16.1-《超越感觉》-选择议题-基本原则：少即是多

16.1-Selecting an Issue-The Basic Rule:Less is More

选择议题

• This rule may sound strange, particularly if you are in the habit of choosing the broadest possible topics for your compositions.

  这条规则听起来很奇怪，尤其是如果你习惯于为你的作为选择尽可能广泛的话题。

• Any feeling of security this approach may generate is purely imaginary.

  任何这个方法可能产生的安全的感觉都是纯粹虚幻的；

• Trying to do justice to a broad topic in a composition of 500 words, or for that matter in several thousand words, is as futile as trying to pour a gallon of water into a pint container.

  试图在一篇五百字或几千字的文章中公正的阐述一个大的主题，就像【把一加仑水倒进一品脱的容器里】一样徒劳。

• It just won't work, even in the case of a simple informative composition.

  它就是不起作用，即使是在一个简单信息组成的情况下。

• And it has much less chance of working when you are analyzing issue, which are at least two-sided and often multisided.

  当你在分析问题时，它的工作机会更少，因为问题至少是双面的，通常是多面的；

• The means that many, perhaps most, of the people who will judge your analysis of an issue not only know its complexities but also have half a dozen reasons to disagree with you.

  这意味着许多，或者更多人，会批判你对一个问题的分析，他们不仅知道它的复杂性，而且还有六个不同意你的观点的理由。

• A superficial, onceover-lightly, treatment is sure to fail.

  一次肤浅的、过于轻描淡写的处理肯定会失败。

  The only sensible solution to this dilemma is to limit the scope of your analysis.

  这个困境的唯一解决方案是限制你分析的范围。

• For exmaple, if the issue has five of ten important aspects, examine only one or two. You will then have sufficient space to address complexities, make important distinctions, and deal with subtleties.

  例如，这个议题有五个或者是个重要的方面，只调查一个或两个，这样你就要足够的空间处理复杂的问题，作出重要的区别，和处理微妙的事情。

• This is the meaning of "less is more" - aiming for deppth rather than breadth.

  这就是“少即是多”的意义，目标是深度而不是广度。