英语写作略谈：细心阅读文本，精准把握词义

徐海铭

摘    要：本文通過例证略述掌握英语词汇需要通过阅读大量经典文本，学习作家如何使用短小地道的盎格鲁-撒克逊英语词语，在具体语境中细心体会词语的语义、音响效果和文体特色，分辨近义词语之间语义的微妙差别，在日常写作中悉心推敲、恰当使用，做到驾驭自如。

关键词：经典文本;词语;语义;语境

我们在《选料、锻造、定型、上泽：英语写作略谈》一文*中论及了作者选择词汇的音响效果标准，还谈到了通过结构性的特别安排或置放实现写作意图。现在，我们就词汇选择这一话题再深入谈一谈平时在阅读英语文本过程中该如何从词汇使用角度去理解文本。

先看下面一段选自英国小说家Charles Dickens的《雾都孤儿》（Oliver Twist）中描写伦敦一条叫作Smithfield 的大街早上喧闹、气味和各种情状的片段：

It was market morning. The ground was covered， nearly ankle-deep， with filth and mire; a thick steam， perceptually rising from the reeking bodies of the cattle， and mingling with the fog， which seemed to rest upon the chimney-tops， hung heavily above. All the pens in the center of the large area， and as many temporary pens as could be crowded into the vacant space， were filled with sheep; tied up to posts by the gutter side were long lines of beasts and oxen， three or four deep. Countrymen， butchers， drovers， hawkers， boys， thieves， idlers， and vagabonds of every low grade， were mingled together in a mass; the whistling of drovers， the barking of dogs， the bellowing and plunging of oxen， the bleating of sheep， the grunting and squeaking of pigs， the cries of hawkers， the shouts， oaths， and quarrelling on all sides; the ringing of bells and roar of voices， that issued from every public-house; the crowing， pushing， driving， beating， whooping， and yelling; the hideous and discordant din that resounded from every corner of the market; and the unwashed， unshaven， squalid， and dirty figures constantly running to and fro， and bursting in and out of the throng; rendered it a stunning and bewildering scene， which quite confounded the senses.

用狄更斯小说中的话来说，这里出现了“一派嘈杂声组成的喧闹”（a tumult of discordant sounds），让主人公Oliver Twist感到惊愕、惶惑。作家的目光也在不断变换移动，从高处的大街到地面的宽阔地带，从大街的浅处到深处（three or four deep，即三到四列横队），从牲口到人，从气味到物质，从赶牲口的人的吆喝到牲口的不同叫声，从嘈杂的人群到他们的各种拥挤（crowding）、推搡（pushing）、驱逐（driving）、拍打（beating）、高呼（whooping）、吼叫（yelling），真够闹腾，让人惊诧（stunning）、疑虑（bewildering）、惶惑（confound）。这里，狄更斯使用了不同的词语精准描摹牲畜的声音和牲畜贩子（drover）的叫呼，如whistling（打唿哨声）、barking（狂吠声）、bellowing（低嚎）、plunging（猛冲向）、bleating（咩咩的羊叫声）、grunting（猪的嘟哝叫声）、squeaking（短促尖利的吱吱叫声）、oaths（发誓咒骂声）、roar（咆哮声）。众声喧哗，人畜混杂，好一个喧嚣集市的早晨！如果读者看到生活中的街头或者集市情景，不妨学习精准使用这些词汇;勤学常用，注意类似词汇的精微语义差别，时间一长，它们就会内化为自己的活用词汇。

值得一提的是，这一段的第一句“It was market morning.”使用了地道的英语单词（Anglo-Saxon words），文风平易朴实。说起使用简单地道的盎格鲁-撒克逊英语词汇，我们不妨来看看美国作家、诺贝尔文学奖获得者John Steinbeck的《愤怒的葡萄》（The Grapes of Wrath）一书的开头：

To the RED COUNTRY and part of the gray country of Oklahoma， the last rains came gently， and they did not cut the scarred earth. The plows crossed and re-crossed the rivulet marks. The last rains lifted the corn quickly and scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of the roads so that the gray country and the dark red country began to disappear under a green cover. In the last part of May the sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in high puffs for so long in the spring were dissipated. The sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each green bayonet. The clouds appeared， and went away， and in a while， they did not try any more. The weeds grew darker green to protect themselves， and they did not spread any more. The surface of the earth crusted， a thin hard crust， and as the sky became pale， so the earth became pale， pink in the red country and white in the gray country…（P. 1）

A gentle wind followed the rain clouds， driving them on northward， a wind that softly clashed the drying corn. A day went by and the wind increased， steady， unbroken by gusts. The dust from the roads fluffed up and spread out and fell on the weeds beside the fields， and fell into the fields a little way. Now the wind grew strong and hard and it worked at the rain crust in the corn fields. Little by little the sky was darkened by the mixing dust， and the wind felt over the earth， loosened the dust， and carried it away. The wind grew stronger. The rain crust broke and the dust lifted up out of the fields and drove gray plumes into the air like sluggish smoke. The corn threshed the wind and made a dry， rushing sound. The finest dust did not settle back to earth now， but disappeared into the darkening sky.

The wind grew stronger， whisked under stones， carried up straws and old leaves， and even little clods， marking its course as it sailed across the fields. The air and the sky darkened and through them the sun shone redly， and there was a raw sting in the air. During a night the wind raced faster over the land， dug cunningly among the rootlets of the corn， and the corn fought the wind with its weakened leaves until roots were freed by the prying wind and then each stalk settled wearily sideways toward the earth and pointed the direction of the wind.

The dawn came， but no day. In the gray sky a red sun appeared， a dim red circle that gave a little light， like dusk; and as that day advanced， the dusk slipped back toward darkness， and the wind cried and whimpered over the fallen corn. （P. 2）

不難看出，作者没有使用任何宏大正式的词语，也没有使用音节复杂的外来长单词，基本上都是地道的英语本土短小单词（比如开头的come、cut、scarred）。作者描写的是俄克拉何马州的红土地情况，玉米在春天的长势，雨水的来临和土壤的变化，天上太阳微妙的变化和地上色彩的细腻幻变，风势的强弱以及它与玉米接触的不同情状。文中使用的都是常见的高频单词，特别是动词，简短形象。在笔者看来，这里没有任何一个多余单词。同样地，这里也没有任何一句多余句子。这里的每一个句子基本上使用的是主动语态，都在传递事物的运动或活动状态;句子呈现出来的流动感相当强，这是因为句子简短、精悍、有力。唯其如此，才格外传神，表达的意境才容易镌刻在读者脑海中。每个句子宛若饱蘸浓墨重彩的画笔，勾勒出具有特别强烈质感的画面，很容易把读者带进那个特定时空的土地和气候情境当中，为读者在后面感受人物的命运作好铺垫。

在这里，我们感受到了普通英语单词的神奇和精彩。单词不是表达抽象的思想或观念，不是了无生机的静态描述。我们听到了风声;目睹了土壤因为得到少得可怜的雨水而发生的各种微妙变化;亲历了玉米生长的几个阶段，从长出根须到叶子，直至枯萎死亡。我们印象深刻的还有从土壤蜕变出来的各种灰尘，在狂风和微风中，经受不同的命运和结果。此外，作者对色彩的捕捉更是准确微妙，仿佛他就是天才的油画家，对色彩如此钟情敏感。所有这一切描绘，如果作者不是细心观察生活和耐心体会自然景象变幻之人，怎么可能用如此简洁传神的文字准确有力地勾画出来呢？

因此，阅读和理解文本离不开对生活的细心观察和体会，以心入文，让文入心，悉心揣摩。文本用精准的英语小词，去描摹人物和情状，有所区别，有所对照，传神地表达要传递的信息。这是阅读理解的基础，也是用英语写作的基本积累过程。法国作家莫泊桑在论述福楼拜的《包法利夫人》（Madame Bovary）时说：

“Obsessed by this absolute belief that there exists only one way of expressing a thing， one noun to name it， one adjective to qualify it， one verb to set it in motion， he engaged in a superhuman labor in order to discover for each sentence that noun， that epithet， and that verb. Thus he believed in a mysterious harmony of language， and when a suitable term did not seem to him euphonious， he searched for another with an unconquerable patience， certain that he did not have the true， unique word.”

“他（福楼拜）相信，表达一个事物只有一种方式，只有一个名词给它命名，只有一个形容词对它进行修饰，只有一个动词使之运动，他痴迷于这一绝对信念，为了给每个句子找到那个名词、那个形容词、那个动词，付出超人的艰辛。就这样，他相信语言神秘而又和谐，当一个合适的词语在他看来似乎并不动听悦耳时，他就凭无可征服的耐心，去寻找另外一个词语，因为他肯定他还没有找到那个真正的、独一无二的词语。”

大翻译家严复说，自己有时候为了找到一个对应的恰切的汉语表达，要推敲良久，真是“一名之立，旬月踟蹰”。其实，作家写作又何尝不是如此啊。我们在阅读时，唯有精心细致地阅读，对照生活，细心体会，才能感受到作家遣词造句的殚精竭虑，才能日后在自己的写作中精确地使用词语。

参考文献

Dickens， C. 2005. Oliver Twist[M]. New York， NY： Bantam Classics.

Flaubert， G. 2005. Madame Bovary[M]. New York， NY： Bantam Classics.

Steinbeck， J. 1999. The Grapes of Wrath[M]. London： Penguin Books.