【陳東紅 】「描繪」句式學習

Roald Dahl曾與一位小讀者分享他的寫作心得，他這樣說：「I have read your story. I do not think it is bad, but you must stop using too many adjectives.」

形容詞（adjective）當然有它的功用，可是當我們描述事情時，它不是我們唯一的part of speech（詞性）；美國著名童書作家Chris Van Allsburg善用名詞（noun）和動詞（verb）來描繪景象，作品如《The Polar Express》（一九八五年出版）和《Jumanji》（一九八一年出版）顯其風格：

﹣It (the train) was wrapped in an apron of steam. Snowflakes fell lightly around it.（整個火車被蒸汽籠罩住，雪花輕輕地掉落在火車的周邊。）

﹣Santa shouted out the reindeer’s names and cracked his whip. His team (reindeers) charged forward and climbed into the air.（聖誕老人喊叫着鹿兒們的名字，他揮着啪啪響的鞭子，而此時，鹿兒們向前「爬」上半空。）

﹣The lion roared so loud it knocked Peter right off his chair. The big cat jumped to the floor. Peter was up on his feet, running through the house with the lion a whisker’s length behind. He ran upstairs and dove under a bed. The lion tried to squeeze under, but got his head stuck. Peter scrambled out, ran from the bedroom, and slammed the door behind him.（獅子和Peter只有「獅子鬚」（whisker’s length）的距離，那似乎這頭獅子正在貼身追近Peter；作者用「squeeze」去描述獅子把頭伸入牀底時動作，令人想像到動物那伸縮自如的肌肉；而「…scrambled out, ran from the bedroom…」在這裏可想像是「急而慌張地亂跑」，可見Peter被獅子追着時驚心動魄的情景。）

繪本裏有不少文本豐富的作品，另一位要介紹的是William Steig，他的名著《Brave Irene》（一九八六年出版）也非常精采，值得一看！　　熟悉這類「描繪」句式對孩子日後寫作有莫大的幫助；同時，習慣這些「描繪」風格也是為將來看橋梁書（Chapter books）和小說 （novels）打好基礎。

作者: 陳東紅

作者擁有十多年英語教育出版經驗，曾參與英文學生刊物創刊工作及出版英語兒童書籍。

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