英語寫作略談：細心閱讀文本，精準把握詞義

徐海銘

摘? ? 要：本文通過例證略述掌握英語詞匯需要通過閱讀大量經典文本，學習作家如何使用短小地道的盎格魯-撒克遜英語詞語，在具體語境中細心體會詞語的語義、音響效果和文體特色，分辨近義詞語之間語義的微妙差別，在日常寫作中悉心推敲、恰當使用，做到駕馭自如。

關鍵詞：經典文本;詞語;語義;語境

我們在《選料、鍛造、定型、上澤：英語寫作略談》一文*中論及了作者選擇詞匯的音響效果標準，還談到了通過結構性的特別安排或置放實現寫作意圖。現在，我們就詞匯選擇這一話題再深入談一談平時在閱讀英語文本過程中該如何從詞匯使用角度去理解文本。

先看下面一段選自英國小說家Charles Dickens的《霧都孤兒》（Oliver Twist）中描寫倫敦一條叫作Smithfield 的大街早上喧鬧、氣味和各種情狀的片段：

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.

用狄更斯小說中的話來說，這里出現了“一派嘈雜聲組成的喧鬧”（a tumult of discordant sounds），讓主人公Oliver Twist感到驚愕、惶惑。作家的目光也在不斷變換移動，從高處的大街到地面的寬闊地帶，從大街的淺處到深處（three or four deep，即三到四列橫隊），從牲口到人，從氣味到物質，從趕牲口的人的吆喝到牲口的不同叫聲，從嘈雜的人群到他們的各種擁擠（crowding）、推搡（pushing）、驅逐（driving）、拍打（beating）、高呼（whooping）、吼叫（yelling），真夠鬧騰，讓人驚詫（stunning）、疑慮（bewildering）、惶惑（confound）。這里，狄更斯使用了不同的詞語精準描摹牲畜的聲音和牲畜販子（drover）的叫呼，如whistling（打唿哨聲）、barking（狂吠聲）、bellowing（低嚎）、plunging（猛沖向）、bleating（咩咩的羊叫聲）、grunting（豬的嘟噥叫聲）、squeaking（短促尖利的吱吱叫聲）、oaths（發誓咒罵聲）、roar（咆哮聲）。眾聲喧嘩，人畜混雜，好一個喧囂集市的早晨！如果讀者看到生活中的街頭或者集市情景，不妨學習精準使用這些詞匯;勤學常用，注意類似詞匯的精微語義差別，時間一長，它們就會內化為自己的活用詞匯。

值得一提的是，這一段的第一句“It was market morning.”使用了地道的英語單詞（Anglo-Saxon words），文風平易樸實。說起使用簡單地道的盎格魯-撒克遜英語詞匯，我們不妨來看看美國作家、諾貝爾文學獎獲得者John Steinbeck的《憤怒的葡萄》（The Grapes of Wrath）一書的開頭：

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，作者沒有使用任何宏大正式的詞語，也沒有使用音節復雜的外來長單詞，基本上都是地道的英語本土短小單詞（比如開頭的come、cut、scarred）。作者描寫的是俄克拉何馬州的紅土地情況，玉米在春天的長勢，雨水的來臨和土壤的變化，天上太陽微妙的變化和地上色彩的細膩幻變，風勢的強弱以及它與玉米接觸的不同情狀。文中使用的都是常見的高頻單詞，特別是動詞，簡短形象。在筆者看來，這里沒有任何一個多余單詞。同樣地，這里也沒有任何一句多余句子。這里的每一個句子基本上使用的是主動語態，都在傳遞事物的運動或活動狀態;句子呈現出來的流動感相當強，這是因為句子簡短、精悍、有力。唯其如此，才格外傳神，表達的意境才容易鐫刻在讀者腦海中。每個句子宛若飽蘸濃墨重彩的畫筆，勾勒出具有特別強烈質感的畫面，很容易把讀者帶進那個特定時空的土地和氣候情境當中，為讀者在后面感受人物的命運作好鋪墊。

在這里，我們感受到了普通英語單詞的神奇和精彩。單詞不是表達抽象的思想或觀念，不是了無生機的靜態描述。我們聽到了風聲;目睹了土壤因為得到少得可憐的雨水而發生的各種微妙變化;親歷了玉米生長的幾個階段，從長出根須到葉子，直至枯萎死亡。我們印象深刻的還有從土壤蛻變出來的各種灰塵，在狂風和微風中，經受不同的命運和結果。此外，作者對色彩的捕捉更是準確微妙，仿佛他就是天才的油畫家，對色彩如此鐘情敏感。所有這一切描繪，如果作者不是細心觀察生活和耐心體會自然景象變幻之人，怎么可能用如此簡潔傳神的文字準確有力地勾畫出來呢？

因此，閱讀和理解文本離不開對生活的細心觀察和體會，以心入文，讓文入心，悉心揣摩。文本用精準的英語小詞，去描摹人物和情狀，有所區別，有所對照，傳神地表達要傳遞的信息。這是閱讀理解的基礎，也是用英語寫作的基本積累過程。法國作家莫泊桑在論述福樓拜的《包法利夫人》（Madame Bovary）時說：

“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（福樓拜）相信，表達一個事物只有一種方式，只有一個名詞給它命名，只有一個形容詞對它進行修飾，只有一個動詞使之運動，他癡迷于這一絕對信念，為了給每個句子找到那個名詞、那個形容詞、那個動詞，付出超人的艱辛。就這樣，他相信語言神秘而又和諧，當一個合適的詞語在他看來似乎并不動聽悅耳時，他就憑無可征服的耐心，去尋找另外一個詞語，因為他肯定他還沒有找到那個真正的、獨一無二的詞語。”

大翻譯家嚴復說，自己有時候為了找到一個對應的恰切的漢語表達，要推敲良久，真是“一名之立，旬月踟躕”。其實，作家寫作又何嘗不是如此啊。我們在閱讀時，唯有精心細致地閱讀，對照生活，細心體會，才能感受到作家遣詞造句的殫精竭慮，才能日后在自己的寫作中精確地使用詞語。

參考文獻

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.