不是只有作家需要寫出有力文字，工作Email、簡報企劃、會議紀錄，有效率的內容都可能讓你事半功倍。怎麼寫讓事情更有效率？美國暢銷書作家Jeff Goins說，可以從辨識「懶惰字」訓練起。進入本文前，請先這幾個形容詞怎麼說：
(a) 令人信服的
(b) 語意不清的
(c) 平淡的
(a) 令人信服的
(b) 語意不清的
(c) 平淡的
"I can't stand frail, weak writing. And neither can you." Says Jeff Goins, the writer who wrote a national best seller The Art of Work. Think about it, some contents are so powerful that you feel like immediately starting something matters after reading them, while some are just not so a) compelling. You may not know why they are different, but you do feel the difference.
「我受不了軟弱無力的文字，其實你和我一樣。」美國暢銷書《工作的藝術》作者Jeff Goins這麼說。想想看，讀完有力的文字，你立刻就想著手進行有意義的事情，而有些文字就是沒那麼令人信服。你也許不知道這些文字有何不同，但你一定感覺得出差異。
Once you realized why, your communication will be more convincing and effective. Goins suggests that we start with identifying the "lazy words" that weaken our writing.
一旦能夠理解不同之處，你的溝通將更有說服力、更有效率。Goins建議我們從辨識讓文字 效果打折的「懶惰字」開始。
1. "Stuff"
If your intention is to be informal, go ahead and use this word. Why not use the precise word to refer to the "stuff," for example, the ongoing project.
想要不正式，就儘管用這個字。有更多精準的字可以告訴我們是什麼「東西」，例如，「進行中的專案」。
2. "Things"
This term is not always inappropriate but should be used (1) on rare occasions. People tend to overuse it. Goins thinks "things"is non descript and can often be replaced with better nouns, such as "reasons" or "issues", etc.
"Things"這個字不見得總是不合適，但也應該少用，大家太常濫用它。Goins認為這個字難以做出區別，而且常有更好的字可以取代，例如，「理由」或「議題」。
3. "Got"
Got means "obtaining something." For example, "I got a baseball." But wait, does it mean "I have a baseball" or "I found a baseball?" Now you see that it is a b) vague verb and can usually go away.
Got的意思是獲得某件事、某項物品。例如，我得到一顆棒球。等等，它的意思是，我有一顆棒球，還是我找到一顆棒球？這下你可以體會，got這個動詞其實有點模糊不清，寫作中沒有存在必要。
4. "Was/Is/Are/Am"
These are the words that make dull situations. Compare these sentences and (2) have a sense of why we could always employ better action words:
"He was there."
"He sit silently in the meeting."
"The client were at the dinner."
"The client and her husband arrived late at the dinner."
這些字讓一切顯得無趣。比較看看這些句子，感覺一下我們有哪些更好的行動字選擇。
他在那裏。
他在會議中沉默地坐著。
客戶在晚宴中。
客戶和她先生較晚抵達晚宴。
5. "Went"
Went is c)lackluster. It is as boring as "are." Instead of "I went to the city," you could say "I biked to the city to check out the new bookstore."
Went很平淡，和are一樣無趣。與其說「我去了市區」，何不說：我騎單車到市區，看看那間新書店。
口語詞彙
(1) on rare occasions很少，不常
On rare occasions, these bird viruses can infect other species. 在極罕見的情況下，這些鳥類病毒才會傳給其他物種。
(2) have a sense of…對…有想法，有…感
By age five, children have a sense of self-esteem. 兒童到五歲的時候，開始有自尊心。
