TPS News

Suggested answer: “The traditional musicians played lilting music on their bamboo pipes, the melodies drifting along the five-note scale like swallows wafting on the wind.”

The music played by the Chinese instrumentalists was described as “lilting,” with melodies “drifting.” Clearly, the tunes were buoyant and uplifting and the verb in the metaphor about swallows needs to mesh with the music’s description. In comparing the music to swallows “wafting” on the wind, the writer creates an image of smooth and graceful movements. Other “w” words that might have been chosen include “winging” and “wandering” and, possibly, “whistling,” but none carries the suggestion of buoyancy and gentleness that most accurately describes the music.
本句形容國樂家吹奏的音樂 “lilting”（輕快）、旋律 “drifting”（飄揚），顯然曲調活潑昂揚，因此句中燕子的比喻，必須選擇能和音樂的描述融合在一起的動詞。將音樂比喻為燕子在風中 “wafting”（飄盪），能創造一種流暢優美的動作形象。其他 w 開頭的字還有 “winging”（飛翔）、“wandering”（飄泊），或是 “whistling”（呼嘯），但都沒有活潑輕快的感覺，無法精準描述句中形容的音樂。