Thoughts on “modern nomads”

浙江杭州富阳区新登中学 胡君祥

一个名叫Lucy的女孩在课堂上就“游牧民族”这个话题勇于表达自己的观点，这引发了全班学生的热议。

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难词探意

1. nomad /΄nəumæd/ n. 游牧民

2. exploit /ɪk΄splɔit/ v. 开采；开拓；利用

One day, Mister Arnold was teaching a lesson, and things were going as normally as ever. He was explaining the story of mankind to his students. He told them that humans werenomadsoriginally and they never stayed in the same place for very long. Instead, they would travel here and there in search of food, wherever it was to be found. And when the food ran out, they would leave for other places.

Then he taught them about the invention of farming and keeping animals. This was an important discovery because by learning to cultivate the land and care for animals, mankind would always have food readily available. It also meant that people could remain living in one place, and this made it easier to set about tasks that would take a long time to complete, like building towns and cities. All the children were listening carefully, spellbound by this story, until Lucy jumped up in some anger.

“If that was so important, and improved everything so much, why are we nomads all over again,Mister Arnold?” asked Lucy, puzzled. Mister Arnold didn't know what to say. His heart sank a little.Lucy was a very intelligent girl. He knew that she lived with her parents in a house, so she must know that her family were not nomads; so what did she mean?

“We have all become nomads again,” Lucy said. Hearing it, all the students looked puzzled.“The other day, a fisherman told me how he fished. It's the same with everyone. When there's no more forest left, the foresters go elsewhere, and when the fish run out the fishermen move on. That's what the nomads do, isn't it?”

The teacher nodded thoughtfully. Really, Lucy was right. Mankind had turned into nomads. Instead of looking after the land in a way that we could be sure it would keep supplying our needs, we keptexploitingit until the land was bare and barren. And then we would go to the next place!

Language

Study

Useful expressions for creating a novel

1. expressions to describe emotions

be spellbound by 被迷住了

his heart sinks a little 他的心沉了一下

in some anger 有些生气地

look puzzled 一脸疑惑

2. expressions to describe behavior

jump up 跳了起来

nod thoughtfully 若有所思地点头

Reading

Check

阅读上面的短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。

注意：

1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；

2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头已为你写好。Paragraph 1：

The class spent the rest of the afternoon talking about what they could do to show how to be more civilized.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph 2：

根据表4及图1，高风险性(Ⅲ级)区主要涉及中山区(2-1、2-2、2-3单元)、低山区(3-2、3-3单元)、深切丘陵区(4-1单元)、浅切丘陵区(6-1单元)等7个地貌单元；低风险性(Ⅰ级)区涉及河谷区(7-1、7-2、7-3、8-1单元)等4个地貌单元；其余23个地貌单元均为中风险性(Ⅱ级)。

Finally, Lucy said, “So it is high time for us to protect the environment.”______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

写作导引

一、析语篇，理要素

要想续写内容与所给材料内容连贯、衔接紧密，必须充分了解所给材料的大意和脉络。 本文是一篇记叙文。 文章结构如下：

二、依体裁，巧行文

我们可以基于原文本和续写段落首句提供的信息，构思要续写的故事情节。 这一构思可分为四步：

第一步，根据已给出的文本判断文章的立意。

根据本文第四段中的When there's no more forest left, the foresters go elsewhere, and when the fish run out the fishermen move on可推断出本文很可能是要告诉我们要爱护、珍惜好我们现有的环境和资源。

第二步，围绕续写第一段所给出的段首句进行提问构思：（1）Who participated in discussion?

（2）What was being discussed?

（3）Where did the discussion take place?

（4）How did the discussion go on?

第三步，根据续写第二段所给出的段首句倒推续写第一段一定要写什么。

分析第二段所给出的段首句“Finally, Lucy said, ‘So it is high time for us to protect the environment.’”可知，续写第一段肯定要写学生们纷纷反省自己过去的对环境不利的行为举止。 如此构思能确保续写的两段是能相互衔接的。

第四步，围绕续写第二段所给出的段首句进行提问构思：

（1）What else would Lucy say?

（2）What would happen after what Lucy said?

（3）How would the class protect the environment?

三、润色成篇

在续写的过程中要注意衔接的问题，做到情节连贯，语言风格一致。 从衔接的部位来分有三种：1. 两段的续写与所给短文的衔接；2. 每段的续写与续写段落首句之间的衔接；3. 续写的两段之间的衔接。 同时要注意语法、句型，以及所用词的准确性。 例如，刻画人物形象时要选用恰当的动词使其栩栩如生；描写人物心理活动时要善于使用一些形容词或副词使其细微深入。