早上，我在朋友圈看到 Lawrence Bacow 校长和夫人感染新冠肺炎的新闻。登进校友邮箱，我看到了他给大家发送的一封邮件。邮件内容读起来依旧是很熟悉的 Bacow 校长的写作风格——谈自己的生活细节和内心想法，对收信人娓娓道来。Bacow 校长是我研究生毕业后才上任的校长。我读研期间，时任校长是 Drew Gilpin Faust 。我很敬佩 Faust 校长。她筹款能力很强，为寒门子弟获得哈佛的教育机会和助学金，做了很多贡献。她在各种公众场合与学生的互动都很多，在一次新加坡的校友活动中，她耐心地听我讲了我读研时的感受和我当时的工作项目。Faust 校长还是一名历史学家，而历史恰好是我热爱的学科。因此，当我 2017 年收到 Faust 校长给所有校友发的离任信时，我的第一反应是，她要是能再多任职几年就好了。不过，我只是一名研究生。相信本科生院里欣赏 Faust 校长的学生，对她的离任会有更深的遗憾感。再后来，我收到校友关系部的邮件，说校长遴选委员会已任命了新校长，也就是现任校长 Lawrence Bacow 。一开始，新校长 Bacow 让我感到陌生，因为我当时在创业初期，很忙也很迷茫。我管好自己和公司就已精疲力竭，很少有时间查学校邮箱，了解学校的动态。不过，我发现我每次查学校邮箱，都能收到 1~2 封来自 Bacow 校长的邮件。虽然他的信是发送给学校社群里的所有人，但我读着感觉他是在跟一位位具体的校友、学生、教职员工，一对一地写信。我教了快 10 年的英文写作，这点文字直觉和敏感度我还是有的。
我发现 Bacow 校长的写作水准和风格都很稳定。也就是说，他不会这个月写一封娓娓道来的信，下个月写的却是拒人于千里之外的套话信。我每次读他的信，我都能很清晰地感受到，写信人是同一个人。如果你经常写信，或其他体裁的文字，那你一定知道，长期地保持高写作水准和鲜明个人风格，并不容易。
以下，我选出他近期信件里一些充满个人特色，充满人情味和幽默感的段落，供大家阅读和学习：谈到封校后的哈佛校园生活：As I got ready for my morning run today, I thought about how I might maintain a safe distance from others who happened to be outside—wasted effort, as it turned out. The banks of the Charles were almost empty, and I had the chance to do some serious thinking.谈跑步与独处时间的价值：Running is one of the few times I am alone with my thoughts. It is when I think hard about big problems, when I compose my speeches, and when I think about what I want to say in messages like this. Today, I decided that I just want to say, “thank you.”展示对新科技的了解：In the background, children who are no longer in school are making our Zoom meetings some of the most entertaining meetings in University history.谈今年哈佛毕业典礼被迫取消：Since the announcement last week that we would move to online instruction and ask students to leave campus, one of the questions I have been asked most frequently is, “What about commencement?” I love commencement. I love seeing our community come together to celebrate the academic accomplishments of our remarkable students.描述自己和妻子感染新冠肺炎后的症状：Earlier today, Adele and I learned that we tested positive for COVID-19. We started experiencing symptoms on Sunday—first coughs then fevers, chills, and muscle aches—and contacted our doctors on Monday. We were tested yesterday and just received the results a few minutes ago. We wanted to share this news with all of you as soon as possible.向学生发出的抗疫行动邀请：The world needs your courage, creativity, and intelligence to beat this virus—wishing each of you good health.大家阅读上面的信件选段时，不知道有没有感受到我说的个人特色，人情味和幽默感。
如果你和我一样有感受到，我来告诉你，其实在写信时，你也可以通过文字展现出你自己的个人特色、人情味，甚至是幽默感。
1）尽量多写短句（15 个单词左右），少写长句（30 个单词以上）。3）多用具体的人做句子主语，多给读者提供细节，少讲抽象的理念（Show, Not Tell）。比如下面这个来自选段中的句子，大家感受一下：As I got ready for my morning run today, I thought about how I might maintain a safe distance from others who happened to be outside—wasted effort, as it turned out.这些写作技巧不仅在你写信时很有用，你写记叙文、议论文、说明文时，它们也都能派上用场。我们希望今天的这篇短文，能为依旧在家等待复课的学生，送去一些有用的写作知识。如果能实现这个目标，那作为写作老师的我，也算是用小小的智慧，为抗疫做了一点点贡献。最后，祝 Bacow 校长夫妇早日康复，愿全球疫情早日结束。
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