“考虑邮票吧，”幽默作家Josh Billings建议道，“它的用处在于坚持一件事，直到它到达为止。”

对于一个有效的段落也可以这样说。统一是写作时自始至终坚持一个观点的品质。

在一个统一的段落中​ 主题句包含主旨，所有支持句用于说明、澄清和/或解释主旨。一篇统一的文章的中心目的是有效地传达。

为什么段落统一很重要

证明统一的重要性的最好方法是展示无关信息的入侵如何破坏我们对段落的理解。下面这段话的原文摘自N.Scott Momaday的回忆录《名字》：生动地展示了新墨西哥州杰梅兹的普韦布洛人是如何准备圣地亚哥的盛宴的。

Momaday段落的统一性因为增加了一个与他的主要思想没有直接联系的句子而受到破坏。看看你能不能认出那句话。

The activity in the pueblo reached a peak on the day before the Feast of San Diego, November twelfth. It was on that day, an especially brilliant day in which the winter held off and the sun shone like a flare, that Jemez became one of the fabulous cities of the world. In the preceding days the women had plastered the houses, many of them, and they were clean and beautiful like bone in the high light; the strings of chilies at the vigas had darkened a little and taken on a deeper, softer sheen; ears of colored corn were strung at the doors, and fresh cedar boughs were laid about, setting a whole, wild fragrance on the air. The women were baking bread in the outdoor ovens. Here and there men and women were at the woodpiles, chopping, taking up loads of firewood for their kitchens, for the coming feast. Year-round, the artisans of Jemez, known internationally for their crafts, would create beautiful basketry, embroidery, woven cloths, exquisite stone sculpture, moccasins, and jewelry. Even the children were at work: the little boys looked after the stock, and the little girls carried babies about. There were gleaming antlers on the rooftops, and smoke arose from all the chimneys, (Momaday 1976).

分析

第三句到最后一句（“整年，杰梅兹的工匠……”）是对Momaday文章的分散注意力的补充。添加的句子通过提供与主要思想（如第一句所述）或段落中任何其他句子不直接相关的信息，破坏了段落的统一性。虽然Momaday特别关注圣地亚哥盛宴前一天发生的活动，“侵入性语句指全年完成的工作。”

通过将不相关的信息移动到新的段落中，或者完全省略非主题信息，可以提高段落的统一性。

段落统一练习

下面一段也是根据名字改编的：一本回忆录，描述了圣地亚哥盛宴前忙碌一天的结束。再次，添加了一个与作者的主要观点没有直接联系的句子。看看你是否能找出破坏段落统一性的句子，然后检查你的答案。

Later in the dusky streets I walked among the Navajo camps, past the doorways of the town, from which came the good smells of cooking, the festive sounds of music, laughter, and talk. The campfires rippled in the crisp wind that arose with evening and set a soft yellow glow on the ground, low on the adobe walls. A natural building material used for several thousand years, adobe is composed of sand and straw, which is shaped into bricks on wooden frames and dried in the sun. Mutton sizzled and smoked above the fires; fat dripped into the flames; there were great black pots of strong coffee and buckets full of fried bread; dogs crouched on the rim of the light, the many circles of light; and old men sat hunched in their blankets on the ground, in the cold shadows, smoking. ... Long into the night the fires cast a glare over the town, and I could hear the singing, until it seemed that one by one the voices fell away, and one remained, and then there was none. On the very edge of sleep I heard coyotes in the hills, (Momaday 1976).

答复

段落中的第三句（“一种使用了几千年的天然建筑材料，土坯…）是一个奇怪的句子。关于土坯砖的信息与文章其余部分描述的夜景没有直接关系。为了恢复Momaday段落的统一性，删除这句话。

来源

莫莫代，N.斯科特。名字：一本回忆录。哈珀柯林斯，1976年。