文章来源italki
文章作者Jessica
Think of that horrible moment when you don't know what to say. What do you do?
想说说不出的场面该有多可怕。你该怎么做呢？
A huge problem for a lot of students in a speaking exam is when they can't think of a word. Often they say “um”, cough, or simply stop speaking.
对于许多学生来说，口语考试最大的问题就是他们想不到那个要说的词。这时候他们会说“啊“，咳嗽，甚至就不说了。
The examiner wants to know if you can communicate, and when you stop talking or make another mistake, you prove that you can't communicate. And then you fail the exam.
考官考察的是你能不能交流，如果你不说话或者又犯了错，就证明你无法交际。那考试就通不过了。
If you go shopping but don't know the name of something, do you go home without the thing you wanted to buy? If you meet someone and you can't think of a word, do you say goodbye and walk away?
如果你要去购物不知道商品的名称，你就直接回家不买了？如果你遇到个朋友，突然想不起怎么说一个词，就直接说再见转身走人？
In your own language, if you don't know a word, you probably explain it in a different way--you communicate without words. We need to do the same thing in English.
对你的母语来说，话到嘴边说不出，估计可以换一种方式表达，说不出也能交流无碍。对于英语也是如此
My Personal Experience
我的个人经历
I had this problem in Spain. I was driving my car and one of the tyres had a tiny puncture. It hadn't gone down completely, so I was able to reinflate it at a service station before driving to the tyre repair shop. However, when I tried to explain to the mechanic that I had a flat tyre, in my very bad Spanish, the mechanic was confused at my translation of “flat”.
在西班牙我遇到过这个问题。当时正开着车，轮胎上有一个小破洞，不过车胎没有完全瘪掉，我可以在服务站加点气，然后再去修车。不过当我向技工解释自己的车胎要瘪了，他似乎听不懂我说的“瘪”的意思。
“It's round,” he replied.
“可是车胎还是圆的啊，”他回答道。
I don't remember what I said, but he didn't understand me and thought I was stupid because I couldn't explain that I had a puncture. Unfortunately, it was only a small puncture and I had to wait half an hour until enough air escaped so that he could see that it had a puncture.
我记不得当时回答了什么，他还是没有听懂而且觉得我很笨，我脸车胎漏气都解释不了。所以即使一个小小的破洞，我还是等了半个多小时放完气，他才看出有一个破洞。
What I should have done was to think of a different way to describe the problem. Perhaps I should have said that I had needed to put more air into the tyre, or thought of a way to describe a sharp object going into the rubber.
我当时应该另想一个方法描述问题。也许我应该说要轮胎多加点气，或者演示一下尖锐的物体戳到橡胶里。
What to do when you can't think of a word
想不起词儿的时候你该怎么办呢
In an English speaking exam, or any time you speak to someone, and don't know the word to use, think of a different way to explain.
在口语考试中，或者说话的过程中，想不起要用的那个词，就换一种方法表达。
For example, instead of saying the tyre is flat you could say:
比如，车胎瘪了，你还可以说
“I hear air escaping.”“我听到漏气的声音。”
“The tyre has a hole in it.”“车胎上有个洞。”
“It made a loud bang.”“我听到车胎爆了。”
“My car suddenly veered to the side of the road.”“我的车突然到了路的另一边。”
We hope that the other person will understand us now and will have a close look at the tyre. It is truly an art to know how to communicate without words.
我们希望别人可以懂我们的表达，然后再仔细检查下车胎。想要不用说到那个词儿就能让对方懂，这真的是一门艺术。
Use all of the vocabulary you know to explain something, instead of becoming frustrated because you don't remember a word.
解释到词穷，总好过记不起要说的词儿而无比沮丧。
Notice that in all of the examples about the tyre you can guess what has happened, and I didn't have to say the words puncture or flat.
请注意，以上所有的例子都可以让你猜到发生了什么，我也不用说车胎有洞或者瘪了。
How would you describe a flat tyre?
你会怎样描述车胎爆了呢？
Describing things in English
用英语来描述事物
When we try to describe something, we can use adjectives, adverbs, idioms, similes and metaphors, and synonyms. We can also describe its properties, for example, its size or dimensions, shape, or colour; where it is, its material, how we use it, or what type of thing it is.
我们可以用形容词、副词、习语、明喻、暗喻和近义词来描述事物。我们也可以描述其属性，比如东西的大小、维度、形状和颜色，东西在哪里，它的材质，我们如何使用，以及它的类型。
Here are two simple examples:
请看下面两个例子：
It is a pet and it meows (it is a cat).
这是一种宠物，会发出喵的声音（是一只猫。）
It is metal, makes a loud noise, and delivers things (it is a lorry).
是金属制品，发出响声，可以送东西（是卡车）。
(In British English, a lorry is a truck.)（英式英语里就是卡车。）
In example (a) the thing can only be a cat because dogs, rabbits, and other pets don't meow. In fact, we only need to say “it meows” and we have described a cat.
第一个例子里只能是一只猫，因为狗、兔子和其他动物不会发出喵的声音。其实我们可以说“它发出喵的声音”，就表示这是一只猫了。
In example (b) the thing could be a truck, car, van, tractor, train, ship, ferry, aircraft, or helicopter. It might even be a bus.
第二个例子可能是卡车、汽车、面包车、拖拉机、火车、船、渡船、飞机或者是直升机。也可能是一辆公交车。
So, how can we describe a truck better? The features we described aren't unique to truck so we need to either use more descriptors, or find something unique about a truck that makes it instantly recognisable.
那么我们如何更好的描述卡车呢？我们描述的特点对卡车并不是唯一的，可以多描述些特点，或者找到卡车的独特性，更容易猜到。
We could say it has a driver and uses the road. That narrows it down because trains, ships, and aircraft don't use roads. But it could still be a truck, van, bus, taxi, tractor, car, or even a motorbike.
我们可以说它需要人驾驶而且在公路上使用。这样范围缩小了，火车、船和飞机不需要用到路。也可能是卡车、面包车、公交车、出租车、拖拉机、汽车甚至于是摩托车。
What would you say if you wanted to describe a truck and couldn't remember its name?
你想不起卡车的英语，让你描述你会说什么呢？
Tips for Describing Things
描述事物的方法
Here are some useful ways to describe something:
下面是描述事物的几个方法：
Size 尺寸
When we describe the size of something, we can say it is big or small, huge or tiny, wide or narrow. We could also measure its dimensions, a box that is 10cm high by 15cm wide.
描述事物的尺寸，我们可以说大、小，很大，很小，很宽或者很窄。我们可以量一量尺寸，譬如一个盒子10cm高15cm宽。
If it is easier, we can also use comparatives. The thing is smaller or bigger than another thing. Here are some real examples:
更简单的方法我们可以那它和其他东西作比较。这个东西比其他东西大或者小。下面是几个例子：
As big as six football pitches和6个足球场那么大
It is bigger than a car.比车大一些
Shape 形状
When we describe a thing's shape, we could say it is square, round, triangular; and we can also describe its form, such as, long, thin, straight, hollow, etc.
当我们描述事物的形状，我们可以说方的、圆的、三角的；我们也可以说长的、细的、直的、空心的等等。
Colour 颜色
Apart from basic colours like red, green and yellow, remember we can talk about light or dark, shiny or dull, or whether the colour is similar to an object, like flesh-coloured or metallic.
除了最基本的颜色：红、绿和黄，我们也可以说深和浅、亮和暗，或者和颜色相关的事物，如肉色或者金属色
Where is it 哪里
Many of the things we describe have a physical location which can be the easiest feature to describe. Here are a few examples:
许多我们描述的事物都有地理位置，这一点是很容易察觉的特征。
以下是几个例子：
The biggest city in the USA (New York)
美国最大的城市（纽约）
Those racks on the roof of the car (a bike carrier)
车顶上的架子（放自行车的）
The silver thing in the bathroom that water comes out of (tap)
厕所里银色的东西有水从里面流出（水龙头）
What is it made of 材质
There are many materials a thing can be made of, and this can help to identify the object. A tyre is made of rubber and the wheel is made of steel. If we don't remember the word tyre, we can say the rubber wheel and most people will understand us. Other materials that are common are metal, wood, glass, plastic, fabric, leather, ceramic, and brick.
一样东西可以有多种材质，以此我们可以识别事物。轮胎的材质是橡胶，车轮的材质是钢铁。如果你记不起轮胎怎么说，我们可以说橡胶车轮，大部分人会理解我们。其他常见的材质有金属、木头、玻璃、塑料、布头、皮、瓷和砖。
What is it used for 用途
This can be a quick way to make it clear what the object is, in particular if two things look similar and it is not easy to describe in more detail. An example might be a knife and a spoon – they are about the same size, made of metal, are shiny and found in the kitchen. However, a knife is for cutting food, and a spoon is used to eat more liquid foods.
这个方法识别物体很快，尤其是范围缩小到两个很相像的物体，可也找不到更多的细节作为线索。比如一把刀和汤匙。他们大小、材质相同，很亮而且都在厨房可以找得到。不过刀是用来切食物的，而汤匙是用来喝流质食物的。
What type 类型
Things that you need to describe can be an animal, a plant, a man-made object, or something else that exists in the natural world. Just for fun, think of a ghost which seems to be made of nothing, and certainly isn't an animal, plant or man-made thing. In fact, a ghost is made of ectoplasm - if they exist.
你形容的事物可以是动物、植物、人造物体、或者世间万物的任何东西。随便玩一下好了，想象有这么一个鬼魂，没有材质，也不是动物、植物人造物体。实际上鬼魂是魂灵，如果他们确实存在的话。
Here's a great example if you can't remember the name of something.
下面这个例子，看看你确实想不起来一样物体的名字怎么办。
A big, black and white animal.一个大的黑色的白色的动物。What do you think it could be? Well, depending on where it is, it could be a zebra, a panda bear, or a cow. Where can we find them? A zebra, in the wilds of Africa. A panda bear, in the mountains of China. A cow, on a farm. We could also say a cow is used for giving us milk.想想可能是什么？嗯，取决于它的位置，可以是斑马、熊猫、熊或者是奶牛。我们在哪里找得到他们？斑马，在非洲的野生区。熊猫在中国的大山里。奶牛在农场里。我们可以说奶牛用来产奶。
Things to remember about using adjectives
记得使用形容词
In English, adjectives go before the noun in direct descriptions (e.g. a small, black dog).
英语中，形容词在名词的前面修饰名词（比如一直小的黑狗。）
Adjectives normally only go after a noun if it is a descriptive phrase or sentence (e.g. Apples are red.)
如果形容词在动词后面，那么着就是一个描述性词组或者句子（比如苹果是红色的。）
Adjectives are never plural.
形容词没有复数
“A ten-gallon hat”, where ten-gallon is a compound adjective and does not have an s on the end. “A million-dollar deal.” “A five-year-old boy.”
“10加仑的帽子”，10加仑是复合形容词，在词尾没有加s。“一百万的交易。”“5岁的男孩。
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Conclusion
结论
I hope this article has helped you to be creative and think about the different ways we can describe a thing when we don't remember its name. Even when you forget the name of something, you can communicate without words! Please do let me know if you have any questions in the comments.
希望此文可以帮助你调动创造性思维，在想不起事物名称的时候，用不同方式描述事物。即便真的忘了，你也可以交流无碍！如有任何问题，请在下方留言。
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