学习了描述性文章的写作技巧，接下来就该看看记叙文了。

最简单的一类记叙文实际上和描述性文章非常类似，只不过前者将要记叙的故事分解为各个事件，按时间顺序展开，而后者则将描写对象分解为各个组成部分，按空间顺序展开。在较高层次的记叙文比如小说或短篇故事中，记叙文所包括地就不仅仅是对事件的报道了，作者会详尽地阐述精心构思的情节，刻画人物的心理。当然，以此来要求一般的学生未免有点苛刻。

我们要讨论的是比较单纯的记叙文体。要写好记叙文，必须要把一个故事的开始、发展和结尾组织好。在绝大多数情况下，这三个部分都是按自然发展的顺序排列的，有的时候也会因具体需要而采取倒叙，使故事以结尾开始。每一个部分有多少细节使作者的写作意图以及他所拥有的写作空间而定。但是，长也好，短也罢，每一篇记叙文中的细节都肯定是经过高度筛选的。作者只能选择和他写作意图相关的内容，他的选择标准必须基于他讲述这个故事的原因，也就是说，他认为这个故事有什么意义。

故事的意义也即是作者想要与读者交流的东西。但是，初学者却往往不容易做到这一点。没有经验的人很可能在没有明了自己要传达什么主旨之前就开始动笔。在这种情况下，写出来的东西松散无味完全不足为奇。而且，即使明白了主题的重要性，缺乏经验也很容易使他们犯另外一个错误。因为担心写出来的故事不能充分传达主题，他们往往不知不觉就会在文中把主题赤裸裸地写出来。其实，记叙文就像笑话一样，它们的意义都应该隐藏在文中，留待读者自己去发现。

所以，对于作者来说，最重要的任务是把这个故事本身写好。只要在动笔的时候知道自己所写的东西为什么重要，只要细心挑选精心构思，就一定能把写作意图传达给作者。
先来看一个寓言。

The Unicorn in the Garden

Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a gold horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. The man went up to the bedroom where his wife was still asleep and woke her. “There's a unicorn in the garden,” he said, “Eating roses.” She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him. “The unicorn is a mythical beast,” she said, and turned her back on him. The man walked slowly down stairs and out into the garden. The unicorn was still there; he was now browsing among the tulips. “Here, unicorn,” said the man, and he pulled up a lily and gave it to him. The unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart, because there was a unicorn in his garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife again. “The unicorn, “ he said, “ate a lily.” His wife sat up in bed and looked at him, coldly. “You are a booby,” she said, “and I am going to have you put in the booby-hatch.” The man, who had never liked the words “booby” and “booby-hatch,” and who liked them even less on a shining morning when there was a unicorn in the garden, thought for a moment. “We'll see about that,” he said. He walked over to the door. “He has a golden horn in the middle of his forehead,” he told her. Then he went back to the garden to watch the unicorn; but the unicorn had gone away. The man sat down among the roses and went to sleep.

As soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up and dressed as fast as she could. She was very excited and there was a gloat in her eye. She telephoned the police and she telephoned a psychiatrist; she told them to hurry to her house and bring a strait-jacket. When the police and the psychiatrist arrived they sat down in chairs and looked at her, with great interest. “My husband,” she said, “saw a unicorn this morning.” The police looked at the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist looked at he police, “He told me it ate a lily,” she said. The psychiatrist looked at the police and the police looked at the psychiatrist. “He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of its forehead,” she said. At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police leaped from their chairs and seized the wife. They had a hard time subduing her, for she put up a terrific struggle, but they finally subdued her. Just as they got her into the strait-jacket, the husband came back into the house.

“Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?” asked the police. “Of course not,” said the husband. “The unicorn is a mythical beast.” “That's all I wanted to know,” said the psychiatrist. “Take her away. I'm sorry, sir, but our wife is as crazy as a jay bird.” So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and shut her up in an institution. The husband lived happily ever after.
Moral: Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.

这是选自美国幽默作家James Thurber作品集Fables for Our Time的一则寓言故事。结尾处的寓意告诉我们，心智正常和精神错乱其实不像人们想象的那么容易区分。而且，寓意并非故事主旨的全部，作者还将自己对婚姻对人生价值的观点贯穿其中。

那么，作者是怎么做到这一点的呢？寓言故事作为一种比较特别的记叙文，其成功与否极大地依赖于记叙文的两大要素——人物和情节。这一点，在Thurber简明但不简单的故事The Unicorn in the Garden中体现得非常明显。

首先是对人物的处理。Thurber巧妙迅速地塑造了英雄和坏人两个形象，但是，他没有通过贴标签的形式来实现这个目的，而是随着故事的发展，以他们的所作所为来刻画人物形象。我们必须从故事情节中来推断各种角色是什么样的人。

本文中的丈夫是一个好人，以正面人物和英雄的形象出现。但是，他最开始的定位并非如此。Thurder作品中的丈夫们都是一些忍耐的、温和的、长期受压迫的小男人形象，同时，他们又具有另一种特征：在被逼迫得无奈时，他们会奋起反抗自己作威作福的老婆，然后“报仇雪恨”。这个丈夫也不例外，他的形象从第一段结尾的地方开始转变，他不再容忍妻子对自己的不耐烦和鄙夷。他由遭受白眼之后的 “…walk slowly down stairs…”到沉默片刻后说“We'll see about that（who is booby）.”最后，当应妻子要求赶来的警察和心理学家认为他的妻子的了精神病时，他看似傻傻的一句回答 “Of course not. The unicorn is a mythical beast.”彻底扭转了自己的形象，改变了自己的地位。

而文中的妻子无疑是作者嘲讽的对象。就因为在睡觉，她对丈夫的惊奇不仅无动于衷，反而加以冷嘲热讽， “She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him. 'The unicorn is a mythical and turn her back on him.” “His wife sat up in bed and looked at him, coldly. 'You are a booby.' She said, 'and I am going to have you put in the booby-hatch.'” 果然，心狠手辣的妻子等丈夫一离开，马上给警察和心理学家打了电话，还让他们带上strait-jacket。她想让这些人把她“精神错乱的丈夫”带走。谁知聪明反被聪明误，警察和心理学家认定她是在信口开河，认定有病的人不是她的丈夫而是她本人，把她带走了。

像 “there was a gloat in her eye”， “The husband lived happily ever after.”等句子也以白描的方式形象的刻画出了妻子自以为是和丈夫的大智若愚。

但是人物的刻画不是孤立的，他们的形象在情节发展中逐渐丰满。每一个情节由不同的场景构成。每一个场景都有自己特定的时间、地点和人物，其中任何一个组成部分发生了明显的变化，场景也就随之发生变化，一个新场景就产生了。比方说，在第一段中一共有五个场景。如果故事构思精巧，每个场景都应该向读者提供一定的信息，或者告诉读者一些故事人物的新情况，或者为下文的发展做准备，或者以恰当的形式阐明主旨。而故事情节一般由四个部分组成：开端，发展，高潮，结尾。这些我们就不在此一一分析了，大家可以自己在文中找出这些部分，看看它们对人物的刻画和主旨的突现都分别起着什么作用。

分析评论一篇寓言容易，要写就难了，因为短小精悍的寓言只保留了记叙文最精要的部分。不过，我们仍然可以试一试。在动笔之前，想好你的主题；开始写了，一定要控制好人物和情节。不要让用自己的嘴来传递信息，让故事来说话，让读者从故事中体会。