你真的“开心”吗？
（形容词运用/写作技巧）
大家好，我是Sybil, 毕业于美国文理学院，学过多年的英文文学史，热爱探究语言的可能性。
今天我想和大家聊一下写作技巧中，形容词的运用。
问大家一个问题：
“我今天很开心”用英语怎么说？
大家的第一反应可能是“I'm very happy today”，这也是最普通常见的表达。但英文中还有许多表达“开心”、“快乐”的词，例如，Thesaurus.com提供的“happy”近义词，就有如此之多：
这么多近义词，我们在使用时应该如何选择？他们表达的都是同一个意思吗？
PART ONE
其实，在不同情境下，常需要使用不同的关于“开心”的形容词；从“一般开心”到“欣喜若狂”，它们表示的喜悦程度也不一样。
来看看它们具体的分类：
1）
表达日常、普通程度的喜悦
pleased, glad, delighted, joyful, merry
I am pleased with the results of the test.
我对考试结果比较满意。
I'm glad to meet you.
见到你很高兴。
They are delighted at the prospect of a visit from their grandchildren.
他们很开心孙辈会过来拜访。
They sang a merry little song.
他们唱了一首快乐的小曲。
2）
以下词汇则能用来表达更大的喜悦：
blissful,gleeful, euphoric, elated, jubilant, overjoyed
They were euphorically celebrating victory.
他们兴高采烈地庆祝胜利。
She was overjoyed to see her sister again.
能再次见到妹妹令她十分开心。
其中，blissful可以表现一种无忧无虑、没有烦恼的状态, 例如：He sat there in a blissful state of comfort; a blissful marriage; a blissful childhood.
而elated/exultant则暗含着一层骄傲的意思，可在某事成功完成、比赛胜利、打败对手时使用，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）
而如果要表达“狂喜”/非常强烈的喜悦，就得用上下面这些词汇了：
ecstatic, enraptured, intoxicated
它们可以表达一种巨大的、难以抵挡的，甚至不真实的喜悦感。如：
Ecstatic fans filled the stadium.
狂喜的球迷们挤满了赛场。
Enraptured upon learning that he would be attending college on a full scholarship.
因得知他能拿到全额奖学金上大学而感到无比开心。
（当你拿到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
坦桑尼亚奇异的野生动物令这位游客陶醉在快乐中。
注意，intoxicated也有“醉酒”、“麻醉”的意思。因此，当它用来形容“高兴”的情绪时，也包含了一层忘乎所以、过度兴奋的感觉。
PART TWO
在叙述文写作时，我们更需要使用生动、丰富的形容词，来描述人物情感或气氛。使用一个不同的词汇，传达的信息和感情就可能截然不同。
学会使用多样的形容词，也是写好描述、叙述性文章的一个重要能力。英文写作水平的高低，有时通过形容词的选择就能体现。
让我们找一些在文学作品中对“开心”的描写，现在你是否能从中看出一些不同？
"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.
以上形容词虽然都有”开心“的意思，但绝对有不同的感受。
当然，表达“开心”的形容词还不止这些，大家可以在平时的阅读和写作中多多留意、积累，并学会使用。
综上，形容词的同类类比，都有强烈轻缓之分。利用这个方法，你还能想到哪些类似的常用形容词呢？
