看图作文中人物话语的描写策略

作者: 唐伟胜

看图作文中人物话语的描写策略0

考研英语大作文(即看图作文)中,经常出现人物之间的对话或人物的心理活动。比如:2022年考研英语看图作文是两个学生讨论是否应该去听校园讲座,其中一个学生说“不是我们专业的,听了也没多大用”,另一个说“听听总会有好处”;2021年考研英语看图作文是父子俩关于传统戏曲的对话,其中儿子说“爸爸,好多同学说唱戏不好玩”,但爸爸却说“你不是喜欢吗?那就够了”;2020年的考题涉及两个人物关于工作任务的心理活动,其中女孩在想“尽早完成才放心”,男孩则在想“不到最后不动手”。

图画中人物的这些话语和心理活动很重要,通常点明了图画的主题,需要在图画描写中表述出来。因此,考生需要掌握转述人物话语和心理活动的写作策略。

一般说来,我们有两种基本方式来写人物的话语和心理活动:直接引语和间接引语。直接引语将人物话语和心理放在引号里面,间接引语则没有引号。直接引语和间接引语的区别主要体现在人称代词、时态和时间表达语等三个方面。

例1:

直接引语:One covered his face with his hand, and said hopelessly, “Everything is over!”

间接引语:One covered his face with his hand, and said hopelessly that everything was over.

该例中,直接引语放在引号中,引号中的时态用一般现在时,间接引语则添加了连接词that,并将时态改为过去时。

例2:

直接引语:... the other reached out his hand to set right the bottle and said with a hopeful smile, “It’s lucky we still have some.”

间接引语:... the other reached out his hand to set right the bottle and said with a hopeful smile that it was lucky they still had some.

该例中,直接引语放在引号中,引号中时态用一般现在时,人称代词用we,间接引语则将人称代词改为they,并将时态改为过去时。

那么,考研写作中,我们应该怎么使用直接引语和间接引语呢?唐老师的建议是:如果两个人物同时都有话语或心理活动,我们可以将其中一个人物的话语或心理活动处理为直接引语,而将另一个人物的话语或心理活动处理为间接引语。通常情况下,我们可以将自己同意的人物话语处理为直接引语,同时将自己反对的人物话语处理为间接引语。这样做的好处有两个:第一,直接引语显示的是人物的原话,更加有力生动,适合用来传达我们同意的观点,而间接引语是经过我们加工过后的话语,适合用来传达我们不赞同的观点;第二,在一篇作文中同时使用直接引语和间接引语,可以更全面地展示考生的语言使用能力,增加作文语言的多样性,从而有利于得到更高的分数。

我们先看唐老师如何描写2022年考题的图画:

From the picture, we can see two girl students standing in front of the bulletin board. The poster said there was going to be a lecture. The girl with ponytail hair on the left said indifferently that the lecture was useless because it had nothing to do with her major. The girl on the right, however, said with an enthusiastic expression on her face, “Lectures are always good to us!”

图画中,第一位女孩说讲座没有意义,因为与专业无关,而第二位女孩说任何讲座都有益处。很显然,我们会同意第二位女孩的观点。因此,写作时,我们先用间接引语表达第一位女孩的话语,然后用直接引语表达第二位女孩的话语。这样的安排一下子就突出了第二位女孩的观点,让整个描写段显得层次分明,生动形象。

再看唐老师为2021年考题创作的范文:

From the picture, we can see a boy and his father in a conversation. Dressed in Monkey King’s costume, and looking depressed, the boy told his father that many of his classmates did not think much of traditional Chinese operas. His father looked at him and said encouragingly, “Well, it is fine as long as you love them!”

图画中,小男孩说他的很多同学不喜欢唱戏,但父亲则鼓励道自己喜欢就行。这里,我们显然倾向于同意父亲的观点。范文把小男孩的抱怨写成间接引语,而把父亲的鼓励写成直接引语,突出了父亲话语的分量。

最后看看唐老师对2020年考题图画的描写:

From the two pictures, we can see a boy and a girl are doing their homework. The boy in the right picture avoided doing his work by sitting leisurely on the sofa, trying to persuade himself that he could leave his work till the last moment. The girl in the right picture, however, kept telling herself, “I should finish my work as soon as possible!”

图画中,男孩说不到最后不动手,女孩说要尽快完成工作。我们无疑支持女孩的观点,因此范文把男孩的心理活动写成间接引语,而把女孩的心理活动写成直接引语,以突出这个我们同意的观点。

在以上几段示范写作中,大家不难发现,这几段图画描写不仅同时使用了两种人物话语表达方式,而且还有一个明显的先后顺序:先用间接引语写出我们反对的那个人物的观点,再用直接引语写出我们支持的那个人物的观点。这样写作的理由是,我们可以借此强调认可的观点,从而顺利过渡到下一段落的写作。

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