春节纪事
【内容提示】
假定你是一个青年人，名叫 Laura Moss，你的中国朋友请你到中国来过春节。春节前6天，当地有一个儿童篝火节，你和你的朋友要去参加。请你用倒叙法制造出一些悬念来，叙述你们参加篝火节的经过。
【作文示范】
Life in Spring Festival
It was the Eve of the Spring Festival.
Dusk was just falling as I slurped① up the last bit of rice and laid down my chopsticks.
“They`re starting!” cried my friend excitedly. “Quick! Quick!”
Outside, children were running everywhere. Their happy voices and faces made me warm inside, despite the cold wind that greeted me. My friend thrust a bundle of straw in my hands. “Come!” he cried. I giggled as I ran to catch up to him; the children`s excitement was a fever that spread to even the big kids like us.
I soon joined a rowdy bunch② of children and teenagers who were building a bonfire③ in the middle of a path that ran through the wheat fields. “Here,”said my friend, handing me a long bamboo pole. “Put some of your straw in the fire. Then tie the rest onto your pole like this.” He demonstrated with his own materials, and I followed his example. Then he thrust both our torches into the fire and handed me mine. “Now run!”
And run I did----we all did. For miles and miles around, as far as I could see, there were small orange specks scattered about, and I could hear the distant screaming and laughing of other children running up and down the rice field path. For several hours into the night I helped build fires and keep an eye on the younger children. Occasionally I, too, lit a torch and ran around like a mad man, screaming and waving a flaming④ bamboo pole.
This festival, which occurred six days before Chinese New Year, was just one of the experiences during the visit to my friends over the Spring Festival. As it was explained to me, the purpose behind this festival was to allow the children to have fun burning up all the straw leftover ⑤ after the harvest. Later, the ash is used for fertilizer.
（选自1988年7月12日《上海学生英文报》）
【词语解释】
①slurp[sl :p]v. 咂咂地吃
②rowdy bunch[`raudi b)ntM] 爱吵闹的一伙
③ bonfire [`b&n?fai ] n. 大篝火；营火
④flaming [`fleimiR] a. 燃烧的；火红的
⑤leftover [`left? uv ] n. 剩余物
【写法指要】
本文作者采用倒叙的方法，描写了春节前参加小孩子们组织的篝火节的场面。但是，作者在整篇文章里都没有明说这是一个什么节日，而是让读者从全文反映出来的意义自己去概括，给该节日命名。因此，我们说该作者巧用了英语中所讲的反映意义（reflectional meaning） 来设置悬念。文章中悬念的另一种表现方法是没有直接叙述作者与朋友去参加活动，而是写“我”刚放下筷子朋友就催促我说“They`re starting!”。这样便会引起读者看完全文的兴趣。