Simple Language

I've noticed that a lot of my recent words are unnecessarily long. Articles are written to be red, so it should be precise and easy to understand. I love "simple language" but I have problems in practising it. It needs more careful attention to write short than to write long. When time allows, I will study on George Well's article "Politics and the English Language" carefully. Before that, let's just get to the summarized six rules for writers mentioned in that article:

• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
• Never use a long word where a short one will do.
• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
• Never use the passive voice where you can use the active.
• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

And a writing style guide for journalists from the Economist.

The importance of writing article concisely in this knowledge age is obvious since we have many information to absorb everyday.

同样的，用华文写作也应精简，但也许我们不知道自己写得冗长。真感兴趣的，可以读一读下面的文章：

<余光中：论中文之西化>
<余光中：从西而不化到西而化之>
<余光中：论中文的常态与变态>