英语修辞与写作·21.2　记叙

21.2　记叙

21.2A　展开记叙的两条线索

1） 前面19.2B2讲到时间次序（Temporal Order），这正是开展记叙文的一个基本线索。在叙述文中，我们经常使用表示时间的词语，如when, once, at the same time, now, while, then, before, after, next, all the time, during, on such occasions, simultaneously, soon, suddenly, 等等。正是这些表示时间次序的词语把一系列的动作连接起来，形成一个完整的记叙。例如：

When we got the ham home, my mother immediately stripped off the white paper and the string in the middle of our chipped white-enamel kitchen table. There it lay, exuding heavenly perfumers — poud, arrogant, regal. It had a dark, smoked, leathery skin, which my mother carefully peeled off with her sharpened bread knife. Then the old man, the only one who could lift the ham without straining a gut, placed it in the big darkblue oval pot that was used only for hams. My mother then covered the ham with water, pushed it onto the big burner and turned up the gas until it boiled. It just sat there on the stove and bubbled away for maybe two hours, filling the house with a smell that was so luscious, so powerful as to have erotic overtones. The old man paced back and forth, occasionally lifting the lid and prodding the ham with a fork, inhaling deeply. The ham frenzy was upon him.

（Wanda Hickey）

2） 前面19.2B3讲到的空间次序（Spatial Order）是开展叙述文的另一条线索。通过一部分到另一部分的叙述（其中交织着描写），给读者一个立体的概念。这种记叙往往仍然以时间序列为线索。下面是记述几个人乘一叶小舟航行于正在溶化的南极冰山之间的一段动人经历：

They rose and fell on the heaving sea, drawing deceptively apart, then closing with a thud that would have smashed our boat like a gas-mantle between thumb and finger. Castles, towers, and churches swayed unsteadily around us. Small pieces gathered and rattled against the boat. Swans of weird shape pecked at our planks; a gondola steered by a giraffe ran foul of us, which much amused a duck sitting on a crocodile's head. Just then a bear, leaning over the top of a mosque, nearly clawed our sail. An elephant, about to spring from a Swiss chalet on to a battleship's deck, took no notice at all; but a hyena, pulling a lion's teeth, laughed so much that he fell into the sea, whereupon a sea-boot and three real penguins sailed lazily through a lovely archway to see what was to do, by the shores of a floe littered with the ruins of a beautiful white city and surrounded by huge mushrooms with thick stalks. All the strange, fantastic shapes rose and fell in stately cadence, with a rustling, whispering sound and hollow echoes to the thudding seas, clear green at the water-line, shading to a deep blue far below, all snowy purity and cool blue shadows above.

（F. A. Worsley）

21.2B　构成记叙的三个要素

1） 情节（Plot）、背景（Setting）和角色（Character）是叙述文体的3个要素。

“情节”是整个记叙的支柱和框架，由一系列精心安排的事件组成。在较长和较为复杂的记叙中可能有两个或更多的重要情节，它们相互配合或穿插，次要情节服务于主要情节，以形成故事的主线。

“背景”指故事发生的时间和地点，以及有关的周围情况。例如讲述一个足球明星的故事时，可能讲到他出身运动员世家，甚至其父年轻时就是足坛新秀；还可能讲到他的家乡，那里足球运动很普及，等等。背景有助于烘托故事情节，也为人物的出现交代了客观背景，从而使人物更为真实和可信。

“角色”包括人或物，大多数的故事都有几个角色，其中有主要角色和次要角色。角色必须有自己的个性和特征。

2）“背景”的叙述要简明扼要。对情节要善于剪裁和安排，避免繁琐和平铺直叙；一般事件一笔带过，以便有足够的篇幅容纳情节高潮。例如：

For two weeks we camped on the banks of the Truckee. During the days we went fishing for trout and perch; at night we cooked the day's catch, drank hot chocolate, and told stories around the campfire. Usually, before dinner we would gather at the campsite and mend each other's wounds — the various scratches, rashes, bruises, and contusions that camping out causes. Weary but content, we would then retire to our chores, followed by dinner, storytelling, and then sleep, in down bags laid out on the pine needle cushion of the forest.

在较快地交代了两个星期的活动情况以后，转向叙述最后一天所碰到的事，并使故事达到高潮：

On the final day of our trip, I decided to take a walk beside the Truckee and to follow a straggly path that burrowed into the undergrowth ...

3） 角色的成功与否是故事叙述是否成功的关键。背景和情节都是为塑造角色服务。在塑造角色时要抓住三个关键：一是形象描写，二是语言特色，三是想法和行动，而这三个方面都需与情节有机地结合起来。下面一个故事情节简单，人物只有三个，整篇故事四个段落，第一段为背景，后面三段分别叙述英国人、法国人和富兰克林的祝酒词，在故事高潮时表现了富兰克林的高度机智和胆识：

Franklin was dining with a small party of distinguished gentlemen, when one of them said: “Here are three nationalities represented. I am French, and my friend here is English, and Mr. Franklin is an American. Let each one propose a toast.”

It was agreed to, and the Englishman's turn came first. He arose, and, in the tone of a Briton bold, said, “Here's to Great Britain, the sun that gives light to all nations of the earth.”

The Frenchman was rather taken aback at this; but he proposed, “Here's to France, the moon whose magic rays move the tides of the world.”

Franklin then arose, with an air of quaint modesty, and said, “Here's to our beloved George Washington, the Joshua of America, who commanded the sun and moon to stand still — and they obeyed.”