在多年英文编辑工作中，笔者发现有些作者在“数字”这个“小问题”上犯了不该犯的“大错误”，例如，“18 examples are used to verify the effectiveness of 3 newly built models in the test”。

那么，英文论文中的数目是用阿拉伯数字表示还是以文字表示？一般规则是小于10的数字要以文字写全拼，句子开头的数字一律写全拼。

依据上面的规则，上述例举应更正为“Eighteen examples are used to verify the effectiveness of three newly built models in the test”。如果将句末的“in the test”置于句前的话，那么该句中的第一个数目就以阿拉伯数字表示，也即是说，“In the test, 18 examples are used to verify the effectiveness of three newly built models”也是正确的。

但如果数字并列出现，无论数字是否小于10，一般要保持一致。如：The hot deformation behavior of a newly developed steel is investigated by isothermal tensile tests at temperatures of 900-1100℃ with strain rates of 0.01, 0.1, 1 and 10s^-1, respectively.又如：Parents rated children's task attentiveness and emotional regulation abilities when they were aged 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9 and 10-11.