咬文嚼字：dash, dash, dash!（旧版-已隐蔽; 已有 2096 次阅读 2018-7-8 19:20）

Dash 作为动词，可以译成“跑” (run or travel somewhere in a great hurry, as in

"I dashed into the garden so that the darkness could cover my tears.")

不过，天太热，我们还是悠着点。今天，我们来“抬杠子”：

当dash 翻译成“横杠”，其中“学问”多多。不信？你自己看：

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Dashes.htm

第一次看这个链接时，我的脑袋嗡嗡响。

这篇简单些：

Hyphens, Em Dashes, and En Dashes: When to Use Them and How to Type Them

https://getitwriteonline.com/articles/en-dashes-em-dashes/

我的脑袋依然嗡嗡响。

如果你也是脑袋嗡嗡响，让我来简化一下。毕竟，我们只是写科技文章。

What is a dash?

There are two similar but distinct punctuation marks called dashes: the en dash ( – ) and the em dash ( — ). In appearance, an en dash is slightly longer than a hyphen ( - ), approximately the width of a capital N, while an em dash is slightly longer than an en dash, approximately the width of a capital M (hence their names).

英文中常用的横杠有两种：短的［en dash ( – )］和长的［em dash ( — )］。

Hyphens vs. en dashes

Because they are so similar in appearance (and because there is no dedicated “en dash” button on a keyboard), many writers tend to simply use hyphens in place of en dashes in all cases for the sake of ease.

短的横杠(n-dash)与连接符(hyphen)非常像。我从来没有在意它们的区别，因为我以前写科技论文是用LaTeX。

现在，99%的科学家，用Word，其中的98%只用连接符(hyphen)。

Indicating a range of values

The most common use of the en dash is to connect two numbers, dates, or times to indicate a range that spans these figures. We can think of the en dash as representing the words to or through when it is used in this way. 

也就是说我们一般可以把 en dash 当成为“through”。

直接看下面的栗子：

For example:

·       “Please refer to pages 83–88 for more information.”

·       “The clinic is open Monday–Friday.”

·       “We need you to submit your expense report for January–March.”

·       “The company had been a fixture in the community from 1998–2006.”

·        

… （这里省去萝莉啰嗦的解释。）

·       “I’ll be in the office 8:00 AM–4:00 PM this Friday.”

·       “The November 2010–February 2011 sales figures were a bit lower than we had hoped.”

·        

… （这里省去萝莉啰嗦的解释。）

·        “Please be aware that we will be closed Thurs.–Mon.”

·       “We’ll be staying with my in-laws from Apr.–Aug. while our house is renovated.”

How to type an en dash—if you care

To create one manually on a computer running Windows, hold the left Alt button on your keyboard and type 0150 on the number pad (with Num Lock enabled). If you are using a Mac computer, hold Option and hit the hyphen button to create an en dash.

上面这段非常有用。我用Mac，试了一下，很管用！如果你看不懂，就用连接符(hyphen)替代短的横杠(n-dash)。

我用Mac，按住Option，同时去按连接符(hyphen)，就能得到短的横杠(n-dash)。（但是，我的hyphen比n-dash要长！奇怪。）

Em dashes

Em dashes (also known as m-dashes or em rules) are primarily used to indicate parenthetical information. In this way, they act as more emphatic alternatives to commas and parentheses. While parentheses and commas are used to include parenthetical information more naturally and subtly in a sentence, a dash creates a more forceful break in the text that serves to emphasize and highlight such information. 

In addition, em dashes can be used instead of colons in less formal writing, and they can also be used to represent missing or omitted text and to indicate a break in dialogue.

不要在乎上面的英文解释，直接看下面的栗子！

In place of parentheses

如何取代括号

Let’s look at one example:

-  “I know that my friend Stephen (the poor dear!) has found living on his own very difficult.”

-  “I know that my friend Stephen—the poor dear!—has found living on his own very difficult.”

How to type an em dash—useful tip

 If you are using a Windows-based computer, hold the left Alt button on your keyboard and type 0151 on the number pad (with Num Lock enabled). If you are using a Mac computer, hold Shift + Option and hit the hyphen button to create an em dash.

我用Mac，按住Shift＋Option，同时去按连接符(hyphen)，就能得到长的横杠(m-dash)。

当然，醉翁之意不在酒。我在改的一篇文章里，各种各样的横杠一堆！我不知道怎么办。记得我闺蜜的文章里，总会有漂漂亮亮的短横杠和长横杠，就去请教她。

希望下面这个栗子能一了百了：

In “3-day mean,” you use hyphen. 

In “30–60-day oscillations,” you use n-dash (–, longer than hyphen -) between 30 and 60, and you use hyphen (the shortest one) between 60 and day.

为了最后这个能一了百了的栗子，萝莉啰嗦写了这么多，只为了留个纪念。

Follow me, if you want to improve your writing skill (as I do daily):

如果你想提高科技英语写作能力，请跟我来...

http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-306792-1146690.html