描述物体（Describing Things）
美文欣赏（Enjoy Reading）
General Sherman
You are looking at the biggest tree in the world. Its name is “General Sherman”. General Sherman is growing on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. General Sherman is about 11 metres across and about 35 metres round. During playtime join hands with 25 of your friends and make a circle. This will give you an idea of General Sherman’s size. General Sherman is also very tall. It is over 80 metres high. It began as a tiny seed many years ago. Imagine! It has been growing since about 2000 B.C. It has been growing for almost 4000 years and it is still growing! General Sherman is as old as the Pyramids. It may live for another 2000 years. What will the world be like in 4000 A.D.? General Sherman will know!
General Sherman是谁？读完本文后，你会发现：General Sherman原来是一棵树，一棵巨大无比、年代久远的树！
本文文笔清新，用词简洁；特别是时态的变换生动地描述了一棵树的过去、现在与未来。文中采用拟人化的写作手法，又给这棵树赋予了生命的色彩。另外，还应注意学习描述物体的一些具体表达方法。
读至文末两句，不由感慨：世间千般事，谁堪评说？唯我树大将军！
推荐背诵文段
常用表达法
1.形状（Shape）
-What shape is it?
-What does it look like?
-It’s square/round/oval/triangular /rectangular…2.大小（Size）
-How big is it?
-What size is it?
-What’s it like?
–It’s 32 centimeters wide and 2 meters long.
–It’s 5 inches by 5 inches (by 5 inches).
–It’s 45 centimetres in diameter.
3.颜色（Colour）
-What colo(u)r is it ?
-It’s red/blue/green/gray//black/purple/pink/
yellow/orange/brown…(in colour).-It’s dark grey/light blue/bright green…4.材料（Material）
-What is it made of?
-It’s made of leather/cotton/nylon/denim;
-It’s made of metal/wood/plastic/glass;
-It’s made of brick/stone/bamboo…5.特点（Something Special）
-Can you describe it in detail ?
-Is there anything special about it?
–It’s a long black leather coat with a belt.
–There is a zip at the front and a pocket beside.
–It’s an old brown Italian leather shoe with a hole in it.
–I like these old black Chinese wooden tables.
特注：多个形容词的排列顺序：
当两个以上形容词修饰一个名词时，形容词该如何排列呢？一般情况下，我们可以借助opshacom这个词来帮助我们：
①op代表opinion，指表示人们观点的形容词，如beautiful, horrible, lovely, nice等;
②sh代表shape,指表示形状的形容词，如long, short, narrow, round等；
③a代表age,指表示年龄、时代的形容词，如old, new, young等；
④c代表color,指表示颜色的形容词，如red, black, orange等；
⑤o代表origin, 指表示国籍、地区等的形容词，如British, Canadian, German等；
⑥m代表material, 指表示材料的形容词，如plastic, metal, wooden等。
⑦冠词、物主代词、指示代词等应放在最前面。
请看下面几例：
①a nice long new black British plastic pen
②She wears her beautiful brown leather jacket today.
（她今天穿着她那件漂亮的褐色夹克。）
③It was a lovely old French song.
（那是一首有趣的法国老歌。）
④I have seen this fantastic new British film.
(我已看过这部新的英国幻想片了。)
写作练习
习作点评
本文第二段衔接过渡自然，马上将文章引向了具体的描述对象。对两面旗子描述清晰，给人以比较生动的“图像”。值得一提的是：习作作者较为恰当地应用了所给词汇，这一点常常为部分学习者所忽略。
修改建议：
1.第三段最后一句，应改为：for every national flag has ,at least ,the colour of one of the five circles.
2.最后一段首句，应改为：Second, the flag of the U.N., the back- ground of which is blue.
参考范文