原文：

The problem you generally face as you sit down to write is that you know roughly what you want to write about, but not specifically what you want to say or how you want to say it. This sense of uncertainty is hardly enhanced by knowing that the ideas you eventually put down, whatever they be, must end up forming a pyramid.

Nevertheless, there is a good deal that you do know about your end product that you can build on. To begin with, you know that you will have a sentence at the top of the pyramid that will have a subject and a predicate. You also know that the subject of that sentence will be the subject of your document.

In addition, you know that the sentence will serve as the answer to a question that already exists in the reader’s mind. And that question will have arisen because of a situation (with which the reader is familiar) within which a complication developed (with which he is also familiar) that raised the question that caused you to need to write in the first place. You may even know roughly some of the points you want to make.

That is quite a bit to know. You can use this knowledge in building your pyramid either by starting at the top and working down, or by starting at the bottom and working up. The first way is generally easier than the second, and so should be tried first.

The top-down approach

It is generally easier to start at the top and work down because you begin by thinking about the things that it is easiest for you to be sure of – your subject and the reader’s knowledge of it, which you will remind him of in the introduction.

You don’t want simply to sit down and begin writing the opening paragraph of the introduction, however. Instead, you want to use the structure of the introductory flow to pull the right points out of your head, one at a time. To do so, I suggest you follow the procedure shown in Exhibit 4 and described below.

翻译：

当你坐下来写作时，通常会面临的问题是你大致知道自己想写什么，但并不具体清楚要表达什么或如何表达。这种不确定感并不会因为知道自己最终需要将想法形成金字塔结构而有所改善。

尽管如此，你确实对最终的产出有一些了解，可以据此展开。首先，你知道在金字塔的顶部会有一个包含主语和谓语的句子。你也知道，这个句子的主语将是你文档的主题。

此外，你知道该句子将回答一个读者脑海中已经存在的问题。这个问题源于一个情境（读者熟悉的）中发展出的复杂情况（读者同样熟悉），该复杂情况引发了需要你进行写作的问题。你甚至可能大致了解一些要表达的要点。

这些都是你可以利用的知识。你可以利用这些知识构建金字塔，从顶部开始向下写，或者从底部开始向上写。一般来说，第一种方法比第二种更容易，因此应优先尝试。

自上而下的方法

通常，自上而下的方式更容易，因为你可以首先思考自己最清楚的内容——你的主题以及读者对该主题的认知，你会在引言中提醒他这些内容。

然而，你不应只是坐下来直接开始写引言的开头段落。相反，你需要利用引言的结构，逐步从脑海中提取出正确的要点。为此，我建议按照展示的流程图和下面的描述操作。

原文：

Fill in the top box

1. What Subject are you discussing?

2. What Question are you answering in the reader’s mind about the Subject?

3. What is the Answer?

Match the Answer to the introduction4. What is the Situation? 5. What is the Complication? 6. Do the Question and Answer still follow?

Find the key line7. What New Question is raised by the Answer? 8. Will you answer it deductively or inductively? 9. If inductively, what is your plural noun?

Structure the support points10. Repeat the question/answer process at this level.

Draw a box. This represents the box at the top of your pyramid. Write down in it the subject you are discussing.

Decide the Question. Visualize your reader. To whom are you writing, and what question do you want to have answered in his mind about the Subject when you have finished writing?

Write down the Answer, if you know it.

Identify the Situation. Next, you want to prove that you have the clearest statement of the Question and the Answer that you can formulate at this stage. To do that, you take the Subject, move up to the Situation, and make the first noncontroversial statement about it you can make. What is the first thing you can say about it to the reader that you know he will agree is true — either because he knows it, or because it is historically true and easily checkable?

Develop the Complication. Now you say to yourself, “So What?” This should lead you to think of what happened in that Situation to raise the Question. Something went wrong, perhaps, some problem arose, or some logical discrepancy became apparent. What happened in the situation to trigger the question?

Recheck the Question and Answer. The statement of the Complication should immediately raise the Question you have already written down. If it does not, then change it to the one it does raise. Or perhaps you have the wrong Complication, or the wrong Question, and must think again.

翻译：

填写顶部框

1. 你正在讨论什么主题？

2. 关于该主题，你在回答读者心中的哪个问题？

3. 答案是什么？

将答案与引言匹配4. 情境是什么？ 5. 复杂情况是什么？ 6. 问题和答案是否仍然相符？

找到关键线7. 答案引发了什么新问题？ 8. 你会用演绎法还是归纳法来回答？ 9. 如果是归纳法，你的复数名词是什么？

构建支持点10. 在这个层次重复问答过程。

画一个框。这个框代表金字塔顶部的框。在其中写下你正在讨论的主题。

确定问题。设想你的读者。你在写给谁看，完成写作后，你希望在他的脑海中关于主题的什么问题得到解答？

写下答案，如果你知道的话。

确定情境。接下来，你需要证明你已经对问题和答案做出最清晰的陈述。为此，你需要将主题上移至情境，并做出第一个读者一定会认可的无争议性陈述。你能对读者说的第一件让他同意的事实是什么——是他已经知道的，还是因为它在历史上真实且易于核查？

发展复杂情况。此时你可以问自己“那又如何？”这应引导你思考在该情境中发生了什么，引发了这个问题。可能出现了问题，或者某种逻辑上的差异变得显而易见。情境中发生了什么，触发了这个问题？

重新检查问题和答案。复杂情况的陈述应立即引发你已写下的问题。如果没有，则将其更改为所引发的问题。或者，可能是你选择了错误的复杂情况或问题，需要重新思考。

原文：

The purpose of the entire exercise is to make sure you know what Question it is you are trying to answer. Once you have the Question, everything else falls into place relatively easily.

Let me demonstrate how your thinking would develop by using the technique to rewrite the memorandum shown in Exhibit 5. It comes from the Accounting Department of a large beverage company in the United States.

When the company’s drivers deliver the product to a customer, they send back to the Accounting Department a delivery ticket with a set of code numbers, the date, and the amount of the delivery. These delivery tickets are the basis of the billing system, which works something like this:

FIVE WEEKS

Process delivery tickets ➔ Send bill ➔ Receive check ➔ Process Payment

One of the company’s customers, a hamburger emporium we’ll call Big Chief, gets an awful lot of deliveries. For its own accounting purposes, it would like to keep daily track of how the bill is mounting up. It wants to know if it can’t keep the delivery tickets along with each delivery, record them on a computer tape, calculate the total, and then send the tape and its check once a month to the headquarters office of the beverage company. In other words, it is proposing a system that would work like this:

ONE DAY

Receive tape and check ➔ Process Payment

翻译：

整个练习的目的是确保你知道你要回答的是什么问题。一旦明确了问题，其他内容相对就容易理清。

让我通过使用这个方法重新书写第5展示中的备忘录来展示你的思维如何发展。这份备忘录来自一家美国大型饮料公司的会计部门。

当公司司机向客户交付产品时，他们会将一张包含代码编号、交付日期和交付数量的送货单寄回会计部门。这些送货单是账单系统的基础，其工作流程如下：

五周流程

处理送货单 ➔ 发送账单 ➔ 收到支票 ➔ 处理付款

公司的一个客户，我们称之为“大酋长”的汉堡公司，接收了大量的交货。出于其自身的会计需求，它希望能每日跟踪账单的累积情况。它想知道是否可以在每次交货时保存送货单，将其记录在电脑磁带上，计算总金额，然后每月一次将磁带和支票寄到饮料公司总部。换句话说，它提出了一个类似如下的系统：

一天流程

接收磁带和支票 ➔ 处理付款

原文：

Exhibit 5: Original Big Chief Memorandum

To: Mr Robert Salmon
From: John J. Jackson
Subject: Big Chief Date: March 7, 2001

We have been requested to review the feasibility of processing Big Chief’s (Parent Number 8306) N/A Delivery Tickets via tape into our National Accounts System. This processing is to be accomplished by Big Chief and us on a prepayment basis. We have completed our review of this request and our findings are as follows:

1. Our primary requirement for accepting any National Accounts data from an outside source is that we receive records in a prescribed format:

   If the Parent and Outlet Numbers are not available from Big Chief, we will supply this information to them from our Customer Master File list. This information could then be incorporated into the Big Chief system for future ease in the processing of ticket data.

• a. Parent Number

• b. Outlet Number

• c. Ticket Number

• d. Dollar amount of each ticket

• e. Delivery Date of each ticket

2. Big Chief will produce an extract program that will be run against their file (A/P Liability) to extract all ticket information presently on that file. The output file created by this program will be in a format acceptable to the N/A subsystem APPND, Cash Receipt Advice (see Record Layout). This data, in the form of a tape, will then be sent to us for balancing purposes and at the same time, Big Chief’s check, accompanied by a detailed listing of the information on the tape (see Report Layout #1) will be sent to the National Accounts lock box location.

3. Upon completion, the balanced cash tape will be processed through the National Accounts System. This will produce a matchup by ticket number against the N/A Updated Statement History file and the production of National Syrup Account Billing Statements.

翻译：

附件 5：Big Chief 原始备忘录

收件人：Robert Salmon 先生
发件人：John J. Jackson
主题：Big Chief 日期：2001年3月7日

我们被要求评估通过磁带将 Big Chief（父编号 8306）的N/A送货单数据导入我们的全国账户系统的可行性。此处理将由 Big Chief 和我们在预付款基础上共同完成。我们已完成对该请求的评估，结果如下：

1. 我们接受任何外部来源的全国账户数据的首要要求是，接收到的记录必须符合规定格式：

   如果 Big Chief 无法提供父编号和网点编号，我们将从我们的客户主文件列表中向他们提供此信息。此信息随后可以被整合到 Big Chief 系统中，以便日后更方便地处理票据数据。

• a. 父编号

• b. 网点编号

• c. 票据编号

• d. 每张票据的金额

• e. 每张票据的交付日期

2. Big Chief 将制作一个提取程序，用于从其文件（应付账款负债）中提取当前的所有票据信息。此程序生成的输出文件将采用符合 N/A 子系统 APPND 和现金收据建议（参见记录布局）的格式。该数据将以磁带形式发送给我们用于对账，同时 Big Chief 的支票以及磁带上信息的详细清单（参见报告布局#1）将被发送至全国账户的锁箱地点。

3. 完成后，平衡后的现金磁带将通过全国账户系统处理。此过程将生成票据编号与 N/A 更新的账单历史文件的匹配记录，并生成全国糖浆账户账单。

原文：

The head of the Accounting Department has been asked if the change would be feasible, and has answered in his present memorandum by saying essentially, “Here’s how the new system would work,” without actually answering the question. Had you been he, and used the technique in Exhibit 4, here’s what would have happened:

1. You would have drawn a box and said to yourself, “What Subject am I discussing?” (BC request for change, Exhibit 6.)

2. What Question am I answering in the reader’s mind about the Subject? (Is it a good idea?)

3. What’s the Answer? (Yes.)

4. Now let me check that that is really the Question and really the Answer by thinking through the introduction. To do that I take the Subject and move up to the Situation. The first sentence of the Situation must be a statement about the Subject. What is the first noncontroversial thing I can think of to say about the Subject — something I know the reader will not question, but will accept as fact? (They have requested a change in the procedure.) When you go to write the introduction out, you will of course in this paragraph explain the nature of the change, but for the purposes of working out your thinking you need only get clear the essence of the point of the paragraph.

5. Now I look at the Situation and say about it, “So what?” This should lead me directly to a statement of the Complication. (You’ve asked me whether it makes sense.)

翻译：

会计部门主管被问到这个变更是否可行，并在当前的备忘录中回答了基本内容，即“这是新系统的运作方式”，但实际上并没有直接回答问题。如果你是他，并使用了附件4中的方法，那么结果将会是这样的：

1. 你会画一个框并问自己：“我正在讨论什么主题？”（Big Chief 的变更请求，见附件6。）

2. 关于该主题，我在回答读者脑海中的哪个问题？（这是否是个好主意？）

3. 答案是什么？（是的。）

4. 现在，让我通过思考引言来验证这是否确实是问题和答案。为此，我将主题上移至情境部分。情境的第一句话必须是关于主题的陈述。我能想到的关于主题的第一个无争议的事情是什么——我知道读者不会质疑的，而会接受为事实的陈述？（他们请求了程序的更改。）当你去写引言时，在这一段中你当然会解释变更的性质，但在思考阶段你只需清晰地提炼出段落的要点即可。

5. 现在我看着情境并问自己，“那又如何？” 这应该直接引导我做出复杂情况的陈述。（你在问我这是否有意义。）

原文：

The Question, (2), as you’ve stated it should now be the obvious next thing that would pop into the reader’s mind (Does it make sense?). Since that’s roughly what you’ve stated as your Question, you can see that both it and the Answer match, so you have proved that the point you are making is valid for the reader.

6. Given the statement that the change does make sense, you can now move down to determine what New Question would be raised in the reader’s mind by your stating it to him. (Why?)

7. The answer to any Why? question is always “Reasons,” so you know that the points you need across the Key Line must all be reasons. What might your reasons be?

• It will give us the information we need.

• It will increase our cash flow.

• It will reduce our workload.

8. After determining that in fact these points are the right points and in logical order, you can move down and spell out what you need to say to support each one. In the case of so short a document, however, you can probably get away with assuming they are easily available in your mind and will come to you as you get to each section to write it.

As you can see, the technique has forced the writer to draw from his mind only the information that will be relevant to the reader’s question. But in doing so, it has helped push his thinking to deal fully with the question, rather than only partially as in the original example. And of course, if he follows the top-down order of presenting the ideas in writing, the entire message will be remarkably easy for the reader to absorb.

翻译：

这个问题（问题2），如你所陈述的，现在应该是读者脑海中自然而然会浮现的下一个问题（“这是否有意义？”）。既然你已经将其作为问题来陈述，并且问题与答案一致，那么你就证明了你所提出的观点对读者是有效的。

6. 在确认变更确实有意义之后，你现在可以继续确定读者脑海中会因你陈述的内容而产生的下一个新问题。（“为什么？”）

7. 对于任何“为什么？”的问题，答案总是“原因”，所以你知道关键线上的所有要点都必须是理由。那么你的理由可能是什么？

• 它会提供我们需要的信息。

• 它会增加我们的现金流。

• 它会减少我们的工作量。

8. 在确认这些确实是正确的要点并且逻辑顺序正确后，你可以进一步阐述你需要说的内容，以支持每个理由。然而，在这样一份简短的文件中，你可能只需假设这些内容很容易在脑海中找到，并在写到每一部分时自然浮现。

正如你所见，这种技巧迫使作者只提取出与读者问题相关的信息。而在此过程中，它帮助推动了作者的思考，使其能够完全解决问题，而不是像原始示例中那样只部分处理。当然，如果作者按照自上而下的顺序来呈现想法，整个信息将会非常容易被读者吸收。