Even William Strunk, that Mussolini of rhetoric, recognized the delicious pliability of language.

即便是威廉·斯特伦克，这位修辞学的墨索里尼，也认识到了语言美妙的灵活多变。

One notable exception to the bullshit rule is The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E.B.White.

这个废话理论有个值得一提的例外，那就是小威廉·斯特伦克和E·B·怀特合著的《风格的要素》。

One, hinted at by Strunk's repetition, is learnability.

一，Strunk 的重复暗示，是可学习性。

Strunk and White offer the best tools (and the best rules) you could hope for, describing them simply and clearly.

斯特伦克和怀特提供了你能想到最好的工具（还有最好的规则），把它们讲得简单明了。

White had a college professor at Cornell by the name of William S. Strunk, and Strunk wrote a book called The Elements of Style.

怀特在康奈尔大学有一位名叫威廉·斯特伦克 (William S. Strunk) 的大学教授，斯特伦克写了一本名为《风格的要素》(The Elements of Style) 的书。

My favorite example from Strunk and White is this one: “As a mother of five, with another one on the way, my ironing board is always up.”

“作为五个孩子的母亲，肚里还怀着一个，我的熨衣板总是撑开着。”

The word " concise" (concise) means giving a lot of information in a short amount of time, and that's exactly what Strunk and White's book does.

“简洁”（concise）这个词的意思是在很短的时间内给出大量的信息，而这正是 Strunk 和 White 的书所做的。

In the classroom, Strunk " omitted so many needless words" that he was often " left with nothing more to say, yet with time to fill" .

在课堂上，斯特伦克“省略了太多不必要的话” ，以至于他经常“无话可说，但有时间填补” 。

Any serious writer in the United States – any journalist, anyone who wants to do writing, especially professionally – has a copy of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style.

在美国，任何严肃的作家——任何记者，任何想从事写作， 尤其是专业写作的人——都有一本斯特伦克和怀特的《风格要素》。

Messrs. Strunk and White don't speculate as to why so many writers are attracted to passive verbs, but I'm willing to; I think timid writers like them for the same reason timid lovers like passive partners.

斯特伦克和怀特两位先生不曾分析过何以许多作者喜欢用被动语态，但我愿意分析一下其中原委。我认为胆怯的作者喜欢被动语态，其原因类似于胆怯的人喜欢被动的伴侣。