原文： What about the key line? 

The Key Line not only gives the answer to the new Question raised by the statement of your Main Point, it also indicates the plan of the document. If it is a lengthy one, therefore, you will want to set the points out in the middle of the page as shown in Exhibit 11. You can then put a heading to represent the first point, and start writing (see Chapter 6, How to Highlight the Structure).

翻译： 关于关键线？ 

关键线不仅回答了由主要观点引发的新问题，还指示了文档的计划。因此，如果文档较长，你可以在页面中间列出要点，如图表11所示。然后可以为第一个要点设置标题并开始写作（参见第6章《如何突出结构》）。

原文： Setting the points out enables the reader to get your entire thinking in the first 30 seconds or so of reading. Since anything that follows will serve only to explain or defend these points, you have courteously put the reader in the position of being able to determine whether he needs to go on or is ready to accept your conclusions as they stand. In any case, he now knows what to expect and can read with a greater sense of ease.

If the document is a short one, with only a paragraph or two to support each section, you do not of course want to set out the points and then repeat them in headings. In such cases, use the points as topic sentences to your paragraphs and underline them so that they jump out at the reader.

Remember that the Key Line points should be expressed as ideas. It is not sufficient, for example, to write an introduction like the following:

翻译： 列出要点使读者在前30秒左右的阅读时间内了解你的全部思路。由于接下来的内容仅用于解释或捍卫这些要点，你礼貌地让读者能够决定是继续阅读还是直接接受你的结论。无论如何，他现在知道了要期待什么，可以更轻松地阅读。

如果文档较短，每个部分只有一两段支持，当然不必列出要点再在标题中重复。在这种情况下，将要点作为段落的主题句并加下划线，使其在读者面前突出。

请记住，关键线要点应以思想表达。例如，以下引言是不够的：

原文： This memorandum describes the project team approach to identifying and achieving significant profit improvements. It is organized in six sections as follows:

• Background

• Principles of project team approach

• What project work is

• How the program is organized

• Unique benefits and specific results

• Prerequisites for success.

Here the setout of the points is useless in the sense of conveying the message of the document to the reader. It simply forces on the reader a string of words that he can’t put into perspective – mere excess baggage that wastes his time and delays his understanding.

As a rule of thumb, you never want to have a section labelled 'Background' (or 'Introduction') because the major point it expresses will not be on the same level of abstraction as the other points that follow. In the example above, of course, because the writer is writing about subjects instead of about ideas, the ideas likely to be behind the subjects will probably not form a clear argument, either inductive or deductive.

Indeed, one suspects that the ideas in the various sections are badly jumbled as they stand. For example, the 'Unique benefits and specific results' should probably be discussed under the 'Principles of project team approach,' and the 'Prerequisites for success' probably belong under 'How the program is organized.' Never write about categories, only about ideas.

翻译： 这份备忘录描述了项目团队识别并实现显著利润改进的方法。它分为以下六个部分：

• 背景

• 项目团队方法的原则

• 项目工作的定义

• 计划如何组织

• 独特的优势和具体结果

• 成功的前提条件

在这里，这些要点的布局在向读者传达文档信息方面毫无用处。它只是向读者强加了一串无法构建整体视角的词语——只是多余的累赘，浪费了他的时间并延缓了他的理解。

一般来说，你永远不希望有一个标记为“背景”或“引言”的部分，因为它所表达的主要观点不会与随后的其他要点处于相同的抽象水平。在上述例子中，作者写的是主题而非思想，因此这些主题背后的思想可能无法形成清晰的论点，无论是归纳式还是演绎式。

实际上，人们怀疑各个部分中的想法已被杂乱无章地排列。例如，“独特的优势和具体结果”可能应该在“项目团队方法的原则”下讨论，而“成功的前提条件”可能属于“计划如何组织”部分。不要写类别，只写思想。