你的英文，为何那么啰嗦？

英文写作和翻译中，一大常见问题就是啰嗦：明明一个词能说清的，却写了一整句；明明一句话能说清的，却写了一整段。啰嗦的文字不仅会浪费读者的时间，更严重的是，会淹没作者想表达的观点，导致读者难以抓住要义，写作的目的也就无法实现。

究竟什么原因，使我们的英文表达如此啰嗦？本期推送，小编请到了资深翻译老师，基于多年教学经验总结了几大成因，帮大家摆脱行文啰嗦的困扰：

原因一：文字义肢（verbal false limb）

英国小说家奥威尔（George Orwell）指出英文写作中verbal false limb这一问题，余光中在《中文的常态与变态》一文中也阐述过。所谓文字义肢，就是把原本简单明了的动词，分解成“万能动词+抽象名词”的结构，显得堂皇而高级，实则软化了动词，使表达啰嗦无力。常见的文字义肢如：

文字义肢	_	简洁动词
apply pressure		press
give authorization	_	permit
send a communication	_	write
take appropriate action	_	act

左侧的“文字义肢”由右侧的“简洁动词”演变而来。例如，press变成apply pressure，动作便一分为二，一半驯化为静止的抽象名词 pressure，一半淡化为广泛而笼统的弱动词 apply——明明一个词就能说清楚，偏要用好几个词来说，实际上是化简为繁、化动为静、化具体为抽象、化直接为迂回，直接导致表达冗余繁琐，而且并不高雅。

文字义肢该如何修改？很简单，将弱动词结构变为简洁的强势动词即可，以同学作业中出现的问题为例：

例：…make false accusations, or do harm to their folks

改：falsely accuse or harm their folks

例：They did not take into consideration the fact that…

改：They did not consider that… 或 They forgot that…

原因二：陈词滥调（cliche）

我们的英文里常常充斥着一些看似高大上的表达，有些是应试的写作套路，如所谓的“高级衔接”：with respect to, having regard to, the fact that, by dint of, in view of, in the interests of, on the hypothesis that；还有一些冗长空洞的措辞：greatly to be desired, cannot be left out of account, a development to be expected in the near future, deserving of serious consideration, brought to a satisfactory conclusion, so on and so forth。

这些说法十之八九都很啰嗦，完全可以删除或精简，举例说明：

陈词滥调	_	修改
as a matter of fact	_	Many marriages, as a matter of fact, end in divorce.
at the present time	_	At the present time, the revised proposal for outdoor lighting has angered many villagers.
because of the fact that	_	Because of the fact that the museum has a special exhibit, it stays open late.
for the purpose of	_	Work crews arrived to for the purpose of fixing the potholes.