3.把从句改为短语或单词。例如:
Dairy cows were raised on the farm, which was located100 kilometers from the nearestuniversity and was in an area that was remote。
简介的表达方式为:
The dairy farm was located in a remote area, 100 kilometers to the nearest university。
4.仅在需要强调宾语而不是主语的时候,才使用被动语态。
例如:In the fall, not only did the cows have to be milked, but also the hay was mowed and stacked by my grandfather's family。
本句不够简洁的原因是本句的重心应该是“忙碌的家庭-my grandfather's family”,而使用了被动语态后,仿佛重心变成了cows和hay。下面的表达方式是主动语态,相对来说更简洁一些:
In the fall, my grandfather's family not only milked the cow but also mowed and stacked thehay。
5.用更为精确的一个动词来代替动词短语,例如下面这句话:
My grandfather didn't have time to stand around doing nothing with his school friends。Stand around doing nothing其实可以用一个动词来表达,即loiter:
My grandfather didn't have time to loiter with his school friends。
6.有时两句话的信息经过组合完全可以用一句话来简练地表达,例如:
Profits from the farm were not large. Sometimes they were too small to meet the expenses ofrunning a farm. They were not sufficient to pay for a university degree。
两句话的信息可以合并为下面这句更为简洁的句子:
Profits from the farm were sometimes too small to meet operational expenses, let alone payfor a university degree。