段落和标点符号
Paragraphs and punctuation

从第一课起，每一句汉语后面都跟着一个小圆圈“。”，问句后面是“？”，感叹句后面是“！”。你一直在读这些符号，只是没给它们起过名字。今天认认它们，也认识三个英语里没有的：顿号“、”、书名号“《》”和汉语的引号。写对标点，句子才站得住。

Since your first lesson every Chinese sentence has ended in a small hollow circle, every question in ？ and every exclamation in ！. You have been reading these marks all along without naming them. This lesson names them and adds three that English does not have: the list separator 、, the title marks 《》, and the Chinese quotation marks.

空两格是手写和印刷都遵守的规矩：两个格子，正好是两个汉字的宽度。段落怎么分，跟英语一样——换一个意思就换一段。上一课说的承接词语“于是”“后来”“因此”常常放在段落的开头，读的人一看就知道上下两段是什么关系。

The two-space indent holds in handwriting and in print alike — two cells, exactly the width of two characters. Where you break a paragraph is decided as in English: a new idea, a new paragraph. The linking words from the last lesson, 于是, 后来, 因此, often open a paragraph, telling the reader at a glance how it hangs on the one before.

因为标点占格子，所以汉语的句子看起来比英语宽松。还有一条排版的规矩：标点符号不能出现在一行的开头。句号、逗号、顿号要是正好走到行首，就得跟前面那个字挤在一起，或者把那个字挪到下一行。这条规矩电脑会自动处理，可是手写的时候要自己注意。

Because each mark occupies a cell, Chinese text looks airier than English. One typesetting rule follows from it: punctuation may never begin a line. If a full stop, comma or 、 lands at the head of a line it must squeeze in beside the character before it, or that character moves down. Software handles this for you; your handwriting will not.

顿号是短停，逗号是长停：并列的词语用顿号，分句和分句之间才用逗号。“因为下雨，所以我们没去”里的停顿是分句的停顿，用逗号；“书、笔、本子”是三个词并列，用顿号。这两个符号写错，句子的层次就乱了。英语只有一个逗号，两件事都做，汉语分得清楚。

、 is the short pause and ，the long one: coordinate words take 、, while the break between clauses takes ，. In 因为下雨，所以我们没去 the pause separates clauses, so it is a comma; in 书、笔、本子 three words are simply listed, so it is 、. Mix them up and the layers of the sentence blur. English asks one comma to do both jobs; Chinese keeps them apart.

引原话的时候，前面用冒号提起下文，句号放在引号里面：老师说：“明天考试。”书名号里面还可以再套一层，用单书名号：《读〈红楼梦〉有感》。省略号“……”表示话没说完，破折号“——”表示解释或者话题一转。这几个符号写对了，一段中文就像样了。

To quote someone, a colon opens the way and the full stop stays inside the quotation marks: 老师说：“明天考试。” A title inside a title takes the single form 〈 〉. The six-dot ellipsis means the words trail off; the double dash marks an explanation or a turn of topic. Get these right and a paragraph of Chinese begins to look like Chinese.