从这一期开始，我们来欣赏一些美国中学生的获奖作文。美国“中学生写作奖”（Scholastic Writing Awards）设立于1925年，每年颁发一次，设一、二、三等奖。美国各中学的教师每年都把本校最优秀的作文推荐给评委。美国当代许多著名作家在少年时期都曾获过该奖。这些作文观察角度独特，想象力奇异，写作手法多样，展示了一个与我们作文模式完全不同的世界。

这一期介绍的是Winnie Eads的《我的爷爷》， 该作文曾获散文创作一等奖。作者当时是印第安那州南港中学学生。由于原文篇幅较长，这里只选取了其中几个段落。

The Grandfather
by Winnie Eads
     He had a room all to himself, my grandfather. It was at the end of a long hall away from the rest of the house. My mother said it was good for his room to be alone at the end of the hall because it gave him time to himself. I didn't understand this having time to yourself. I wanted someone to play with all the time. I couldn't understand how my grandfather could want to sit in the gray platform rocker in the middle of his room and smoke his pipe.
     John Dillinger had boarded in our house a long time before, during the Depression. He had slept in the same room that was my grandfather's. Under the bed against the wall was a hole which I decided was one of John Dillinger's bullet holes. My mother told me this was ridiculous―why should John Dillinger shoot a gun into the wall three inches from the floor? My grandfather had glared at my mother and smiled at me, "Pete, if that's what you believe about that hole in the wall, you just go right ahead and believe it." My grandfather was always like that―there was a freedom of belief that he allowed children. As I think back, I realize that it was not really a freedom, but more a simple absence of patronization.
…
     Going into my grandfather's room was like following Alice into her Wonderland. When the door was closed and I stood in the center of the mixed-up Oriental rug in from of my grandfather, sitting in his gray rocker, it was as if the rest of the house had disappeared and left only that room.
…
     Outside his room, among other people, my grandfather was different. He had a lady-friend whom he went to visit on Wednesday afternoons. She always cooked him big dinners and listened to every word he said. This was unlike my mother and father―they tried to listen to him. Sometimes when we had company and he began to tell one of his stories, everyone looked uncomfortable and Mother usually interrupted him. Sometimes he just sat there and sometimes he went to his room. Well, this lady-friend, Miss Bluerock, listened to him all the time. I think this was the reason he went to her house on Wednesdays.
…
     Miss Bluerock passed each dish to my grandfather first, shouting, "Do you want some of this chicken, Emil?" or "How about some egg noodles?" My grandfather would smile and dish up huge spoonfuls of whatever he was offered. At home he just sat at the table and waited until everyone else had scooped out whatever they wanted and then he always just took what was left.
…
     The day my grandfather moved out of his room was a day of so many things ending that I couldn't understand them at all. … My mother stood around with a sad look on her face on the outside, but I could tell she wasn't sad on the inside. （片段摘自《美国中学生获奖作文选》， 外教研出版社）

    《我的爷爷》是个再常见不过的作文题目了，也许读者会觉得不容易写出新意，但本文的作者不仅作到了这点，而且处处流露着符合作者年龄的真情实感，细腻而不造作。虽然作者当时是中学生，所用的语言相对前几期所介绍的名家作品来显得简单，然而她对生活的那种敏感和观察力很值得我们学习英语写作者学习。况且那种不过于复杂的语言更接近我们大多数人的写作水平，因而是好的模仿范例。
从选取的段落可以看出，作者在写她的爷爷的时候把爷爷的房间作为线索。以爷爷有间属于自己的房间开头，又以爷爷搬出他的房间为全文的结尾，首尾呼应。而中间又分别记述了作者在爷爷房间看到的墙洞，书本，照片，和爷爷一起坐在他的安乐椅上抽烟斗，一起听收音机里警察抓强盗的广播剧等等。作者对爷爷的记忆和对爷爷房间的记忆紧紧联系在一起。
第一段开始，作者就写到了爷爷有间完全属于自己的房间，房间在房子长长的大厅的尽头。爷爷的房间与房子其他部分的距离仿佛暗示了爷爷与家人的距离。作者还多处运用了对比的手法。如第二段中我认为爷爷房间墙上的洞是个枪孔，妈妈认为我的想法很可笑，但是爷爷却告诉我“…, if that's what you believe about that hole in the wall, you just go right ahead and believe it.”爷爷和妈妈态度对比鲜明，而且爷爷对妈妈和“我”的态度也有对比：“My grandfather had glared at my mother and smiled at me…”; 爷爷在Miss Bluerock 家的表现与他在自己房间的表现也是鲜明的对比，“Outside his room, among other people, my grandfather was different.”， 其中还有两个细节对比：“She…listened to every word he said. This was unlike my mother and father―they tried to listen to him. …”， "My grandfather would smile and dish up huge spoonfuls of whatever he was offered. At home he just sat at the table and waited until everyone else had scooped out whatever they wanted and then he always just took what was left." 分析到这里，我们不得不佩服作者在中学的时候就有这样的观察力。通篇作文几乎没有“lonely”这样的词语，但这些细节描写一次次让读者感受到爷爷的孤独。所以记述文的细节描写非常重要，好的细节描写能给人深刻的印象。
此外，作者感受的自然流露也很值得赞赏。在写到妈妈说爷爷喜欢独处的时候，我很不理解，这对一个孩子来说是很自然的想法，作者没有回避，更没有牵强附会马上表示理解爷爷，让读者感到她所记述的感受都很“真”。

Questions for Readers:
What other details impress you besides those that are mentioned in the analysis?
What does "mother's" look imply in the last paragraph cited here?
Do you like the author's grandfather? Why or why not? How will you describe him after reading the paragraphs cited here?
Try to write a similar composition. Make sure that you have a clear focus or clue, like Grandfather's room in Winnie's writing, and include details that you have observed.