Benjamin Franklin may be the most prolific man in all of American history.
本杰明·富兰克林可能是整个美国历史上最多产的人。
In his NYT bestsellingBenjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Isaacson writes of Franklin—
在有关他的纽约时报最畅销的“本杰明·富兰克林：一个美国人的生活”里，华特·艾萨克森写到：
“[He was] the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become.”
（他是）他那个时代最有成就的美国人并且在创造美国应该成为的社会类型上最有影响力。
Franklin’s literal rags to riches story is jam-packed with insights on writing and a better life.
富兰克林的文字散落在丰富的故事中，充满了对写作和好生活的洞见。
Born into poverty with 16 siblings, Franklin dropped out of school at age 10. How did Benjamin Franklin go from primary school dropout to the most accomplished American in all of history?
出生在有16个兄弟姐妹的贫困家庭，富兰克林在10岁时就辍学了。那么本杰明·富兰克林是怎么从一个小学辍学生成长为美国历史上最有成就的人的呢？
I wanted to find out.
我想找到答案。
In my own quest to teach myself how to write, I dug into Franklin’sautobiography. Guess what?He wasn’t born with it.
在我自己探寻教自己怎样写作时，我挖掘了一下富兰克林的自传。你猜怎么着？他也不是天生就会（写作）。
By his late twenties, Franklin had become independently wealthy through his publications of thePennsylvania Gazetteand his famedPoor Richard’s Almanack.
在二十多岁时，富兰克林变得独立并富有，通过出版他的《宾夕法尼亚州公报》及他著名的《穷理查德年鉴》。
Yet, as a teenager, Franklin wasnota good at writing. Determined to improve but with no teachers and no money, he decided to teach himself.
是的，在十几岁时，富兰克林不是一个好作者。决心要提高但是没有老师也没有钱，他决定自学。
His autobiography tellsexactlyhow he did it.
他的自传准确讲述了他是怎么做到的。
Most writing advice today sucks. It’s palm-in-face bad. Internet forums are infected with impractical advice like “just read more” or “keep trying kiddo!”.
今天的大部分关于写作的建议都是垃圾。简直就是打脸。互联网论坛上流传着未经实践的建议如“要多读”或“坚持尝试，老兄！”
Franklin’s advice, written almost 200 years ago, is the cure. He offers specific, actionable and immediate steps you can use to start improving your writingtoday.
富兰克林的建议，差不多200年前写下的，是良药。他提供了特别的，可行的并且直接的步骤，你今天就可以用来开始提高你的写作。
Let’s dig in…
让我们开始动手吧
1. DISSECT AND RECONSTRUCT
打散再重构
At age 16, Ben finds out he’s bad at writing. His spelling and grammar are good, but…
16岁的时候，本发现自己写作很烂。他的拼写和语法不错，但是...
“I fell far short in elegance of expression, in method and in perspicuity…”
我感觉严重欠缺优雅的表达，缺少方法和简明性...
(Perspicuity means “clarity”. I didn’t know it either.)
(Perspicuity意思是简明性。我也不知道它。)
Determined to improve, Ben takes up one of his favorite magazines, The Spectator…
决定要提高，本拿起了他喜欢的一本杂志：观察者
“I took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, try’d to compleat the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. ThenI compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them.”
“我取其中几页，然后，标注简短的观点在每个句子旁，放几天，然后，不再看这本书，努力完成这几页，详细表达标注的观点，尽可能完整的达到它之前的样子，用任何我掌握的合适的词语。最后，我对比我的“观察者”和原始文章，找到自己的错误，改正他们。”
Wow, that’s some practical advice.
哇哦，这是多么实在的建议。
Here it is again:
Take good writing and jot short notes for each sentence.
Put the notes aside and come back in a few days.
Try to “rewrite” the piece using only the notes (and in your own words).
Compare with the original and correct your faults.
下面是总结：
取好的写作材料，对每句话摘记简短的笔记；
把笔记放到一边放几天；
努力“重写”那段，仅仅使用笔记提醒（使用你自己的词语）；
和原始文字对比，纠正自己的错误；
2. CONVERT TO POETRY (AND BACK AGAIN)
转换到诗歌（再转回来）
Next, Franklin tackles his mastery of the English vocabulary.
接下来，富兰克林处理对英语词汇的掌握。
He uses a technique that all master learners—be they soccer players, mathematicians or wall street traders—understand.To accelerate learning, add artificial constraints.Lose your hands and you shall learn to type with your feet.
他使用了所有大师级学习者使用的技巧—无论是足球运动员，数学家，华尔街交易员—都知道。想要加速学习，添加人工限制。失去双手你将去学习用脚打字。
Franklin recognizes writing poetry can accelerate his development as a writer—
富兰克林意识到写诗可以加速他发展成为作家--
But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme,would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master of it.
但是我发现我想要单词库存，或者准备好搜集和使用它们，我想我应该已经掌握了如果我曾经写过诗。因为不断有机会使用相同意思但不同长度的单词，为了符合格式，或不同的声音节奏，将使我持续寻找变化，并趋向于固定那个变化在头脑中，并让我掌握它。
But not satisfied with just an idea (something I always stress here), hemakes it into an actionable exercise—
但是不满足于仅仅是个想法（我要强调这点），他把它做成了可行的练习--
Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verse; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again.
因此我找了些故事并把它们转化成诗；因此，过段时间，当我彻底忘记文章时，再把他们写回来。
Here it is again:
Take a story and convert it to poetry
Wait a few days
Convert your poem back to a story
这里是总结：
找个故事，把它改写成诗；
放几天；
把你的诗再转换回故事；
Repeat regularly (and vary the limitations) to see impressive gains in writing ability.
有规律的重复（使用不同的限制）来看看在协作能力上可观的收获。
UNDERSTAND STRUCTURE
理解结构
Now proficient in crafting sentences and selecting words, Franklin turns to the overall structure of his writing—
现在富兰克林能娴熟的操纵句子选择词语了，他又转向写作的整体结构--
I also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences and compleat the paper.This was to teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts.
我有时会打乱我的提示笔记，然后几周后努力把他们再排成最好的顺序，在我开始形成句子和完成文章之前。这是用来锻炼自己安排想法的方法。
Here it is again:
Take your notes from EXERCISE #1 and jumble them up
Wait a few weeks
Reassemble the sentences as best as you can
Get feedback by comparing to the original
总结一下：
取你在练习1中的笔记（纸条）并把它们打乱；
等几周；
重新组合句子，尽你所能；
和原始文本进行比较，进行总结；
This exercise teaches writers (1) to see and understand structure and (2) how to create it.
这个练习教写作者：（1）看到并理解结构（2）怎样创建它。
4. THE SECRET SAUCE
4.秘密调料
That’s plenty to work on already, but there’s one last ingredient to the Benjamin Franklin’s success formula .
已经有不少事要做了，但是这里有最后一个要素，在富兰克林的成功公式里。
Franklin’s secret sauce—
富兰克林的秘密调料
My time for these exercises and for reading was at night, after work or before it began in the morning, or on Sundays, when I contrived to be in the printing-house alone, evading as much as I could the common attendance on public worship…
我做这些练习和阅读的时是在晚上，在工作后或者在早上工作前，或者在周日，当我故意单独待在印刷室，尽量逃避公共礼拜活动...
Franklin would surely tell you this: all his advice is useless without the secret sauce.
富兰克林当然会告诉你：他所有的建议如果没有这个秘密调料是毫无用处的。
And the secret sauce isobsession.
这个秘密调料就是痴迷。
Want more? I’ll be covering how to cultivate obsession in a future post. For now, considerThe Open Circle—a weekly cocktail of ideas from smart dead people and actionable lessons from my own personal experiments.Join here.
想要更多？我将会说说如何培养痴迷，在将来的文章里。现在，考虑下“开放圈”—每周的来自聪明的前人那里想法及来自我个人经验的可行的课程。点击这里加入。
As always, share your comments below!
和往常一样，在下面分享你的评论！
原文链接：
http://marketmeditations.com/benjamin-franklin-learn-to-write/
