Unit 8: Audience, Tone, and Sentence Craft
AP English Language and Composition Topic 8 5:44 English narration · English + 中文 subtitles burned in
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A writer's style is the mix of word choice, syntax and conventions employed by that writer.
一位作者的文体， 是这位作者所使用的 用词、句法与惯例的混合。
Style is a composite — which is why "the writer's style is formal" is not analysis.
文体是一个复合物， 这正是为什么 "这位作者的文体是正式的" 不是分析。
It names the result without any of the components.
它说出了结果， 却没有说出任何组成部分。
Naming the components is the analysis: this diction, this sentence shape, this convention, and what each does to the reader.
说出组成部分才是分析： 这样的用词、这样的句式、 这样的惯例， 以及每一样对读者做了什么。
Four CED statements set this up.
课程大纲的四条说法搭起了这一部分。
Writers may make comparisons — similes, metaphors, analogies or anecdotes — in an attempt to relate to an audience.
作者可以使用比较， 明喻、隐喻、类比或轶事， 以试图与受众建立关联。
Writers' choices regarding syntax and diction influence how the writer is perceived by an audience.
作者在句法与措辞上的选择， 影响受众如何看待这位作者。
Word choice may reflect a writer's biases and may affect their credibility with a particular audience.
用词可能反映作者的偏见， 并可能影响他在特定受众中的可信度。
And because audiences are unique and dynamic, writers must consider the perspectives, contexts and needs of the intended audience.
而由于受众是独特且动态的， 作者必须考虑 目标受众的视角、语境与需求。
The third is worth dwelling on.
第三条值得多停一会儿。
Diction does not only characterise the subject — it characterises the writer.
用词不只刻画题材， 它也刻画作者。
A reader who notices loaded word choice starts to discount everything that follows, which is why an unqualified vocabulary is a credibility risk, not a strength.
一个注意到用词带有倾向的读者， 会开始对后面的一切打折扣， 这正是为什么 毫无限定的词汇是一种可信度风险， 而不是一种优势。
The CED says audiences are dynamic, and the practical reading of that is that they change as they read.
课程大纲说受众是动态的， 而它的实际含义是 受众在阅读的过程中会改变。
An argument that has just conceded something is being read by a slightly different audience than the one that began the essay.
一篇刚刚作出让步的论证， 正在被一群 与开篇时略有不同的受众阅读。
So the ordering of concession and claim matters.
所以让步与主张的顺序很重要。
Concede before you press, and you address a reader who now believes you are fair.
先让步再施压， 你面对的是一位 此刻认为你公平的读者。
Press first and concede afterwards, and the concession reads as retreat.
先施压再让步， 那个让步读起来就是撤退。
Same two sentences, different order, different effect.
同样两句话， 顺序不同，效果不同。
Writers may signal a complex or ironic perspective through stylistic choices, and irony may emerge from the difference between what is said and what is meant, or between what is expected and what occurs.
作者可以通过文体选择 示意一种复杂或反讽的立场， 而反讽可能来自 所说与所指之间的差异， 或者预期与实际发生之间的差异。
Irony is the hardest thing on this exam for a second-language reader, because it cannot be looked up.
反讽是这场考试中 对第二语言读者最难的东西， 因为它查不到。
So use a method that is structural rather than intuitive.
所以要用一种结构性的方法， 而不是靠直觉。
Find a sentence whose literal content does not match its surroundings — excessive praise beside damaging evidence, a calm register beside an outrageous fact — and the mismatch is the signal.
找出一个句子， 它的字面内容与周围环境不匹配， 过度的称赞紧挨着不利的证据， 平静的语气紧挨着骇人的事实， 这种不匹配就是信号。
Then say what the words claim, say what the writer means, and the gap between them is the argument.
然后说出字面上宣称了什么， 说出作者的意思是什么， 而两者之间的落差 就是论证。
Two more devices, both stylistically rich and analytically useful.
还有两种手段， 都在文体上丰富， 在分析上也有用。
Modifiers — words, phrases or clauses — qualify, clarify or specify information about the thing they modify.
修饰成分， 词语、短语或分句， 对它们所修饰的对象 加以限定、澄清或具体化。
And parenthetical elements, though not essential to understanding what they describe, interrupt the sentence to add information, comment or emphasis.
而插入成分， 虽然对理解它所描述的内容 并非必要， 却打断句子 以增加信息、评论或强调。
A modifier is where a writer's judgement hides.
修饰成分是作者判断藏身的地方。
"The long-delayed report" has evaluated the report while appearing only to identify it, and a reader who does not notice has accepted the evaluation.
"那份久拖不决的报告" 在看似只是指认它的同时 已经评价了它， 而没有注意到的读者 就接受了这个评价。
A parenthetical is an aside the writer chose to make, and the choice to interrupt is itself an emphasis.
插入成分是作者选择要说的旁白， 而"选择打断"本身就是一种强调。
For your own writing: place modifiers next to what they modify, and use parentheticals sparingly.
对你自己的写作而言： 把修饰成分放在它所修饰的东西旁边， 并且节制使用插入成分。
One well-placed interruption creates emphasis; three in a paragraph destroy it, because a reader cannot tell which interruption mattered.
一个放对位置的打断制造强调； 一个段落里三个 就把强调抵消掉了， 因为读者分不清 哪一个打断才重要。
Writing clear sentences is the unit's own writing objective.
写出清楚的句子，是本单元自己的写作目标。
One piece of advice about your own writing that students find surprising.
有一条关于你自己写作的建议， 学生会觉得意外。
For your own essays, the safest use of irony is none.
在你自己的文章里， 使用反讽最安全的方式是不用。
What the sophistication point actually rewards is control: a consistent register, a vocabulary that is precise rather than inflated, and syntax that ranks ideas deliberately.
精深度那一分真正奖励的是控制力： 一致的语域、 精确而非浮夸的词汇， 以及有意识地为观念排序的句法。
Irony attempted under time pressure and misread by an examiner costs more than it can win — and the same reader who would have rewarded control will read the attempt as loss of it.
在限时压力下尝试反讽 并被阅卷者误读， 失去的比可能赢得的多， 而同一位本来会奖励控制力的读者， 会把这次尝试 读成失去控制。
A tone word is a claim.
一个语气词就是一个主张。
If you cannot point at the diction and the syntax that produce it, you have not made the claim.
如果你指不出产生它的用词和句法， 你就还没有把这个主张做出来。
Tone has two inputs: what the words mean, and how the sentence is built.
语气有两个输入：词的意思，以及句子怎么造。
Most analyses name only one.
多数分析只说出其中一个。
A rhetorical-analysis passage says of a policy: the results, such as they were, arrived exactly on schedule.
一篇修辞分析材料这样写一项政策： 那些结果，就其本身而言，准时到达。
A low answer says the writer uses a parenthetical phrase.
低分答案会说作者使用了插入语。
A scoring answer explains both parts.
得分的答案把两部分都说清楚。
The parenthetical such as they were dismisses the results in four words, without offering an argument against them.
插入语"就其本身而言" 用四个词就把结果打发掉了， 却没有提出反对它们的论证。
Placing it before arrived exactly on schedule means the praise for punctuality lands on results the reader has just been told to discount.
把它放在"准时到达"之前， 意味着对守时的称赞 落在读者刚刚被要求打折的结果上。
The sentence appears to compliment the programme and in fact withdraws the only thing it could be complimented for.
这句话看似在恭维这个项目， 实际上抽走了它唯一能被恭维的东西。
Modifier, parenthetical, irony, and effect on audience, all in one.
修饰、插入、反讽、对受众的效果， 全在一句里。
Five things to carry out.
带走五件事。
First, style is a composite — name the components, not the result.
第一，文体是一个复合物， 要说出组成部分，而不是结果。
Second, loaded diction damages the writer's credibility, and saying so is examinable.
第二，带有倾向的用词 损害作者的可信度， 而说出这一点是考点。
Third, find irony structurally: a sentence whose literal content clashes with its surroundings.
第三，用结构的方式找出反讽： 一个字面内容与周围环境冲突的句子。
Fourth, concede before you press.
第四，先让步，再施压。
Fifth, a modifier is where judgement hides, and parentheticals should be rare.
第五，修饰成分是判断藏身之处， 而插入成分应当稀少。