撰写英文论文应该注意的问题
黄浦江蛋糕-建党96周年
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《中国学生写英语论文的常见错误总结》读书笔记
标题:
The
Most Common Habits from more than 200 English
Papers written by Graduate
Chinese Engineering
Students
原文链接如下:(不能保证是原始出处)
http:mentM
ost%20Common%20Mistakes%20of%20200%2
0Technical
%20English%
时间:
2003以后
阅读时间:
2005.9.27
摘要:
本
文提出了几种最常见的中式英语习惯,它们是从超过两百份中国学生写的英文论文中
观察得来的。文中解
释了这些习惯,并且在大部分情况下给出了从实际论文中出现的例子以
及正确的用法。我们试图去解释如
何去改正和避免这些错误。一些情况下,我们还解释了为
什么这些习惯会出现。本文可以成为一个单独的
科技论文编写指南,尤其是当很难寻找一个
母语为英语的编辑时。
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大意
Section 1
a, an, the
冠词后面将跟随一个名词,并且任何冠词与名词之间的修饰词都用来修饰这个名词
(a
big blue bicycle the first award)
。A和an是不定
冠词,the是定冠词。单数形式的
不可数名词以及指代一个可数事务的普通名词,它们每次都需要一些
限定词
(
determiner)
。
它们的使用方法如下图所示:
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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是一个单数、可数、没有限定
词的特定的单词,因此要用the修
饰。而blades是一个复数、可数、没有特殊限定词、并且特定
的单词,因此也要用the修
饰。
very long
sentence
太长的句子不利于读者理解,应该尽量分为多个句子。对于一些参数的陈列,尽量使
用列表
或者整齐的子句。
Prefacing the main
idea of a sentence by stating the purpose,
location or reason first
在句子的前面陈述目的、位置
、原因等,而不是陈述句子的主要含义。这样减弱了句子的主
旨,混淆了读者的理解。
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.
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Tendency of placing phrases which indicate
time at the beginning
of
a sentence
倾向于把表示时间的短语放在句首。这样是不自然的。
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
将最重要的主题放在句首以示重视。这样的理解是错误的。
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”
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‘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
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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通常出现在句子的结尾,当两
个或者更多的人或事被按照一定的顺序提起或
者指定时,使用Respectively。它包含了一种
顺序,这种顺序可以是在前面提到的,也可
以是被读者领会到的。
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指作者表达工作的论文。不可混淆。
这两个短语最好只用在两个地方:
1.
介绍或者总结全文时;
2.
在文中,当指出了其他作者的一些没有完成的工作之后,使用这两个短语来描述自己
的工作。
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Numbers and Equations
阿拉伯数字不应该出现在句子的开头,而应该使用英文单词。
Incorrect
12 parameters were selected for the
experiment.
Correct
Twelve parameters were
selected for the experiment.
阿拉伯数字被滥用,它们应该在给出技术指标时使用,而不用来表示普遍的信息。
不
要在句子中使用符号或者表达式,而应该以语言描述。(一般的论文要求所有的表达式都
单独写出来,并
使用特定的格式)
Incorrect
If the power battery
SOC > SOC
lo
and the driving torque belongs
to the
middle load,…
Correct
If the
power battery SOC is greater than SOC
lo
and the driving torque
belongs to the
middle load,…
Format
Paragraphs
分段的错误有两个:第一种是换行但是没有缩进,所以让读者不知道这是否是新的一段。
第二种是一段的最前面是一个单行的句子,这个句子和这一段同时都缩进了。
(这句话的理解不太清晰,我怀疑我理解错了。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.
)
可编辑
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‘Figure’ and ‘Table’
Figure和Table的正确缩写
分别是Fig.和Tbl.。缩写不能出现在句首,并且FigureTable
和数字之间必须有一个
空格。
Variables
变量必须使用斜体。
Capitals
大写字母不能出现在句中,只能出现在句首。
‘such as’ and ‘etc.’
such
as的含义和for example一样;etc.的含义等于and so
on。它们如果放在同一个句
子里则是冗余的。
Such
as意味着后面跟随一个不完整的列表,如果后面列出了所有的元素,则不应使用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.下列单词具有同样的单数和复数形式:
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literature
(when referring to research)
equipment,
staff
(referring to a
group of people)
faculty
2.
下列单词不要同时使用,仅仅使用一个就可以了
3.一些单词要求它所修饰的名词必须为复数:
4.永远不要以阿拉伯数字或者英文缩写作为句子的开头。
5.不要使用by this
way,而用by doing this或者using this method代替。
6.永远不要使用How to作为一个句子的开头。(口语中也不要说)
No How
to find the optimal parameter is the main
objective.
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Yes
Determining how to find the optimal
parameter is the main objective.
7.不要写“The
results are shown as Figure 2”,要写“The results are
shown
in Figure 2”。
8.变量要使用斜体,特别使变量用英文字母表示的时候。
9.避免如下使用单词“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.国际论文不应该使用地域相关的单词,例如at
home,abroad,here,our
country等等。应该使用“in China”。
11.避免过度使用“that is to
say”或者“namely”,而应该尽量在一个句子中表
达完整你的意思。
12.不要在句子的末尾使用too,尤其是在科技论文中。
后记
看完此文,受益
匪浅。如果没有上过科技论文写作课,那么此文绝对会对你有很大帮助。
其实很多大学开设的科技论文写
作课都没什么作用。正如作者在文中说的,找一个母语为英
语的老师不难,但是找一个母语为英语同时懂
科技论文写作的就很难了。目前多数大学的外
教很少有熟悉科技论文写作的。因此中国学生写英文论文只
能照葫芦画瓢,虽然有的画得似
模似样,但是很多中文习惯也被带进去了。并且,细微之处难以分明。中
国人读英文文章,
还可以囫囵吞枣,到了英语为母语的人眼里,则是含混晦涩了。
总之,值得一读。
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