初闻“骨感美”，不懂！据告，此乃“新词”也。不少人视瘦骨伶仃的“圆规式”的年轻女子为美。女子骨瘦如柴，是否美，小文暂且不论，但是，行文无赘词，简洁到“骨”，则美矣。西谚云：Brevity is the soul of wit.（言以简洁为贵）。“写完之后，至少看两遍，竭力将可有可无的字、句、段删去。”（鲁迅：答北斗杂志社问）
以下一段文字的简洁到家，赘词难觅：
In five minutes the clock will strike ten. A beautiful, warm spring evening, April 24, 1942.
I am hurrying as fast as I can while pretending to be an elderly man with a limp – hurrying to reach the Jelineks’ before the building is closed at curfew, at ten. There my “adjutant” Mirek is waiting. I know that he has nothing important to tell me this time, nor I tell him. But to miss an appointed meeting might cause panic, and I should hate to cause extra worry for those two fine souls, my hosts.
They greet me with a cup of tea. Mirek is there – and the Fried couple, also. That is an unnecessary risk. “I like to see you, comrades, but not together this way. So many in one room at once is the best way to jail, to death. You will either have to stick to the rules of conspiracy, or quit working with us, for you are endangering yourselves and others. Do you understand?”
试译（也力求简洁到“骨”）：
差五分钟，时钟将敲十点。1942年4月24日，一个美丽温暖的春日夜晚。
乔装成有点岁数的跛足者，我一瘸一拐地疾行 ----  快，在大楼关门之前赶到叶利涅克家，十点戒严。我的助手米瑞克在那等着我。心知这次他无要事相告，我也无。可是不去赴约，会引起惊慌，我不想给那两个接待我的好人添虑。
他们端上一杯茶。米瑞克已经来了 ---- 还有费里德夫妇。一次不必要的冒险行动。“我想见到你们，同志们，可是，不能这样聚会。这么多人同聚在一间房内，等于送自己入狱，等于送死。要么坚持秘密工作的规定，要么就停止和我们一起干，因为这样做，既害己，又害人。懂吗？”
上段选自伏契克的《绞刑架下的报告》，其“电报式”的文字，可谓删尽了“可有可无的字、句、段”。措辞凝练，故事的惊险得以烘托。
以下句为例，谁能再省一词？
They greet me with a cup of tea. Mirek is there – and the Fried couple, also. That is an unnecessary risk. “I like to see you, comrades, but not together this way.
辩证法又是如此无情，刚刚欣赏了表达之“骨感美”，你又会发现，“简洁”的对立面 – 丰腴，也未必不美。
请读下句：
（1）Those of us who are quitting are the impatient ones who lack the imagination to believe that the bright dream will glow again.
真的奉行“可有可无的字、句、段删去”的原则，那么，上句中的lack the imagination to believe that…则可删，可用一个don’t来取代lack the imagination，而改写成：don’t to believe that….。如：
Those of us who are quitting are the impatient ones who don’t believe that the bright dream will glow again.
【我们这些要离去的人是缺乏耐心的人，不相信绚丽的梦会重放异彩。】
但是，两句相比，我们又发现，修改句略显“气短”，原句表达的从容及衍生出的调侃口吻也被删去了！
译文：我们这些要离去的人缺乏耐心，缺乏想象力，不相信往日绚丽的梦会重放异彩。
（2）I have never been mugged or physically molested in any way, possibly because my large build does not make me an ideal prospect for a hoodlum.
初读，觉得行文拖沓，遣词繁琐，句中的possibly because my large build does not make me an ideal prospect for a hoodlum.不是可以简化成possibly because of my large build吗？行文措词不就更具“骨感”了吗？如：
I have never been mugged or physically molested in any way, possibly because of my large build.
【我从未遭劫，也未受到任何身体伤害，也许是我长得结实。】
咀嚼之余，就不难体会，原表达的“丰腴”，一种从容和幽默，竟在“瘦身”之后消失了！
译文：我从未遭劫，也未受到任何身体伤害。这可能是因为我长得结实，不是歹徒的理想猎物吧。
笔者常惊诧于这样一个事实：成功的汉译英，其英语译文经常显得很“烦琐”，更“丰腴”。如：
有的人在赶路，心急切切，步急匆匆。眼中只有目标却忽略了风景。可路迢迢不知哪儿是终点。有的人如游客，不急不慌，走走停停，看花开花落，看云卷云舒，有时也在风中走，雨中行，心却像张开的网，放过焦躁苦恼。
    译文1：They only have the goal in their eyes, neglecting the scenery on the way. However, the road seems endless and they have no idea of where the end is. Others, like the travelers, walk without haste or worry. They take a break from time to time, appreciating the blossoms and the floating clouds. Although sometimes they also have to walk against the wind or in the rain, their hearts, like a stretched net, let the worries and pains go.
    译文2：Some walk in such a hurry that they only see destinations before them and ignore the beautiful scenery. However, they do not know where the terminal is on the long long road. Some walk as tourists without any haste. They stop occasionally to appreciate the blooming and withering of flowers, the rolling and extension of clouds. Although there are times of heavy storms, their hearts are always like an open net which lets go distresses.
     译文3：Different people go along differently. Some take hasty steps in anxiety. Obsessed with reaching the next goal in time, they spare no time for sightseeing along the way, nor do they have a clear view of where their long roads end. Others travel leisurely like tourists. They would take time off now and then for a look at blooming flowers or fallen petals. They would stop to admire clouds gathering and dispersing. Even when they go against the wind or are caught in the rain, they never get annoyed, for worries slip off their minds as from an open net.
从“行路难，但人生之路谁都要走” → “有的人在赶路，心急切切……”，汉语是能够接受的，虽然句意的转折显得有点儿突兀。语言学家王力教授曾经说过：中国语法是软的，富有弹性。中国语法以达意为主。
然而，译文1和译文2所作的直译，在两句之间没有任何的“添枝加叶”，在native speakers看来，就构成了“语篇层面”上的跳脱。这是因为“西洋语法是硬的，没有弹性”（王力语）。
    译3在两句之间添了Different people go along differently，决非“蛇足”，行文的coherence 和cohesion自然而然得以增强，“丰腴美”出现在字里行间。
    再说“有的人如游客，不急不慌，走走停停，看花开花落，看云卷云舒”一句，
     译文1：They take a break from time to time, appreciating the blossoms and the floating clouds.（15 words）
    译文2：They stop occasionally to appreciate the blooming and withering of flowers, the rolling and extension of clouds. (17 words)
   译文3：They would take time off now and then for a look at blooming flowers or fallen petals. They would stop to admire clouds gathering and dispersing. (26 words)
    以上3句译文的字数有明显变化：15 →17 → 26。
    数字是枯燥的，但是，数字的变化再次向我们暗示了汉英表达之微妙区别，特别是译文3。从“有的人如游客，不急不慌，走走停停，看花开花落，看云卷云舒”可以看出，句子表达十分疏放，极为随意，一个主语（有的人），竟带出了一串谓语。
译文1和译文2，就照这个句型直译。使用一个主语，结果就失却了一份行文的淡定从容，文意也未能得以充分的演绎。-- 看来，英语不相信“骨感美”。
译文3将原句作“一切为二”的处置，They would…的重复，不仅构成了parallelism（平行结构）的对称美，这种形式更好地为其内容（从容洒脱的人生态度）服务。单从表层看，译文3的take time off now and then for a look at确有“累赘拖沓”之嫌，其实，细加品味，却让读者感受到一种“丰腴美”。尤其是and then二词，更有一种音韵。从美学角度分析，blooming flowers or fallen petals比blooming and withering of flowers更可反复诵读，因为，withering of flowers远没有fallen petals所蕴涵的美感。
当然，译文3的情态动词“would”也用得很地道，既表示一种习惯动作，又用其过去式表示一种委婉语气。相比之下，译文1和译文2皆用了一般现在时，略显不足。此乃多余的话。