《中國學生寫英語論文的常見錯誤總結》讀書筆記

標題：

The Most Common Habits from more than 200 English Papers written by Graduate Chinese Engineering Students

原文鏈接如下：（不能保證是原始出處）

http://me.sjtu.edu.cn/document/Most%20Common%20Mistakes%20of%20200%20Technical%20English%20Papers.pdf

時間：

2003以后

閱讀時間：

2005.9.27

 

摘要：

本文提出了幾種最常見的中式英語習慣，它們是從超過兩百份中國學生寫的英文論文中觀察得來的。文中解釋了這些習慣，并且在大部分情況下給出了從實際論文中出現的例子以及正確的用法。我們試圖去解釋如何去改正和避免這些錯誤。一些情況下，我們還解釋了為什么這些習慣會出現。本文可以成為一個單獨的科技論文編寫指南，尤其是當很難尋找一個母語為英語的編輯時。

大意

Section 1

a, an, the

冠詞后面將跟隨一個名詞，并且任何冠詞與名詞之間的修飾詞都用來修飾這個名詞(a big blue bicycle / the first award)。A和an是不定冠詞，the是定冠詞。單數形式的不可數名詞以及指代一個可數事務的普通名詞，它們每次都需要一些限定詞（determiner）。

它們的使用方法如下圖所示：

Incorrect Figure 2 shows the distribution of relative velocity on surface of main

and splitter blades.15

Correct Figure 2 shows the distribution of relative velocity on the surface of the

main and splitter blades.15

分析上面的例子，surface是一個單數、可數、沒有限定詞的特定的單詞，因此要用the修飾。而blades是一個復數、可數、沒有特殊限定詞、并且特定的單詞，因此也要用the修飾。

 

very long sentence

太長的句子不利于讀者理解，應該盡量分為多個句子。對于一些參數的陳列，盡量使用列表或者整齊的子句。

 

Prefacing the main idea of a sentence by stating the purpose,

location or reason first

在句子的前面陳述目的、位置、原因等，而不是陳述句子的主要含義。這樣減弱了句子的主旨，混淆了讀者的理解。

Incorrect For the application in automobile interiors, this paper studies the nesting

optimization problem in leather manufacturing. 5

Correct This paper studies the nesting optimization problem in leather manufacturing

for application in automobile interiors.

 

Tendency of placing phrases which indicate time at the beginning of

a sentence

傾向于把表示時間的短語放在句首。這樣是不自然的。

Incorrect When U is taken as the control parameter, the BDs for Δ =0.0, 0.001, 0.005

are shown in Fig. 8.

Correct Figure 8 shows the BDs for Δ =0.0, 0.001, and 0.005 when U is taken as the

control parameter.

 

Place the most important subject at the beginning of the sentence for

emphasis

將最重要的主題放在句首以示重視。這樣的理解是錯誤的。

Incorrect Based on the triangulation structure built from unorganized points or a CAD

model, the extended STL format is described in this section.4

Correct The extended STL format is described in this section based on the triangulation

structure built from unorganized points or a CAD model.

 

“which/ that”

 

‘Respectively’ and ‘respective’

1. Respectively is misplaced in the sentence; it is put before the nouns to which it refers.

Incorrect Equations 2～6 can be respectively linearized as:……(equations given)…13

Correct Equations 2～6 can be linearized as:……(equations given)…, respectively.

Incorrect The weights of the two experts are respectively 0.600 and 0.400.19

Correct The weights of the two experts are 0.600 and 0.400, respectively.

 

2. Respectively is inserted to express that there is a certain order in which something was

done. However, the order is already implied elsewhere in the sentence or does not need

to be expressed because it does not add value to meaning of the sentence.

Incorrect If both the core technology score and core quality score of a bottleneck process

are, respectively, below certain scores, then we refer to strategy 1, otherwise, if

either is, respectively, above a certain score, then we refer to strategy 2.

Similarly, if the core technology and core quality are, respectively, above a

certain score, then we refer to strategy 3, otherwise, if either is, respectively,

below a certain score, then we refer to strategy 4.19

 

Correct If both the core technology score and core quality score of a bottleneck process

are below certain scores, then we refer to strategy 1, otherwise, if either is

above a certain score, then we refer to strategy 2. Similarly, if the core

technology and core quality are above a certain score, then we refer to strategy

3, otherwise, if either is below a certain score, then we refer to strategy 4.

 

Respectively通常出現在句子的結尾，當兩個或者更多的人或事被按照一定的順序提起或者指定時，使用Respectively。它包含了一種順序，這種順序可以是在前面提到的，也可以是被讀者領會到的。

例子：

For example: Bobby, Nicole and Daren wore red, green and blue coats, respectively.

List 1 List 2

Bobby wore a red coat.

Nicole wore a green coat.

Daren wore a blue coat.

 

‘In this paper’, ‘in this study’

study指作者做出的工作；paper指作者表達工作的論文。不可混淆。

這兩個短語最好只用在兩個地方：

1.       介紹或者總結全文時；

2.       在文中，當指出了其他作者的一些沒有完成的工作之后，使用這兩個短語來描述自己的工作。

 

Numbers and Equations

阿拉伯數字不應該出現在句子的開頭，而應該使用英文單詞。

Incorrect 12 parameters were selected for the experiment.

Correct Twelve parameters were selected for the experiment.

阿拉伯數字被濫用，它們應該在給出技術指標時使用，而不用來表示普遍的信息。

不要在句子中使用符號或者表達式，而應該以語言描述。（一般的論文要求所有的表達式都單獨寫出來，并使用特定的格式）

Incorrect If the power battery SOC > SOClo and the driving torque belongs to the

middle load,…

Correct If the power battery SOC is greater than SOClo and the driving torque

belongs to the middle load,…

 

Format

Paragraphs

分段的錯誤有兩個：第一種是換行但是沒有縮進，所以讓讀者不知道這是否是新的一段。

第二種是一段的最前面是一個單行的句子，這個句子和這一段同時都縮進了。

（這句話的理解不太清晰，我懷疑我理解錯了。原文是：The second

error occurs when a paragraph is preceded by a single sentence on a single line. The

single line is indented along with the succeeding paragraph as in example #. This

commonly occurs in Chinese texts but is never done in English.）

 

‘Figure’ and ‘Table’

Figure和Table的正確縮寫分別是Fig.和Tbl.。縮寫不能出現在句首，并且Figure/Table和數字之間必須有一個空格。

 

Variables

變量必須使用斜體。

 

Capitals

大寫字母不能出現在句中，只能出現在句首。

 

‘such as’ and ‘etc.’

such as的含義和for example一樣；etc.的含義等于and so on。它們如果放在同一個句子里則是冗余的。

Such as意味著后面跟隨一個不完整的列表，如果后面列出了所有的元素，則不應使用such as。

Incorrect Compared to traditional industry, Micro-electronic fabrication has three

characteristics such as high complexity, high precision and high automation.

Correct Compared to traditional industry, Micro-electronic fabrication has three

characteristics: high complexity, high precision and high automation.

 

Section 2

1．下列單詞具有同樣的單數和復數形式：

literature (when referring to research)

equipment,

staff (referring to a group of people)

faculty

 

2．下列單詞不要同時使用，僅僅使用一個就可以了

3．一些單詞要求它所修飾的名詞必須為復數：

4．永遠不要以阿拉伯數字或者英文縮寫作為句子的開頭。

5．不要使用by this way，而用by doing this或者using this method代替。

6．永遠不要使用How to作為一個句子的開頭。（口語中也不要說）

No How to find the optimal parameter is the main objective.

Yes Determining how to find the optimal parameter is the main objective.

7．不要寫“The results are shown as Figure 2”，要寫“The results are shown in Figure 2”。

8．變量要使用斜體，特別使變量用英文字母表示的時候。

9．避免如下使用單詞“Obviously”的方法：

No Obviously, detecting regimes by means of PMH maps is a novel method.8

Yes Detecting regimes by means of PMH maps is a novel method.8

10．國際論文不應該使用地域相關的單詞，例如at home，abroad，here，our country等等。應該使用“in China”。

11．避免過度使用“that is to say”或者“namely”，而應該盡量在一個句子中表達完整你的意思。

12．不要在句子的末尾使用too，尤其是在科技論文中。

后記

看完此文，受益匪淺。如果沒有上過科技論文寫作課，那么此文絕對會對你有很大幫助。其實很多大學開設的科技論文寫作課都沒什么作用。正如作者在文中說的，找一個母語為英語的老師不難，但是找一個母語為英語同時懂科技論文寫作的就很難了。目前多數大學的外教很少有熟悉科技論文寫作的。因此中國學生寫英文論文只能照葫蘆畫瓢，雖然有的畫得似模似樣，但是很多中文習慣也被帶進去了。并且，細微之處難以分明。中國人讀英文文章，還可以囫圇吞棗，到了英語為母語的人眼里，則是含混晦澀了。

總之，值得一讀。