The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing——牛津写作基本指南
书号：ISBN 0-425-17640-1
版权说明：英文版原著版权归原书作者及出版社所有，以下中文版由徐望麟编译，仅限于用于个人学习。转载请注明出处，遵守相关著作权法的规定。
00-Introduction
00-介绍
Two broad assumptions underlie this book: (1)that writing is a rational activity, and (2) that it is a valuable activity.
这本书的基础是两个广泛的假设:（1）写作是理性活动；（2）写作是有价值的活动。
To say that writing is rational means nothingmore than that it is an exercise of mind requiring the mastery of techniques anyonecan learn. Obviously, there are limits: one cannot learn to write like Shakespeare or Charles Dickens. You can't become a genius by reading a book.
说写作是理性的只不过意味着它是一种思维的锻炼，需要掌握任何人都可以学习的技巧。显然，这是有限制的:一个人不可能学会像莎士比亚或查尔斯狄更斯那样写作。读书不能使你成为天才。
But you don't have to be a genius to write clear, effective English. You just have to understand what writing involves and to know how to handle words and sentences and paragraphs. That you can learn. If you do, you can communicate what you want to communicate in words other people can understand. This book will help by showing you what good writers do.
但你不必是天才才能写出清晰、有效的英语。你只需要理解写作涉及的内容（包括什么），知道如何处理单词、句子和段落。这些你都可以学习。如果你这样做了，你就可以用别人能理解的语言来表达你想表达的东西。这本书将向您展示优秀作家的作品，对您有帮助。
The second assumption is that writing is worth learning.It is of immediate practical benefit in almost any job or career. Certainly there are many jobs in which you can get along without being able to write clearly. If you know how to write, however, you will get along faster and farther.
第二个假设是写作是值得学习的。它几乎对任何工作或职业都有直接的实际好处。当然，有很多工作，即使你不能清楚地书写，你也能应付。但是，如果您会写，就会适应得更快，走得更远。
There is another, more profound value to writing. We create ourselves by words. Before we are business people or lawyers or engineers or teachers, we are human beings. Our growth as human beings depends on our capacity to understand and to use language. Writing is a way of growing. No one would argue that being able to write will make you morally better. But it will make you more complex and more interesting—in a word, more human.
写作还有另一个更深刻的价值。我们通过文字创造自己。在我们成为商人、律师、工程师或教师之前，我们是人。我们作为人类的成长依赖于我们理解和使用语言的能力。写作是成长的方式。没有人会说，能够写作会让你在道德上更好。但它会让你更复杂，更有趣，一句话，更人性化。
