Have you ever finished reading a piece of writing and then felt totally baffled about the intended meaning? Sometimes this is a sign that you are reading an advanced textbook, but sometimes this is a sign you're just reading unclear writing!
你是否有這樣的經歷，閱讀完成一些作品後對其想要表達的含義摸不著頭腦?遇到這種情況，可能是提示你正在閱讀一本深奧的書籍，也有可能是這些作品的思路本身是不清晰的。
Bad writing is unkempt. It is disorganized and inappropriately decorated. It includes a lot of flashy words that just don’t fit.
質量差的寫作是不整潔的。文章的修飾是無組織或不恰當的。文章中包含很多華麗的詞彙卻使用不得當。
The seven rules below will help you identify and create organized, clear writing that leaves the reader informed and satisfied.
這七條規則可以幫助你鑑別和創作有組織的結構清晰的文章，使讀者更容易理解。
1. Say what you mean 說出你想表達的含義
Overly fancy words are not necessarily direct words, and they often fail to state your point clearly.
使用過多奇幻的詞彙是不必要的，並且這些詞彙可能會干擾你清晰地表達自己的觀點。
You should certainly be willing to improve your vocabulary, but there is an art to doing this without sounding like you’re trying a bit too hard. If you find that your writing sounds too vague or elementary, you must avoid going overboard with fancy-sounding words and, instead, try to find more precise words.
對於這種情況，你當然應該提高詞彙量,這裡有一種聽起來不太費力的方法可以改善這個問題。如果你發現你的寫作聽起來太過含糊或基礎，你必須避免過量使用聽起來不切實際的詞語,相反,試著使用更精確的詞語。
2. Give your readers a road map 為讀者提供引導圖
Our brains like to receive messages in a tidy order. They don’t like to be surprised by a big point – which is why introductory statements are important. When writing, it is generally a good idea to start broad and provide an overview of the information to come. But don’t worry so much about this on your first draft.
我們的大腦喜歡接受有次序的信息，而不是無序雜亂的信息，因此引言是非常重要的。在寫作時，從整體的角度對全文的信息做一個概述是個不錯的想法。但在寫初稿時可以先不考慮概述。
You should never expect to write all of your messages in the correct order on the very first try – no matter what type of messages you are writing. You can reorder paragraphs and sentences for your final draft.
在寫初稿時，不論是哪種文章，我們都不能保證第一次寫作就將文章順序一次調整好。可以在之後的修改當中重新調整段落和句子的順序。
3. Get to the point 適時切入主題
As mentioned above, every paragraph should have an introductory statement. This is important to establish a context or a background for the main point of a paragraph. But you should avoid overdoing it with the intro. Don’t surround your point – just introduce it and then go for it!
像之前提到的，每一段落都應該有一句引言引出段落內容。這對於建立段落的上下文背景是非常重要的。但應該避免引言過多。不要一直圍繞主題敘述，引出主題然後直接展開論述。
4. Cut the fat 去掉不需要的部分
Every single writer who ever published a paper or a book has had to chop off some paragraph, page, or chapter that they loved. But if it doesn’t serve a purpose, it should go. But cutting the fat is healthy.
每個曾經發表過文章的人都有這樣的經歷，文章中作者喜歡的段落，頁面，章節可能會被刪除。但如果這些內容沒有為文章的主題服務，那麼這些內容應該被刪除。但剪切掉這些內容可以使文章更精簡。
5. Don’t jolt the reader’s brain 避免與讀者的思路衝突
You may have some excellent paragraphs, but they are not going to be very pleasing to read if they jump awkwardly from topic to topic. As you revise your paper, be sure to order your paragraphs in a sensible fashion and create smooth transitions between them. It just takes a few minutes extra, but it’s worth your time.
你可能會有一些很好的段落，但是這些內容從一個主題生硬地跳轉到另一個主題，不符合讀者的閱讀思路。在你修訂自己的文章時，確保你的段落採用一種合適的組織順序，且段落之間轉換流暢。這些工作可能只花費幾分鐘的時間，但收穫卻是值得的。
6. Use meaningful examples 使用有意義的舉例
If you are attempting to explain something complicated to your reader, it is a good idea to provide examples that will clarify the subject. But make sure your examples are meaningful.
如果你嘗試向讀者解釋一些複雜的事務，提供一些切合主題且闡明主題的例子。確信你的舉例是有意義的。
Imagery is a good tool for showing examples. Graphs and tables will work, but whatever you decide to use to clarify your point, try it out on a friend. Have a friend, parent, or teacher read the segment with the example and see if it makes sense to them.
圖像是展示例證的得力工具。圖表同樣起作用，但不論你決定使用什麼例子來闡明你的主題，試著讓朋友，父母或老師來讀這些例證材料來看看這些舉例是否對他們同樣有效。
7. Punctuate properly 合理添加標點
Observe the difference between these statements:
觀察下面的句子有哪些不同：
I once saw a man-eating frog.
我曾看到過可供人食用的青蛙。
I once saw a man eating frog.
我曾看到過吃青蛙的人。
You can change the meaning of a sentence pretty drastically when you leave out some punctuationmarks. What about this:
遺漏一些標點可以徹底地改變句子的意思，比如下面這句：
That that that that teacher wrote was incorrect.
It’s a little better when you punctuate with:
添加標點後句子會更易懂：
That 「that」 that that teacher wrote was incorrect.
那個老師寫的「that」是不正確的。
Even if those examples are a little goofy, they do demonstrate the importance of punctuating.
儘管這些例子有一些誇張，它們卻表明了標點符號的重要性。
（編輯：何瑩瑩）