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There’s no shortage of writing advice telling you to keep your writing simple —to use simple language. However, why do so many people continue to ignore that good advice? A conversation around the theme of simplicity(简明) gets me thinking about this question. Why are people so fond of words that are hard to read? A study looked into the way word choice changes the judgment we make about someone’s intelligence. Students were asked to rate the intelligence of writers based on essays that they’d written, and choose books suitable for graduate study. The results? The simpler the essay, the more likely it was the author would be rated as intelligent, and recommended for going to the graduate school. The author of the study (Daniel Oppenheimer) concludes: "The experts are likely right: write clearly and simply if you can, and you’ll be more likely to be thought of as intelligent." So why is it so hard to put the writing advice into practice? In the same article Oppenheimer mentions that:

●86% of students at Stanford admitted to using complicated language in their essays to make their work sound more intelligent. Some of the possible reasons include:

●Desire to prove your topic is complicated by using complicated words.

●Fear of being regarded as lacking education.

●Natural desire to copy the language patterns of others.

●Little encouragement to use 'ordinary’words.

●Lack of time to 'translate’the complicated words used around you into everyday words.

●Longer words keep subjects impersonal(客观的) —reducing potential for personal criticism and attack.

●It’s the way people above you write —so you think it’s the ladder to success. What about you? Can you see any hidden benefits of using long words? Have you ever found yourself changing a simple word for a longer one to achieve a particular effect?

28. Why do many people like to use longer words? a. They think of longer words as a sign of intelligence.

b. Lack of instructions on writing skills.

c. They think longer words reduce potential for personal criticism.

d. Lack of time to transform complicated words into simple ones. A. acd B. abc C. bcd D. abd

29. What can you learn from the text about the study? A. It suggests that longer words are the ladder to success.

B. It shows that using plain language is more accept-able.

C. It proves that it is students’duty to choose books for graduate school.

D. It proves that schools always consider students’opinions.

30. When writing, according to the text, Oppenheimer encourages people to ______.

A. copy the language patterns of others

B. choose complicated topics

C. use complicated wordsD. use plain language