语言与文风2013alexgolec.github.io编辑精选
乔治·奥威尔：《政治与英语》（1946）
George Orwell: Politics and the English Language (1946)
导读
这是奥威尔1946年的名篇《政治与英语》，讨论政治与官僚语言如何败坏思想，以及写作者该如何抵抗。它对今天写作者的价值在于：它给出一套可操作的自我检查清单，涉及死比喻、套话、含糊其辞；同时提醒我们，清晰表达本身就是清晰思考。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
写得清晰和直接本身就是一种思维训练：先把话说明白，往往意味着先把问题想明白。
- 02
警惕那些早已失去感染力的死比喻和套话，它们只是替你省去了自己造词的力气。
- 03
不要轻视眼前的时评或“应景之作”，认真写下的急就章也可能经久不衰。
- 04
凡是可以删掉的词就删掉，能具体说的就不要用抽象模糊的说法。
HN 评论精选
奥威尔的清晰与直接是写作和思维的双重范本；看似“扔掉的”应景之作也可能成为经典。
我读奥威尔1940年代的随笔越多，越觉得它们既是写作大师课，也是思维大师课。他风格里清晰与冲击力的结合强到令人震惊，而且经得起时间考验，他的名声也因此在稳步上升。有意思的是，这些如今被公认为经典的材料，当年只是应景的小册子式写作，连他自己都当成用完即弃的活儿。艺术史上常见高地位的东西最初地位很低，这也许就是例子。另外，他几乎是实时地写当下事件，那是一片很浑浊的水，我很想知道是什么给了他那样的洞察力。
gruseom查看英文原文
The more I read Orwell's essays of the 1940s the more they seem like a master class in how to write, which means they are also a master class in how to think. The combination of clarity and impact in his style is so powerful that it's actually shocking. Moreover, it seems to be aging very well, so Orwell's reputation (specifically for this) has been steadily increasing. Other great examples: http://orwell.ru/library/essays/wiw/english/e_wiw http://orwell.ru/library/articles/nose/english/e_nose Is anyone writing today with that particular quality (i.e. that combination of clarity and directness)? All the candidates I can think of fall far short of it, and only clarify how distinctive Orwell is. Edit: It's also interesting that this material is now widely seen as classic when at the time it was mere pamphleteering. To my knowledge, Orwell wasn't thought of as a hack—he was respected—but this sort of writing was regarded, even by him, as throwaway work, with a sense that it was too bad that circumstances didn't allow him to do better. (He touches on that in "Why I Write", the first link above.) It's a common theme in the history of art for high-status things to start out as low-status things; this may be a case of that. Edit 2: Another interesting thing—he was writing this stuff about current events in more or less real time. That's a very murky pond to be looking into. I would very much like to know what it was that gave Orwell that degree of insight.
网络梗和套话正是“死比喻”的当代版本：省事，却让语言不断退化。
我在想他会怎么看待网络梗。梗似乎是语言自我强化的终极退化。某种意义上他讲的就是梗，只不过是他那个时代的梗。正如他写的：在这两类之间，有一大堆用滥的比喻，早已失去唤起联想的力量，只是因为能省去人们自己造词的麻烦才被使用。
codezero查看英文原文
I wonder what he'd say about memes. They seem to be the ultimate self-reinforcing de-evolution of language. In many ways, it seems like he is talking about memes, just the memes of his own time. But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves.
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