一、英國莎士比亞在他的名著《哈姆雷特》里寫過這么一句名言：Brevity is the soul of wit.（言以簡潔為貴。），這句話的意思告訴我們，不管寫文章也好，說話也好，都要求生動活潑，簡單明了，因此，“簡潔”乃是一篇好文章的基本要求之一。文章要做到簡潔，省略法是必用的。合理恰當(dāng)?shù)厥褂檬÷跃?，不僅可以使文章精練、簡潔，而且會使文章更具文采和可讀性，使得讀者可以更有興趣的讀下去，在考試中也可以增加我們的寫作分?jǐn)?shù)。例如：
(1) He may be busy. If he’s busy, I’ll call later. If he is not busy, can I see him now?
→ He may be busy. If so, I’ll call later. If not, can I see him now?
他可能很忙，要是這樣，我以后再來拜訪。要是不忙，我現(xiàn)在可以見他嗎?
(2) If the weather is fine, we’ll go. If it is not fine, we’ll not go.
→ If the weather is fine, we’ll go. If not, not.
如果天氣好，我們就去;如果天氣不好，我們就不去了。
(3) She could have applied for that job, but she didn’t do so.
→ She could have applied for that job, but she didn’t.
她本可申請這份工作的，但她沒有。
(4) It is a beautiful day, isn’t it?
→ Beautiful day, isn’t it?
今天天氣真好。
(5) It is a pity we live so far from the sea.
→ Pity we live so far from the sea.
多么可惜，我們住的離海那么遠(yuǎn)。
(6) 有時也可省略整個句子的主語和謂語,只保留次要成分.
She was poor but (she was) honest.
--Did you know anything about the accident?
--Not until you told me. (= I didn’t know anything about it until you told me.)