Many languages do follow a similar syntax though, that do relate to how plain english is written. I personally started with C#, and when I look at other languages I don't find them very hard to follow because they also follow the same basic 'read left to right' rule. Even coming across data formats such as html/xml for the first time are easy to follow because of the left to right reading.
In your example, the 2nd one is actually what I'd prefer to read as I know that it will be compiled down to 5 ADD assembly instructions, whereas the first looks like it will be turned into a function call that will then initiate a loop. I'm guessing/hoping Lisp optimises the (+) function though so probably a null argument from me. See my reply to nnq for a better example.
In your example, the 2nd one is actually what I'd prefer to read as I know that it will be compiled down to 5 ADD assembly instructions, whereas the first looks like it will be turned into a function call that will then initiate a loop. I'm guessing/hoping Lisp optimises the (+) function though so probably a null argument from me. See my reply to nnq for a better example.