紐時暢銷作家、《語言本能》作者
享譽(yù)國際的認(rèn)知科學(xué) ╳ 心理語言學(xué)家
結(jié)合科學(xué)家的洞見及語法的新發(fā)展
傳授你寫好文章的藝術(shù)
為什么那么多文章如此糟糕，該怎樣改善？
英語正因為短訊和社交媒體而變壞嗎？
今天的孩子還會注重良好的寫作嗎？
那我們?nèi)魏稳藶槭裁催€要注重它？
在這本有趣而富啟迪意義的書里，認(rèn)知科學(xué)家、語言學(xué)家暨暢銷書作者史蒂芬 平克重新構(gòu)思了一部二十一世紀(jì)的語文用法指南。他沒有慨嘆語言的墮落，沒有在一些惱人的語言問題上吹毛求疵，也沒有把一個世紀(jì)前語文指南中的可疑規(guī)則照錄如儀，取而代之，他把語言和心智科學(xué)的洞見應(yīng)用到富挑戰(zhàn)性的任務(wù)上：如何打造清晰、具一致性而別具風(fēng)格的文章。
他說，不要把問題歸咎于網(wǎng)路或今天的小孩；良好寫作從來是艱難的任務(wù)。他從品味別人的好文章起步。他要讓想象力發(fā)揮作用：營造一種幻覺，彷佛把讀者的目光引導(dǎo)到世間的事物。作者必須克服知識的詛咒——這種障礙令我們難以想象別人對我們所認(rèn)知的如何毫無概念。熟練的作者必須能敏銳覺察句法如何把糾結(jié)不清的意念轉(zhuǎn)化為直線式句子。他們還必須把文章編織成具一致性的整體，流暢地一句一句接續(xù)下去。還有，他們要懂得拿捏正確的語文用法，把有助文章變得清晰和優(yōu)雅的規(guī)則跟迷思和迷信區(qū)別開來。
書中從現(xiàn)代文章中擷取了大量正面和反面例子，避免了古典風(fēng)格手冊的責(zé)備語氣和武斷口吻，揭示寫作藝術(shù)是掌握一種本領(lǐng)的愉悅經(jīng)驗，也是令人著迷的智性活動。《寫作風(fēng)格的意識》適合各種各樣的作者，它的讀者對象，則包括對文藝或文學(xué)有興趣，而希望了解心智科學(xué)如何能發(fā)揮妙用讓我們瞥見語言怎樣運(yùn)作。
What is the secret of good prose? Does writing well even matter in an age of instant communication? Should we care? In this funny, thoughtful book about the modern art of writing, Steven Pinker shows us why we all need a sense of style.
More than ever before, the currency of our social and cultural lives is the written word, from Twitter and texting to blogs, e-readers and old-fashioned books. But most style guides fail to prepare people for the challenges of writing in the 21st century, portraying it as a minefield of grievous errors rather than a form of pleasurable mastery. They fail to deal with an inescapable fact about language: it changes over time, adapted by millions of writers and speakers to their needs. Confusing changes in the world with moral decline, every generation believes the kids today are degrading society and taking language with it. A guide for the new millennium, writes Steven Pinker, has to be different.
Drawing on the latest research in linguistics and cognitive science, Steven Pinker replaces the recycled dogma of previous style guides with reason and evidence. This thinking person’s guide to good writing shows why style still matters: in communicating effectively, in enhancing the spread of ideas, in earning a reader’s trust and, not least, in adding beauty to the world. Eye-opening, mind-expanding and cheerful, The Sense of Style shows that good style is part of what it means to be human.
紐時暢銷作家、Language Instinct《語言本能》作者
享譽(yù)國際的認(rèn)知科學(xué) ╳ 心理語言學(xué)家
為21世紀(jì)知識分子所寫的英語寫作指南
良好的寫作并非本能，對人類來說，這甚至是項艱難的任務(wù)；然而，這不代表我們無法透過后天努力掌握這項技藝，更不代表學(xué)習(xí)過程必然枯燥而充滿教條；事實(shí)上，這可以是一場迷人的心智旅程。
The Sense of Style《寫作風(fēng)格的意識》是為了有英文寫作的需求，并期望提升此項能力的人們而撰。此外，如果對文學(xué)有興趣，或希望了解心智科學(xué)如何幫助人們理解語言的運(yùn)作，也能從本書獲得啟發(fā)。
搭配豐富的正反實(shí)例，作者告訴我們：
透過大量閱讀提升品味和語感
讓讀者與文章主題產(chǎn)生清楚鏈接
去除專業(yè)知識構(gòu)成的理解障礙
避免不恰當(dāng)?shù)奈恼陆Y(jié)構(gòu)誤導(dǎo)讀者
確保文章具一致性與邏輯性
掌握正確語法
掌握以上數(shù)點(diǎn)，并經(jīng)過假以時日的練習(xí)，就能寫出論述清晰而又兼具風(fēng)格的英語好文章。
推薦理由：
1. 世界知名語言學(xué)家、TED演講人、《語言本能》作者史蒂芬 平克新著作；
2. 引用大量優(yōu)美的文章，說明如何能使文章好看且易于閱讀；
3. 筆法及引用的例子特殊，市場相對少見；
4. 旁征博引，豐富的語言學(xué)、科學(xué)與心智科學(xué)知識，提供讀者豐富多元的閱讀厚度。
名家推薦：
“本書優(yōu)雅而清晰地一擊即中，推翻了所謂英語快爛得要丟去喂狗了的說法。平克為新世紀(jì)寫了像史壯克和懷特(Strunk and White)那樣的經(jīng)典之作，同時勸導(dǎo)人們拋棄沒有根據(jù)的無稽之談，譬如指稱那個廣告老口號該說成：‘Winston tastes good as a cigarette should.’(云絲頓好味道，香煙就該這么好。)” ——約翰 麥克霍特(John McWhorter)(《偉哉！我們的雜種語言》(Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue)和《巴別塔的力量》(The Power of Babel)的作者)
“干得好！只有平克才能寫出這本了不起的好書，也謝天謝地他真把它寫了出來。他寫道：“好文章能把我們對世界的觀感翻轉(zhuǎn)過來。”《寫作風(fēng)格的意識》一書也能把你對好文章的想法翻轉(zhuǎn)過來。書中每一頁都散發(fā)著平克的好奇之心和欣喜之情；而當(dāng)他說，風(fēng)格可以令世界變得更美好，我們都信以為真。” ——帕特里克 歐康納(Patricia T. O’Conner)(《我何其不幸》(Woe Is I)的作者，并與史都華 凱勒曼(Stewart Kellerman)合著《似是而非的起源》(Origins of the Specious)
“能有像他那樣活潑而澄明的心智，把認(rèn)知科學(xué)的意念帶給普羅大眾，真是一樁好事。” ——德格拉斯 霍夫斯達(dá)德(Douglas Hofstadter《洛杉磯時報》)
“Charming and erudite,” from the author of the forthcoming Enlightenment Now (February 2018), “The wit and insight and clarity he brings… is what makes this book such a gem.” —Time.com
Why is so much writing so bad, and how can we make it better? Is the English language being corrupted by texting and social media? Do the kids today even care about good writing—and why should we care? From the author of The Better Angels of Our Nature and the forthcoming Enlightenment Now
In this entertaining and eminently practical book, the cognitive scientist, dictionary consultant, and New York Times-bestselling author Steven Pinker rethinks the usage guide for the twenty-first century. Using examples of great and gruesome modern prose while avoiding the scolding tone and Spartan tastes of the classic manuals, he shows how the art of writing can be a form of pleasurable mastery and a fascinating intellectual topic in its own right. The Sense of Style is for writers of all kinds, and for readers who are interested in letters and literature and are curious about the ways in which the sciences of mind can illuminate how language works at its best.
Review
Praise for The Sense of Style
“[The Sense of Style] is more contemporary and comprehensive than ‘The Elements of Style,’ illustrated with comic strips and cartoons and lots of examples of comically bad writing. [Pinker’s] voice is calm, reasonable, benign, and you can easily see why he’s one of Harvard’s most popular lecturers.”—The New York Times
“Pinker’s linguistical learning… is considerable. His knowledge of grammar is extensive and runs deep. He also takes a scarcely hidden delight in exploding tradition. He describes his own temperament as ‘both logical and rebellious.’ Few things give him more pleasure than popping the buttons off what he takes to be stuffed shirts.”—The Wall Street Journal
“[W]hile The Sense of Style is very much a practical guide to clear and compelling writing, it’s also far more…. In the end, Pinker’s formula for good writing is pretty basic: write clearly, try to follow the rules most of the time—but only the when they make sense. It’s neither rocket science nor brain surgery. But the wit and insight and clarity he brings to that simple formula is what makes this book such a gem.”—Time.com
“Erudite and witty… With its wealth of helpful information and its accessible approach, The Sense of Style is a worthy addition to even the most overburdened shelf of style manuals.”—Shelf Awareness
史蒂芬 平克 Steven Pinker是屢屢獲獎的認(rèn)知科學(xué)家和公共知識分子。他是《美國傳統(tǒng)英語詞典》(American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language)用法小組主席，也是《語言本能》(The Language Instinct)、《詞與規(guī)則》(Words and Rules)和《思維素材》(The Stuff of Thought)等書備受贊譽(yù)的作者。他是哈佛大學(xué)心理學(xué)系約翰斯東家族(Johnstone Family)講座教授，現(xiàn)居波士頓和麻州特魯羅市(Truro)。
平克曾獲獎項包括：
皇家科學(xué)院亨利 戴爾獎(Henry Dale Prize, Royal Institution, 2004)
華特 凱斯勒書籍獎(Walter P. Kistler Book Award, 2005)
美國人道主義協(xié)會年度人道主義獎(Humanist of the Year award, issued by the AHA, 2006)
認(rèn)知神經(jīng)科學(xué)學(xué)會喬治 米勒獎(George Miller Prize, Cognitive Neuroscience Society, 2010)
理查 道金斯獎(Richard Dawkins Award, 2013)
Steven Pinker is the Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He has been listed among Foreign Policy magazine’s “Top 100 Public Intellectuals” and Time’s “The 100 Most Influential People in the World.” He is currently chair of the Usage Panel of The American Heritage Dictionary.
Prologue
Chapter 1 Good Writing
Chapter 2 A Window onto the World
Chapter 3 The Curse of Knowledge
Chapter 4 The Web, the Tree, and the String
Chapter 5 Arcs of Coherence
Chapter 6 Telling Right From Wrong
Acknowledgments
Glossary
Notes
References
Index
Prologue
I love style manuals. Ever since I was assigned Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style in an introductory psychology course, the writing guide has been among my favorite literary genres. It’s not just that I welcome advice on the lifelong challenge of perfecting the craft of writing. It’s also that credible guidance on writing must itself be well written, and the best of the manuals are paragons of their own advice. William Strunk’s course notes on writing, which his student E. B. White turned into their famous little book, was studded with gems of self-exemplification such as “Write with nouns and verbs,” “Put the emphatic words of a sentence at the end,” and best of all, his prime directive, “Omit needless words.” Many eminent stylists have applied their gifts to explaining the art, including Kingsley Amis, Jacques Barzun, Ambrose Bierce, Bill Bryson, Robert Graves, Tracy Kidder, Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, F. L. Lucas, George Orwell, William Safire, and of course White himself, the beloved author of Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. Here is the great essayist reminiscing about his teacher:
I like to read style manuals for another reason, the one that sends botanists to the garden and chemists to the kitchen: it’s a practical application of our science. I am a psycholinguist and a cognitive scientist, and what is style, after all, but the effective use of words to engage the human mind? It’s all the more captivating to someone who seeks to explain these fields to a wide readership. I think about how language works so that I can best explain how language works.
But my professional acquaintance with language has led me to read the traditional manuals with a growing sense of unease. Strunk and White, for all their intuitive feel for style, had a tenuous grasp of grammar.2 They misdefined terms such as phrase, participle, and relative clause, and in steering their readers away from passive verbs and toward active transitive ones they botched their examples of both. There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground, for instance, is not in the passive voice, nor does The cock’s crow came with dawn contain a transitive verb. Lacking the tools to analyze language, they often struggled when turning their intuitions into advice, vainly appealing to the writer’s “ear.” And they did not seem to realize that some of the advice contradicted itself: “Many a tame sentence . . . can be made lively and emphatic by substituting a transitive in the active voice” uses the passive voice to warn against the passive voice. George Orwell, in his vaunted “Politics and the English Language,” fell into the same trap when, without irony, he derided prose in which “the passive voice is wherever possible used in preference to the active.”
Self-contradiction aside, we now know that telling writers to avoid the passive is bad advice. Linguistic research has shown that the passive construction has a number of indispensable functions because of the way it engages a reader’s attention and memory. A skilled writer should know what those functions are and push back against copy editors who, under the influence of grammatically naïve style guides, blue-pencil every passive construction they spot into an active one.
Style manuals that are innocent of linguistics also are crippled in dealing with the aspect of writing that evokes the most emotion: correct and incorrect usage. Many style manuals treat traditional rules of usage the way fundamentalists treat the Ten Commandments: as unerring laws chiseled in sapphire for mortals to obey or risk eternal damnation. But skeptics and freethinkers who probe the history of these rules have found that they belong to an oral tradition of folklore and myth. For many reasons, manuals that are credulous about the inerrancy of the traditional rules don’t serve writers well. Although some of the rules can make prose better, many of them make it worse, and writers are better off flouting them. The rules often mash together issues of grammatical correctness, logical coherence, formal style, and standard dialect, but a skilled writer needs to keep them straight. And the orthodox stylebooks are ill equipped to deal with an inescapable fact about language: it changes over time. Language is not a protocol legislated by an authority but rather a wiki that pools the contributions of millions of writers and speakers, who ceaselessly bend the language to their needs and who inexorably age, die, and get replaced by their children, who adapt the language in their turn.
