The Power of Simple Words - Terin Izil

小字的力量—緹鈴．伊柔 (Terin Izil)

譯者: Jesse Chen 陳鉦翰 審譯者: 盧 曉天

We all know the scene: Dorothy closes her eyes,

我們都熟悉這個場景：桃樂絲闔上眼睛

and repeats the Good Witch's mantra,

重複著葛琳達的咒語

"No coordinates exist like one's domicile,

"No coordinates exist like one's domicile, 「無寸土能與家舍相比、

no coordinates exist like one's domicile,

no coordinates exist like one's domicile, 無寸土能與家舍相比、

no coordinates exist like one's domicile."

no coordinates exist like one's domicile." 無寸土能與家舍相比」

Only Dorothy doesn't say that. She says five one-syllable words,

桃樂絲其實不是這樣說的 她只說了五個單音節的字

"There's no place like home."

"There's no place like home." 「無地比家親」

Each a word you probably learned in your first year of speaking,

每個字都是你第一年學會講話時所學會的

each perfectly concise.

很簡潔有力

It's not that L. Frank Baum didn't have a thesaurus,

不是 法蘭克．鮑姆 (L. Frank Baum) 詞窮了

it's that in most cases $10 words fail.

是因為在大部分情況下大字並不好用

Would Aerosmith have had a hit with

史密斯飛船 (Aerosmith) 的歌會叫做

"Ambulate This Direction?"

"Ambulate This Direction?" 「朝此方位步行」嗎？ (原名：Walk This Way 昂首闊步)

Probably not.

並不會

Would Patrick Henry have ignited a revolution by saying,

派屈克．亨利 (Patrick Henry) 的革命宣言會說

"Provide me with liberty or bestow upon me fatality?"

"Provide me with liberty or bestow upon me fatality?" 「授予我自由 不則賜我一死」嗎？ (原文：Give me Liberty, or give me Death! 不自由 毋寧死)

Unlikely.

這可未必

When it comes to words, bigger isn't always better.

用字並不是越艱深越好

Ten-dollar words are rendered worthless if they're not understood.

大字不被理解時 一切都是徒然

That's not to say every piece of literature

但也不是說每個文學作品

should be written at a fourth-grade reading level,

都要用小學四年級程度的單字來呈現

but it is important to know your audience.

重點是你的讀者

If you're a novelist, your audience is probably expecting

如果你是小說家 讀者通常會期望看到

300 pages of vivid descriptors.

300頁生動的描述

At the very least, they're expecting

至少 他們不希望看到

you won't use the same 50 words to fill those pages.

你用50個重複的單字寫完整本書

But most of us don't have the luxury of a captive audience.

通常我們不敢奢望有過分專注的讀者

We're competing against a whole world of distractions

因為我們都在與全世界的分心對抗

and we're fighting for space in an attention span

想盡辦法抓住讀者目光

that continues to shrink across generations.

進而拉近世代間的距離

So get to the point already.

重點很清楚了

Variety may be the spice of life, but brevity is its bread and butter.

變化 可以是生活上的趣味 而 簡潔 就是生活的必需品了

So when it comes to $10 words,

所以 當大字又想出現的時候

save your money and buy a Scrabble board.

把它變小塞進你的塗鴉板吧！ -Translated by Jesse Chen 陳鉦翰