你真的“開心”嗎？
（形容詞運用/寫作技巧）
大家好，我是Sybil, 畢業于美國文理學院，學過多年的英文文學史，熱愛探究語言的可能性。
今天我想和大家聊一下寫作技巧中，形容詞的運用。
問大家一個問題：
“我今天很開心”用英語怎么說？
大家的第一反應可能是“I'm very happy today”，這也是最普通常見的表達。但英文中還有許多表達“開心”、“快樂”的詞，例如，Thesaurus.com提供的“happy”近義詞，就有如此之多：
這么多近義詞，我們在使用時應該如何選擇？他們表達的都是同一個意思嗎？
PART ONE
其實，在不同情境下，常需要使用不同的關于“開心”的形容詞；從“一般開心”到“欣喜若狂”，它們表示的喜悅程度也不一樣。
來看看它們具體的分類：
1）
表達日常、普通程度的喜悅
pleased, glad, delighted, joyful, merry
I am pleased with the results of the test.
我對考試結果比較滿意。
I'm glad to meet you.
見到你很高興。
They are delighted at the prospect of a visit from their grandchildren.
他們很開心孫輩會過來拜訪。
They sang a merry little song.
他們唱了一首快樂的小曲。
2）
以下詞匯則能用來表達更大的喜悅：
blissful,gleeful, euphoric, elated, jubilant, overjoyed
They were euphorically celebrating victory.
他們興高采烈地慶祝勝利。
She was overjoyed to see her sister again.
能再次見到妹妹令她十分開心。
其中，blissful可以表現一種無憂無慮、沒有煩惱的狀態, 例如：He sat there in a blissful state of comfort; a blissful marriage; a blissful childhood.
而elated/exultant則暗含著一層驕傲的意思，可在某事成功完成、比賽勝利、打敗對手時使用，如：
An elated winner of a contest.
I felt elated at beating Dennis.
The crowd let out an exultant cheer.
Researchers are exultant over the new discovery.
3）
而如果要表達“狂喜”/非常強烈的喜悅，就得用上下面這些詞匯了：
ecstatic, enraptured, intoxicated
它們可以表達一種巨大的、難以抵擋的，甚至不真實的喜悅感。如：
Ecstatic fans filled the stadium.
狂喜的球迷們擠滿了賽場。
Enraptured upon learning that he would be attending college on a full scholarship.
因得知他能拿到全額獎學金上大學而感到無比開心。
（當你拿到dream school的offer，一定不只是happy，而是enraptured了）
The traveler has become intoxicated by the vision of Tanzania's exotic animals
坦桑尼亞奇異的野生動物令這位游客陶醉在快樂中。
注意，intoxicated也有“醉酒”、“麻醉”的意思。因此，當它用來形容“高興”的情緒時，也包含了一層忘乎所以、過度興奮的感覺。
PART?TWO
在敘述文寫作時，我們更需要使用生動、豐富的形容詞，來描述人物情感或氣氛。使用一個不同的詞匯，傳達的信息和感情就可能截然不同。
學會使用多樣的形容詞，也是寫好描述、敘述性文章的一個重要能力。英文寫作水平的高低，有時通過形容詞的選擇就能體現。
讓我們找一些在文學作品中對“開心”的描寫，現在你是否能從中看出一些不同？
"I was brutal, Harry—perfectly brutal. But it is all right now. I am not sorry for anything that has happened. It has taught me to know myself better."
"Ah, Dorian, I am so glad you take it in that way! I was afraid I would find you plunged in remorse, and tearing that nice curly hair of yours."
"I have got through all that," said Dorian, shaking his head, and smiling. "I am perfectly happy?now.”
Under the dripping bare lilac?trees a large open car was coming up the drive. It stopped. Daisy's face, tipped sideways beneath a three?cornered lavender hat, looked out at me with a bright ecstatic smile.
"Is this absolutely where you live, my dearest one?" The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain.
They were a party of three on horseback? Tom and a man named Sloane and a pretty woman in a brown riding?habit, who had been there previously.
"I'm delighted to see you," said Gatsby, standing on his porch.
"I'm delighted that you dropped in." As though they cared! "Sit right down. Have a cigarette or a cigar." He walked around the room quickly, ringing bells.
I open my eyes. Kendrick and Dr. Larson are crouched over me. Dr. Larson looks upset
and worried, but Kendrick has a jubilant smile on his face.
“Did you get it?” I ask, and he replies, “It was perfect.” I say, “Great,” and then I pass out.
Clare is exhausted, and ecstatic. She’s wearing a simple black silk dress, her hair is piled high on her head. People have brought her flowers; she has a bouquet of white roses in her arms, there’s a heap of plastic-wrapped bouquets next to the guest book. It’s very crowded. People circle around, exclaim over each piece, crane their heads back to look at the flying birds. Everyone congratulates Clare.
You wake up in the County Hospital concussed with a policeman sitting outside your door listening to the Phillies game on a crackly transistor radio. Mercifully, you lapse back into unconsciousness and wake up again hours later in your own bed with your wife leaning over you looking very worried. Sometimes you feel euphoric. Everything is sublime and has an aura, and suddenly you are intensely nauseated and then you are gone.
以上形容詞雖然都有”開心“的意思，但絕對有不同的感受。
當然，表達“開心”的形容詞還不止這些，大家可以在平時的閱讀和寫作中多多留意、積累，并學會使用。
綜上，形容詞的同類類比，都有強烈輕緩之分。利用這個方法，你還能想到哪些類似的常用形容詞呢？
