描述物體（Describing Things）
美文欣賞（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是誰？讀完本文后，你會發現：General Sherman原來是一棵樹，一棵巨大無比、年代久遠的樹！
本文文筆清新，用詞簡潔；特別是時態的變換生動地描述了一棵樹的過去、現在與未來。文中采用擬人化的寫作手法，又給這棵樹賦予了生命的色彩。另外，還應注意學習描述物體的一些具體表達方法。
讀至文末兩句，不由感慨：世間千般事，誰堪評說？唯我樹大將軍！
推薦背誦文段
常用表達法
1.形狀（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.顏色（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.特點（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：多個形容詞的排列順序：
當兩個以上形容詞修飾一個名詞時，形容詞該如何排列呢？一般情況下，我們可以借助opshacom這個詞來幫助我們：
①op代表opinion，指表示人們觀點的形容詞，如beautiful, horrible, lovely, nice等;
②sh代表shape,指表示形狀的形容詞，如long, short, narrow, round等；
③a代表age,指表示年齡、時代的形容詞，如old, new, young等；
④c代表color,指表示顏色的形容詞，如red, black, orange等；
⑤o代表origin, 指表示國籍、地區等的形容詞，如British, Canadian, German等；
⑥m代表material, 指表示材料的形容詞，如plastic, metal, wooden等。
⑦冠詞、物主代詞、指示代詞等應放在最前面。
請看下面幾例：
①a nice long new black British plastic pen
②She wears her beautiful brown leather jacket today.
（她今天穿著她那件漂亮的褐色夾克。）
③It was a lovely old French song.
（那是一首有趣的法國老歌。）
④I have seen this fantastic new British film.
(我已看過這部新的英國幻想片了。)
寫作練習
習作點評
本文第二段銜接過渡自然，馬上將文章引向了具體的描述對象。對兩面旗子描述清晰，給人以比較生動的“圖像”。值得一提的是：習作作者較為恰當地應用了所給詞匯，這一點常常為部分學習者所忽略。
修改建議：
1.第三段最后一句，應改為：for every national flag has ,at least ,the colour of one of the five circles.
2.最后一段首句，應改為：Second, the flag of the U.N., the back- ground of which is blue.
參考范文