英美报刊选读论文

Student signature: Date: 23th, Dec. 2012

Indulging Yourself In Old Times: Comments on Downton Abbey Cast

Have Fyne Time Discovering Their Scottish Heritage

The essay I am going to comment on is from a British newspaper called The Sun. The title of the essay is Downton Abbey Cast Have Fyne Time Discovering Their Scottish Heritage by Scott Campbell, published on 23th, Dec. 2012. The thesis statement is giving yourself a chance to see how the other half live was just too good to turn down.

This article was more like an advertisement than a introduction of a tourism place. It described the Downton Abbey with several detailed places such as the castle, souvenir shops, the Jail, the Fyne dining, sporting fields, country houses and so on. As is famous in Britain, Downton was used to making movies and TVs. While in the real world, Duneagle is Inveraray Castle once served as the historic home of the 14th Dukes of Argyll since the 17th Century. These are two reasons that why it is well-known. The castle shows people the history of one of Scotland’s most majestic and powerful clans. The inside of the castle is quite fabulous and glorious and attracts lots of people since it was opened to the public. As well, various tasty food are served here. If the tourists want to have some leisurely drinking and chatting time, the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar is a good station to settle themselves down. After drinking and eating, people can go for a wandering or do some sporting activities in the nearby Argyll Forest Park. If the tourists are bored of normal stuffs, they could rent a car and drive to Quadmania to play clay pigeon shooting. Just as their announcement goes “Whether you fancy living, dining or relaxing like an Earl or Duke, awesome Argyll has it all!”, this place is quite a great place to spend your vacations at. That ’s all the article was about.

After reading this article, I found some points to comment on:

Firstly, careful organization of this article brought readers a clear line of thoughts. It described this place step by step. The writer started with the history and the location of the castle. According to what I have learned in the tourism English class, an introduction to an exact place must be clear and brief. First, the history of the place must be distinct. For details, you can explain the significant dynasties and ages of this place and what major events had happened there. Then, you may lead the readers and the tourists into the place with an

interesting story or an mysterious legend which helps arouse their curiosity about this place. In this article, the writer used the effect of noble families—the 13th Duke of Argyll. The fame of the noble was like a sudden sparkling glare, flashing into people ’s eyes. Just as the old saying goes: Curiosity killed the cat. Human being would as well sense the fascination and throw themselves willing into a river called adventure. After drawing their attention, the next thing to do is telling them the function of the place. Some places are used to relax and have a break from the daily busy life, such as a beach house or a cabin in the village. While there are some places for tourists to pursue breathtaking activities and thrilling adventures. Mostly young people are fond of these places, they call these adventures and crazy behaviors “Another Unique Style of Life”. Families would rather like to go to farms and crop fields so that children could get closed to nature and know about this world better. If someone wants to acquire some historical knowledge, he or she may go to a historical spot like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. Different people have different appetites for touring and having fun. It is important to draw a clear distinction among various people. After all, a disease known is half the cure. After the function part, you can go through the building structure, special sights, local tasty food, native festivals, weather, and so on to fulfill the whole introduction.

Secondly, Argyll which was picked to show to the public by the writer is indeed a great place to visit. Argyll is at the west of Glasgow extending from Loch Lomond, with Oban in south and Machrihanish in north, located in Scotland. It is a extremely beautiful and romantic place in Scotland where the TV show Downton Abbey shoot. Tourists in Argyll would find lots of amazing things such as the delicious food, fabulous landscapes and a funny and healthy sport —golf. There are many little places of interest in Argyll. You ’ll notice the breathtaking Scottish villages, residence of the Duke, Royal town of Invervaray, and miraculously beautiful little Scottish islands around the main land in the green-blue ocean just like the twinkling stars in the peaceful sky. As a regionally whole part, Argyll is usually divided into smaller regional parts—Mid Argyll North Argyll, Cowal and Bute, Kintyre and The Mull of Kintyre, Oban, and other small isles. Each part has its own special characteristics. There are many featured houses in Argyll that may cause people’s interests. For example the Oatfield House near to Campbeltown, the Struan House where you can view the working fish quay, the Putechan Hotel which was newly opened in this spring, the Wellpark Hotel with its

delightful and quiet rooms, the Dunvalanree Hotel with the finest seafood, the Pennyland Farm where tourists can play golf and so on. Thus, Argyll is really a great place that worth visiting.

Thirdly, words and phrases used by the writer were well-organized. I’ll take some of them as examples and analyze generally. The writer used the rhetorical technique of metaphor —“added bonus ”. The writer took the unexpected surprise of seeing the stunning view as the origin and took the “added bonus ” as the analog. As we all know, the original meaning of “added bonus ” is extra money award. The writer’s humor was fully expressed here.

This article described the scenery of Argyll and I made some personal comments on this article for three points: the appropriate order and procedure of introducing a place, the location and scene of Argyll and the good language of this article.

Everybody is trying his or her best to compose some wonderful things no matter it is an article or a piece of comment. Perfect is a word that the world hadn’t learned to say to us. So we should admit others’ advantages and correct our own mistakes.

Touring is so enjoyable that it brings us happiness and helps us build our sweet dreams. We are supposed to take our time to tour around to experience different kinds of life styles and broad our eyesight.

Life is so short, just enjoy it!