英語修辭與寫作·21.3　描寫

21.3　描寫

21.3A　描寫體的特征和使用場合

1） 描寫的目的是通過語言給讀者或聽者以生動、鮮明的形象。這些形象雖然是以文字描寫出來的，但有時比具體色彩繪成的形象更有感染力，因為它們不但有人或物的形狀，還會讓讀者或聽者感到聲響，思維變化以及顏料無法表達的一些韻味。

前面19.2B和21.2A都提到時空（Time & Space）概念，這在描寫中更有集中體現(xiàn)；雖然同記敘相比，記敘更重時間，而描寫更重空間，從而使被描寫的對象形象鮮明和具有立體感。這里是法國女作家Francine du Plessix Gray筆下的一座小城堡：

The landscape out of Aunt Charlotte's window was as flat as any in my memory; there was not a hillock, not a rock, to disturb the monotonous platitude of its horizon. A serene, dead-straight alley of luxuriant chestnut trees stretched from the little castle to the country road. To the left, stood some dilapidated buildings that had once served as stables and servants' quarters. The old greenhouse to the right of the entrance had also been abandoned since the war, when the family fortune declined sharply. In the flower beds circling about the castle's entrance, only the simplest and most tenacious of flowers — hydrangeas, geraniums — fought their way nobly through tall clumps of weeds.

2） 描寫文體常見于下述四種場合：

第一是在日常談話或商業(yè)廣告中對有關(guān)對象的某些主要特征加以簡要描寫，這種描寫方法叫做 Popular method；

第二是在旅游勝地介紹和小說中對有關(guān)對象的多方面特征加以合理組織和富有技巧的描寫，從而推出鮮明豐滿的藝術(shù)形象，這種描寫叫做Artistic method；

第三是在科技文章對有關(guān)對象的特性加以完整、準確的描寫，如同攝影和復(fù)印一樣，目的給人以真實的印象，這種描寫叫做Scientific method;

第四是在詩歌和其他一些文藝作品中通過描寫激發(fā)讀者或聽者的聯(lián)想，并通過自己的想象得到藝術(shù)享受和啟迪，這種描寫叫做Suggestive method。

當(dāng)然，這四種方法是指基本特征而言，不可將它們截然分開，因為在實際使用中也會相互滲透的。

21.3B　寫好描寫文的兩個關(guān)鍵

1） 好的描寫一定要抓住兩個關(guān)鍵：突出的印象和豐實的細節(jié)。試比較下面兩個描寫主題句：

（a） The student lounge is a place where students congregate in a leisurely fashion and as a consequence it is not always attractive and neat.

（b） The student lounge is a messy room.

上述（a）句過于松散，主題被沖淡了，給讀者的印象模糊，而（b）句簡練有力，messy一詞立刻抓住了讀者的注意力：怎么樣的一個messy room呢？

接下去就是要做好細節(jié)描寫。如照上述（b）句進行描寫，就要緊緊圍繞messy著筆，不要寫學(xué)生如何做功課，也不要寫墻上有什么彩色畫報，而要寫諸如吐在地毯上的口香糖、骯臟的桌子上拋下的蛋殼、三明治包裝紙、塞滿煙灰和煙蒂的飲料盒，等等。

練習(xí)二十一?。‥xercise Twenty-one）

I. Preview Questions:

1. What are the two types of argumentation?

2. Can you tell the difference between “proposition argument” and “problem-solution argument”?

3. How many basic tactics should you bear in mind in logical reasoning?

4. Which, between deduction and induction, is the approach of reasoning from a general idea or set of facts to a particular idea or facts?

5. Syllogism refers to a reasoned argument in which there are two statements leading to a third statement. Do you know how to call these statements?

6. What are the four basic structures in Syllogism?

7. Why is it important to make sure that the major premise must be correct?

8. What two basic orders can you follow in Narration?

9. How many basic elements does Narration consist of?

10. Are the four basic methods in Description separated from or integrated with each other?

11. Do you think it advisable to use as much details as possible in Description?

II. Read the following and discuss whether the principles are applicable to argument writing:

As in expository papers, argument papers consist of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The introduction gives background and stimulates the reader's interest in the problem or proposal. But in argument, you must also convince your readers that they can trust you and that they can benefit from your proposition, otherwise they are unlikely to be persuaded.

The body of the paper, too, must reflect your commitment to your readers. The ordering of your points, the kind of evidence you present, the appeals you make, all should reflect your concern for the needs of your readers. The organization of your paper should enhance your reasoning processes and your persuasive tactics. Supporting evidence can consist of statistics, authority, analogy, facts, case studies, historical or social background, or explanation of causes. These should be so presented that, along with the language you use and the way you order the material, they help you develop your argument as forcefully as possible.

The conclusion should summarize the argument and restate the proposition. In addition, to be most effective, it should make an appeal to the readers for whatever action may be appropriate. This appeal can be emotional, capitalizing on the sympathy or indignation that you have stirred in readers. Or you may appeal to the decency and fairness of your audience, or point out how your proposition can affect them.

III. Outline the following short argument.

Notes for reference: Your outline should focus on these points: What is the implicit proposition? The main arguments? Is the appeal emotional, logical, or a combination of the two? How is refutation handled? How effective is the conclusion? What kind of proofs does the writer rely on?

Once people are liberated from the confines of automobiles, there will be a greatly increased interest in hiking, exploring, and backcountry packtrips. Fortunately the parks, by the mere elimination of motor traffic, will come to seem far bigger than they are now — there will be more room for more persons, an astonishing expansion of space. This follows from the interesting fact that a motorized vehicle, when not at rest, requires a volume of space far out of proportion to its size. To illustrate: imagine a lake approximately ten miles long and on the average one mile wide. A single motorboat could easily circumnavigate the lake in an hour; ten motorboats would begin to crowd it; twenty or thirty, all in operation, would dominate the lake to the exclusion of any other form of activity; and fifty would create the hazards, confusion, and turmoil that make pleasure impossible. Suppose we banned motorboats and allowed only canoes and rowboats; we would see at once that the lake seemed ten or perhaps a hundred times bigger. The same thing holds true, to an even greater degree, for the automobile. Distance and space are functions of speed and time. Without expending a single dollar from the United States Treasury we could, if we wanted to, multiply the area of our national parks tenfold or a hundredfold — simply by banning the private automobile. The next generation, all 250 million of them, would be grateful to us.

IV. Identify the topic sentence, the incidents, and the conclusion in the following paragraph.

Notes for reference: Narration is frequently used to tell about personal experiences. You have a variety of personal experiences every day, but they will not necessarily make an effective narrative except they can attract the reader's interest. Most often, the writer may have a goal to describe an experience that has some unusual meaning or significance both for the writer and for the reader. In the following sample paragraph, the writer uses narration to give a factual account of an event — the discovery of Wheaties. Notice that the writer has chosen to explain the different incidents in a simple chronological order.

Like gravity and penicillin, Wheaties was discovered by accident. In 1921, a health clinician named Minnenrode, in Minneapolis, was mixing up a batch of bran gruel for his patients when he spilled some on a hot stove. He heard it crackle and sizzle, and had a taste. Delicious, he thought. He took his cooled gruel to the Washburn Crosby Company, which in 1928 would merge with three mills to become General Mills. Favorably impressed, Washburn Crosby gave Minnenrode use of a laboratory. Alas, his flakes crumbled too easily and turned to dust in a box. Exit Minnenrode, enter George Cormack, Washburn Crosby's head miller. Cormack tested 36 varieties of wheat. He cracked them, he steamed them, he mixed them with syrup, he cooked them, he dried them, he rolled them. Finally he found the perfect flakes.

（Steve Walf）

V. Read the following passages and point out rhetorical features you have noticed in item:

1. The chair was the one piece of furniture I wanted to take with me when I closed up my parents' house for the final time. To look at it, sitting in the same kitchen corner where it had been fifty years, you'd wonder how it could be my favorite chair, its seat scratched here and there from the soles of a small boy's shoes. The only thing unusual about it was the intricate design carved into its back. But the carving was what made the chair meaningful to me. ...

2. Erethizon dorsatus, an antisocial character of the northern U. S. and Canadian forest, commonly called a porcupine, looks like an uncombed head, has a grumpy personality, fights with his tail, hides his head when he's in trouble, floats like a cork, attacks backing up, retreats going ahead, and eats toilet seats as if they were Post Toasties. It's a sad commentary on his personality that people are always trying to do him in.

3. On the outskirts of a little town upon a rise of land that swept back from the railway there was a tidy little cottage of white boards, trimmed vividly with green blinds. To one side of the house there was a garden neatly patterned with plots of growing vegetables, and an arbor for the grapes which ripened late in August. Before the house there were three mighty oaks which sheltered it in their clean and massive shade in summer, and to the other side there was a border of gay flowers. The whole place had an air of tidiness, thrift, and modest comfort.

參考答案

Ⅳ.　Topic sentence Like gravity and penicillin, Wheaties was discovered by accident.

Incident 1 In 1921, a health clinician named Minnenrode, in Minneapolis, was mixing up a batch of bran gruel for his patients when he spilled some on a hot stove. He heard it crackle and sizzle, and had a taste. Delicious, he thought.

Incident 2 He took his cooled gruel to the Washburn Crosby Company, which in 1928 would merge with three mills to become General Mills.

Incident 3 Favorably impressed, Washburn Grosby gave Minnenrode use of a laboratory. Alas, his flakes crumbled too easily and turned to dust in a box.

Incident 4 Exit Minnenrode, enter George Cormack, Washburn Crosby's head miller.

Incident 5 Cormack tested 36 varieties of wheat. He cracked them, he steamed them, he mixed them with syrup, he cooked them, he dried them, he rolled them.

Conclusion Finally he found the perfect flakes.

V. 1. This paragraph is a description consisting of details of location and appearance.

2. In this paragraph of description, simile and irony are used.

3. This paragraph by the novelist Thomas Wolfe draws a picture of idealized attractiveness in describing a modest home. The last sentence sums up the scene and constitutes a kind of direct statement of feeling, as do such modifiers as “neatly”, “clean”, “gay.” But on the whole it is the images that create the sense of middle-class fulfilment.