例2：Did you leave a note for the mailman?

应改为：Did you leave a note for the mail carrier?

例3：Today's student values his education.

应改为：Today's students value their education.

下面列出一些常见的带有性别色彩的词和它们的替换词。

ExampleAlternatives

mankindhumanity, people, human being

man's achievements human achievements

man'mademanufactured

common manaverage person, ordinary people

man'hour staff'hour

businessman business executive

fireman firefighter

Deliberate slowly, execute promptly.

谋虑要慢，行动要快。

二、用词要活

用词活，就是在用词上要做到灵活,使句子生动、优美。灵活是建立在准确性的基础之上的，否则，单纯追求灵活、生动或优雅，就会出现辞藻华丽(flowery)而内容空洞的文风，这是应当避免的。准确性是灵活性的前提，也是提高灵活性的基础。然而，灵活、生动与简练相关。英国文豪莎士比亚的名言“Brevity is the soul of wit”相当于汉语的“言贵简洁”。我们说话、写文章都要以“言简意赅”四字为目标。谴词造句要尽可能避免不必要的用词重复，反复地使用同一个词，容易使文章单调乏味，缺乏表现力，而且会使读者感觉到作者词汇量的贫乏。

1. 同义词替代法。同其他语言一样，英语中也存在着大量的同义词，而且在许多情况下，同一个意思可以使用不同的单词甚至是一些短语来表达。

例如：

例1.The fog was so thick that we could not see anything. (dense)

The fog was so dense that we could not see anything.

例2. You'd better take this sofa away. It takes too much room. (space)

You'd better take this sofa away. It takes too much space.

例3. I used to live in the town which is about twenty miles away from our college. (some, distant)

I used to live in the town which is some twenty miles distant from our college.

例4. Finally he managed to get the airline tickets. (At length, In the end, At last...)

At length he managed to get the airline tickets.

In the end he managed to get the airline tickets.

At last he managed to get the airline tickets.

例5. A decrease in demand causes lower prices. (results in, leads to, produces)

A decrease in demand results in lower prices.

A decrease in demand leads to lower prices.

A decrease in demand produces lower prices.

例6. He is considered as the right candidate. (thought/ believed/regarded)

He is thought as the right candidate.

He is believed as the right candidate.

He is regarded as the right candidate.

Friendship cannot stand always on one side.

友谊是双方的事。

2. 巧用指代词法。我们知道，代词的使用频率较高是英语的一大特点。因此在写作时，为了避免不必要的重复以使行文流畅，我们经常使用指代词来代替前面已经出现过的名词。例如:

例1：Queen Elizabeth II served as a driver and mechanic in World War II. Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1944, while the future queen was still a princess. Although Princess Elizabeth did not know how to drive, she quickly learned how to strip and repair kinds of engines.

上面一段中黑体字部分的Elizabeth, the future queen和Princess Elizabeth不仅让读者感觉啰嗦，而且有时会感到费解，甚至有时会引起误解。如果用she来代替的话不仅避免了重复, 而且还可以起到连接上下文的效果。

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