Part One - I

Mein9

Reader: 林斐霞
Reading Time: 3.5-3.10
Reading Task: PART One I
(1)Reflection:
1.Why we use so many unncessary words?
    When I was reading, I wonder why we behave this way. As a student, I think on the one hand, we might try to use longer and seemingly flowery expressions to make our writing appear better. However, this is actually like adding extremely bright colors to a traditional Chinese painting, which has the opposite effect.
    On the other hand, I call it linguistic inertia. Certain expressions have become a habit, and the way we express things in Chinese has influenced our English expressions.

2.Chinese VS English
    In Chinese writing and expression, there is often a tendency to use more abstract and general words and structures, especially in formal occasions or official texts. For example, common expressions in Chinese such as "加强...建设", "采取...措施", etc，often seem wordy and unnecessary in English.
    English writing emphasizes conciseness, directness, and concreteness, especially in academic and formal styles.
    From cultural perspective, western culture emphasizes logic, and rhetoric is often based on rigorous logical argumentation. The eastern culture attaches importance to emotion and situation, and has many rhetoric, implicit implication and quotations.

(2)Summary of the Content:
1.The Importance of Concise Writing
2.Unnecessary Nouns: Nouns are often redundant, especially those phrases where other elements in the sentence already contain or imply their meaning.
3.Unnecessary Verbs: Unnecessary verbs are usually used in combination with nouns to form phrases. These verbs are often vague and general, without specific meaning.
4.Overused Introductory Verb Phrases: Many unnecessary introductory verb phrasesare not only wordy but also weaken the power of the sentence. 5.Precautions for Revision

(3)Evalution: This is the first time I've read this book. I think it's presented in a very precise and clear way. The words used are simple, and the examples given are accurate. At the same time, the content it describes happens around us, but we've never paid attention to it before. So when I was reading it, I had that sudden feeling of enlightenment.