夏日的農村
【內容提示】
夏日的農村，鬱鬱蔥蔥，繁花盛開，鶯歌燕舞，一派美景。請你用英語將這樣一幅夏日圖描寫一番。內容要點如下：
①夏天伴著它那溫暖的明媚陽光而來，使我們想起了各種美好的事情：在農村的度假，野餐活動，還有那翻曬乾草時節的聚會……
②春天到來的時候，乍曖還寒，大地空曠，草木未長；而夏季到來之時，世界成了另一番景象：是一片綠的世界——綠的樹葉，綠的草地，樹籬間植物蔥鬱，鮮花到處盛開。
③白天長了，夜晚短了；在明媚的六月里，太陽早早起床，很晚才入睡。這是一年裡最美好最有生機的一個月。鳥兒從太陽升起一直唱到太陽落山以後才停息。
④當別的鳥兒靜下來之後，傳來一陣柔和的叫聲；再過一會，聲音大了起來，很快，夜鶯盡情地唱起它那奇妙的歌。
【作文示範】
the countryside in summer
summer has come, with its warm sunny days, making us thing of all sorts of nice things, such as holidays in the country, picnics and haymaking①parties.
when spring came, she found the earth cold and bare, but she soon changed all that, and by the time summer arrives, the world is a very different place. it is a green world now, green leaves on the trees, green grass in the fields, green plants crowding in the hedges②, and flowers opening everywhere.
the days are long and the nights are short, for the sun gets up early and goes to bed late in sunny june. it is one of the best and brightest months in the year. birds sing from sunrise till long after sunset.
as night falls, one after another the birds stop their singing, and after a few last sleepy sounds, put their heads under their wings to rest for an hour or two before beginning again. they do not all sleep, however. when other birds are silent, comes a soft cry, then, after a few moments, another, louder this time; and soon the nightingale③ pouring out his wonderful song.
not only at night does the nightingale sing. on almost every warm day in early june, the little brown bird sings away in the roads and woods, but, as all the other birds are also singing at the same time, we do not notice his voice so much. it is at night, when he has the field all to himself, that we hear the nightingale at his best.
（選自《英語學習》1984年第7期）
【詞語解釋】
①haymaking [＇hei?meikir] n．製備乾草
②hedge [hedn] n．（矮樹的）樹籬
③nightingale [＇naitirgeil] n．夜鶯
【寫作指要】
1）本文作者抓住“綠的世界”和“歌的晝夜”從視覺描寫到聽覺描寫給讀者描繪了一幅生機勃勃的夏日農村的美景。
2）第二段里“green”一詞的多次重複使“綠的世界”深深留在人們的心裡。在第三、四、五段里，作者把“歌聲”這一概念用不同的詞表達出來，如“sing”,“song”,“sounds”,“cry”,“pouring out”,“singing”,“voice”等，如此同義照應，使語義上下連貫，同時也加強和突出了“夜鶯歌唱”的主題。
3）本文作者使用了擬人（personification）手法，文章顯得格外生動：第二段spring和summer兩個詞首字母大寫，用“she”指代“spring”；第三段中的“gets up”和“goes to bed”,“birds sing”；第四段中的“sleep”,“cry”；第五段中的“his voice”,“he”和“himself”都是擬人用法。
4）為了使描寫生動優美，作者使用了分詞短語“making us think of…”，獨產主格結構“green leaves on the trees…flowers opening everywhere”，省略句法“then, after a few moments, (comes) another (cry),(which is) louder this time”，以及傳神的短語“all to himself”和“at hisbest”等。