如果一个人在收集资料，回答问题或者解决难题，广义上来说就是在做研究。
If one is collecting data, answering questions, or solving complex problems, one is doing research in a broad sense.
如果我们都在从事与此类似的研究，但却没有人把方法和结果写下来的话，那么任何研究都是无法继续的。可以这么说，我们的生活中严重依赖着那些写出研究成果的人，如各种论文文献，豆瓣上的影评，知乎的答疑，百度，Google和维基百科的各种条目等等……他们把自己的研究成果写下来，因为他们预期有一天，他们的资料将解答别人的问题。
Research can only continue if we are all writing and sharing the questions, methods and results. Our lives rely heavily on those who write research results on different platforms, such as various papers and documents, movie reviews on Douban, Q&A on Zhihu, various entries on Baidu, Google and Wikipedia, etc… They write down and share the findings because they expect that one day, their work will answer other people’s questions.
实际上，如果没有这些经过实验、值得信赖的研究作为参考，我们将会像井底之蛙般局限在当下的环境里或傻瓜般的道听途说中。当然，我们都可以认为自己的主张是合理的。但是我们已经看到错误的甚至于危险的观念被广为流传，许多人在没有相当的证据下相信了太多的意见。而那些从未凭借任何研究采取行动的人，则会把自己和他人导向灾难。这样的事情在学术, 金融和工业领域屡见不鲜。
In fact, without such empirical, trustworthy research as a reference, we would be limited to current opinions, trapped like frogs in a well of our own experience or the hearsay of fools. Of course, we can all argue that our claims are justified with some “pieces of evidence”. But we’ve seen erroneous and even dangerous beliefs spread widely, and many people believe too many opinions without comparable evidence. And those who act without reason lead themselves and others to disaster. Such things happen all the time in academia, finance, and industry in the past and present.
我认为每个人都有十足的理由去认真的做一些研究，不管你选择哪种生涯，你的研究会引导你参与这个最古老，最受人尊重的人类对话中。也许你觉得自己似乎无法有所贡献，就此刻而言，或许是个事实，但是在将来的某个时刻，你将被要求加入一场对话，而这场对话中，在它最有作用的时刻，它可以帮助你与你所属的团体免除无知、偏见和误解，免于那些虚假学者专家强加与我们的一些不成熟的想法。
I think there are good reasons for everyone to do some serious research, and no matter which career you choose, your research will lead you to engage in one of the oldest and most respected human conversations. You may feel like you can’t contribute, which may be true by now. But at some point in the future, you’ll be asked to join a conversation. This conversation will help us and our community you belong to be free from ignorance, prejudice, misunderstanding, and some immature ideas imposed by false scholars and experts.
这个世界因为研究的关系，每天都在改变，这些改变不见得都是朝好的方向发展，但如果好好去做，研究对于改善我们的生活的每一层面，都将有一定的影响。你的研究方法或者研究报告或许不能改变世界，但是至少它可以改变你周围的环境。
The world is changing every day due to research. These changes may be in a different direction, but if done well, research will have a decisive impact on improving every aspect of our lives. Your research approach or findings may not change the world, but at least they can change the environment around you. (You cannot change all the people around you, but you can change the people you choose to be around.)
话虽如此，每当发出参与研究对话的邀请的时候，多数人都会拒绝，因为面临这样的研究，意味着这个人将承担生活外更多的工作，例如如何去细化问题、如何找严谨的资料、准备答案和支持这个答案的论证，并且要仔细的把研究的结果写下来。甚至，即使写出了一流的报告，阅读这封报告的很可能不是急切的读者，而只是其朋友, 同事或团队。
Having said that, whenever an invitation to participate in a research dialogue is offered, people usually say no, because, in such a dialogue, you will have to find good questions, rigorous data, answers and strong arguments to support the answers, and eventually write down the results of the research carefully. Even if you write a top-notch report, the reality is that the public does not care, maybe your friend, colleague and team may give it a skim.
除此之外，对于搞科研的学者而言, 你或许会想：老板对我的题目已经很清楚了，如果他直接告诉我答案或方法，我就能专心的研究这些具体的内容。 如果我无需向任何人报告，而我把报告写了出来，除了能证明我能写出来之外，还可以得到什么呢？
In addition, for scholars engaged in scientific research, the supervisor already knows about my topic and problem. If they directly tell me the answer or method, I can concentrate on these specific points, so why waste the time now. If I don’t have to report to anyone, but I write the report, what do I gain except prove that I can write it?
下面就是答案, 简单的来说就三点：
Here is the answer. Simply put here, there are three points in total:
1、写作有助于记忆 Writing helps to memorise X
写下自己的工作，是为了将它们记住。只有少数天赋异常的幸运儿能够不写下来，却还能记得这些信息。
Please write down your work to remember them. Only a lucky few exceptionally gifted can retain the information without writing it down.
例如：当我想到张三根据李四的研究而有新的发现，然后与王五奇怪的数据作比较，而这些数据是由赵六所支持的。但是，等一下——我已经忘记张三的研究结果了。所以写作可以让自己的大脑尽可能记清楚大部分的数据。
Writing can make your brain remember most of the data as much as possible. For example, when I think of Alice’s new discoveries based on Bob’s research and compare them with Chris’s strange data, which David supports. But wait a minute – I’ve already forgotten about Alice’s research results.1
2、写作有助于理解 Writing helps to understand X
当你用新的方式安排及重新安排研究的结果时，你会发现新的关联，对比，复杂性及意涵。
As you arrange and rearrange the results of your research in new ways, you discover new connections, contrasts, complexities, and implications.
例如：我想用李四的观点，但他的论证与张三的比较起来似乎不完整。当我比较两者，发现张三忽略了李四论证的最后部分。嗯，如果我以王五的这部分内容来介绍它，我就能集中与李四让我提出问题的论证部分。写作有利于对所发现的有更好的理解，从而发现更宽广的意义，进而丰富你的思考。
For example, I want to use Bob’s point of view, but his argument seems incomplete compared with Alice’s. When I compared the two, I found that Alice ignored the last part of Bob’s argument. If I introduce this part with Chris’s content, I can focus on the part of the argument that Bob asks me to ask. Writing facilitates a better understanding of what you discover, which leads to broader meanings that enrich your thinking.
3、写作可以获得新的观点 Writing can gain new perspectives of X
虽然写作只是把你脑子里面的思维变成文字，进而以更清楚的书面形式把自己的思考看得更清楚，但另一个理由就是这种书面形式会让你的观点更清晰，并且不至于过分夸张。你只有从快速混乱的思维中将特定的想法分离出来，并以一种有组织、有条理的形式确定下来后，才能知道自己真正能思考什么。
While writing is just putting the thoughts in your head into words to see your ideas more clearly in written form, the written document helps to make your point more precise and less overwhelming to exaggerate. You will know what you want to express once you have separated specific thoughts from the rapid chaos of your mind and settled them down in an organised and orderly form.
简而言之，任何研究者都应该锻炼自己的写作能力，如此才能够有正确的记忆、更好的理解，以及更清楚自己的思维。同时，你也会发现，当你写的更好的时候，你在阅读上也会更加具有批判力。
In short, any researcher should exercise their writing skills to have correct memory, better understanding, and clearer thinking. At the same time, you will also find that when you write better, you will be more critical in reading and reviewing.
-完-
注: 2022-Feb-05 根据中文添加了英文翻译.
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