VOA慢速英语2014 写记叙文时如何找到合适的措辞（在线收听）

Writing the Narrative Essay: How to Find the Words

This is the VOA Learning English Education Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。

A student from overseas did well on a research paper for an American college. She said, "Research takes up space, and the words in the research are correct because the writing is in English." Now, however, she has to write a narrative essay in her own words.

来自海外的一位学生为一所美国大学写了一篇很好的研究论文。她说，“研究内容占据了论文篇幅，而且其中的遣词用字都是正确的，因为文章都是英文。”然而现在，她必须用自己的话写一篇记叙文。

She is afraid she does not know enough English.

她担心自己的英语水平不够。

Such a paper can be hard for anyone. Experts at Purdue University in Indiana define a narrative essay as "often anecdotal, experiential and personal." In other words, this kind of essay usually tells a story from the writer's experience. It is about something the writer has lived.

这类文章对任何人来说都很难。印第安纳州普渡大学的专家们定义记叙文通常为含轶事的、体验化的和个性化的文章。换句话说，这类短文通常讲述作者自身的经历，它是关于作者经历过的一些事情。

A narrative essay usually provides an insight. For example, such essays might be named "How I Won the 100-Meter Dash" or "How I Came to Study in the United States." It is often written in the first person – the "I" form. And it offers a chance for creative writing, for expressing yourself about yourself in the paper.

记叙文通常会提供一种深入了解。例如，这类短文可能题为“我如何赢得100米短跑”或是“我是怎么来美国留学的”。它通常用第一人称我的角度来写。而且它也为创意写作提供了一个机会，让你在文章中表现出自己。

The Purdue experts say that if your narrative essay is written as a story, you need to provide an introduction, a plot, a setting, a climax and a conclusion or ending. Often the narrative essay requires characters as well. And this essay usually follows events in the order they happened.

普渡大学的专家们表示，如果你的这篇记叙文是写成一篇小说，你需要有前言，有情节，有背景，有高潮和结尾。通常情况下，记叙文也需要有人物特征。而且这种短文通常遵循事情发生的顺序。

Judith Baumel is a poet and a professor at Adelphi University in New York.

朱迪思·鲍梅尔（Judith Baumel）是纽约阿德菲大学的一位诗人和教授。

"Sometimes I ask students to remember an early moment with their parents and sort of think about where they were physically. Think about what was in front of them, what was behind them, what was above them, below them. Just describe it out."

她说，“有时候我要求学生们回忆他们此前同父母共度的一个瞬间，想想他们当时身处何处，他们身体上下左右都有什么。然后描述出来。”

Professor Baumel describes the exercise as remarkable. Says she learned it from another writer, graphic novelist Lynda Barry.

鲍梅尔教授称这种练习效果非常显著。她说这是她从另一位作家、图画小说家琳达·巴里（ Lynda Barry）那学来的。

Ms. Baumel also has advice for English students who worry about not using the right words. She says the language has a great vocabulary.

鲍梅尔女士对担心用词不当的英语学生也有一些建议。她说，英语的词汇量很大。

"And that's a real bonus for students who are just learning English. You really can play around with the vocabulary pretty early (in the process of learning the language)."

她说，“所以这对只是学习英语的学生来说是一个意外收获。你可以在学习语言的过程中很早就开始了解词汇。”

She says she introduces language learners to the thesaurus, which she calls "a great resource." A thesaurus is a kind of dictionary. It can help you replace a word with a synonym, another word having the same or similar meaning. Sometimes it also provides antonyms -- words with opposite or nearly opposite meanings from the word you are replacing.

她向语言学习者推荐分类词典，她称之一种巨大的资源。分类词典是一种字典。它能帮助你用同义词来替换一个单词。同义词是指具备相同或相近意思的单词。有时候它还能提供你想替换的单词的反义词。反义词是指具备相反或几乎相反意思的单词。

Judith Baumel notes the example of words that all describe a place to sit, words like chair and sofa and couch and chaise.

鲍梅尔女士举出了描述坐的地方的单词这个例子，这类单词包括椅子、沙发、长椅、躺椅。

"All of this is available online now. Anybody in the world can just go online and get an online thesaurus."

“所有这些词汇现在都能在网上找到。世界上任何一个人都能上网查在线词典。”

Words in This Story

narrative – adj. of or relating to the process of telling a story

insight  -  n. the ability to understand people and situations in a very clear way

plot – n. a series of events that form the story in a novel, movie, etc.

climax – n. the most important part of a story, play, or movie that usually occurs at or near the end

visual – adj. relating to seeing or to the eyes 

graphic – adj. a picture, drawing, or graph used as a decoration, or to make something, such as a magazine article, easier to understand.

graphic novels – n. drawings that tell a story and are published as a book.