AStylisticAnalysisofLiteraryJournalism-BasedonSeniorHighSchool’sEnglishTextbookIntroductionThetextIchooseisfromSeniorHighSchool’sEnglishtextbook(PEPnewedition,Book1,Unit4ReadingandThinking).ThereasonwhyIchooseitisthatnotonlyisitrelatedtothenewshappeningrecently-EarthquakebutalsoIprefertobeaseniorhighschool’sEnglishteacherinthefuture.Thisunitmainlyfocusesondescribingthenaturaldisasterandmostofthepassagesarenewsreportsandliteraryjournalism. Allofthetextshelpstudentsdeveloptheircognitivestrategiesandbroadentheirhorizons.ThetextIchooseisfromchronologicalorder,whichconsistsofthreeparts:Beforetheearthquake(Para.1),Duringtheearthquake(Para.2-3),AftertheEarthquake(Para.4-5).Hereisthemindmap:(Picture1onthenextpage)Theearthquakehappenedatonetimewithouthesitation.Thepictureonthetextbookshowsthatateamofsoldiersarecarryinganinjuredsurvivoronastretcherfromtheruinsofacollapsedbuilding.OnesoldierisholdinganIV(intravenousdrip)togivethepatientvitalfluids.ThisdisasterwasthehugeearthquakehappenedinTangshan.Thereareearthquakesallovertheworldeveryday.Manyaresmallbutsomearemorepowerfulandthereforemoredeadly.ThepowerofanearthquakeismeasuredontheRichterscale.Powerfulearthquakescandestroybuildings,roads,andbridges.Literaljournalismisastylebetweennewsreportsandliterarature.Itssubjectmatterandcharactersarerealhistoricaleventsandrealcharacters.Thebiggestdifferencebetweenliteraljournalismandordinarynewsreportsliesinthattheformervividlydescribestheenvironmentofeventsandthecharactersinvolved,andusesavarietyofrhetoricalmethodstoorganizelanguage,whichcanbetterstimulatethereaders'emotionsandmovethereaders.Thereisnocommoncentralfigureinliteraljournalisminthiswholetext,butitusesseveralfiguresofspeechtomakethewholetextpersuasive,cohesiveandmeaningful.

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GraphologicalFeaturesLiteraryjournalismisaformofnonfictionthatcombinesfactualreportingwithnarrativetechniquesandstylisticstrategiestraditionallyassociatedwithfiction.Thisformofwritingcanalsobecallednarrativejournalismornewjournalism.Literaryjournalismshouldfollowtheprincipleofdirectnessandreality,butitshouldbedifferentfromtheconcisenessofnewsreportsandthestylesofliterature.First,thenewsreportsusuallyconsistsoftheheadline,theleadandthebody.Theheadlinemaybethegeneralsummaryofthewholetext,whiletheliteraryjournalismmayadoptthemannerofeye-catching.Forexample,thetitleofthistextis“TheNighttheEarthDidn’tSleep”,whichiseye-catchingforthereasonthatitusesthefiguresofspeech-personification(theearthhasbeenpersonified)andparallelism(thearticle“the”hasbeenemphasizedtwice).Newreportasitwas,thetitlewouldbe“TheReportofTangshanEarthquake”.Asfortheleadandthebody,theyareusuallyveryshort.Eachparagraphconsistsofoneortwosentences.Thestructureofthetextpresentsaninvertedtriangleone.Whenitcomestotheliteraryjournalism,itusesthechronologicalorder,justlikethenarrative.Second,usingsomeofthedatainthetext,ithighlightsandembodiesthedocumentarycharacteristicsofreportageandenhancesthesenseofdirectnessofevents.Forexample:Elevenkilometresdirectlybelowthecity,morethan150kilometresaway,nearlyonethirdof,eightkilometreslongand30meterswide,twodepthsofthepeople,thousandofchildren,morethan400000,75percent,90percent,150000soldiers,morethan10000doctorsandnurses,etc.Inaddition,therearesometime-relatedfigures,suchas:atabout3:00a.m.,lessthanoneminute,at3:42a.m.,whichnotonlyaccuratelydescribetheprocessoftheearthquake,butalsocreateatenseatmosphereinwhichpeoplehavenotimetobreathewhenadisasteroccurs.Third,almostthepunctuationofthewholetextiscommaandperiod.Itisobviousthatapartfromoneexclamatorymarkandonedash,theotherpunctuationsarecommaandperiod.Forexample:StrangethingswerehappeninginthecountrysideofnortheasternHebei.Forthreedaysthewaterinthevillagewells(井)roseandfell,roseandfell.Inthefarmyards,thechickensandeventhepigsweretoonervoustoeat.Miceranoutofthefieldslookingforplacestohide.Fishjumpedoutoftheirpools.Atabout3:00am,onJuly28,1976,somepeoplesawbrightlightsinthesky.Wecanseethatitjustindicatesthedescriptionoftheprocessoftheeventwithoutaddinganyemotions.Fourth,paragraphsintheliteraljournalismareusuallyverylong.Hereisasummaryofthequantityofthesentencesineachparagraph:Paragraph12345Quantityofsentences8101164Itisapparentthatalloftheparagraphscontainalotofsentences,whichincludesseveraldenseinformation.However,ifitwasanewsreport,itwouldbejustoneortwosentencesineachparagraph,whosefunctionistofacilitatereading.Intheeachparagraph,ittellsusdetailedinformation.Forexample,inparagraph1,itgivesussomesurroundings-water,wellwalls,chickens,pigs,dogs,fish,lightsandsoon.Beitanewsreport,itwouldjustgivethebriefsummary,likingthefirstsentenceinparagraph1:StrangethingswerehappeninginthecountrysideofnortheasternHebei.Lastbutnotleast,thisfeatureisthesametonewsreport:pictureplaysavitalroleinthewholetext.Mostpicturesofthenewsreportandtheliteraljournalismmayjustbeone,whichcanconveythemeaningofthetextandattractreader’sattention.Forexample,inthistext,theauthorusesapictureofthesufferersburiedintheTangshanEarthquaketoshowthetopicofthetext:TangshanEarthquake.

LexicalFeaturesGenerallyspeaking,thiswholetexttendstouseeasywordsforustounderstandforthefactorthatitmainlyisprovidedtoseniorhighschool’sstudents.Hereisthesummaryoftheusageofwords:TotalnumberofwordsTotalnumberofsyllablesAveragewordlengthAveragenumberofsyllablesNumberofcomplexwords5457704.481.4139Thereare246wordsinCET-4vocabulary,whichincludes210wordsintheglossaryofcompulsoryeducationaswellas22wordsintheglossaryofseniorhighschool’sEnglish.Facedwithseniorhighschool’sstudents,mostofthesewordsarecorrespondedto3500glossaries.Themoststrikingfeatureisthefrequentuseofnounsandactionverbs,especiallyindescribingthephenomenaoftheevent.Allofthesewordscouldbevivid,powerfultousreaders.Moreover,allofthesewordsdon’tcontainsomesubjectivefeelingsoftheauthor,whichcouldmakethetextsoundobjective.Thesecondfeatureisthattherearesomeadverbialwordsorphrasesofdegree:severaldays,about3a.m.,asif,nearlyonethirdof,morethanandsoon.TangshanEarthquakeisareportsoinordertoavoidambiguious.Asisknowntousall,onthesceneoftheTangshanearthquake,itisimpossibleforjournalistsandexpertstorecordthenumberofdeathsandinformationinrealtime.Thethirdfeatureisthatquantitiesofarticlesandprepositionshasbeenrepeatedseveraltimes.Forexample,“the”hasbeenrepeated36times,“of”hasbeenrepeated28times,“and”hasbeenrepeated22times,“to”hasbeenrepeated17timesand“in”hasbeenrepeated11times.Asweknow,prepositionshavedirectivity,while“of”canindicateaffiliation.Eachoftheseabovewordscanmakethewholetextcohesiveandlogical.Thefourthfeatureiscommontotheothertypesoftext,thatis,usingalotofcollocations.Ifindthemoutinthebelowpictures:(Picture2-6inthenextfewpages)Allofthesefeaturescanmakethewholetextmorepersuasive,cohesive,authenticandvividness.

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Syntactic/GrammaticalFeaturesGenerallyspeaking,therearedifferenttypesofsentencesinthiswholetext.Forexample,attributiveclauses,compoundsentences,accompanyadverbialandexclamatorysentences.Mostofthemaredeclarativesentencesfortheyareusedtostateafact,togiveinformationobjectivelyandhighlightthedangerousphenomenon.Asfarasthelengthofthesentenceisconcerned,theaverageofthelengthofsentencesis13.49,whichappearsthatmanyofthesentencesarecomparativelyshort.That’sbecausethesentenceshasdifferentsubjects.Forexample,thesubjectofthefirstsentenceisthewaterinthevillage,whilethesecondsentenceischickens.Differentsubjectsperformdifferentactions,whoseadvantagesarethattheauthorcandetailedlydescribedifferentsubjectsinthewholepassage,makingthewholetextfuller.Anothersyntacticfeatureofthetextisthecommonuseofattributiveclauses.Attributiveclauseisconsideredasasyntacticprocessofgeneratinganotherclauseembeddedinanounphrase.Itcanaddsufficientinformationtothemodifiednounphrasethatthespeakerexpectstoexpress.Itcanhelpustounderstandrelationshipbetweenthesubordinateclauseandthemainsentences,whethertheyarereasonsandresultsorconditionsandresults.Thesameistotheaccompanyadverbial.Forexample,thesentence“withstrongsupportfromthegovernmentandthetirelesseffortsofthecity’speople,anewTangshanwasbuiltupontheearthquakeruins”.Wecanseethat“withstrongsupportfrom...people”isthereason.And“anew...ruins”istheresult.Thereexistsdifferentsentencestructureswhencomparingtheneweditiontextandtheoldeditiontext.Intheneweditiontext,thefirstsentenceofparagraph4is“Buthopewasnotlost”whileintheoldeditiontext,thefirstsentenceofparagraph4is“Allhopewasnotlost”.Differentstructuresthoughtheyare,theyhavethesamegrammarpoint-partialnegationforthereasonthat“Notall”equalsto“All...not”.Itisdistinctthatthissentenceisatransitionalsentence,whichservesasaconnectinglinkbetweentheprecedingandthefollowing.Theprecedingtellsusthenegativeandpessimisticsituationduringtheearthquake,whilethefollowingarguesthatthebrightsightaftertheearthquakewithrescuersandsurvivors.

SemanticFeaturesAmongthesemanticfeatures,themostdistinctfeaturesareusingplentyoffiguresofspeech.Thetextbeginswithadescriptionofsomeabnormalphenomenainthecountrysidebeforetheearthquake,usingtherhetoricofparallelism.Forexample,“roseandfell”hasbeenrepeatedtwice.Whendescribingthecreatures,theauthorusesthesamestructure-“subject+predicate(verb)”-simplesentencestructures.Moreover,theauthorusessomewordswithalliteration,suchas“wellandwalls”,“asleepandas”andsoon.Theauthoralsousessomeadjectiveswithdegree,suchas“deep”,“nervous”,especially“bright”and“l(fā)oud”(comparingthetime:beforeearthquakeandtheinstanttheearthquakehappened)Thelanguageisvividandfullofpicturesense.Createatenseatmospherebeforemajorevents.Startwiththesecondparagraph.Thetextfocusesondepictingtheamazingsceneswhenthegreatearthquakeoccurred,aswellasthescenesofdevastationanddespairafterthedisaster.Theauthorusessomeonomatopoeialike“crack”,whichemphasizegivespeopleafeelingofbeingonthespot.Atthesametime,usepersonification.Forexample,“thewholenationfeltit”(“felt”shouldbeusedofperson’sfeeling,here“nation”ispersonalized).Consonancehasbeenusedinthetext,suchas“killedandinjured”,“deadandinjured”.Thelasttwoparagraphsofthetextnaturallytransitiontothedisasterareasthataredesperatebutnevergiveuphope,withthedescriptionofthepeople'swilltosurviveandtheirdeterminationtorebuildtheirhomes.Withthesupportofthestateandthepeople'sarmyTangshanpeoplerebuilttheirhomesontheruins,andTangshan,acitydamagedbynaturaldisasters,wasreborn.Fromtheperspectiveofrhetoric,inadditiontotheparallelsentencesatthebeginning,thetextalsousestherhetoricmethodssuchaspersonification,metaphorandclimaxthatoftenappearinliteraryworks,sothatthearticlehasmoredetailsandasenseofpicture,suchasthetitle“thenighttheearthdidn'tsleep”andthetext“hardhillsofrockbecauseriversofdirt.”“Brickscoveredthegroundlikeredautumnleaves,...”“thecitybegantobreatheagain.”Thefulltextisvividandfullofemotion,whichreflectstheauthor'sdesiretoexpresshisthoughtsandfeelingsofdisasterismercilessandpeoplearesentimental.

ConclusionThenewversionofthetextbookisdifferentfromtheoldversioninthecompilationofthistext.ThenewversionofthetextbookaddsasummaryoftherecoveryaftertheTangshanearthquake(thatisthelastparagraph).Ithinkthisaspectofthedesignisbetter.ThisisinlinewiththemaincontradictioninChinaatthisstage,thatis,thelongingforabetterlife.Intheprocessoftraininghighschoolstudents,itismoreimportantforustotrainthemtohaveanoptimisticandpositiveattitudetowardslife.Eveniftheyencounternegativeandpessimisticthings,theyalsoneedtothinkinapositivedirection.JustasBalzacgoinglikethis,sufferingdevelopsourextraordinaryrole,nottobowtothedisaster,buttobestrong.Therearefivenaturalsectionsinthetext.Takingtheomenbeforetheearthquake,thedamagecausedbytheearthquake,therescueaftertheearthquakeandthereconstructionaftertheearthquakeasthemainline,itlinksupthereactionsandfeelingsofpeoplewhohaveexperiencedtheearthquakebefore,attheepicenterandaftertheearthquake,thatis,theyareunawareoftheabnormalphenomenabeforetheearthquake,theshockandfearcausedbythedevastatingdamagecausedbytheearthquake,andthehopeandEnlightenmentbroughttothembythetimelyrescueandthereconstructionaftertheearthquake.Finally,Iwouldliketogivesomesuggestionsontheteachingofthewholearticle.Inthetextteachingdesign,weshouldgraspthemainlineofearthquake,takethecontent,languageandmeaningastheguidance,helpstudentssortoutthelanguageaboutearthquaketopics,andtastetheappealofvariousrhetoricaldevices.Secondly,fromtheperspectiveofunderstandingthewritingpurposeofthetext,wecandeeplyexcavatetheconnotationofthetextandfurthertrainthestudents'thinking.Forexample,thetitleofthetextisthenighttheearthdidn'tsleep.Theauthordoesnotsimplytaketheearthasthetitle,butusesanthropomorphictechniquestowrite,whichcanguidethestudentstofeelthemultiplemeaningscarriedbythetitlethroughthedualthinkingofshallowunderstandingbeforereadinganddeepunderstandingafterreading.Inaddition,theculturalelementthatthislessonneedstopayattentiontoisthatdisasterhasnolover.Studentsneedtothinkandreachaconsensus.Undertherealityof"thefataldi