在许多中国学生写的英语作文中普遍存在的一个问题是,他们不能直截了当地把自己的意思表达清楚.某些美国学者把中国学生的这个问题归结为受了古汉语修辞风格的不良影响.文中以令人信服的事实说明,转弯抹角与词不达意并不是汉语文字固有的特点.作者认为,中国学生在英语写作中出现的语意不清的毛病乃训练不足所致,不应归罪于他们母语中的修辞传统. A common problem in many English compositions written by Chinese students is that they can not express themselves in a straightforward way, and some American scholars attribute this problem of Chinese students to the negative influence of the ancient Chinese rhetorical style. With convincing facts, it is not the inherent characteristic of Chinese characters that the twists and turns of the word and the words are not intended to convey their meaning.The author believes that Chinese students’ ill-intentioned problems in English writing are due to insufficient training and should not be blamed on their native language The rhetorical tradition.