如何写好Email

OriginThis is an excellent article about how to write email.
FYI

Orginial link: http://www.blueflavor.com/ed/tips_tricks/email_an_authors_guide.php

Email: an author's guide

Popular as it is, the web is not the most-used Internet application by transaction volume. Email is. It's also the most misused. Since it's such an important and often overlooked component of our online lives, I'm going to step away from preaching about the web for a moment and focus on simple steps to make your email discussions more effective.
尽管Web很流行，但它并不是Internet上应用最为广泛的程序，Email才是。当然，这也导致Email成为了最容易被滥用的应用程序。既然Email在我们的网络生活中是如此地重要，但同时又经常被人们忽视，那么在这里我将不再赘述Web的优势了，而要集中介绍几个简单的做法，来让你的email使用更为有效。
If you grew up like I did, you were taught how to write a letter. You learned how to write business and casual headings and salutations, state your purpose, make a request, set expectations for a response, and wrap it up with a Very Truly Yours.
如果你也有和我一样的成长经历，那么你肯定知道写信函的技巧。你一定学过该怎样拟定商业性的或非正式的标题，以及怎样写信函开头的称呼语等，你也知道该如何陈明你的目的，如何提出要求，如何设置期望的回复，以及如何用“Very Truly Yours”来作为你的信函结束语。
But an email is not a letter, and you're not typing at a Selectric II typewriter. You may look at the days of formal graces in written communication with some sadness, but rest assured that they are as dead as Dillinger. If your purpose is to solicit information or action from another person via email, you must make that clear to them at the earliest possible point in the message.
但是email却不仅仅是一种信函，它也不是像在Selectric II 打字机上打字那样简单的过程。有时候你可能会觉得那种书写严谨而优雅的书面沟通方式实在是枯燥无味，有时候甚至会觉得这样的表达是死气沉沉的。如果你的目的是通过email获取信息或方法，你就必须在你得信件的开头部分将你的想法表达清楚。
I get hundreds of emails a day, not counting spam. I know I'm not alone. Email overload is a problem, and it wills probably only get worse.
我每天要收到100多封电子邮件，其中还不包括垃圾邮件。我知道我不是唯一一个深受其扰的人。Email过多是一个问题，而且会变得日趋严重。
It's tempting for geeks like me to propose some kind of microformat as a solution: begin subjects with these words, format the first line like that. But email is too widely distributed to corral into a any kind of structure now. All we can do is focus on quick, concise, effective communication.
许多像我一样的人都喜欢用某些微格式( miscroformat ) 来解决此类问题：套用一些固定的词做为标题的开头，同时把第一行的内容进行简单的格式化。但是email的内容涉及太广了，以致于无法用任何一种既定的结构来框住它。我们所能做的只能是使这种沟通方式更为迅速、简洁和有效。
People differ in how they manage their inboxes, but attention to a few details can help make your messages more usable for everyone. These are the factors I've identified that will help you get a quick and valid response:
每个人组织收件箱的方式都各不相同，但是注意一些细节可以使你的邮件收到每个收件人的重视。下面这些要素可让你更快地获得有效的回复：
Brevity
简洁
It's the soul of wit, you know.
众所周知，言以简洁为贵。
Short emails rule. When I get an email that's several pages long, I have to make some decisions: do I have time to handle this now? Is it important enough to come back to? Can I pass it on to someone else? If I can't say yes to any of these, I will probably never get back to it.
简洁是书写email的首要规则。每次当我收到一封几页长的email时，我都不得不做出这样的抉择：我现在有时间处理它吗？它是否需要我再回头重新确认一遍呢？我可以把它转交给其他人处理吗？如果我不能对上述任何一种情况说yes，那么我也许再也不会回头看这封邮件了。
You may have lots of information to share, but in email you are in a long list of others competing for your recipient's attention. Keeping it brief is a sign of respect, and it's less likely to cause added stress to your reader.
也许你有很多信息需要传达，但实际上你的email只是你的收件人所要处理的众多邮件之一，因此保持它的简洁是对别人的尊重，而且可以减少阅读者的压力。
Supporting material or other important info can be attached, but keep it separate from who you are, what your issue is, and what you want from me.
说明性的文件或其他重要的信息可以被当作附件添加上，但是最好能将它们同你的个人信息、你的问题和你需求分开。
If you're passing a thread along, trim what isn't needed. Why make the email look longer than it really is?
如果你需要在email中粘贴一段帖子（thread）的内容，那么你应该把不需要的部分截掉。干吗要把email写得那么长呢？
Context
上下文
If I don't know you by name, tell me how you came to contact me. We talked about mixers at a podcasting meetup. You saw a panel I was on last year. You divorced me and married my best friend from high school. Something I would remember. I don't need or want a resume, but I do need to know where you're coming from.
如果我不记得你的名字，那么你就需要进行一个自我介绍。对此人们常常会拉扯到许多话题，比如你认出我去年出现在大众陪审团里，或者甚至是我们离了婚而你嫁给了我中学时期最好的朋友等等。（有些事情我记得的。）实际上，我并不需要你提供像履历表那样详细的信息，而只想知道你是谁，来自哪里。
Getting a lot of responses asking, "What do you mean?" Context is your problem. When you're asking a question, anticipate any missing details that could cause an extended back-and-forth. Each time someone sends you a reply, you've gone to the back of that person's line. Do what you can to make your emails count the first time.
你是否收到很多回复问“你想要说什么？”，这就说明你没把前因后果说清楚。当你提出问题的时候，任何缺失的细节都会导致很多反复。每次你收到某人的回复，你都要重新把问题描述一遍，所以你应该尽量在最开始写邮件的时候就把意思表达清楚。
And for god's sake, have a subject line. One that makes sense. Some of the most important emails I've received didn't have a subject, and they almost fell through as a result. Don't waste that space with words like "Important" or "Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:". If the topic changes, change the subject line to match it. Remember that on recipients' screens, your subject competes with a large number of others for their attention.
你必须要注意的另一个问题是，一定要给你的email加上标题，而且是一个能表达出中心意思的标题。一些我收到的重要邮件甚至没有标题，以致于我几乎将它们漏掉不看了。不要在“Important”,“Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:”上浪费空间。如果email里面涉及的内容变了，你就需要改变标题以匹配该话题。记住，收件人所要面对和处理的是大量的邮件，只有明确而醒目的标题才能引起他的注意。
Something to act on
要做得事情
Make your requests clear.
清楚地表达你的要求。
You should set them apart from the rest of the message by paring them down to one sentence, with white space before and after.
你应该把你的要求与邮件的其他内容分开，你可以将它总结成一句简短的话，并在句子的前后用空格加以区分。
Make lists with dashes, asterisks, or bullets if you use HTML email. Closed-ended (yes or no, this or that) questions are preferred; open-ended questions can get long and involved, reducing their overall relevancy and the likelihood that you'll get the response you desire.
如果你是在HTML格式下写邮件，那么你可以用破折号、星号或其他符号来将你的要求排列整齐。封闭式的提问（yes/no, this/that）是首选，开放式的提问则会使邮件变得冗长从而使问题复杂化。如果你能去掉那些模棱两可的句子，而将你的需求简洁地表达出来，那么你获得肯定答复的可能性也就更大。
Don't give people an excuse to misread you. If you've written a request at the end of a long paragraph, or been passive ("it'd be nice if somebody could..."), it's likely to have been missed on the receiver's end. If you sent an email, you have a point. Get to it.
不要让别人有借口来误解你想要表达的意思。如果你把要求写在一个很长的段落后面，或者表达的语气过于客气（比如“最好。。。”之类的），那很可能读者就会忽略它。如果你要向其他人发送email，那么你肯定会有一个主题，你应该围绕这个主题表达你的意思。
Some examples:
§ Can I call you tomorrow morning at 10am PT?
§ Here is my contact info for your address book.
§ Would you send me any links you have where I can read more about x?
§ Would you forward this to person y?
§ I need your travel itinerary by end of day.

一些例子：
§ 明天早上10点我可以给你打电话吗？
§ 这是我的联系方式.
§ 你能否发给我一些链接，好让我可以了解更多关于X信息？
§ 你能把它转发给Y吗？
§ 请在今天之内把你的旅行路线发给我。 
Reasonable expectations
合理期待
Given that most of us have several current projects to keep up on, it's not very likely that we're be able to spend more than 10 minutes at a time helping someone who is emailing me out of the blue. My ability to draft my famous page-scrolling expositions of a given issue is limited. If I've already written something that covers it, I might just send you a link. Otherwise, if you can frame the question such that a lengthy answer isn't required, you're apt to get a quicker response.
假如我们中的大部分人手上都有好几个项目，那么我们很可能不会花费太多时间来回复一个项目以外的人所提出的无关紧要的问题。如果我已经写过与那个问题有关的东西，我可能只会发给你一个链接。如果你所需要的只是一个非常简单的答复，那么你很可能就会得到快速的回复。
A deadline
截止日期
There comes a time when the response you seek is no longer useful. If you know when that is, tell your recipient. This can be a good way both to prompt a speedy turnaround, and to let people off the hook in the long term. When someone sees that, for example, you need a proposal in a timeframe they can't make, they will probably bow out, rather than leaving you hanging. Everybody wins. Especially whoever it is you end up choosing in their place.
有时候当你收到你期望的回复时已经太迟了。如果你知道这个期限，就应该告诉你的收件人。这是个很好的办法来督促别人快速地回复你，同时也能让他在某个时期之后从这个委托中解脱出来。比如当别人无法在既定的时间内完成你的委托时，他很可能会事先（或在该日期之前）告诉你，而不至于让这件事始终悬在那儿，这样做对彼此都有好处，更能方便你去找其他人解决问题。
You can't win them all. If you need to send a single reminder, do so, but if that doesn't do the trick, pick up a phone. If it's not important enough to call the person directly, then let it go.
Daily reminders suggest to recipients that they're being bossed around, and that's not the best way to manage people, and certainly no way to treat casual contacts. They may be too busy, or away from the computer, or actually working on your last request. If you're forcing the issue, you don't improve your chances of success with that person in the long term.
任何时候你无法做到面面俱到。有时候你可以通过发送一个简单的提醒来帮助你的收件人记住某件事情，如果这样做没起到作用，那么就该打电话提醒他。如果没必要直接告诉这个人，那就随它去吧，每天都给收件人发送提醒是件很烦人的事，而且这样也不是最好的与人沟通的办法，尤其对于那些不太熟悉的联系人来说更让人觉得不堪其扰。你的收件人也许太忙、或者不在电脑旁，或者已经在处理你的上一个问题了，这时候如果非要强制别人关注于你当前的这件事情，那么你就无法在日后更好地与这个人发展长期的合作关系了。