美國老師教你寫出好英文

Acknowledgements 致謝辭
Preface序言
About the Authors作者簡介

Part A: What is Better Writing?何謂精進寫作？

The “Magical Seven” Elements魔法七要素
1. Better Writing is an Extension of You個人的延伸
2. Better Writing is Clear敘述清楚
3. Better Writing Has Good Grammar and Spelling正確的文法和拼字
4. Better Writing Considers Your Audience考慮到讀者
5. Better Writing is Patient要有耐心
6. Better Writing Involves Reading Widely廣泛閱讀
7. Better Writing Chooses a Good Place and Time to Write適當的時間和地點

The “Magical Seven” Structures of Classroom Writing課堂寫作的魔法七結構
1. Description描述文
2. Narration敘述文
3. How-to Paper「如何」類文章
4. Definition定義
5. Comparison and Contrast比較和對照
6. Cause and Effect因果關係
7. Persuasion說服性

Part B: Some Key Usage Points-- Avoid Chinglish精要關鍵用字─避免中式英文

Some Key Usage Points-- Avoid Chinglish精要關鍵用字─避免中式英文
1. Afraid害怕
2. Bored/Boring無聊
3. Colors顏色
4. Easy to易於
5. Ever曾經
6. He, She (or It?) 他、她、它
7. In general/Generally speaking一般而言
8. -ing動名詞或現在分詞
9. Nouns Doing the Work of Verbs將名詞轉化為動詞使用
10. Old People老人
11. Owing to由於
12. Parts of Speech詞性
13. People and Nationalities人民與國籍
14. Phenomenon現象
15. Place Names With or Without The加the與不加the的地名
16. Possessives所有格
17. Relax Your Mind放鬆你的心情
18. Smiling Face微笑的臉
19. Studies研究
20. Subject/Verb Agreement主詞與動詞的一致性
21. Verb + -ing動詞＋ -ing

Part C: Twelve Steps to Better Writing精進寫作的12步驟

Twelve Steps to Better Writing精進寫作的12步驟
1. Start Strongly有力的開始
2. Use Strong Nouns使用有力的名詞
3. Use Vivid Verbs使用生動的動詞
4. Use Harold Words使用簡單的字
5. Use Some Glue使用黏著劑
6. Cut Clutter刪除冗詞
7. Practice Parallelism練習平行結構
8. Produce Powerful Punctuation使用有效的標點
9. Vary Sentence Lengths & Patterns變化句長和和句型
10. Use Active Voice使用主動語態
11. End with a Bang動人的結語
12. Finish with Formatting完稿前檢查格式

Answer Key解答

Appendix附錄
Words often confused容易混淆的字詞
Essential Prefixes, Stems, and Suffixes to Know重要的字首、字根和字尾
Additional Resources附加的學習資源

Final Thoughts卷後語

　　This book springs from my twenty-plus years of writing, editing, and teaching writing, in both Taiwan and the US. My students have ranged from third graders to Ph.D. candidates in nuclear engineering at National Tsing Hua University. Now, for your convenience, this experience is compiled into one place: this book. My chief goal is to demystify the writing process and help us all become better writers and communicators.

　　How this book finally came together is a funny story. Shortly before midnight, on Saturday, June 30, I was both online and on the phone ordering books for the Dreyer Academy Summer Enrichment Writing Class to be held in Hsinchu, Taiwan. One particular writing book I wanted to use was not in stock and could not be delivered until after we left the States. Pondering my options for what teaching material to use, an epiphany came to me about 1:00 a.m.: “Write a book yourself!” And how this book came to be bilingual, and into your hands, is yet another great story. I was teaching with this book in Taiwan in its smaller, original form, when Dr. Posen Liao and his wife Liwen Tan approached me about creating an expanded book, with Chinese translation. I am grateful for Liao’s co-authorship and guidance. He brings a wealth of knowledge to this project, considering his years of teaching at National Taipei University. His involvement truly makes this book an international product, bringing you the minds of East and West, those who learned English as a foreign language and those who speak it natively.

　　You can call this book “The ABC’s of better writing” because it is organized around three key sections. Part A includes some key elements of better writing and common writing styles (cause and effect, persuasion, etc.) Part B looks at some common grammar and mechanics issues that can be tricky. Part C is the actual “12 Steps” designed to help you write more clearly. Thank you for joining the journey!

　　這本書源自我在台灣和美國二十多年寫作、編輯和教授寫作的生涯，我的學生涵括小學三年級生到國立清華大學核子工程的博士候選人都有。這些教學經驗現在整合成這本書，以餉有心學習寫作的讀者。我撰寫此書主要的目的是希望消弭寫作過程的迷思，並協助更多人成為更佳的寫作者和溝通者。

　　這本書的成形其實是個有趣的故事，在6月30日週六幾近午夜時分，我同時在網路上和電話上為將在台灣新竹開課的Dreyer Academy Summer Enrichment寫作教室訂購教科書，我想採用的一本寫作教科書恰好沒有庫存，而且要到我離開美國後才會供書。當我正傷腦筋要改用哪本教科書之際，近凌晨一點時我突然靈光一閃：「我可以自己寫一本教科書啊！」而現在你手上這本書怎麼會變成中英對照，則是另有一番際遇。後來我在台灣使用這本書的前身，也就是一本篇幅較少的版本在教授寫作時，廖柏森博士與他的夫人譚麗雯女士跟我聯繫，有意將原有的版本擴充，並加上中文翻譯。我非常感激廖博士的共同創作和指引，他以在國立台北大學多年的教學經驗和專業知識，對此書的貢獻很大。廖博士的參與使此書真正成為跨國合作的結晶，更是東方以英語為外語和西方以英文為母語兩種心智的融合呈現。

　　你可以稱這本書為「精進寫作的ABC」，因為它是以三個主要章節為骨幹。A部分包含精進寫作的重要元素和常用寫作風格（如因果關係、說服別人等）。B部分檢視某些容易犯錯的文法和用字的問題。C部分則是實戰的「12步驟」，可幫助你的寫作更加清晰流暢。在此先感謝你加入此趟寫作的學習之旅。

現在就請您開卷「悅」讀！