你的部落格题材怎么来的？
Darren Rowse

周末的时候我提议我的读者讨论如何为他们的部落格增加读者访问量，结果非常好（今天在Digg上面讨论的非常好－－我希望其中的有些技巧能够实在带来访问量）。

今天我再来开启一个新的话题：你是如何为你的部落格寻找话题的呢？

我希望能够看到所有人的意见（新博客、分类博客、商业博客等等）。

博客上的话题原型从那里来？
你用什么途径来获得它们？
你通常用什么资源来追踪它们（博客、网站、现实中）？
你是如何选择话题进行讨论以及放弃那些？

很希望能够看到你是如何保持部落格有趣、有用和独特内容的。这不是对或错的问题－－也不存在简单和高级的方法。

期待你的建议－－希望我们都能够在这个过程中学到一两招。

原文地址：How do you Find Stories for Your blog? - Open Mike

水自流：这是尝试翻译的第一篇 部落格，就是今天Darren Rowse刚发布出来的。当然这个翻译没有经过他的允许，但是翻译的质量很差，就不用去通知他了，要不还要我带着金山词霸一个个单词的写一封信给他啊，那 太麻烦了。以后，晚上没有事情就玩玩吧，这篇本来应该很简单的文章，可是结果出来了，还要very very very努力才行

差点忘了，是从风言疯语那里得知Darren Rowse和他的网站的。

Note: This article doesn't have the right to copy from the author of Business Correspondence.  I post this translation just for my own test skill.

Chapter 2    What Is A Good Business Letter?

第二章 何谓优秀的商业信函？

Business letters deal with so many subjects and are written in so many different circumstances that it seems impossible to answer this question with a strict definition applicable to all letters.

商业信函应用在不同的领域和许多不同的环境之中，对所有信函而言，严格定义之下很难回答这个问题。

Dealing with the question in a loose way, we may say, however, that a business letter is ‘good’ if the following conditions are met:

但是宽松地来处理这个问题，我们可以说，“优秀”的商业信函符合以下几点：

1)     The letter indicates that the writer has a good grasp of his subject-matter.

1)     信函要显示写信人对他的主题有深刻了解。

2)     The letter contains everything that needs to be said and nothing that needs to be omitted.

2)     信函应包括了所有需要提及的事情，没有罗嗦的言语。

3)     The letter contains no mistakes of fact.

3)     信函没有错误事实。

4)     The letter is written by someone who has a clear understanding of his purpose in writing the letter. In other words, the writer knows exactly what he wants to achieve by writing.

4)     写信人必须对写信的目的清晰明了，也就是他必须知道所要达到的目的。

5)     The presentation of the message of the letter is clear. The reader sees without difficulty what the facts are and what he should think or do. Thus it is not enough for the writer to collect all the facts of the matter: in addition he has not done his work well, the reader will ask such questions as ‘What is the point of this letter?’, ‘Can they or can’t they supply me?’ or ‘Is it all right or isn’t it?’.

5)     信函内容的表达必须清楚。读者对事情的了解没有困难和明白写信人的意图。因此写信人只是罗列内容是不够的：如果没有写好，读者会问这样的问题：“这封信的重点是什么？”，“他们能还是不能提供？”或者“是否良好还是不是？”。

6)     The tone of the letter is appropriate. The letter ‘rings true’.

6)     信函应有合适的语调。至少看起来真实。

7)     The writer has considered the needs and the business situation of the reader. There is thus a greater chance that the reader will read the letter to the end with interest.

7)     写信人必须考虑读者的需求和经济环境。这样就能让读者带着兴趣通读整封信。

8)     The writer is as positive, helpful and constructive as circumstances allow him to be. The reader sees that his business situation has been considered by the writer and he (the reader) responds to the message of the letter as favorably as circumstances allow him to respond. We cannot always do what the reader wants but we can always show him that his side of the business has been considered.

8)     写信人应该在环境允许范围之下显得主动、帮助和建设性的姿态。收信人能够得知他自己的情况已经被写信人考虑，回信也会在真实情况下的反应。我们并不能够每次都满足客户的需求，但是应该让客户得知我们已经考虑他所在的处境。

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Note: This article doesn't have the right to copy from the author of Business Correspondence.  I post this translation just for my own test skill.

Despite the constant use of the telephone in modern life and despite the popularity of the telex and the ubiquitousness of printed forms, letters continue to be written in millions. Why is this so? Why have letters retained their importance in an age of electrical and electronic communications? Why is it reasonable to think that letters will retain their importance? We shall find the answers if we study some ideas that we associate with letters as a means of communication in business.

不管现代生活中的电话普遍应用，也不管电报的流行和铅印格纸普遍使用，仍有成千上万的信函。为什么如此？为什么在电子信息时代信函仍保持它们的重要性？是什么原因让我觉得信函仍是那么重要？联合其作为商业中一种通讯的手段来看看几个观点就会知道答案。

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这是上个月尝试着翻译经济学人上 的文章，相当于编者语的类型。

本周政局
二零零六年七月二十日
来自《经济学人》印刷版

From The Economist print edition Israel continued to batter Lebanon in response to an attack on July 12th by the militant group Hizbullah, which still holds two Israeli soldiers captive. Israel hit targets across the country, causing some 300 deaths in the past week for the loss of at least 25 Israeli soldiers and civilians, many killed by Hizbullah rockets reaching as far south as Haifa, Israel's third city. Israel also continued to attack Hamas militants in Gaza in an effort to get them to free another recently captured Israeli soldier.

以色列继续攻击黎巴嫩以回应军事组织真主党在7月12日的袭击，真主党仍然监禁两名被俘虏的以色列士兵。以色列袭击了全国范围各个目标，在过去一周导致超过300人死亡，而至少25名以色列士兵和居民的死亡，大部分是由真主党发射到以色列第三大城市海法南郊的火箭造成的。以色列也继续攻击加沙的哈马斯武装，以此希望能够让他们释放另外一名最近被绑架的以色列士兵。

        Sectarian mayhem continued apace in Iraq, with two suicide-bombings alone (one in the holy city of Kufa) killing more than 120 people, mostly Shia Arabs. An Iraqi group swearing loyalty to al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Kufa attack. 

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, several people were shot dead at an election rally in Rutshuru, in the eastern province of Kivu. Separately, the UN-backed committee overseeing the elections called for the army to be confined to barracks until the poll on July 30th.

        The Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army started talks in the southern Sudanese town of Juba. They had yet to agree the terms for a ceasefire. See article At a conference in Brussels, Western governments agreed to increase aid to the African Union peacekeeping force in the region of Darfur, in Sudan. The force will now have to stay there until at least the end of the year, when the UN may take over.

Protest vote

        Several hundred thousand supporters of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the defeated candidate in Mexico's presidential election, took part in a rally in Mexico City to support his demand for a vote-byvote recount. Mr López Obrador has called for a campaign of civil resistance. See article Panama's government announced that a referendum on a $5.3 billion project to widen the Panama Canal will be held on October 22nd. Opinion polls suggest that the scheme will be approved.

        Chile's president, Michelle Bachelet, whose four-month old government has been rocked by protests over education policy, sacked three of her ministers.

Return of the killer waves

A tsunami struck southern Java, in Indonesia, killing more than 500 people. An early-warning system, proposed after the 2004 catastrophe, is not yet operational, but might not have helped much. See article American-led coalition forces said they and Afghan troops retook two Talibanheld towns in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand. 

North Korea halted family reunions with the South, following the latter's cancellation of food aid last week. That, in turn, had followed North Korea's testing of seven missiles.

Authorities in India blocked access to several websites, including some of those that host the country's 40,000 blog sites, apparently as a security measure in the wake of the bombings in Mumbai. Free-speech advocates in India criticised the decision.

Australia started to withdraw its troops from Timor-Leste as the security situation there began to improve.

The bully pulpit

George Bush used the first veto of his presidency to overturn a decision by Congress to lift restrictions on federal funding for research using embryonic stem cells. Mr Bush ordered the ban in 2001 on ethical grounds, but scientists and public opinion are against him. Democrats think the issue will resonate in November's mid-term elections. See article

伊拉克的宗教冲突仍在进行，单单两个自杀式炸弹（其中一个在圣城之称的Kufa）就杀害了120多人，大部分是什叶派阿拉伯人。一个声称对基地组织效忠的团体宣布对Kufa的袭击负责。

在刚果人民共和国，一些人在东部的省份Kivu的Rutshuru的选举集会被枪杀。另外，有联合国背景的观察选举的委员会呼吁军队因限制在军营中直到7月30日的选举日。

乌干达政府和反叛军组织“上帝对抗军队”在Juba的南部苏丹城镇开始谈判。他们已经同意停火协定。

在布鲁塞尔的一个会议上，西方政府同意增加对在苏丹的Darfur地区的非洲维和部队援助。该部队至少要到年底联合国接手时才撤离。

选举风波

成千上万的Andrés Manuel López Obrador－落选的墨西哥总统候选人－支持者，在墨西哥城举行集会支持他要求对选票的重新计算。López Obrador先生呼吁得到市民的支持。

巴拿马政府宣布将在10月22日关于扩宽巴拿马运河的53亿美元项目进行举行全民投票。民意调查显示该计划会获得通过。

智利总统，Michelle Bachelet，她那成立了四个月的政府受到教育政策的冲击，解雇了3名部长。 

致命海啸回归

海啸袭击了印度尼西亚的南部爪哇，至少500人死亡。在2004年大灾难后提出的预警系统还没有运行，但也许不会帮助甚大。

美国主导的多国部队说他们和阿富汗军队收回位于阿富汗南部的Helmand省份的两座曾被塔利班占领的城市。

由于北韩试射了7枚导弹，上个星期取消了对北韩的食物援助，北韩就中止了与南韩的南北家庭团聚。

印度官方关闭了一些网站的地址，其中包括那些拥有4万个博客网页寄存网站，显然是由于Mumbai冲击波下的安全措施。而印度的自由言论家批评了这个决定。

澳大利亚开始撤退它在东帝汶的军队，那里的安全环境正在改善。

强权

乔治·布什使用他任期内的第一个否决权推翻一项由国会做出的决议，是关于限制使用联邦资金来研究干细胞胚胎。布什总统居于伦理在2001年宣布了这项决议，但是科学家和公众意见相反。民主党认为这个决定会影响十一月的中期选举。