接拋出來又不給任何論據，讓人看的一頭霧水），最後有力總結自己的觀點。
語言篇
英語語言水平的修鍊，不是一兩天就能有質的改變的，我們常說語言功底，這功底就在你平時。但我可以給出一點小的經驗和建議，以供大家參考。 辭彙方面，我個人不喜歡用太多高大上的辭彙。外教常說一句話，「use your student language」. 我想他的意思就是，不要刻意地去使用一些你並不熟悉的辭彙或者是那些看似高大上的其實用起來會顯得蹩腳的辭彙。試著用你熟悉的，即使看上去語言不那麼華麗，可是至少能做到準確，流暢，這才是最重要的。畢竟寫作是為了表達觀點，而不是炫技。 再說句型。個人對複雜句的結構百試不爽啊，從句一出，立馬顯得觀點闡述詳盡而清楚，且不失邏輯感，又有語句結構的美感，因此推薦大家多注意掌握從句的運用，但不要濫用，當你能順著自己的寫作思路自然而然地甩出各種從句，你的文章就更加行雲流水了。除此之外，在句與句之間，莫忘了各種連接詞的運用，它們使文章層次分明，條理清楚，是理清文章思路的一大利器。
