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寫文章的要點
(Writing an Essay)
了解到段落的寫作方法，現在可以學習如何撰寫一篇文章。基本的短文可分三部分：開始段落（Introductory
Paragraph），發展段落（Development Paragraphs），總結段落（Concluding
Paragraph），作者除了有好的內容外，還須要提供及組織資料，支持自己的觀點，最後是清楚了解讀者，才能吸引他們細讀自己的作品。
第二課：描寫文（Descriptive
Essay）
（一） 描寫文是用生動而形象化的語言把人物，事件及環境具體刻劃出來，如心理描寫，動作描寫，景色描寫，場景描寫等。有時候，描寫文與記敘文會互相補充，使文章更多變化。
描寫可分為兩方面：
（I）
客觀描寫：將描寫的對象如實地描繪，不帶有感情成分，令讀者有所知。所以在描寫時，注意多用名詞及動詞，少用帶有主觀判斷的形容詞。
（II）
主觀描寫：著重感情色彩，以求把一種情緒或意境傳神地表現出來。在用詞時，可多選用感情色彩較重的形容詞。
Example 1 （客觀描寫）：
It
was a narrow room, with a rather high ceiling, and crowded from
floor to ceiling with goodies. There were rows and rows of hams and
sausages of all shapes and colors – white, yellow, red, and black;
fat and lean and round and long – rows of canned preserves, cocoa
and tea, bright translucent glass bottles of honey, marmalade, and
jam; around bottles and slender bottles, filled with liqueurs and
punch – all these things crowded every inch of the shelves from
top to bottom.
Example 2 （主觀描寫）：
Whenever our children came to stay at my grandmother’s
house, we were put to sleep in the sewing room, a bleak, shabby,
utilitarian rectangle, more office than bedroom, more attic than
office, that played to the hierarchy of chambers the role of poor
relation. It was a room without pride: the old sewing machine, some
cast-off chairs, a shapeless lamp, rolls of wrapping paper, piles of
cardboard boxed that might someday come in handy, papers of pins,
and remnants of a material united with the iron folding cots put out
for our use and the bare floor boards to give an impression of
intense and ruthless temporality. Thin white spreads, of the kind
used in hospitals and charity institutions, and naked blinds at the
windows reminded us of our orphaned condition and of the ephemeral
character of our visit; there was nothing here to encourage us to
consider this our home.
描寫的方法：
（I）
白描（general
description）：抓住描寫對象的某些主要特徵作概括的描繪勾勒。
（II）
細描（specific
description）：著重細緻刻劃描寫對象的典型特徵。
Example
3 （白描）：
An
old and popular New England tradition for resident and visitor
alike, is relaxing walk through one of our historical cemeteries….
Haphazard
rows of slate tablets give way in time to simple marble tablets
bearing urn and willow motifs. The latter in turn lose popularity to
marble gravestones of a variety of sizes and shapes and often
arranged in groups or family plots. The heyday of ornate marble
memorials lasted into the 1920s, when measured rows of uniformly
sized granite blocks replaced them.
Example
4 （細描）：
The
stones are marble, modernly glossy and simple, though I suppose that
time will eventually reveal them as another fashion, dated and
quaint. Now, the sod is still raw, the sutures of turf and unhealed,
the earth still humped, the wreaths scarcely withered…I remember
my grandfather’s funeral, the hurried cross of sand the minister
drew on the coffin lid, the whine of the lowering straps, the
lengthening, cleanly cut sides of clay, the thought of air, the lack
of air forever in the close dark space lined with pink satin….
描寫的對象：
（I）
人物描寫：刻劃人物的外貌及思想感情，而思想感情往往通過人物本身的言行舉止表現出來。
（i）
外貌：對人物外表，包括容貌，神情，態度，手勢，姿態，服飾等方面的描寫。同時，肖像的描寫並不是一次性的，注意人物經過時間的推移、環境的變遷，或與人接觸後，可能對其外貌的轉變。
（ii）
語言：人物的語言必須根據人物本身的性格及身份，寫出人物說話時的特點，有能說善道的，有幽默風趣的，有沉默寡言的，並且配合說話時的精神狀態及環境氣氛，才能寫出人物個性化的語言。
（iii）
行為：人物的行為是其性格的具體表現，所以，要選擇最能反映人物性格的行為來描寫。
（iv）
心理：刻劃出人物在一定的環境下，圍繞客觀事物所產生的看法、聯想、感覺，描繪人物的形象及思想，從而顯示人物的內心世界，或根據時間發展，描寫人物經歷一連串事件後的心理轉變。
（v）
角度：可從人物的正面或側面加以描寫，正面描寫是直接描述人物的外貌，行為，心理活動；側面描寫則通過其他人物的描寫來烘托主人翁的性格特質。
（II）
景物描寫：描繪環境，情景，場面及自然現象等，通過景物的描寫來表現人物的態度，及環境對人物的影響。情形就好像繪畫一幅圖畫，將場景的位置及周圍情況描繪出來，有時甚至提供這地方的地理概況，歷史，經濟，政治等資料。
（i）
景的描寫：在處理空間次序上，可從一個現場觀察者的視線，把由近到遠，高到低，左到右，或前到後所見到的景象去描述。
（ii）
物的描寫：可集中描寫空間內某一物件，去表達它與人物的特定關係或在文中的意義，例如一幅人像畫，可寫出其繪畫時間，形狀大小，顏色用料，同時，更進一步，描述人像畫與主人翁的關係，畫中人物的轉變，從而帶出這幅畫的重要性。
Example
5 （寫景）：
A Walk on the Seashore
Not
very far from my house lies seashore in the south. We can go there
on foot in about ten minutes. In summer evenings when the sun is
setting, my father likes to take me with my sisters to have a walk
along the seashore. Though we do not like the loneliness of the
place, we are glad to enjoy the coolness of sea breeze and the
beautiful scenery of the nature.
The
beach is rather rough with many big and small stones on the surface.
The sand is also very big in form and brown in color. At the time of
low tide, we can see the reefs appearing out of the water. It is not
fit for swimmers to come here to bathe, so it is quiet all over the
year.
Moreover,
when the tide is low, we may see some poor boys of the nearby
villages. They carry bamboo baskets on their backs or under their
arms. Running on the solitary beach, they are trying to pick up the
small crabs among the rocks. They take them home for food or sell
them for a little money.
On
the sea, we can see the distant fishing boats sailing back to the
harbour to anchor there at night. The setting sun looks like an
immense yolk. The sky turns into orange red and the surface of the
sea is glittering like a sheet of gold leaf. The waves beating at
the rocks sound like music. After all, a walk on the seashore is
always enjoyable.
分析如下：
（I）
第一段：鳥瞰（方位“我家”south；距離“步行”ten
minutes；人物
my father, my sister and I；整體印象
（the beautiful scenery of the nature）
（II）
第二段：近景（the
beach; the sand; the reefs）
（III）
第三段：人物（some
poor boys of the nearby villages）
（IV）
第四段：遠景（the
distant fishing boats; the setting sun; the sky）
Example
6 （寫人）：
Colan Hobart
She
was ninety-two years old when I met her, a gentle, diminutive lady
in European dress. Her face was deeply lined, and her coarse grey
hair had yellowed with the years. She spoke softly in a quivering
voice that was half English, half American. Her gnarled hands
testified to the years of hard work on the farm in her homeland.
Yet, in her dark eyes and in her gentle manner there was a childlike
simplicity as she told me her tale. I thought “She has the wisdom
that comes with years of experience, and the gentle purity of a
child – a wonderful but strange combination of traits.” I knew
that I would never forget her.
Her
name was Colan Hobart. When she was a young woman, her homeland was
invaded by foreign troops. She had been keeping house for her
father, brothers, husband, and her two young children. One day she
returned from the market and found the mutilated bodies of her
father and one of her brothers on her doorstep. They were among the
many victims of the war. Colan’s husband was much older than she,
and he soon succumbed to the rigorous demands of fieldwork and
mental strain, leaving Colan alone with her two small children. Many
of the town’s people helped her, and she was able to produce
enough on the small farm to feed her family. Shortly after the turn
of the century, her daughter married and went to America. After a
few years Colan’s daughter sent her some money to come to the
United States. Colan had lived in the United States for thirty
years.
As
Colan told her story, her eyes became large with fears and her
breath became rapid with excitement. Then she wept. After a short
time, she sat silently with her head bowed. Suddenly, she rose from
the chair, lifted her skirt to just above her ankles, and began to
dance in short, jerky steps. She sang almost inaudibly in her native
language, but I knew it was a children’s song. The simple melody
and the simple dance steps were those of children all over the
world. Her eyes shone with youthful gaiety, and her voice was light
and happy.
Her
grandson appeared at this time, spoke to her affectionately, and led
her from the room.
分析如下：
（I）
第一段：老婦的年齡，國籍，外貌，性格。
（II）
第二段：老婦的身世，移民美國前的不幸經歷。
（III）
第三、四段：苦盡甘來的今日，由細述往事時的表情與內心的變化來暗示。
Exercise:
(1)
Describe your bedroom or classroom. (eg describe details from
left to right or right to left / top to bottom or bottom to top /
front to back or back to front)
(2)
Describe one of your friends. (eg name, age, work, marriage,
appearance, height, face, habit, interests… / how did you get to
know him or her? / what kind of person is he or she? / what is his
or her outstanding feature? / how does he or she deal with people? /
why do you like him or her?)
(3)
Describe the city in which you live. (eg name of the city,
where is it? / what are its surroundings like? / what are its main
characteristics – important buildings, places of historical
interest? / how is the climate there? / how many inhabitants are
there? / what amusement does it provide? / do you like it? Why or
why not?)
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