原文標題：
Johnson
More is more
Redundancy can be useful in writing and speech. Here’s when, why and how
約翰遜
多就是好
冗余在寫作和口語中有用，以下是何時、為什么以及如何使用冗余
“Omit needless words!” But not all of them
“省略不必要的詞語！” 但不是省略所有

[Paragraph 1]
“PLEASE RETURN your tray tables to their full upright and locked position.” “Remember to take all of your personal belongings with you when you leave the train.”
“請將您的托盤置于完全豎直的位置并固定好?！薄跋禄疖嚂r，請記得帶走您所有的個人物品?！?

Something about writing announcements for public transport seems to bring out the wordiness in people.
公交通告的撰寫似乎總是讓人覺得啰嗦。

These instructions can be shortened to “Please put your trays up” and “Please take your things.”
這些指示可以簡化為“請收好托盤”，“請帶走您的物品”。

[Paragraph 2]
Redundancy is widely seen as a stylistic sin.
冗余通常被視為是文體上的病句。

“Omit needless words” is perhaps the least redundant statement of this view, made famous by “The Elements of Style”, a bestselling usage manual published in 1959.
這種觀點最簡潔的表述可能是“省略不必要的詞語”，這一觀點因1959年出版的暢銷手冊《英文寫作要素》而聞名。

In it, E.B. White, an essayist and novelist, attributed the dictum to his university English teacher, William Strunk.
在書中，隨筆家和小說家E.B.懷特將這句格言歸功于他的大學英語老師威廉·斯特朗克。

In the classroom, Strunk “omitted so many needless words” that he was often “l(fā)eft with nothing more to say, yet with time to fill”.
在課堂上，斯特朗克“省略了許多不必要的詞語”，以至于他常常“無話可說，但上課時間要上滿”。

So Strunk resorted to saying everything three times: “Omit needless words! Omit needless words! Omit needless words!”
因此，斯特朗克重復說三遍：“省略不必要的詞語！省略不必要的詞語！省略不必要的詞語！”

[Paragraph 3]
On reflection, though, did he really need to say that three times himself? If he had already said everything that was required, he could have let the class out early rather than repeating his call for concision.
但仔細想想，他是否真的需要重復三遍？如果他已經(jīng)說了必要的話，他其實可以讓班級提前下課，而不是一再呼吁簡潔。

That he did so suggests there may be more value in redundancy than meets the eye. Language scholars, indeed, think it fulfils several functions.
他這樣做表明，冗余可能有更多的價值。實際上，語言學者認為它具有幾個功能。

[Paragraph 4]
One, hinted at by Strunk’s repetition, is learnability. Repetition, after all, is reinforcement.
根據(jù)斯特朗克的重復，冗余的第一個功能是易學。畢竟，重復就是強化。

Languages that include the same piece of grammatical information in more than one way are probably more easily acquired by children, or indeed adults.
用多種方式表達相同的語法信息，可能更容易被兒童或成年人掌握。

For example, the -ed ending on the verb gives no new information in “Yesterday, he walked”, because “yesterday” already situates the event in the past.
例如，動詞的-ed結尾在“Yesterday, he walked（昨天，他走路了）”句子中沒有提供新信息，因為“昨天”已經(jīng)說明了事件發(fā)生在過去。

Many languages—Mandarin, for example—do not require such endings. In those, such as English, which do, the doubling up of signals may have developed to make them easier to learn.
許多語言不需要這樣的結尾（如漢語）。在需要-ed結尾的語言中（如英語），重復信號使語言更容易學習。

[Paragraph 5]
Another benefit of redundancy can be seen on those trains and planes.
冗余的另一個功能是用在火車和飛機上。

These are noisy and distracting places where a brusque “Please take your things” may not be heard by all passengers.
這些地方很嘈雜，人很容易分心，一句簡短的“請帶走您的物品”可能不會被所有乘客聽到。

Redundancy makes a signal robust. Here redundancy is a feature not a flaw.
冗余可以更好地傳遞信息。這些情況下，冗余是一種特征而不是缺陷。

[Paragraph 6]
A recent study of Dutch and English confirmed this is true of human languages, too.
最近對荷蘭語和英語的一項研究證實，人類語言也符合這個規(guī)律。

It looked at how both languages handle sentences like “She gave the book to him”: ie, those with both a direct object, “the book”, and an indirect one, “him”.
它研究了這兩種語言如何處理“She gave the book to him”這樣的句子，即既有直接賓語“the book”，也有間接賓語“him”。

Strictly, either the form of the pronouns or the word order could distinguish giver from recipient, but most such sentences in English and Dutch offer both.
嚴格地說，代詞的形式或詞序都可以區(qū)分贈與者和受贈者，但英語和荷蘭語中的大多數(shù)這樣的句子都提供了兩種方式。

[Paragraph 7]
Languages may even adapt to maintain an optimal level of redundancy.
語言甚至可能會適應和維持最佳的冗余水平。

The grammar of English responded by making word order, which had once been fluid, more rigid.
英語語法反應了原本靈活的詞序變得更為固定。

And English still employs other features—such as the use of the preposition “to”, or the objective-case forms “him” and “her”—just in case.
并且英語仍然使用其他特征，例如介詞“to”或賓格形式的“him”和“her”，以防萬一。

[Paragraph 8]
Another possible use of redundancy is simply to make listening or reading less taxing.
冗余的另一個潛在功能是使聽和讀變得更輕松。

If every possible word that can be removed is removed, so that every remaining one is absolutely crucial, listening and reading become stressful. You cannot let your mind wander for even a moment.
如果所有可以省略的單詞都被刪去了，那么剩下的每一個單詞都變得至關重要，這會讓聽和讀變得緊張。你不能有片刻的放松。

Such prose is almost too dense with information; even a short passage of this kind would be demanding to read. Sometimes a little room to breathe is no bad thing.
這樣的文體信息量過度密集；即使是讀這樣的一小段文字也很費勁。有時稍微給讀者一些喘息的空間并不是什么壞事。

[Paragraph 9]
Just a little, that is. The advice to keep it trim is still good counsel.
但是，只要稍微給些空間即可。保持簡明扼要仍然是明智之舉。

Blaise Pascal, a French author of the 17th century, once apologised for a long letter by saying: “I have not had time to make it shorter.”
17世紀法國作家布萊茲·帕斯卡曾因寫了一封長信而道歉，他說：“我沒有時間把它寫短點。”

Keeping things tight can be hard work for the writer, but it saves time for the reader, at least up to a point.
對作者來說，保持內容精簡可能很費力，但對讀者來說，在某種程度上可以節(jié)省時間。

Make your prose as lean as necessary to keep your reader reading—but not more.
把你的散文簡化到可以讓你的讀者持續(xù)讀下去的程度即可，但不要過度簡化。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量864左右，有刪減）
原文出自：2023年3月18日《The Economist》Culture版塊。

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學習交流使用。

【補充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡）
《英文寫作的要素》“The Elements of Style”是一本英語寫作指南書，由William Strunk Jr.和E.B. White合著，第一版出版于1959年。這本書在許多大學和學校的寫作課程中被廣泛使用，也是英語寫作領域最受歡迎和廣泛使用的書之一。它提供了有用的寫作技巧和規(guī)則，包括如何避免不必要的單詞、使用主動語態(tài)、避免過度修飾等等。該書已經(jīng)出版了多個版本，并成為英語寫作領域的經(jīng)典著作之一。

【重點句子】（3?個）
One, hinted at by Strunk’s repetition, is learnability. Repetition, after all, is reinforcement.
根據(jù)斯特朗克的重復，冗余的第一個功能是易學。畢竟，重復就是強化。

Redundancy makes a signal robust. Here redundancy is a feature not a flaw.
冗余可以更好地傳遞信息。這些情況下，冗余是一種特征而不是缺陷。

Another possible use of redundancy is simply to make listening or reading less taxing.
冗余的另一個潛在功能是使聽和讀變得更輕松。