How to Write a Descriptive EssayWriting a descriptive essayA descriptive essay is a type of essay that provides a vivid description of a person, place, scene, object, experience, memory, etc. in the way the reader can easily get its physical realization. More than many other types of essays, descriptive essays strive to create a deeply involved and vivid experience for the reader. Great descriptive essays achieve this affect not through facts and statistics but by using detailed observations and descriptions.What do you want to describe?As you get started on your descriptive essay, it's important for you to identify exactly what you want to describe. Often, a descriptive essay will focus on portraying one of the following:● a person● a place● a memory●an experience●an objectUltimately, whatever you can perceive or experience can be the focus of your descriptive writing.Why are you writing your descriptive essay?It's a great creative exercise to sit down and simply describe what you observe. However, when writing a descriptive essay, you often have a particular reason for writing your description. Getting in touch with this reason can help you focus your description and imbue your language with a particular perspective or emotion. Example: Imagine that you want to write a descriptive essay about your grandfather. You've chosen to write about your grandfather's physical appearance and the way that he interacts with people. However, rather than providing a general description of these aspects, you want to convey your admiration for his strength and kindness. This is your reason for writing the descriptive essay. To achieve this, you might focus one of your paragraphs on describing the roughness of his hands, roughness resulting from the labor of his work throughout his life, but you might also describe how he would hold your hands so gently with his rough hands when having a conversation with you or when taking a walk.How should you write your description?If there's one thing you should remember as you write your descriptive essay, it's the famous saying: show, don't tell. But what's the difference between showing and telling?Consider these two simple examples:●I grew tired after dinner.●As I leaned back and rested my head against the top of the chair, my eyelidsbegan to feel heavy, and the edges of the empty plate in front of me blurredwith the white table cloth.The first sentence tells readers that you grew tired after dinner. The second sentence shows readers that you grew tired. The most effective descriptive essays are loaded with such showing because they enable readers to imagine or experience something for themselves.As you write your descriptive essay, the best way to create a vivid experience for your readers is to focus on the five senses.●sight●sound●smell●touch●tasteWhen you focus your descriptions on the senses, you provide vivid and specific details that show your readers rather than tell your readers what you are describing. Quick Tips for Writing Your Descriptive EssayWriting a descriptive essay can be a rich and rewarding experience, but it can also feel a bit complicated. It's helpful, therefore, to keep a quick checklist of the essential questions to keep in mind as you plan, draft, and revise your essay. Planning your descriptive essay:●What or who do you want to describe?●What is your purpose/ reason for writing your description?●What are the particular qualities that you want to focus on?Drafting your descriptive essay:●What sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures are important fordeveloping your description?●Which details can you include to ensure that your readers gain a vividimpression imbued with your emotion or perspective?Revising your descriptive essay:●Have you provided enough details and descriptions to enable your readers togain a complete and vivid perception?●Have you left out any minor but important details?●Have you used words that convey your emotion or perspective?●Are there any unnecessary details in your description?●Does each paragraph of your essay focus on one aspect of your description?●Are you paragraphs ordered in the most affective way?Methods one may choose to describe something (descriptive essays):●usage of vivid, fresh and varied language●usage of bright examples●usage of interesting comparisons●usage of variety of terms●usage of images that appeal to senses●usage of senses●transition of something ordinary into extraordinary●effective usage of time●free play of feelings and emotionsPrinciples of a Descriptive Essay:●it makes clear dominant impression●it can be either objective or subjective●its purpose is to make the reader represent clearly the things being described Points to Consider:●stick to a clear structure of your descriptive essay, it should consist ofintroduction (working from general to specific, containing a thesisstatement), main body (having several paragraphs in which your topic isdescribed) and conclusion (in which you restate your thesis in other wordsand conclude your thoughts)●try to select some extraordinary traits of the subject described, picksomething unusual to capture the reader’s attention●give as much details as possible, describe everything as if you hear and see ityourself●use the words that appeal to the r eader’s senses●focus your descriptions on sight, sound, smell, touch and taste●firstly, plan your descriptive essay, then draft and revise it●move the reader through space and time chronologically●use a then-and-now approach to show things in their developing or fallBe creative and don’t forget the basic rule of descriptive essays: SHOW, DON’T TELL!Description of a placeMy Friend’s DormitoryMy friend’s dormitory is a small room, with four bunk beds along the whitewashed wall. Every day, the sunlight sneaks into the room through the pink curtain and the bell hanging at the window always sways gently. The whole room teems with a tender feeling and harmony. When I step into this dormitory, I can sense them and can read the beautiful world of each girl.There are two plants on the window, which were bought by my friend. She waters it every other day to keep it very green. Near the window stands her bed, on which lies some medicine that she has just bought for others. On her wall hangs a remarkable scroll (卷轴), which says: “Treat Others with True Love.” Under the scroll lies a package of books and clothes. They are for the Hope Project. Her upper bunk is clean, with a neatly-folded quilt. The well-arranged books and tapes stand orderly on the bookshelf. Down there is a time schedule. A clock near the pillow is ticking dutifully as if it were telling people of its existence and the time.The upper bunk next to this one presents another picture. Tennis, table tennis and badminton rackets are squeezing in the corner of the walls, a basket-ball hides itself under the bookshelf, peeping at the sports clothes on the bed. There are three or more pairs of dirty sport-shoes, mixed with two fashionable high heels. They belong to the girl of the lower bed near the door. Two remarkable beautiful fashion models are staring at this bed. The fashionable clothes on the wall are like a line of soldiers to be inspected. The bookshelf is decorated with lipsticks and cosmetics, and the whole room is filled with a faint sweet smell.The small room is like a stage, on which the girls display their characters and daily life. Happiness and laughter fill every corner. Every morning, the clock and sunlight bring a good dream to every girl. (329)A Free MarketWith a shopping bag in my hand, I entered the gate of the free market near my home.Suddenly a terrible smell reached my nose and I could not help feeling nauseated. (作呕)Looking around, I found that the foul smell came from the poultry stalls on the left side of the street. There, every small cage was packed with four or five chickens. Occasionally, the chickens crowded sadly as if they knew they were going to be cooked. The feed (饲料) stank (发臭味) under the hot summer sun. I put a handkerchief to my nose and hurried away.“Live fish! Fresh and cheap!” A husky voice of a man was heard. In front of hisstall, there stood a big canvas (帆布)bag. Inside, a lot of fish were struggling in the turbid (混浊的)water. They opened their mouth widely to have their last breath of air. Terrified at the price, I left for other stalls. Just then a young fellow stopped me and tried to persuade me to buy a chain of garlic in his hand. He was disappointed to see me shaking my head.Then I came to the vegetable and fruit stalls which made up the busiest section of the market. A good variety of vegetables and fruits could be found here at summer time. Red tomatoes, green cucumbers and peppers were put at the most conspicuous places. The sweet smell of the fruits—peaches, plums, muskmelons (甜瓜), and purple-colored grapes—had drawn many customers. The sellers were praising their products in strong provincial accents and competing with each other by offering lower prices. Housewives would certainly drive a good bargain with the sellers before they really bought anything.At the far end of the market were the clothing stalls. Colorful clothes were hung up high to attract people’s attention. There were quite a number of people but only few bought any clothes. A girl had stood at one of the stalls for a long time. Obviously she desired to have that fashionable skirt which was said to be made in Hong Kong. But finally she left, for she was unwilling to pay almost her monthly wage of 80 yuan for it.After hours of shopping—choosing and bargaining, I left the noisy market, exhausted but quite satisfied, my bag full of vegetables and fruits.(374)My Dream HouseAs I approach the island which my dream house awaits, I catch a quick glimpse of it. It is huge, and is the most noticeable building in the area. My private plane lands on the air strip next to the house. I get out of the plane and start my journey through a heavily wooded path leading to my dream house. I walk with anxiety toward the house at which I will spend the rest of my life. All around me lie the most beautiful trees and plants you have ever seen. It is peaceful but you can hear the sounds of birds chirping(鸟叫声) and small forest creatures frolicking (嬉闹声)in the brush. As I continue to walk along the path end starts to appear. I now see my house for the first time up close. Nothing could have prepared me for the moment I was about to experience.My house that I designed is all I imagined and more. It is a four-story dream on a huge fifteen acre lot (一小块土地). As I approach the stairs at the entrance to the house I am surrounded by four columns leading to the most elegant doors I have ever seen. They are made of mahogany (红木)and have a stained (着色的) glass window in the center. The handles and the frame are made of brass. As I continue around thehouse I come across three windows overlooking the entrance to the house. There are black shutters (百叶窗)on each window. As the porch continues to the south side of the house I am now looking over the Pacific Ocean. A huge eight foot picture is facing the same way I am. As I look down and observe the ocean I see two piers (码头) jutting (突出、伸出) out into the Pacific. On either side of the piers are huge boulders (砾石、大石块) protecting the coast line from erosion. The house's walls are made of stucco (粉饰灰泥)and it has an old fashion shingles (木瓦、墙面板) that are a clay color.As I walk into the back yard I am surrounded by the best things a man could ever want. Well, not quite everything! But a lot of things. I walk toward the road and I first come across a basketball court. To the left of the basket ball court is a tennis court. There is a bar in between the two to take a break at between games. On the opposite side of the yard there is an in ground swimming pool that is connected to the pool inside the house. As my journey comes to a close I notice a white gazebo (露台)off to the east of the house. It is in a position such that you can see anyone entering or leaving the lot if you are sitting in it.As my plane leaves to go home to pack I take one last look at the house. I think to myself, "Yes this is my dream house, my dream house." (492)Mountain ResortFor those who like winter sports like skiing and snowboarding, we have just the perfect place — the remote yet very popular mountain resort called Balea Lake.It is situated at an altitude of 2,034m, being the highest mountain resort of Romania. The cliffs are covered with snow from November till late July, sometimes still persisting till the new one arrives. First, you have to reach Balea Waterfall, and only afterwards try to get to the lake. Late spring is the best time to come — you take the main road and you’re disappointed because you see no sign of snow and you think you have come such a long way for nothing. But you keep driving, hoping to find that wonderful place where you can ski or snowboard (滑雪板运动) in T-shirt only, without worrying you’ll catch another cold and hoping to meet some of the friends you haven’t seen for the past month or more. The road makes a big turn and suddenly you see what you’ve been waiting for: the big mountains are still covered with snow. So everyone is happy and anxious to finally arrive up there. The area is fantastic for the best skiers and boarders and it offers excellent routes for free ride.The resort has only two chalets (山地农舍式房子), each one situated on one side of the lake. There are many two-day contests taking place here. The participants are from many different countries and they come here to have fun and do what they like and know best: extreme ski and snowboard. Snowboard is relatively a new extreme sport in Romania, but there already are many kids who practice it. Parties whereeveryone is having a good time and creating a friendly atmosphere, one would say specific to this place follow the contests. The party lasts till late in the night, when a peaceful silence covers the mountains. But the calm doesn’t last too long. Tired, but woken by the lukewarm (温和)rays of sun, the riders begin the new day with some tricks and jumps on the quarter pipe taking advantage of the snow as much as possible.This is the place where my friends and I spend a great deal of our leisure time. The atmosphere is very cozy-going and friendly. The calm and splendor of the mountains helps me relaxed and offers me the chance of escaping the every day routine and problems by doing what I like best: snowboarding. (406)The Horse FarmI am jarred (使人不安) out of a relaxing sleep by a voice yelling my n ame in a loud whisper, and a light burning through my eyelids. Groggily (昏昏沉沉地), I open my eyes to see my father standing in the doorway to my messy room. He tells me that I need to get going, that it is 3:00 a.m., and I'm burning daylight. I find my clothes and get dressed. The whole time I wonder why I get up this early to visit the rugged outdoors.I want to go back to bed, but I know my dad will be back in to make sure I am getting ready, in a little bit. Instead, I put my boots and my wide-brimmed, black cowboy hat on, and walked out to catch the horses. The horses are all excited because it is dark and they are not that cooperative. My dad and I get them saddled and in the trailer, and go back into the house to get our lunch, water, and a cup of coffee. Now, we can head for the high country.It is still dark when we get there, so our horses are still very alert; they keep moving around and snorting (马等喷响鼻子)with eyes wide and nostrils (鼻孔) flared. I strap my pistol to my hips and tie the tip of the holster (手枪皮套)to my leg so it doesn't flop. We are ready to go, so I take a deep breath of the sharp, clean, mountain air and step into the saddle. As we ride along in the dark, I begin to relax. Man, I love the smell of cool mountain air; there is nothing in the world quite like it. It is so refreshing for me.As the sky begins to brighten to a gray, and the stars that were so brilliant just seconds ago begin to grow dim, my imagination starts to picture things moving that are really nothing but shadows in the trees. It is as if the shadows are racing around trying to find their owners before the sun peeks its gleaming face up over the horizon.A deer jumps from its bed, scaring the horses and pumping a quart of adrenaline (肾上腺素) through my system, as my pistol jumps to my hand. Once I realize it is just a deer, I put my pistol back in its holster.In the last seconds before the sun rises, the sky turns a soft blue. The sun breaksthe horizon and begins to shine its warmth down on me; I can see more of the beauty that is all around me. I can see beams of light perfectly outlining the ragged mountains, as I look across the valley. As the sun floats higher in the pure blue sky, it reveals more and more of the beauty that the land holds. In every direction my eyes take in the trees, cattle grazing on a side hill, and elk (麋鹿) moving through the aspen trees (山杨树). Sometimes, when I am here, I will see a coyote (草原狼)appear and then vanish like the wind.Each time I visit this place I get the same relaxing feeling, yet in a way it is new. When I look upon the beauty of nature, I know that these places were created knowing there would be people like me on earth to enjoy them. （579）My Grandmother's HouseMy most vivid childhood memories are set in my Grandma’s house, a curious blend of familiar and mysterious treasures. Grandma lived at the end of a dead-end street, in the same house she had lived in since the first day of her marriage. That was half a century ago. A set of crumbly (易碎的，松碎的) steps made of concrete mixed with gravel led up to her front door. I remember a big gap between the house and the steps, as if someone had not pushed them up close enough to the house. Anyone who looked into the gap could see old toys and books that had fallen into the crack behind the steps and had remained there, forever irretrievable (不能恢复的，无法挽救的).Only a hook-type lock on the front door protected Grandma’s many beautiful antiques. Her living room was set up like a church or schoolroom, with an old purple velvet couch against the far wall and two chairs immediately in front of the couch facing the same direction. One-half of the couch was always buried in old clothes, magazines, and newspapers, and a lone shoe sat atop the pile, a finishing touch to some bizarre modern sculpture. To one side was an aged and tuneless upright piano with yellowed keys. The ivory (象牙色) paint was missing so that the wood underneath showed through, and many of them made only a muffled (使声音减弱、沉闷)and frustrating thump (重击声), no matter how hard I pressed them. On the wall facing the piano was the room’s only window, draped (成褶地悬挂) with yellowed lace curtains. Grandma always left that window open. I remember sitting near it, smelling the rain while the curtains tickled my face.For no apparent reason, an old curtain hung in the door between the kitchen and the living room. In the kitchen, a large table always held at least a half-dozen varieties of homemade jelly (果子冻、肉冻), as well as a loaf of bread, gooseberry (醋栗果) pies or cherry (樱桃)pies with the pits left in, boxes of cereal, and anything else not requiring refrigeration, as if the table served as a small, portable pantry (食品室). Grandma’s kitchen always smelled of toast, and I often wondered--- and still do--- ifshe lived entirely on toast. A hole had eaten through the kitchen floor, not just the warped (变形的，弯曲的) yellow linoleum (亚麻油漆布/地毯), but all the way through the floor itself. My sisters and I never wanted to take a bath at Grandma’s house, because we discovered that anyone who lay on the floor on his stomach and put one eye to the hole could see the bathtub, which was kept in the musty (发霉的、有霉味的) basement because the upstairs bathroom was too small.The back bedroom was near the kitchen and adjacent to the basement stairs. I once heard one of my aunts call that room a firetrap, and indeed it was. The room was wallpapered with the old newspapers Grandma’s liked to collect, and the bed was stacked high with my mother’s and aunt s’ old clothes. There was no space between the furniture in that room, only a narrow path against one wall leading to the bed. A sideboard was shoved against the opposite wall; a sewing table was pushed up against the sideboard; a short chest of drawers lay against the sewing table; and so on. But no one could identify these pieces of forgotten furniture unless he dug through the sewing patterns, half-made dresses, dishes, and books. Any outsider would just think this was a part of the room where the floor had been raised to about waist-level, so thoroughly was the mass of furniture hidden.Stepping off Grandma’s sloping back porch was like stepping into an enchanted (使具有魔力的)forest. The grass and weeds were hip-level, with a tiny dirt path leading to nowhere, as if it had lost its way in the jungle. A fancy white fence bordered the yard and vainly attempted to hold in the gooseberries, raspberries (悬钩子、覆盆子、树莓), and blackberries that grew wildly along the side of Grandma’s yard. Huge crabapple (沙果、林檎、花红), cherry, and walnut (胡桃) trees shaded the house and hid the sky. I used to stand under them and look up, pretending to be deep in a magic forest. The ground was cool and damp under my bare feet, even in the middle of the day, and my head would fill with the sweet fragrance of mixed spring flowers and throaty (喉部发音的) cooing of doves I could never find but could always hear. But, before long, the wind would shift, and the musty aroma (气味) of petroleum from a nearby refinery would jerk me back to reality.Grandma’s house is indeed a place for memories. Just as her decaying concrete steps store the treasures of many lost childhood, her house still stands, guarding the memories of generations of children and grandchildren. (789)Description of a personA Fellow StudentIt was my first day at the university. I walked into the building where I was going to live, and looked at door after door for my name. At last I found it. In the room there was already a student making his bed.After we said “How do you d o!” to each other, he continued his work, paying no more attentio n to me. “What a stuck-up fellow,” I thought. I examined the room. It was not different in the fittings and furnishings from any other room I had seen, but it had been thoroughly cleaned — by my new roommate, no doubt.I looked at him. He was thin, short, and dark. His hair was like a bundle of straw. His dirty clothes and tired look were clearly signs of a long travel. His clothes were made of cheap cloth. The coat was too short and the trousers too loose. And he wore a pair of rubber shoes, which were very unfashionable. He did not look like a smart freshman at all. “A yoked,” I concluded.The second time he spoke, his accent told me that he was from the south. “Shall I help you to get your luggage from the office?”I did not refuse since I really needed help. He was quick in movement. He walked out of the room and was soon far ahead of me in the corridor.“A good guy.”I said to myself. “I will make friends with him.”I hurried and caught up with him. （252）Kittredge of HarvardThe sight of him as he came to the ten-o’clock class was in itself something that had to be recognized as dramatic. In the pleasant autumn or spring, men stood high on the steps or out on the turf (草皮) in front and watched in the direction of Christ Church to see who could catch the first glimpse of him.. “There he comes!” somebody called, and then everybody who was in a position to see watched him as he hurried breezily along — a graceful, tallish man in very light gray suit and gray fedora (软毡帽) hat, with a full square beard at least as white as his suit, who moved with energy, and smoked passionately at a big cigar. Students used to say that he smoked an entire cigar while he walked the short distance along the iron fence of the old-burying ground and across the street to Johnson Gate. But as he came through the gate he tossed the remnant of his cigar into the shrubbery with a bit of a flourish, and the students still outside hurried in and scrambled up the long stairway in order to be in their places — as he liked — before he himself entered. If any of them were still on the stairway when he came in at the outer door like a gust (一阵狂风), they gave way and he pushed up past them, and into the good-sized room and down the aisle(过道、通道、走廊)to the front, threw his hat on the table in the corner, mounted the two steps to the platform, looked about with a commanding eye, and there was sudden silence and unrestrained expectance. (269)My Friend, RobertoRoberto is one of my good friends. He is also my brother! We go to school together. We play soccer together. We live together. We even share a bedroom. We also share parents! I think we are going to be longtime friends. We are certainly going to be longtime brothers.Roberto is 21 years old. He is about 5 feet, 9 inches tall. His face is long and narrow. His eyes are green. His hair is light brown. He doesn’t look very Italian. He smiles a little and usually has a friendly look on his face. He isn’t fat and he isn’t thin. His build is average. He plays soccer and baseball, so he says in shape. He doesn’t like to dress up. He likes to wear jeans and T-shirts.Roberto has a pleasant personality. He is fairly outgoing, but he is also very sensitive. He worries about our parents because they are old. My grandfather is also ill. He often writes to them. He is my elder brother, but my English is better than his. He is little sensitive about that, too! Roberto is crazy about strawberry ice cream and baseball.Roberto’s future plans are not very definite. First, he is going to improve his English. Then he is going to study physical education. He wants to be a high school coach. After that, I don’t know what he is going to do. He has a girlfriend and he likes her very much. Is he going to marry her? I don’t know, but I hope so. I want him to be happy.He is a good person and a true friend. (275)Mother’s PortraitMy mother, who is seventy years old, recently sent me a photograph of herself that I have never seen before. While cleaning out the attic of her Florida home, she came across a studio portrait she had taken about a year before she married my father. This picture of my mother as a twenty-year-old girl has fascinated me from the moment I began to consider it.The young woman in the picture has a face that resembles my own in many ways. Her face is a bit more oval than mine, but the softly waving brown hair around it is identical. The small, straight nose is the same model I was born with. My mother’s mouth is closed, yet there is just the slightest hint of a smile on her full lips. I know that if she had smiled, she would have shown the same wide grin and down-curving “smile lines”that appear in my own snapshots. The most haunting (不易忘怀的) feature in the photo, however, is mother’s eyes. They are an exact duplicate of my own large, dark-brown ones, Her brows are plucked (to make...the shape you want, by pulling out some of the hairs) into thin lines, which are like two pencil strokes added to highlight those fine, luminous eyes.I’ve also carefully studied the clothing and jewelry in the photograph. Although the photo was taken fifty years ago, my mother is wearing a blouse and skirt that could easily be worn today. The blouse is made of heavy eggshell-colored satin (缎子) and reflects the light in its folds and hollows. It has a turned-down cowl (斗篷风帽) collar and smocking (正面刺绣针迹)on the shoulders and below the collar. The smocking looks hand-done. The skirt, which covers my mother’s calves (小腿肚), is straight and made of light wool or flannel. My mother is wearing silver drop earrings. They are about two inches long and roughly shield-shaped. On her left wrist is a matching bracelet, and on the third finger of her left hand is a ring with a large, square-cut stone.When I study this picture, I react in many ways. I think about the trouble that my mother went to in order to impress the young man who was to be my father. I laugh when I look at the ring, which was probably worn to make my father jealous. Sometimes, I am filled with a mixture of pleasure and sadness when I look at this frozen long-ago moment. It is a moment of beauty, of love, an d — in a way — of my own past.Description of an objectThe Earliest Coins in ChinaOf the various currencies used in ancient China, the round bronze coin with a square hole in the center was by far the most common. The earliest coins in this form, known as Qin ban liang, were a product of China’s first centralized kingdom, the Qin dynasty, established by Qin Shihuang in 221 B.C. Before the Qin dynasty, Chinese currency had taken many forms. Coins shaped like various items of clothing, farm implements, or knives were in circulation, but they were costly and hard to produce, and difficult to carry and transport.The new coins were a great improvement — they were relatively simple to cast and could be strung together for ease of transportation. The new coins also had a particular philosophical significance to the ancient Chinese, who made the coins to symbolize their belief that heaven was round and the earth was square, and that heaven sheltered the earth and all things in the universe were united. This concept of unity was important to the Qin emperors, who ruled over a unified China and believed their power great enough to spread to the four corners of the earth.The coins also had great aesthetic appeal. They were thought to represent the relationship between man and nature. Commonly found in nature, the circle represents freedom, comfort, and ease; whereas the square is seen as something man-made, a symbol of law, order, and restraint.。
