不同文化会发展出不同的表达方式与逻辑。以中文而言，当我们在阐述一件事情时，往往是「先因后果」，如同中文写作的「起、承、转、合」架构，重点往往放在后面的「转、合」。而英文的表达与写作，则是「先果后因」，强调「直截了当」及「简洁有力」。第一句话先把重点说出来，许多不相关的琐碎细节及背景就不必提了。
举例来说，许多人在课堂中阐述一件事情时，是这样的方式：
I went to college in 2010. I majored in Education, and after four years of studies, I wanted to learn more, so I decided to continue my studies. I applied for graduate school. I studied for a master’s degree in English Language Teaching. During my time in graduate school, I also went on an exchange. I went to America in 2017. I prepared for a year so my 2016 was super busy. I wanted to save more money before I set out. Finally, I went there. My school was in Madison, Wisconsin. It was freezing there! I took a lot of classes, and I found that my listening skills were not good enough. I was very frustrated at first, because I couldn’t even understand my supervisor at work. I worked part-time in school because I didn’t have enough money. After staying there for six months, I came back to Taiwan. One day, I was watching films on Netflix again, and magically, miraculously, I no longer needed the subtitles!
（我2010年上大学，我主修教育学，读了四年之后，我还想继续精进，于是我决定继续升学。我申请研究所并且攻读英语教学硕士。研究所期间，我也去国外交换。我在2017年的时候去美国。我准备了一整年，所以2016年我十分忙碌。我想在出发前多存一点钱。终于，我到了那里。我的学校在威斯康辛州麦迪逊市，那里超冷的！我修了很多课，并且发现我的听力不够好。刚开始我非常沮丧，因为我连打工的主管讲话都听不懂。我在学校打工是因为我没有钱。待了六个月之后，我就回到台湾。有一天当我又在看影集追剧的时候，很神奇地，我可以完全不用看字幕了！）
以上是不是很典型的「流水帐」呢？一大段话，其实重点在后面的「刚开始去美国，都听不懂当地人讲的话，感到非常沮丧，后来才发现自己不知不觉进步了，最明显的证明是现在看电影都不用字幕。」前面一长串的年份、学历及背景，都不是重点，只要简单地一两句话 “I went on an exchange to American when I was in graduate school. I went through a lot of frustration during my time there.” 带过即可。
如果是平常与朋友聊天，或是写日记记录心情的时候，当然是没有关系，想说什么就说什么。不过，如果是正式的工作面试、采访、会议、报告、撰文的时候，过多的细节不仅会让你的听者/读者分心，没办法抓到你真正想传达的意思，也会花费过多篇幅和时间去阐述不重要的资讯。
不论是英文口说或写作，都要记得 Be assertive. Be concise. Get to the point. 由于文化的差异，我们需要许多时间调适，这十分正常！说话或书写之前，先想清楚自己到底想表达什么，直接先把关键字词说出来，后面再慢慢补充细节，会帮助你一步一步达到「字字珠玑」的境界。
