基于解释说明的“行进”

    下面这段话的第二个句子引入了一种新的“行进”类型：解释说明(explanation)。这种模式通常跟在一个疑问句或问题形式的陈述句之后。为便于分析，对这段话的句子进行了编号。

    (1) Why are such discontinuities in progression so common in your first draft? (2) Because when you write a new sentence, thoughts relevant to previous sentences bubble up to the surface of your consciousness to disrupt smooth topic progression. (3) It is as if, for each sentence put down on paper, you launch a neuronal search party whose task is to explore your brain and come back with related information. (4) As each cluster of neurons asynchronously returns with its findings, it interrupts your writing with new thoughts.

       句(2)回答了句(1)的问题,句(3)和(4)又进一步解释了句(2)。

    基于解释说明的“行进”通常用过渡词来表明：for example, thus, indeed. 单词similarly 帮助“行进”以一个例子、类比或暗喻来展开。

基于时间顺序的“行进”

    基于时间的“行进”是一种最常见的顺序进展类型。

    (3) It is as if, for each sentence put down on paper, you launch a neuronal search party whose task is to explore your brain and come back with related information. (4) As each cluster of neurons asynchronously returns with its findings, it interrupts your writing with new thoughts. (5) This richly chaotic activity of your brain is part and parcel of the creative writing process. (6) This natural process is best left alone when you write your first draft. (7) Leave to later revisions the reordering of your sentences after you have decided whether to weed or to keep these disruptive thoughts.

       在句（3）和（4）之间，出现了一种新的“行进”模式：基于时间顺序的“行进”。首先（first），“neuronal search party”开始进入大脑（3），接着(then)它返回了信息（4）。在句(6)和(7)之间，这种“行进”还是以时间为序的：作者从“first draft”到了 “later revisions”。

    尽管这些词语如first, to start with, then, after, up to now, so far, traditionally, finally和 to finish 标志着一个时间段的开始、中间或是结束，但是，时间常常是隐含的。科技论文的读者明白作者是按照时间顺序来叙述一个实验的各种各样的步骤的。大多数情况下，时间变化是通过变换动词的时态而实现的，从过去时态到现在时态或是从现在时态到将来时态。

在上面的这个例子中，一个时间顺序的“行进”伴随着一个链式行进。时态从现在时变为将来时。

       The protein when it is first made exists in an extraordinarily large variety of shapes, resembling those accessible to a flexible strand of spaghetti. The Brownian motion of the protein strand will carry it willy-nilly between various shapes, somehow finally getting it to settle down into a much less diverse family of shapes, which we call the ‘native structure’ of the protein.

基于逻辑顺序的“行进”

枚举是一种顺序“行进”的类型：从第一到最后。在上述的一个例子中，(Why are such discontinuities in progression so common in your first draft?), 句子被编号并且后一句验证了前一句。

“行进”可以被数字化，但是它还可以遵循一个读者自己定义的顺序（例如一个内容列表）。接下来的句子中，在依次列举之前，作者阐述了登革热传播的两个因素：

Two factors contribute to the rapid spread of dengue fever: air transportation and densely populated areas.

有时，内容列表是不明确的。作者需要使用一个复合名词来替代与之相关的每个名词。在接下来的这个例子中，复合名词是“dengue virus”(“dengue” 是病的名称，“virus”是指微生物)。

The dengue virus from a human carrier is transmitted to the female Aedes mosquito that feeds on an infected blood meal. The virus multiplies inside the mosquito over 3 to 5 days. It is transmitted back into a human through the saliva injected by the mosquito when it bites. Dengue usually spreads because of human travel (particularly air travel), ineffective mosquito control methods, and poor sanitation in areas with water shortages.

摘编自《科技英语写作进阶》(任胜利, 莫京, 安瑞 译. 科学出版社, 2009年出版)

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