美国国家公共电台 NPR Harold Evans Makes Himself Clear: No More Passive Voice

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Harold Evans sees a lot of fog all around us - a fog of murky¹ words, qualifiers and subordinate clauses that clog² a sentence and route an expression into obscurity - puffed³ up phrases, passive voices, misused⁴ words and words with no meaning, verbs twisted into nouns, buzz words, and hackneyed terms that make the language we use to deliver news, exchange opinions, trade stories, give direction and declare love into a pea soup of imprecision and cliche⁵. Sir Harold Evans, who's edited The Sunday Times of London, several U.S. publications, editor at large of Reuters and the author of many bestsellers, has written "Do I Make Myself Clear?: Why Writing Well Matters." He joins us from New York. Thanks so much for being with us.

HAROLD EVANS: Delighted.

SIMON: Aren't we writing more than ever?

EVANS: Yes because the Internet makes it so easy. And that's why you get so much garbage. And sentences run on and on. And new words are introduced, some of which are intelligible⁶, many of which are not.

SIMON: Yeah.

EVANS: You have to be 15, really, to have a complete vocabulary. The two things which have happened to the English language since we were taken over by the United States...

SIMON: (Laughter) I'm sorry, go ahead. We got the blame for this. I do that, yes. Go ahead.

EVANS: ...But what's happened is not only are we writing more, the velocity⁷ and the volume combined are adding confusion more than they're adding enlightenment. And so the simple Anglo-Saxon sentence that Churchill so revered⁸ - he called it a noble thing - tends to get lost in mush. And I've - in my book, I've given so many examples. I almost went hysterical⁹ with confusion and rage about what passes through this wonderful medium of radio and print, which is actually confusing people.

SIMON: Yeah. Can I enlist¹⁰ you in a difference of opinion I have with some of our daughter's teachers?

EVANS: Yes, oh, sure.

SIMON: Thank you.

EVANS: I will get a safe escort out of this building.

SIMON: (Laughter) All right. Thank you. You want to abolish - I think Theodore Bernstein of The New York Times called - monologophobia.

EVANS: Yes.

EVANS: What is that?

EVANS: Well, monologophobia, in Theodore Bernstein's definition, is a man who would rather be caught naked in Fifth Avenue in front of Saks than use the same word or the same name twice in a paragraph.

SIMON: Yeah.

EVANS: There is no shame, madam teacher, in using the same word twice. The important thing in all these issues about language is, is the meaning clear?

SIMON: Yeah.

EVANS: Know what you want to say and steer¹¹ (ph) to the meaning of what you want to say and cling to that as fast as you can. And then read it again because you're bound to have introduced some non sequitur. Excuse me, that's Latin, of course.

(LAUGHTER)

EVANS: So you can see I've got some weaknesses in my defense¹².

SIMON: What effect, Harry¹³, do you think text messages and emojis may have on language or are already having?

EVANS: Well, I think it's not too - we don't worry too much about that. I think much more concerning is passive voice, abstractions, zombie words, flesh-eaters. I would like all school teachers to make war on the zombies, to make war on the flesh-eaters, to make war on the predatory clauses that introduce so many paragraphs - with good writers as well as school kids.

SIMON: Yeah. Zombies are, I believe, a noun devoured¹⁴ by a verb, as you put it.

EVANS: Exactly right. We used to call it nominalization, which is a horrible zombie in itself.

SIMON: Yeah.

EVANS: A zombie is very often revealed by the ending, I-O-N. So you get I authorize¹⁵ this statement, OK? That's the verb - I authorize. It comes out - the statement was - authorization¹⁶ was signed by so-and-so. You've turned the active verb, authorize, into a zombie, authorization. Same as participate - participation¹⁷. And you've drained the sentences of vigor¹⁸ and immediacy. It's like a virus. Once it enters the system, whether through a school, more often through business - business is the great corrupter¹⁹ of language, you know, because they don't say it was decided²⁰ that coffee would not be served any longer over the break. Who decided that?

SIMON: (Laughter).

EVANS: That was passive voice, you know.

SIMON: Yeah.

EVANS: If you said Joe Smith decided there would be no coffee. OK, where is Joe Smith hanging out this morning? We can go and deal with him straight away.

SIMON: What's a pleanista? And what's your problem with them?

EVANS: It's repetition. George Bernard Shaw - youth is too good to waste on the young. Or one I - David Letterman had a good one some years ago in which he said a new survey has found that three-quarters of the people constitute 75 percent of the population.

SIMON: Yeah.

EVANS: That's a pleonasm. Most pleonasms are a waste of time.

SIMON: For phrases like root cause or consensus²¹ of opinion or...

EVANS: That's exactly right...

SIMON: ...Yeah.

EVANS: ...Consensus of opinion. Or 35 acres of land - oh, hello - razed²² to the ground, resigned the position of, succumbed²³ to his injuries, and so on.

SIMON: Yeah.

EVANS: So all these are barnacles on the English language. Strangled to death - there is another one, which I thought of because I'm feeling my lethal²⁴ tendencies arriving in me as I talk to you here. Strangled to death - well, you can't strangle somebody unless you kill them.

SIMON: (Laughter).

EVANS: You can throttle²⁵ them.

SIMON: Yeah.

EVANS: So if you have any of these lethal thoughts in your mind, dear listeners, and if - you can't speak in...

SIMON: Oh, my.

EVANS: ...These languages without having a whole posse after you. So sufficient enough - enough is a wonderful word. Why sufficient?

SIMON: I think that's enough. Sir Harold Evans - his book...

EVANS: (Laughter).

SIMON: ..."Do I Make Myself Clear?" Harry, thanks so much for being with us.

EVANS: Thank you - a great pleasure. Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MY FAIR LADY")

JEREMY BRETT: (As Freddy Eynsford-Hill, singing) The heavens tumble, darling, and I'm...

AUDREY HEPBURN: (As Eliza Doolittle, singing) Words, words, words - I'm so sick of words. I get words all day through, first from him, now from you. Is that all you blighters can do? Don't talk of stars, burning above. If you're in love, show me.

1 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

2 clog   

vt.塞满，阻塞；n.[常pl.]木屐

参考例句：

• In cotton and wool processing,short length fibers may clog sewers.在棉毛生产中，短纤维可能堵塞下水管道。
• These streets often clog during the rush hour.这几条大街在交通高峰时间常常发生交通堵塞。

3 puffed   

adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He lit a cigarette and puffed at it furiously. 他点燃了一支香烟，狂吸了几口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He felt grown-up, puffed up with self-importance. 他觉得长大了，便自以为了不起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 misused   

v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 cliche   

n./a.陈词滥调(的)；老生常谈(的)；陈腐的

参考例句：

• You should always try to avoid the use of cliche. 你应该尽量避免使用陈词滥调。
• The old cliche is certainly true:the bigger car do mean bigger profits.有句老话倒的确说得不假:车大利大。

6 intelligible   

adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的

参考例句：

• This report would be intelligible only to an expert in computing.只有计算机运算专家才能看懂这份报告。
• His argument was barely intelligible.他的论点不易理解。

7 velocity   

n.速度，速率

参考例句：

• Einstein's theory links energy with mass and velocity of light.爱因斯坦的理论把能量同质量和光速联系起来。
• The velocity of light is about 300000 kilometres per second.光速约为每秒300000公里。

8 revered   

v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例，现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句

9 hysterical   

adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的

参考例句：

• He is hysterical at the sight of the photo.他一看到那张照片就异常激动。
• His hysterical laughter made everybody stunned.他那歇斯底里的笑声使所有的人不知所措。

10 enlist   

vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍

参考例句：

• They come here to enlist men for the army.他们来这儿是为了召兵。
• The conference will make further efforts to enlist the support of the international community for their just struggle. 会议必将进一步动员国际社会，支持他们的正义斗争。

11 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

13 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

14 devoured   

吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志，还是报纸，只要能弄得到，她都看得津津有味。
• The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。

15 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

16 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

17 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

18 vigor   

n.活力，精力，元气

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• She didn't want to be reminded of her beauty or her former vigor.现在，她不愿人们提起她昔日的美丽和以前的精力充沛。

19 corrupter   

堕落的，道德败坏的； 贪污的，腐败的； 腐烂的； （文献等）错误百出的

参考例句：

• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

20 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

21 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

22 razed   

v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The village was razed to the ground . 这座村庄被夷为平地。
• Many villages were razed to the ground. 许多村子被夷为平地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 succumbed   

不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死

参考例句：

• The town succumbed after a short siege. 该城被围困不久即告失守。
• After an artillery bombardment lasting several days the town finally succumbed. 在持续炮轰数日后，该城终于屈服了。

24 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

25 throttle   

n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压

参考例句：

• These government restrictions are going to throttle our trade.这些政府的限制将要扼杀我们的贸易。
• High tariffs throttle trade between countries.高的关税抑制了国与国之间的贸易。