成人英语自学探讨——非专业人士的一点感受

蓝田日暖

有段时间描写人物的穿着打扮比较多，就学习了不少这方面的词汇，通常是写作过程中发现有些词不会搜索发现。

立刻列出一些我知道并且常用的：

bucket hat 渔夫帽；baseball cap 棒球帽；beret 贝雷帽；beanie 无边小帽；pocket square （西服口袋）装饰方巾；suit 西服；suit jacket 西服上装；waistcoat 背心/马甲；tank top 一般男生夏天穿的无袖背心；shirt 衬衫；plaid shirt 格子衬衫；striped shirt 条纹衬衫；slacks 宽松长裤；leggings 绑腿或者打底裤；unbuttoned 敞口/不系纽扣的…… unbuttoned shirt/coat。。。。。。；overcoat 大衣（一般冷天穿的）；gown 礼服（女星红地毯穿的基本可以叫gown）；robe 浴袍等；sleeveless …… 无袖的；sleeveless T-shirt 无袖T恤衫；long-sleeved 长袖的；long-sleeved T-shirt 等等；high-heeled 高跟的；breast pocket 胸袋；tie 领带；bow-tie 蝴蝶领结；tie clip/clasp/slide/bar 领结；cuff links 袖扣；waders 防水高筒靴；chest waders 渔夫装/钓鱼裤……

头发：
卷发（ have long） curls；刘海 bangs；软趴趴/耷拉的头发 limp hair；slicked-back/combed-back hair 背头/向后梳的发型；mullet 曾经流行，最近也流行过的发型（见某一时期的吴亦凡）；bun 发髻；plait 辫子；smooth hair 柔顺的头发；ponytail 马尾辫；wig 假发；perm 烫卷发

这样写太枯燥了，还是写几段具体的描述吧，注意其中的一些介词——介词我不具体说了。

In his dark-blue silk shirt and ripped jeans, right before they went on to the stage, Jack showed a video clip to his team member Jerry, "Could you be more obvious? You are an idol now. You should know how to manage your facial expressions." Jerry, who wore a very formal black suit, turned around with a dumbfounded face, replied, "I am the one who fails to hide emotions? I?!" But he got no answer from the asker, because Jack was busy putting on a glittery jacket over his already sparkling shirt.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiding his face behind a mask and sunglasses, he walked fast in the terminal. He wore a white T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers, very different from his usual style. No bling-bling but a simple ring was seen on his fingers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's wrong with your hair?"

"I wanna ask the same question of that stylist who cut my hair so short. And finally my hair became a plant because only the middle part was long enough to stand up. "

"Okay. Interesting. Your face looked chubby but his was sharp."

"Yeah! He was quite handsome. I really liked his style back then. He had lots of earrings and he knew how to make himself manly with earrings. Usually people think earrings make men look girly."

"Let's be honest. Whoever had such a sharp face can rarely look girly. So what about his style these days?"

"I think he is a bit lazy but he disagreed, and then he said it was time-consuming to choose what to wear among so much jewelry. So I caught him. I'm right."


...

蓝田日暖

重要词汇

如果我对什么特别感兴趣，特别想要探索或描述这样东西的话，那么与此有关的词汇（中英文）对我来说就是重要词汇，我会查找确认。比如，最近idyllic这个词就比较重要。在英文写作过程中，许多词汇会很自然出现，有不少过去我并没有仔细背诵或琢磨过用法，但当它们自动出现时，正确概率很高，这也是写作的有趣——你不知道究竟什么情节会出现，哪个词汇会出现在哪里。

How interesting he met an Asian guy in this foreign remote town! As he walked in TT Inn, he could feel all the eyes were focused upon him. All the eyes only added up to ten eyes, because there were just five people and one was the owner. Then, to his surprise, four of them began to shift their glance between him and another man, a man sitting by the backyard door. He looked over and discovered that that man was Asian too.

Never would he felt interested in approaching an Asian guy in big cities, but after a long time not seeing any Asian people, he felt excited. He walked to his table, asking whether he could sit there, and the answer was a quick "yes." Though not from the same country, they still communicated well in English. Shortly after he got his drink, this new friend said to him, "I had a plot of land nearby, wanna go? I live off-grid. Do you know off-grid?" Shaking his head, he remembered something important, "Is it idyllic? Full of natural beauty?" A big grin crawled upon this young man's face, and with such confidence, he answered, "Of course. I'm sure you will love it. You can visit my cottage, vegetable garden and my buddies-I have a dog, four ducks and two rabbits."

He couldn't imagine what exactly that place would be, which immediately enhanced his curiosity. And soon he was sitting in a pickup, heading for unknown countryside. What he was gonna see really amazed him and became one of his most beautiful memories.

The pickup stopped in front of a small cottage. It's cute and rustic, not flashy at all. A large jujube tree stood in the "yard," accompanied by a wooden swing. He heard ducks quacking from somewhere while his friend was being greeted and licked by a furry dog...

就不具体写了，最近看了一些园艺农耕节目，就把它们写进了随机故事里。

蓝田日暖

我很喜欢描写表情神态，动作，氛围，经常会使用一些词，列一下：

震惊：shocked, gobsmacked, dumbfounded, devastated, startled, taken aback,
冷漠：indifferent, aloof, not interested, having a poker face, detached
皱眉：frown
快乐：smiley, happy, having a big grin on the face, having a big smile; happiness is written all over his/her face
快乐具体化：
突然轻快起来：brighten (up), lighten up
眼睛发亮（表示快乐）: Her eyes sparkle (with excitement/happiness). His eyes glow.

黑眼圈：dark circles. He has dark circles under his eyes.

喜欢：like, love, be fond of, be captivated by, be attracted to, fall for, fall in love with



例子：
接122，其中一位看似普通的家伙J其实是Kpop偶像，这两人在J的演唱会重逢，一些有趣的场景发生了。舞台上的那位穿得很花哨，白色卷发烟熏妆，和平时不化妆的样子差别很大，台下那位自然认不出，就觉得台上有个小伙特别好玩，一个劲往他那个方向看，也不知道在该干什么。


Colorful lights flashed around and L's eyes were forced to squint. He was not satisfied with his cousin who dragged him to this concert of a Kpop group, but he hadn't seen her for a long time, so he still said "yes" to her.

He looked like an old man who was gonna get a heart attack surrounded by girls' crazy shouting. Geez! He frowned and then was amused by their passion. Some girls even began to cry with happy tears. "Is it too late for me to get out?" he pondered. Just then, he heard powerful drumbeats, and coupled with them were a dozen of young flowery men. Maybe less then a dozen, but definitely more than eight. They wore bright red suits, glittery jewelry and a lot of makeup. L couldn't help roasting their style while girls and some boys in the stadium started a game titled "who is shouting 'oppa' louder."

Gobsmacked, L looked at his tearful cousin and then looked at the stage where that white-haired guy was staring in the direction of his cousin or him?  "Who is this guy? Is he interested in my cousin?" L's main focus never put on the performance, because his mind was twisted in this cult-like ambience. He couldn't understand a fanatic fan's stance and he wanted to. However, that guy, by his antics, always distracted him from observing the audience. He would quickly move to other parts of the stage and then dance back to the nook near them and try his best to stay there as long as he can until other members push him away. "What are you doing, bro?" L felt that he was haunted by a lot of myths: Why theses fans so crazy? Why this guy kept looking in this direction? What's his motive?

...

蓝田日暖

我的脑海里浮现出一幕场景。嗯，那顶帽子算是豹纹吗？豹纹用英文怎么说呢？我踌躇片刻，决定先别管，后续再查。再出现一个，还是决定后续再查，也不是什么紧急必需事项。

某天晚上，十一点左右，我突然很想查那些词了，心动就行动，我立刻拿起手机，在有道词典上流连了一个小时。

也有很多时候，写的过程中，或者刚写完一段文字后，我就会去查那些生词。查着查着，可能就被吸引着去查其他看似无关的词了。

最近在youtube上看了一部Grandfather的纪录片，记录了作者祖父一年四季的农场生活，画面宁静美好，有许多我喜欢的劳动细节。我决定描述其中的一些场景，需要确认一些词汇，就有了如下新学词汇：

scythe 长柄大镰刀；cluck 母鸡叫；stockpot 汤锅；sharpening stone磨刀石；sweet potatoes 红薯等等。

查词时，如发现一些特别喜欢的例句（通常我喜欢画面感强的例句），我会认真读上两遍，甚至记在纸上。

比如floral这个词，有花卉图案的，我就记住了两个例句，可以很快写出来，和原句不会差太多：

Greatgrandma stood at the wood stove, wiping her hands on the stained, floral apron.

He was resting his head on one hand and the corresponding elbow on the arm of the lounge chair.

好了，回到《祖父》这部纪录片，祖父每天清晨很早起床，烧水，挤牛奶，取鸡蛋，准备猪食。冬天，牵着马去林中运树。春天，劈柴，撒种，植树。夏天，取干草，收割，储粮。他的狗总是跟着他在田间地头走。当他把干柴一层层堆起来时，一只矮胖的母鸡会慢悠悠在旁边看着……

我喜欢看这样的场景，也喜欢描述它们。

After milking the cow, feeding the pigs, getting three eggs, grandfather walked back to the farmhouse. Water boiling in the big stockpot, firewood  cracking in the stove, grandfather grabbed his old mug and made himself a cup of coffee. He sat at the dining table by the window and began to brush his bread with honey. Simple but yummy breakfast! Before finishing the bread, grandfather was already eager to go out to plow his fields.

...

This summer morning, grandfather is busy cutting grass to make hay. He knows how to efficiently use his scythe, and from time to time, he would stop and sharpen it with a rectangular stone.

...

Grandfather, his horse and dog, together are walking on a country lane, heading for the fields. It's gonna be a wonderful harvest. A short while later, lots of sweet potatoes are dug out in one field, and a rat is found and fed to the dog.

蓝田日暖

在咖啡店里发现了《Five Weeks in a Balloon》，就这样看了起来。从中间20几章跳看的，显然不是为了看故事，而是想学些新词，还想看看有没有让我喜欢的动作描写。我看了三页，然后把这三页连续看了三遍——这也算是我的学习习惯吧。第一遍看完，不认识的字词马上查起来，等到第三遍时，读和理解就很顺畅了。

回到家后，继续看，遇到有一段描述火山喷发的场景，要命了，很多词不认识。一下子就有点冒火和沮丧，读起来不顺畅很不爽啊，而且觉得自己词汇量不够，接着又想——我这是在干嘛？这是什么学习任务吗？

不过这些想法集中发生在很短的时间里，我很快决定测验自己的学习效率。我把一堆词查完，搞懂意思后，读了两遍，第二遍时，我已经读得飞快了——和第一次简直有天壤之别（那是当然的了，发音都不确定，怎么读？）。我对自己的学习效率很感满意，而且百分百确定，如此一来，我的英语能力又有所增长了——确切地说，心情好时，哪怕只是学了一个新词，我都会为自己点赞（这种心态再怎么强调都不为过，过程和结果因此而愉悦了好几分）。

我学了哪些词及其特定语境中的意思呢，嗯，两三天内学了不少：

lava, torrent, drapery, ape, monotony, stupor, slumber, a tract of, a bank of (clouds), jut, jets of, crater, scorch, encampment, casket, hurl, fling, contrite, hare-brained, folly, at all events, at all hazards, ballast, wretch等等。

喜欢的一些动作描述：

plunge one's gaze into space; cast a glance at sb; place one's hand on some place; lay one's heads together to devise some plan; scan the horizon; leap out of some vehicle; bend over; recline at full length; lean over to sb's ear; snatch by one's waist; mop/wipe sweat/perspiration from one's forehead等等。

蓝田日暖

我在看一支舞，短而有力，很喜欢就看了好几遍。完后，心想：有哪些动词可以用于描写舞蹈动作呢？搜索发现有人总结了200个可以用于形容舞蹈的词语，把它们抄写在了纸上，断断续续地学习它们，认识多少是多少吧。

结合本来就已熟悉的动词，描述某舞者的表现如下：

He stands there upright, bright lights shining upon him, the whole audience already excited and high, but he keeps a poker face to match the theme of the song, a song that is gave and serious. As soon as music starts, he begins to slightly move his shoulders backward at a fast pace while his legs keep perpendicular. He is so familiar with every move that he doesn't need to look at other members to know whether he is at the right place or not.

He flexibly and precisely draws two arcs in the air with his arms and then lays his left hand on his right arm. Seconds later, he lowers his upper body with his arms dangling right before he swoops onto the floor. Now, he is lying on the ground, face down. He is waiting for his timing to bounce right back to where he just stood. After that, another dash happens and in a flash, he moves to the left side and gets down on one knee. Pushing against the ground with fully spread palms, he mildly raises his head and knows that his rap is about to happen. Here he comes, swaggering forward to the center of the stage and singing in his unique low, raspy voice...

He is totally devoted to the performance. He enjoys every bit of it. What a short yet rich and powerful dance!