时间很快，刚刚过去的六月给2018的上半年画上了休止符。几天前的学期期末测试的结束也给我这一学年的工作画上了圆满的句号。恍惚若梦，这就一年了?!?! 清理了这一学年来的各种文稿、书籍，按照领导的指示，整理成书，才发觉这厚厚的一沓沓纸凝结了满满的回忆。这回忆里有我与学生们的欢笑和共同成长，自然也少不了成长里的烦恼与困惑。而这困惑里我想一定有很多来自于对英美文学的畏缩。篇幅太长，言语晦涩，情节枯燥，不知作者所云为何…你一定已经想出了千百种理由拒文学作品于千里之外，所以今天我想写写如何快速理解文学作品的感情基调。
同人的情绪感受一样，文章也有它的情感色调，并且不同的环境背景能塑造出不同的情绪氛围，这实际上和人一样，处在不同的环境里，人的心情也多少会是不一样的。
在文学范畴里，我们将这种情感色调称之为mood，将环境背景称之为setting. 这样说或许不够精确，但是为了方便初学者理解，我们姑且先做这样的定义。那么按照上面提到过的环境影响情绪，我们可以推断出each setting may convey a different mood.
现在在让我们一起来看看关于mood的英文释义。In literature, mood is
a literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through
words and descriptions. Mood helps in creating an atmosphere in a literary work
by means of setting, theme, diction and tone. 换言之, 所谓mood 也即文章于读者的情绪体验。(当读者在读这段文字时，读者的感受是什么。)
setting在英文的释义里指的是the time and place of the story, 也就是故事发生的时间和地点。讲到这里，大家应该已经大致清楚了什么是setting，什么是mood了吧。可是知道了这些又能对我理解文学作品的感情基调有何帮助呢? 恩，别着急，这里我还得再引入the language of evaluation 的有关概念。
我们都知道我们的言语里总是或多或少地充斥着我们对于其他人或事的各种主观看法和评价，哪怕我们极力否认这个事实，竭尽全力表现出客观。这事实上是语言人际功能的一种体现。现实生活中，我们无时无刻不在表达我们的主观体验, “这电影实在是太糟糕了, 差评”, “我喜欢你的这套衣服”, “这是我吃过的最难吃的一顿日料”…… 我们通过文字表达情绪，交流情感，正如电影、图像通过视觉影像传递导演、绘画者或者摄影师的想法、情绪，文章的作者也通过他/她的文字为读者塑造一个他/她想给读者呈现的世界。以上，我们可以简要理解为语言文字具有人际功能，我们在说话写作时，字里行间充斥着情感表达，有意或无意地透露自己对他人及事物的态度。
这种态度可以是人的情绪感受(feelings), 也可以是对他人的判断(people), 亦或是对事物的评价(things).
基于此，我们给这三个方面冠以discourse analysis领域里的专有名词，分别是affect, judgment and appreciation.
打个比方，我们在表达痛苦心碎时可以这样说，I was torn to pieces. 这无疑是人物的直接心里感受，也即affect. 当“我”在描述其他人时，我们有意无意的透露出对这个人的评价，例如，He is a beautiful, big and strong person. 从这句描述里，我们可以看到作者对他给予了非常正面的(positive)评价。这是judgment 。而当我们评价事物时，我们也有类似的例子，比如This is a very serious issue. 这里我们可以称之为appreciation.
好了，有了以上概念的加持，让我们一起来看看以下这篇文章节选吧！
• It was years since the bombs had been banned, but still the cloud never lifted. Whitish gray, day after day, sometimes darkening to a weeping slate colour or, at the end of an evening, turning to smoky copper, the sky endlessly, secretively brooded.
• Old people began their stories with the classic, fairy-tale opening: “Long, long ago, when I was a liddle un, in the days when the sky was blue…” and children, listening, chuckle among themselves at the absurd thought, because, blue, imagine it! How could the sky ever have been blue? You might as well say, “In the days when the grass was pink.”
• Stars, rainbows, and all other such heavenly sideshows had been permanently withdrawn, and if the radio announced that there was a blink of sunshine in such and such a place, where the cloud belt had thinned for half an hour, cars and buses would pour in that direction for days in an unavailing search for warmth and light.
• After the wedding, when all the relations were standing on the church porch, with Lily shivering prettily in her buttercup nylon, her father prodded the dour and withered grasson a grave — although it was August, the leaves were hardly out yet — and said, “well, Tom, what are you aiming to do now, eh?”
• Going to find a bit of sun and have our honeymoon in it,” said Tom. There was a general laugh from the wedding party.
• “We’ll come back brown as — as this grass,” said Tom, and ignoring the good-natured teasing from their respective families, the two young people mounted on their scooter, which stood ready at the churchyard wall, and chugged away in a shower of golden confetti. When they were out of sight, and the yellow paper had subsided on the gray and gritty road, the Whitehorse and the Huskiness strolled off, sighing, to eat wedding cake and drink currant wine, and old Mrs. Hoskins spoiled
everyone’s pleasure by bursting into tears as she thought of her own wedding day when everything was so different.
• Meanwhile Tom and Lily buzzed on hopefully across the gray countryside, with Lily’s veil like a gilt banner floating behind. It was chilly going for her in her wedding things, but the sight of a bride was supposed to bring good luck, and so she stuck it out, although her fingers were blue to the knuckles. Every now and then they switched on their portable radio and listened to the forecast. Inverness had seen the sun for ten minutes yesterday, and Southend for five minutes this morning, but that was all.
• “Both those places are a long way from here,” said Tom cheerfully. “All the more reason we’d find a nice bit of sunshine in these parts somewhere. We’ll keep on going south. Keep your eyes peeled, Lil, and tell me if you see a blink of sun on those hills ahead.”
• But they came to the hills and passed them, and a new range shouldered up ahead and then slid away behind, and still there was no flicker or patch of sunshine to be seenanywhere in the gray, winter-ridden landscape. Lily began to get discouraged, so they stopped for a cup of tea at a drive-in.
• “Seen the sun lately, mate?” Tom asked the proprietor.
• He laughed shortly. “Notice any buses or trucks around here? Last time I saw the sun was two years ago September; came out just in time for the wife’s birthday.”
• “It’s starts I’d like to see,” Lily said, looking wistfully at her dust-colorer tea.
“Ever so pretty they must be.”
• “Well, better be getting on I suppose,” said Tom, but he had lost some of his bounce and confidence. Every place passed through looked nastier than the last, partly on account of the dismal light, partly because people had given up bothering to take a pride in their boroughs. And then, just as they were entering a village called Molesworth, the dimmest, drabbest, most insignificant huddle of houses they had come to yet, the engine coughed and died on them.
此片段描述了在一个没有太阳的地方，一对年轻的新婚夫妇满心期待地开始了他们的蜜月之旅，而他们此行的目的只为找到有阳光的地方。他们的这一举动遭到了来自亲朋好友的嘲笑和嗤之以鼻，毕竟这么多年以来，咱村谁也没有见过太阳，太阳只存在于遥远的故事里，你俩小年轻放下大话说是要开启逐日之旅，岂非笑话。
• It was years since the bombs had been banned, but still the cloud never lifted. Whitish gray, day after day, sometimes darkening to a weeping slate colour or, at the end of an evening, turning to smoky copper, the sky endlessly, secretively brooded.
开篇作者为大家介绍了文章的setting，标粗的语言描述显示出了这个地方长期黯淡无光，有的只是灰色的天空。这是对事物的评价性语言。这种评价是负面的(negative). 请记住这片灰蒙蒙的天。
• Old people began their stories with the classic, fairy-tale opening: “Long, long ago, when I was a liddle un, in the days when the sky was blue…” and children, listening, chuckle among themselves at the absurd thought, because, blue, imagine it! How could the sky ever have been blue? You might as well say, “In the days when the grass was pink.”
接下来是年迈老人们的回忆, “long long ago, when I was still little, when the sky was still blue…” 话音未落，孩子们开始咯咯咯地笑起来了，这个chuckle直接描述了孩子们在听到老人们描述天空是蓝色时的心里反应(affect), 从侧面进一步强化了如今天空是灰蒙蒙的的事实，后面absurd一词继续展现出孩子们对蓝色天空的深深怀疑，年长的人们怎能有这样荒唐的想法(appreciation)，天空是蓝色的，在逗我吗，倒不如说草地是粉色的呢!?!?
• Going to find a bit of sun and have our honeymoon in it,” said Tom. There was a general laugh from the wedding party.
• “We’ll come back brown as — as this grass,” said Tom, and ignoring the good-natured teasing from their respective families, the two young people mounted on their scooter, which stood ready at the churchyard wall, and chugged away in a shower of golden confetti. When they were out of sight, and the yellow paper had subsided on the gray and gritty road, the Whitehorse and the Huskiness strolled off, sighing, to eat wedding cake and drink currant wine, and old Mrs. Hoskins spoiled everyone’s pleasure by bursting into tears as she thought of her own wedding day when everything was so different.
紧接着是婚礼结束后，老父亲询问年轻的新婚夫妇有何计划时，男主Tom迷之自信和骄傲的回答，我们的蜜月之旅要去一个有太阳的地方。然而这份自信并没有换来大家的羡慕和好评，相反，a general laugh 简单明了地显示出众人对Tom新婚小夫妻这一想法的不屑一顾。这里的a general laugh依旧是对事物的评价性语言。一个general laugh 写出了婚礼现场众人对此事的普遍心态: 这事不靠谱。注意这里作者还写到了their respective families, 用respective这个非常正面积极的(positive)词汇描述家人，对在场的亲朋好友的取笑也选用了good-natured这样positive 的评价性语言(judgment)，这恰好也从侧面表露了即便是最亲最敬的家人们，即便他们的嘲笑没有丝毫恶意，寻找太阳这事儿也决不是正常人能想出来去做的啊啊啊!!!
然而众人的反应丝毫没有影响这对夫妻的决心，他们此时的情感我们可以从ignoring 和 chugged away这两个描述情感(affect)的词/词组体会出来，你看他们满不在乎那些嘲笑，骑上他们的小绵羊飞一般的一笑而过了。
• Meanwhile Tom and Lily buzzed on hopefully across the gray countryside, with Lily’s veil like a gilt banner floating behind. It was chilly going for her in her wedding things, but the sight of a bride was supposed to bring good luck, and so she stuck it out, although her fingers were blue to the knuckles. Every now and then they switched on their portable radio and listened to the forecast. Inverness had seen the sun for ten minutes yesterday, and South end for five minutes this morning, but that was all.
• “Both those places are a long way from here,” said Tom cheerfully. “All the more reason we’d find a nice bit of sunshine in these parts somewhere. We’ll keep on going south. Keep your eyes peeled, Lil, and tell me if you see a blink of sun on those hills ahead.”
接下来我们不难发现Tom and Jerry, 哦不，Tom and Lily 这对新婚夫妻依旧对寻找太阳这件事抱有极高的热情, “hopefully” “cheerfully” 单这两个词汇的运用已经非常直接地告诉了我们他们此时的心里感受(affect)，我们要继续一直往南走，这是一趟充满希望的旅程，想想我们看到太阳的那个瞬间吧，会是非常美妙和快乐的呀！尽管他们所到之处都是一片片灰蒙蒙的色调, “the gray countryside”(appreciation)， 尽管天气寒冷 “chilly” (appreciation), 尽管途中有身体的不适 “fingers were blue to the knuckles” (appreciation).
• But they came to the hills and passed them, and a new range shouldered up ahead and then slid away behind, and still there was no flicker or patch of sunshine to be seenanywhere in the gray, winter-ridden landscape. Lily began to get discouraged, so they stopped for a cup of tea at a drive-in.
可是人总是会为现实打败呢，走了这么久的路依然没发现太阳的踪迹，慢慢地，俩人开始有些挫败感了。 “get discouraged” 直接展现了Tom and Lily的感受，即affect。前文的no flicker or patch of sunshine to be seen 则向我们道明了俩人之所以感到气馁的缘由。
• “Seen the sun lately, mate?” Tom asked the proprietor.
• He laughed shortly. “Notice any buses or trucks around here? Last time I saw the sun was two years ago September; came out just in time for the wife’s birthday.”
• “It’s starts I’d like to see,” Lily said, looking wistfully at her dust-colored tea.
“Ever so pretty they must be.”
在俩人感觉已经身心俱疲，走进一家drive-in喝茶的空档，Tom 开始和店老板唠起了嗑。他询问老板近期是否有见到过太阳，老板笑了一下，说起上次见到太阳还是在两年前。这勾起了Lily对于太阳的憧憬，想象有太阳的地方一定是非常pretty的吧！这与眼前灰蒙蒙的色调形成了强烈的反差, 茶是 “dust-colored”(appreciation), 心情是wistful(affect).
• “Well, better be getting on I suppose,” said Tom, but he had lost some of his bounce and confidence. Every place passed through looked nastier than the last, partly on account of the dismal light, partly because people had given up bothering to
take a pride in their boroughs. And then, just as they were entering a village called Molesworth, the dimmest, drabbest, most insignificant huddle of houses they had come to yet, the engine coughed and died on them.
茶歇结束，老板的话似乎也激发了他们继续前行的动力，只是他们不再兴致高昂，作者直接用he had lost some his bounce and confidence(affect)来告诉读者Tom此时对能否寻找到阳光不再像当初那般迷之自信了。因为眼前每一处他们经过的地方无不萧瑟荒凉，这里作者继续appreciates the places as “looked nastier than the
last”, and appreciates the light as “dismal”, the village as “the dimmest,
drabbest, most insignificant huddle of houses”. 这一串连续的appreciation 都使用了负面消极的评价性语言(negative), 由此读者自然能感受到字里行间里的压抑感。
现在我们来给这段话做个小的总结，从人物的情绪感受方面来看，Tom and Lily经历了由信心满满到灰心丧气。
• ignoring teasing — hopefully, cheerfully — began to get discouraged — looking wistfully (Lily) — Better be getting on but lost some of his bounce and confidence (Tom).
从对事物的评价描述方面来看，这里主要是描述这个地方, 也就是我们故事发生的地点 (setting) 是始终如一的灰色调。
• The sky is not longer blue
• no sunshine
• The road is gray and gritty
• The countryside
is gray and chilly.
• dismal light
• the village is
the dimmest, drabbest, most insignificant
这样的setting自然给人以gloomy, depressing 的感受，根据我们前面提到过的有关mood的定义--- mood is the feelings
a piece of literature arouses in the readers. 我们不难理解在这篇节选文段里how the setting affect the mood.
说了这么多，不知道你是否对理解文章里的评价性语言以及这些语言背后作者想给读者呈现的画面，包括setting和mood呢？在文章里，setting又是如何影响mood的呢？不妨看看下面这个选段测试一下吧！以下文段选自我们今天讲的同一片文章的后半段，Tom and Lily 二人终于发现了阳光，看看此时他们的setting和mood吧！作者是怎么运用affect, judgment, appreciation来告诉你这些信息的呢？
Hot day? Tom and Lily stared at each other and then around the room. Then it was true, it was not their imagination, that a great dusty golden square of sunshine lay on the
fireplace wall, where the brass pendulum of the clock at every swing blinked into sudden brilliance? That the blazing geraniums on the windowsill housed a drove of murmuring bees? That, through the window, the gleam of linen hung in the sun to whiten suddenly dazzled their eyes?
“The sun? Is it really the sun?” Tom said, almost doubtfully.
“And why not?” Mrs. Hatching demanded. “How else’ll beans set, tell me that? Fine thing if sun were to stop shining.” Chuckling to herself she set out a Crown Derby tea set, gorgeously colored in red and gold, and a baking of saffron12 buns. Then she sat down and, drinking her own tea, began to question the two of them about where they had come from, where they were going. The tea was tawny and hot and sweet; the clock’s tick was like a bird chirping; every now and then a log settled in the grate; Lily looked sleepily around the little room, so rich and peaceful, and thought, I wish we were staying here. I wish we needn’t go back to that horrible pub. . . . She leaned
against Tom’s comforting arm.
“Look at the sky,” she whispered to him. “Out there between the geraniums. Blue!”
Reference:
1. Martin, J. R., & Rose, D. (2003). Working with discourse: Meaning beyond
the clause. Bloomsbury Publishing.
2. Martin, J. R., & White, P. R. (2003). The language of evaluation (Vol.
2). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.