新西兰英语 671 Christchurch Writers’ Festival

 　　Last weekend, a Writers’ Festival was held in Christchurch. The earthquakes of 2010 meant that the festival was cancelled that year so people have waited a long time for this event. The various sessions were held in the Geo Dome¹ in Hagley Park and the nearby YMCA building. The programme ran for several days and was sponsored by ‘The Press’, the Christchurch daily newspaper.

　　Many kinds of writing and topics featured including biography, memoir², fiction, poetry, travel, food, history and politics. There were talks by New Zealand authors as well as authors from overseas. Also there were panel discussions, poetry readings and writers’ workshops, to name but a few of the events. Many of the new books by the visiting authors were available for people to buy.

　　New Zealand has a strong tradition of reading so events like this festival really help to encourage reading and writing. Other cities in New Zealand also host Writers’ Festivals in other years. There was a great atmosphere at the latest Writers’ Festival in Christchurch and people obviously enjoyed themselves.

　　Vocabulary

　　Geo dome – a tent which is the shape of half a sphere

　　featured – were an important part

　　biography – the life story of a person written by another person

　　memoir – a person’s life story told by him/herself, similar to an autobiography³

　　panel discussion- several speakers talk about a topic

　　writers’ workshop – a practical writing session

　　Thanks to Wendy Kissel for this contribution.

1 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

2 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

3 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。