Benjamin Franklin may be the most prolific man in all of American history.
本杰明·富蘭克林可能是整個美國歷史上最多產(chǎn)的人窟赏。
In his NYT bestsellingBenjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Isaacson writes of Franklin—
在有關(guān)他的紐約時報最暢銷的“本杰明·富蘭克林：一個美國人的生活”里译断，華特·艾薩克森寫到：
“[He was] the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become.”
（他是）他那個時代最有成就的美國人并且在創(chuàng)造美國應(yīng)該成為的社會類型上最有影響力。
Franklin’s?literal rags to riches story is jam-packed with insights on writing and a better life.
富蘭克林的文字散落在豐富的故事中乎婿，充滿了對寫作和好生活的洞見肠阱。
Born into poverty with 16 siblings, Franklin dropped out of school at age 10. How did Benjamin Franklin go from primary school dropout to the most accomplished American in all of history?
出生在有16個兄弟姐妹的貧困家庭票唆，富蘭克林在10歲時就輟學(xué)了。那么本杰明·富蘭克林是怎么從一個小學(xué)輟學(xué)生成長為美國歷史上最有成就的人的呢屹徘？
I wanted to find out.
我想找到答案走趋。
In my own quest to teach myself how to write, I dug into Franklin’sautobiography. Guess what?He wasn’t born with it.
在我自己探尋教自己怎樣寫作時，我挖掘了一下富蘭克林的自傳缘回。你猜怎么著吆视？他也不是天生就會（寫作）。
By his late twenties, Franklin had become independently wealthy through his publications of thePennsylvania Gazetteand his famedPoor Richard’s Almanack.
在二十多歲時酥宴，富蘭克林變得獨立并富有啦吧，通過出版他的《賓夕法尼亞州公報》及他著名的《窮理查德年鑒》。
Yet, as a teenager, Franklin wasnota good at writing. Determined to improve but with no teachers and no money, he decided to teach himself.
是的拙寡，在十幾歲時授滓，富蘭克林不是一個好作者。決心要提高但是沒有老師也沒有錢肆糕，他決定自學(xué)般堆。
His autobiography tellsexactlyhow he did it.
他的自傳準(zhǔn)確講述了他是怎么做到的。
Most writing advice today sucks. It’s palm-in-face bad. Internet forums are infected with impractical advice like “just read more” or “keep trying kiddo!”.
今天的大部分關(guān)于寫作的建議都是垃圾诚啃。簡直就是打臉淮摔。互聯(lián)網(wǎng)論壇上流傳著未經(jīng)實踐的建議如“要多讀”或“堅持嘗試始赎，老兄和橙！”
Franklin’s advice, written almost 200 years ago, is the cure. He offers specific, actionable and immediate steps you can use to start improving your writingtoday.
富蘭克林的建議仔燕，差不多200年前寫下的，是良藥魔招。他提供了特別的晰搀，可行的并且直接的步驟，你今天就可以用來開始提高你的寫作办斑。
Let’s dig in…
讓我們開始動手吧
1. DISSECT AND RECONSTRUCT
打散再重構(gòu)
At age 16, Ben finds out he’s bad at writing. His spelling and grammar are good, but…
16歲的時候外恕，本發(fā)現(xiàn)自己寫作很爛。他的拼寫和語法不錯乡翅，但是...
“I fell far short in elegance of expression, in method and in perspicuity…”
我感覺嚴(yán)重欠缺優(yōu)雅的表達(dá)鳞疲，缺少方法和簡明性...
(Perspicuity means “clarity”. I didn’t know it either.)
(Perspicuity意思是簡明性。我也不知道它峦朗。)
Determined to improve, Ben takes up one of his favorite magazines, The Spectator…
決定要提高建丧，本拿起了他喜歡的一本雜志：觀察者
“I took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, try’d to compleat the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. ThenI compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them.”
“我取其中幾頁排龄，然后波势，標(biāo)注簡短的觀點在每個句子旁，放幾天橄维，然后尺铣，不再看這本書，努力完成這幾頁争舞，詳細(xì)表達(dá)標(biāo)注的觀點凛忿，盡可能完整的達(dá)到它之前的樣子，用任何我掌握的合適的詞語竞川。最后店溢，我對比我的“觀察者”和原始文章，找到自己的錯誤委乌，改正他們床牧。”
Wow, that’s some practical advice.
哇哦遭贸，這是多么實在的建議戈咳。
Here it is again:
Take good writing and jot short notes for each sentence.
Put the notes aside and come back in a few days.
Try to “rewrite” the piece using only the notes (and in your own words).
Compare with the original and correct your faults.
下面是總結(jié)：
取好的寫作材料，對每句話摘記簡短的筆記壕吹；
把筆記放到一邊放幾天著蛙；
努力“重寫”那段，僅僅使用筆記提醒（使用你自己的詞語）耳贬；
和原始文字對比踏堡，糾正自己的錯誤；
2. CONVERT TO POETRY (AND BACK AGAIN)
轉(zhuǎn)換到詩歌（再轉(zhuǎn)回來）
Next, Franklin tackles his mastery of the English vocabulary.
接下來顷蟆，富蘭克林處理對英語詞匯的掌握胖秒。
He uses a technique that all master learners—be they soccer players, mathematicians or wall street traders—understand.To accelerate learning, add artificial constraints.Lose your hands and you shall learn to type with your feet.
他使用了所有大師級學(xué)習(xí)者使用的技巧—無論是足球運動員慕的，數(shù)學(xué)家，華爾街交易員—都知道肮街。想要加速學(xué)習(xí)风题，添加人工限制沛硅。失去雙手你將去學(xué)習(xí)用腳打字。
Franklin recognizes writing poetry can accelerate his development as a writer—
富蘭克林意識到寫詩可以加速他發(fā)展成為作家--
But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme,would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master of it.
但是我發(fā)現(xiàn)我想要單詞庫存绕辖，或者準(zhǔn)備好搜集和使用它們，我想我應(yīng)該已經(jīng)掌握了如果我曾經(jīng)寫過詩仪际。因為不斷有機會使用相同意思但不同長度的單詞，為了符合格式树碱，或不同的聲音節(jié)奏肯适，將使我持續(xù)尋找變化，并趨向于固定那個變化在頭腦中成榜，并讓我掌握它框舔。
But not satisfied with just an idea (something I always stress here), hemakes it into an actionable exercise—
但是不滿足于僅僅是個想法（我要強調(diào)這點），他把它做成了可行的練習(xí)--
Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verse; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again.
因此我找了些故事并把它們轉(zhuǎn)化成詩赎婚；因此刘绣，過段時間，當(dāng)我徹底忘記文章時挣输，再把他們寫回來纬凤。
Here it is again:
Take a story and convert it to poetry
Wait a few days
Convert your poem back to a story
這里是總結(jié)：
找個故事，把它改寫成詩歧焦；
放幾天移斩；
把你的詩再轉(zhuǎn)換回故事；
Repeat regularly (and vary the limitations) to see impressive gains in writing ability.
有規(guī)律的重復(fù)（使用不同的限制）來看看在協(xié)作能力上可觀的收獲绢馍。
UNDERSTAND STRUCTURE
理解結(jié)構(gòu)
Now proficient in crafting sentences and selecting words, Franklin turns to the overall structure of his writing—
現(xiàn)在富蘭克林能嫻熟的操縱句子選擇詞語了向瓷，他又轉(zhuǎn)向?qū)懽鞯恼w結(jié)構(gòu)--
I also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences and compleat the paper.This was to teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts.
我有時會打亂我的提示筆記，然后幾周后努力把他們再排成最好的順序舰涌，在我開始形成句子和完成文章之前猖任。這是用來鍛煉自己安排想法的方法。
Here it is again:
Take your notes from EXERCISE #1 and jumble them up
Wait a few weeks
Reassemble the sentences as best as you can
Get feedback by comparing to the original
總結(jié)一下：
取你在練習(xí)1中的筆記（紙條）并把它們打亂瓷耙；
等幾周朱躺；
重新組合句子刁赖，盡你所能；
和原始文本進行比較长搀，進行總結(jié)宇弛；
This exercise teaches writers (1) to see and understand structure and (2) how to create it.
這個練習(xí)教寫作者：（1）看到并理解結(jié)構(gòu)（2）怎樣創(chuàng)建它。
4. THE SECRET SAUCE
4.秘密調(diào)料
That’s plenty to work on already, but there’s one last ingredient to the Benjamin Franklin’s success formula .
已經(jīng)有不少事要做了源请，但是這里有最后一個要素枪芒，在富蘭克林的成功公式里。
Franklin’s secret sauce—
富蘭克林的秘密調(diào)料
My time for these exercises and for reading was at night, after work or before it began in the morning, or on Sundays, when I contrived to be in the printing-house alone, evading as much as I could the common attendance on public worship…
我做這些練習(xí)和閱讀的時是在晚上谁尸，在工作后或者在早上工作前舅踪，或者在周日，當(dāng)我故意單獨待在印刷室良蛮，盡量逃避公共禮拜活動...
Franklin would surely tell you this: all his advice is useless without the secret sauce.
富蘭克林當(dāng)然會告訴你：他所有的建議如果沒有這個秘密調(diào)料是毫無用處的抽碌。
And the secret sauce isobsession.
這個秘密調(diào)料就是癡迷。
Want more? I’ll be covering?how to cultivate obsession in a future post. For now, considerThe Open Circle—a weekly cocktail of ideas from smart dead people and actionable lessons from my own personal experiments.Join here.
想要更多决瞳？我將會說說如何培養(yǎng)癡迷货徙，在將來的文章里。現(xiàn)在瞒斩，考慮下“開放圈”—每周的來自聰明的前人那里想法及來自我個人經(jīng)驗的可行的課程破婆。點擊這里加入涮总。
As always, share your comments below!
和往常一樣胸囱，在下面分享你的評論！
原文鏈接：
http://marketmeditations.com/benjamin-franklin-learn-to-write/
