Bctes Noires （特别令人讨厌的英语用法问题）
在这一小节，作者列出了一些需要特殊对待的英语用法问题。
A Special Problem: Pronouns and Sexism （代词和性别指代问题）
So do we ordinarily expect pronouns to agree in number with their referents. （通常需要使代词和所指代的对象单复数保持一致）
Not this:
The early efforts to oppose the building of a hydrogen bomb failed because it was not coordinated with the scientific and political communities. No one was willing to step forth and expose themselves to the anti-Communist hysteria unless they had the backing of others.
But this:
The early efforts to oppose the building of a hydrogen bomb failed because they were not coordinated with the scientific and political communities. No one was willing to step forth and expose himself to the anti-Communist hysteria unless he had the backing of others.
There are two problems here. The first is whether to use a singular or plural pronoun when referring to a singular noun that is plural in meaning: group, committee, staff, administration, and so on. （这里存在两个问题。首先，当指代的单数名词在意义上是复数时，比如group, committee, staff, administration，到底是用代词的单数还是复数形式。）
Some writers use a singular pronoun when the group acts as a single entity: （当被指代对象作为一个整体时，有的作者会使用代词的单数形式。）
e.g The committee has met but has not yet made its decision.
But when the members of the group act individually, we always use a plural pronoun: （当群体中的个体作为单独个体时，则通常用代词的复数形式。）
e.g. The committee received the memo, but not all of them have read it.
These days we find the plural used in both senses. （目前我们发现复数形式可以用于上述的任一情况。）
The second problem is whether to use a masculine or a feminine pronoun to refer to indefinite pronouns like someone, everyone, no one and to nouns that do not indicate gender: a teacher, a person, a student. （第二个问题是到底是使用男性还是女性的代词指代不定代词，比如someone, everyone, no one，以及那些不含性别信息的名词：a teacher, a person, a student）
Everyone who spends four years in college realizes what a soft life they had only when they get a nine-to-five job, with no summer and Christmas vacations.
When a person gets involved with drugs, no one can help them unless they want to help themselves.
上述例句中单数格式更加合适：
Everyone who spends four years in college realizes what a soft life he had only when he gets a nine-to-five job, with no summer and Christmas vacations.
When a person gets involved with drugs, no one can help him unless he wants to help himself.
另一个难点是关于代词使用时的性别选择问题。
试看一例：
When a writer does not consider the ethnicity of his or her readers, they may respond in ways he or she would not have anticipated to certain words that for him or her are entirely innocent of ethnic bias.
一般人是无法忍受这种冗余的表达方式的。
可以尝试改写一下：
When a writer does not consider the ethnicity of his readers . . .
When writers do not consider the ethnicity of their readers . . .
或者：
Failure to consider a reader's ethnic background may result in an unexpected response to certain words that the writer considers ,entirely innocent of ethnic bias.
Finally, we can use she where we might otherwise use a he, as we have done in this book. （或者干脆用she 替代 he）
到底是用表示男性或女性的指示代词，谨慎的做法是根据情景，读者对象采取合适的写法，尽量避免由于代词的性别问题带来的哪怕是最细微的歧视问题。
