How do you review several hundred pages of someone’s blood, sweat, and tears in just the 500 or 1,000 words? Of course, it depends on the book—novels, anthologies, nonfiction, and reference books all have different constraints. But there are some general principles that will make reviewing something you can look forward to.
作家把自己的血淚和汗水凝注而成數(shù)百頁的書籍，你如何才能用500到1000字的文章加以評述？當然，寫書評的方法會因書籍的種類不同而各異——小說、選集、紀實文學、參考書目都有其獨特的文體限制。不過在不同類型的書籍中也存在著通用的原則。

1. Leave yourself plenty of time, so that you can read the book a couple of times
寫書評之前請為自己留出充裕的時間，把書籍反復閱讀幾遍

Give it a quick skim, then a careful perusing, carefully reading a chapter a day and taking notes. That gives you plenty of time to form an impression and think your evaluation through.
首先掃讀一遍，然后仔仔細細精讀一遍，一天讀完一章，同時記好筆記。這樣做能讓你有足夠的時間形成對作品的認知，思考自己的意見評價。

2. Your job is to create a relationship between the reviewer, the book’s author, and potential readers
你的任務就是在評論者、作者和潛在讀者之間建立聯(lián)系。

To do that, you need to establish some context for the book. The best reviews quickly situate a book against some social, scientific, cultural, or disciplinary backdrop. What important ideas or questions does this book address? Who would be interested in the book and why? A good review can amplify that background for readers and may even cause the author to think about the work in a new way.
為了做到這一點，你需要為書建立某種語境。最好的書評能最快的將書籍放在特定的社會、科技、文化、學科背景之中。書中表達了哪些重要的觀點，提出了哪些重要的問題？誰會對這本書感興趣？為什么？一篇好的書評會放大故事的背景以方便讀者閱讀，甚至能引起作者對自己作品的重新思考。

3. As you summarize, try to fit the best examples from the book into the review, rather than just relying on a retelling of an author’s points
當你總結文意的時候，試著將書中最好的例證融入到你的評論中，而不是僅僅只復述作者的觀點

Try to refer to the material that brought the book alive for you, juxtaposing different examples to reinforce your reading of the book.?
引用讓自己印象深刻的例子在自己的書評中，將書中的各種案例與自己的論證并置，讓這些案例輔佐你的觀點。

4. Summary, however it is handled, should be combined with your evaluation of the book
無論怎樣寫總結，都應該加上你對書籍的評價

This is your honest judgement of what parts of the book are the strongest and the weakest. Where does the writing sparkle? Where does it lose its way? What might there be more of, or less? What is innovative and what is missing? Give the reasons for your judgement, insofar as you can, and avoid being snarky.?
你可以誠實地對書籍做出評價：書中哪部分筆力最強健？那部分最薄弱？那個章節(jié)是亮點？那個章節(jié)與主線偏離了？哪個部分還可以豐富，哪里應該削減？作者的何種觀點是原創(chuàng)的，還缺少何種洞見？為自己的評價解釋評價的緣由，盡可能解釋清楚，避免過激的言辭。

5. Book reviews are the time to practice the art of brevity and to polish your own writing
寫書評是你提升自己寫作的簡潔性，鍛煉自己寫作能力的好機會

You will probably only have a few hundred words, so make each one count. Engage your readers by getting their attention and winning their confidence, by moving briskly through what you have to say, and helping them to decide if they want to read the book for themselves.
可能你的書評只能寫寥寥數(shù)百字，所以你得惜字如金。簡潔輕快地道出自己的觀點，吸引讀者的注意，贏得他們對作品的信心，鼓勵他們展開閱讀，幫助他們做出決斷，他們是否愿意親自閱讀一下這本書。

聲明：本雙語文章的中文翻譯系滬江英語原創(chuàng)內(nèi)容，轉載請注明出處。中文翻譯僅代表譯者個人觀點，僅供參考。如有不妥之處，歡迎指正。