来源： "The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing"/牛津写作指南
书号： ISBN 978-0-425-17640-5
译者与年份：吴和平，2019年
版权声明：英文版原著版权归原书作者及企鹅出版社所有，以下中文版由吴和平试译，仅限于用于个人学习，转载请注明出处，遵守著作权法及其他相关法律的规定。
Chapter 1
Subject, Reader, and Kinds of Writing
Choosing a Subject/选择一个主题
Often, of course, you are not free to choose at all. You must compose a report for a business meeting or write on an assigned topic for an English class. The problem then becomes not what to write about but how to attack it, a question we'll discuss in Chapters 5 and 6.
When you can select a subject for yourself, it ought to interest you, and interest others as well, at least potentially. It should be within the range of your experiences and skill, though it is best if it stretches you. It ought to be neither so vast that no one person can encompass it nor so narrow and trivial that no one cares.
Don't be afraid to express your own opinions and feelings. You are a vital part of the subject. No Matter what the topic, you are really writing about how you understand it, how you feel about it. Good writing has personality. Readers enjoy sensing a mind at work, hearing a clear voice, responding to an unusual sensibility. If you have chosen a topic that is of general concern, and if genuine feeling and intelligence come through, you will be interesting. Interest lies not so much in a topic as in what a writer has made of it.
About Readers
You don't want to repel readers. This doesn't mean you have to flatter them or avoid saying something they may disagree with. It does mean you must respect them. Don't take their interest for granted or suppose that it is the readers' job to follow you. It's your job to guide them, to make their task as easy as the subject allows.
Ask yourself questions about your readers: what can I expect them to know and not know? What do they believe and value? How do I want to affect them by what I say? What attitudes and claims will meet with their approval? What will offend them? What objections may they have to my ideas, and how can I anticipate and counter those objections
Readers may be annoyed if you overestimate their knowledge. Tossing off unusual words may seems a put-down, a way of saying, "I know more than you." On the other hand, laboring the obvious also implies a low opinion of readers: don't tell them what a wheel is; they know. It isn't easy to gauge your readers' level of knowledge or to sense their beliefs and values. Sensitivity to readers comes only with experience, and then imperfectly. Tact and respect, however, go a long way. Readers have egos too.
Kinds of Writing
The various effects a writer may wish to have on his or her readers - to inform, to persuade, to entertain - result in different kinds of prose. The most common is prose that informs, which, depending on what it is about, is called exposition, description, or narration.
Exposition explains. How things work - an internal combustion engine. Ideas - a theory of economics. Facts of everyday life - how many people get divorced. History - why Custer attacked at the Little Big Horn. Controversial issues laden with feelings - abortion, politics, religion. But whatever its subject, exposition reveals what a particular mind thinks or knows or believes. Exposition is constructed logically. It organizes around cause/effect, true/false, less/more, positive/negative, general/particular, asserting/denial. Its movement is signaled by connectives like therefore, however, and so, besides, but not only, more important, in fact, for example.
Description deals with perceptions - most commonly visual perceptions. Its central problem is to arrange what we see into a significant pattern. Unlike the logic of exposition, the pattern is spatial: above/below, before/behind, right/left, and so on.
The subject of narration is a series of related events - a story. Its problem is twofold: to arrange the events in a sequence of time and to reveal their significance.
Persuasion seeks to alter how readers think or believe. It is usually about controversial topics and often appeals to reason in the form of argument, offering evidence or logical proof. Another form of persuasion is satire, which ridicules folly or evil, sometimes subtly, sometimes crudely and coarsely. Finally, persuasion may be in the form of eloquence, appealing to ideals and noble sentiments.
Writing that is primarily entertaining includes fiction, personal essays, sketches. Such prose will receive less attention here. It is certainly important, but it is more remote from everyday needs than exposition or persuasion.
For Practice
>List ten or twelve topics you might develop into a short essay. Think of topics that deal not so much with things, places, or how-to-do projects as with your opinions and beliefs. Pick subjects that interest you and are within your experience, yet challenging. Be specific: don't simply write "my job" but something like "what I like most(or hate most) about my job."
>Selecting one of the topics on your list, compose a paragraph about the readers for whom you might develop it. Consider how you wish to affect those readers, what you want them to understand and feel. Think about their general knowledge, values, attitudes, biases; whether they are your age or older or younger, come from a similar or a different background; and how you would like them to regard you.
(Chapter 1 ends)
