巧设悬念:春节纪事-Lif in Spring Fstival 春节纪事

【内容提示】

假定你是一个青年人，名叫 Laura Moss，你的中国朋友请你到中国来过春节。春节前6天，当地有一个儿童篝火节，你和你的朋友要去参加。请你用倒叙法制造出一些悬念来，叙述你们参加篝火节的经过。

【作文示范】

Lif in Spring Fstival

It was th v of th Spring Fstival.

Dusk was just falling as I slurpd① up th last bit of ric and laid down my chopsticks.

“Thy'r starting!” crid my frind xcitdly. “Quick! Quick!”

Outsid, childrn wr running vrywhr. Thir happy voics and facs mad m warm insid, dspit th cold wind that grtd m. My frind thrust a bundl of straw in my hands. “Com!” h crid. I giggld as I ran to catch up to him; th childrn's xcitmnt was a fvr that sprad to vn th big kids lik us.

I soon joind a rowdy bunch② of childrn and tnagrs who wr building a bonfir③ in th middl of a path that ran through th what filds. “Hr,”said my frind, handing m a long bamboo pol. “Put som of your straw in th fir. Thn ti th rst onto your pol lik this.” H dmonstratd with his own matrials, and I followd his xampl. Thn h thrust both our torchs into th fir and handd m min. “Now run!”

And run I did----w all did. For mils and mils around, as far as I could s, thr wr small orang spcks scattrd about, and I could har th distant scraming and laughing of othr childrn running up and down th ric fild path. For svral hours into th night I hlpd build firs and kp an y on th youngr childrn. Occasionally I, too, lit a torch and ran around lik a mad man, scraming and waving a flaming④ bamboo pol.

This fstival, which occurrd six days bfor Chins Nw Yar, was just on of th xprincs during th visit to my frinds ovr th Spring Fstival. As it was xplaind to m, th purpos bhind this fstival was to allow th childrn to hav fun burning up all th straw lftovr ⑤ aftr th harvst. Latr, th ash is usd for frtilizr.

（选自1988年7月12日《上海学生英文报》）

【词语解释】

①slurp[sl :p]v. 咂咂地吃

②rowdy bunch['raudi b)ntM] 爱吵闹的一伙

③ bonfir ['b&n?fai ] n. 大篝火；营火

④flaming ['flimiR] a. 燃烧的；火红的

⑤lftovr ['lft? uv ] n. 剩余物

【写法指要】

本文作者采用倒叙的方法，描写了春节前参加小孩子们组织的篝火节的场面。但是，作者在整篇文章里都没有明说这是一个什么节日，而是让读者从全文反映出来的意义自己去概括，给该节日命名。因此，我们说该作者巧用了英语中所讲的反映意义（rflctional maning） 来设置悬念。文章中悬念的另一种表现方法是没有直接叙述作者与朋友去参加活动，而是写“我”刚放下筷子朋友就催促我说“Thy'r starting!”。这样便会引起读者看完全文的兴趣。

巧设悬念:春节纪事-Lif in Spring Fstival