The Writing Game

By You Jin [Singapore]

The description of a man—especially his looks, should be focused on his delicate facial features.

It’s easy to understand it, and put it into practice as well.

With my special teaching method, I showed the students how to describe faces.

Following my instruction, the students seated themselves into a big circle in the classroom, selected someone in their mind, and then watched him for a while to find out his distinguishing features, which they could highlight with the help of a vivid analogy.

For example, a thick-lipped person could be described in this way, “Slice his lips for a stir-fry, and they can fill three plates.”

Or a thin-lipped person could be described in words like “His lips are so thin that only a line can be detected when they are closed.”

Students all found this game interesting because they used their pen as a gun to level at the target of a person receiving a description.They watched and studied in appreciation and thought before they put pen to paper.Some students even chuckled as they wrote.

After they finished, they read their descriptions in turn for all the students to guess.

It turned out that they could create many amazing sentences from their wild imaginations.

“He has skin as dark as a piece of burned meat.”

“He has a wide mouth, with zigzagged teeth.”

“The moment she laughs, it’s thundering and lightening in the sky, and the dying plants on the earth soon come back to life one after another.”

“He has such light eyebrows, as if they forget to grow.”

“She is as quiet as an unpopulated island.”

Oh, who dares to say that children are too weak to be taught?

(FromThe Philosophy of Epiphyllum, Zhejiang Literature & Art Publishing House.Translation: Wang Wen)

写活你

文/[新加坡]尤今

描写人，尤其是五官，最重要的是抓他们脸上最突出的特征来写。

道理很简单，实行起来也不困难。

把这个秘诀以灵活的教学方式传授给学生。

我让学生们在教室里围坐成一个大大的圆圈，然后，暗暗选定一个自己所要描写的对象，默默地观察，找出他与别人最大的不同在哪儿，再借用一个生动的比喻，把这特色“显现”出来。

比如，写嘴唇厚的人，可以这么说：“把他的嘴唇切下来，足足可以炒上三大碟。”

比如，写嘴唇薄的人，可以这么写：“他的唇皮儿非常薄，合起来时，只看到一条细细的直线。”

学生们都觉得这项“游戏”很有趣，把笔杆当枪杆，悄悄地瞄准自己心目中的猎物，观察、研究、欣赏、思索，然后，振笔直书。有些性格活泼的，还边写边“咯咯”地笑出声来。

写毕，我叫他们轮流把写好的句子念出来，大家一起来猜写的是谁。

结果发现，学生们的想象力天马行空，许多句子可爱得叫人惊叹：

“他的皮肤，好像烤煳的肉。”

“他有一张大口，牙齿崎岖不平。”

“她一笑起来，天上雷鸣电闪，地上死去的植物纷纷复活。”

“他的眉毛，淡淡的，好像忘了长出来。”

“她像是一座无人居住的岛，静得惊人。”

呵，谁能、谁敢说“孺子不可教”？

（摘自《昙花的哲学》浙江文艺出版社）