Chapter 33 Talk about streamlining

Choose books to read carefully, you must know that if you read a bad book, you will waste the time you could read a good book. You have to know that the difference between minus one and plus one is not one but two. between plus one and minus one Many years ago, I saw an American love movie, the title of which I can't remember, but I was impressed by Spencer Tracy who played the reporter. In the play, Spencer falls in love with a female journalism professor and goes to attend her class.When a female professor takes an exam, she first tells the students the key points of the news, and then asks the students to write a press release.

Spencer finished it in two clicks, hand it in. The female professor smiled, thinking that Spencer must be joking, but when she picked it up and took a look, she was stunned.Then read the news release to the class. It took only a few sentences to finish reading, but in the manuscript of less than a hundred words, Spencer had clearly conveyed all the elements of the news. When I watched the movie, I was still young and didn’t understand it. I wondered what kind of article could impress the female professor at a glance. How can a short hundred words show her skills?Must be an exaggeration of the movie.

But after I became a reporter and wrote press releases every day, I felt more and more that it is a great science to write concise manuscripts.Especially because I am a TV reporter and my time is limited. With the addition of advertisements, the editor-in-chief limits each news to a very short time; often after running the news, the first sentence I hear when I enter the office is: "I only give you thirty Seconds! Today is full!" God!I may spend the whole afternoon running a piece of news, but I can only write for 30 seconds when I get back, which is only more than 100 words! At this time, we will see the real chapter!

I say this because today I want to teach you what "simplification" is. Let me give you something first - "There was a little boy whose father died when he was six years old. The little boy's name was Da Mao. The little boy's mother gave birth to only one child. His mother never remarried. The little boy's family was very poor. Poor, but the little boy is very strong, he works hard, his grades are very good from small to large, and he always takes the first place in his class. Later, the little boy got a scholarship from the American University Research Institute, went abroad, and got a Ph.D. in biochemistry and a Ph.D. The little boy was already a young man at that time, he was twenty-seven years old."

At first glance, this article is not bad, but if you think about it, is there a lot of nonsense in it, which can be shortened a lot?For example you can write: "Da Mao, who lost his father at the age of six, and his mother and son depended on each other for life, was poor and ambitious. Not only was he always the first in his class since he was a child, but he also won an American scholarship. He received a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the age of 27." Compare before and after!The previous article was one hundred and fifty-eight characters long, while the second one was only fifty-six characters long. Although the difference was nearly three times, wasn’t there a lot of content?

Why? Because of simplification—— Just the eleven words "Da Mao, mother and son depend on each other for life", have already told readers, "That is a little boy, he grew up in a single-parent family, his mother only had him as a child, and his mother has never remarried..." And the last two sentences—— "Won a scholarship from the United States and got a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the age of 27." Isn't it enough to replace "the little boy later got a scholarship from the American University Research Institute, went abroad, and got a Ph.D. in biochemistry. When he got the doctorate, the little boy was already a young man, and he was twenty-seven years old at that time..."?

In this age of rapid change, simplicity is very important.Write articles concisely, speak concisely, and do things more concisely. I remember one year when I went to a certain country for sightseeing. When I left, I went to the airport and found two long queues. I lined up in one line according to the instructions on the sign, and waited for a long time before I arrived at the counter. It turned out that I had to pay the airport tax. Then I rushed to another long line and waited for nearly 20 minutes before I arrived at the counter. It turned out that I had to pay the city special donate.

At that time, I heard many tourists complain: "Why not hand it in together? Wouldn't it save a lot of time and manpower?" I still remember that when I went abroad in Taiwan, I had to queue up to pay the airport tax first, and then hand over the receipt to the airport staff when I exited the customs. Fortunately, after many people protested, it was finally simplified not long ago. The method is very simple—— Airport taxes are added to the flight ticket. How simple!Such a small change will save passengers a lot of time and airport staff a lot of labor. child!There are too many things that can be simplified in this world. Only those who know how to remove the chaff and keep the essence can create good works; only those companies that know how to simplify personnel can be competitive; human performance.

The famous educator Xia Gaizun said it well—— "Choose a book and read it carefully. You must know that if you read a bad book, you will waste the time you could have read a good book." I want to say: Make good use of your time, if you write one extra redundant word, you will lose an opportunity to make the content of the article richer; Take this minute opportunity. And you have to know that the difference between negative one and positive one is not only one, but two!