写作:人物描述 - Description of a Person (2)
中级班的。
有倾向性的描述人物还是难点。这时候,读范文成为有效的学习方法。比如同样描写林肯,一个现代作家和一个内战时期的南方作家对林肯的描述用词就很不相同。读范文的时候,同样是外貌描述,可以用褒义词和也可以用贬义词,读者的感受就很不相同。
这个是褒义的描写:
Physically, he was a tall, spareman, six feet and four inches in height. He stooped, leaningforward as he walked. He was very athletic, with long sinewy arms,large, bony hands, and of great physical power.His forehead washigh, his hair dark, nearly black, and rather stiff andcoarse; ...
这是贬义描写:
Abraham Lincoln was six feet fourinches high. He was thin in the chest, wiry, sinewy, raw-boned, andnarrow across the shoulders. His legs were unnaturally long and outof proportion to his body. His forehead was high and narrow, hisjaws long, his nose long, large and blunt at the tip,....
“raw-boned”,呵呵
有倾向性的描写,理解起来不难,就是用英文不容易写出来,英文挡道了。。。。
接下来是怎么围绕着一个暗喻来描写一个人物。比如,狄更斯笔下的Scrooge (A Christmas Carol)“The cold within him froze his old feature."然后所有的外貌描述都在凸显“cold”这个暗喻。用词上:flint, frosty, steel,iced。。。不过这个貌似有些进行不下去了,呵呵。不光是英文的问题,平时阅读没有分析到这么深,靠看几篇范文,终归是不得要领。
我感觉中文好的孩子明显有优势。如果能把中英文同类的东西对比着读,应该很有意思。比如,民国时期不同的人对鲁迅外貌的描写,廖静文对蒋碧薇的描写,呵呵。我是没有这个水平。
结论:是还是要在阅读上花功夫。