The Age of Innocence：
On a January evening of the earlyseventies, Christine Nilsson was singing in Faust at the Academy of Music inNew York.第一句中交代了时间，地点，人物的具体行为singsing,小说的开头就为大家渲染了一副美丽的歌唱画面，这就通过细节真实生动的描写引起了读者的注意。
Conservatives cherished itfor being small and inconvenient, and thus keeping out the "newpeople" whom New York was beginning to dread and yet be drawn to; and thesentimental clung to it for its historic associations, and the musical for itsexcellent acoustics, always so problematic a quality in halls built for thehearing of music.
保守派的人们欣赏它的窄小不便，这样可以把纽约社会开始惧怕但又为之吸引的“新人”拒之门外;多愁善感的人们因为它引起许多历史的联想而对它恋恋不舍;而音乐爱好者则留恋它精美的音响效果。在专为欣赏音乐而修建的厅堂中，音响效果向来都是个棘手的质量问题。
小说的作者通过使用对比的手法展现出不同阶层的人们对于纽约开放社会的不同态度和内心真实的感受，句中大量使用了清晰易懂的句式clung to , cherished it for being, whom New York was beginningto dread and yet be drawn to,这些典型的写作句子是我们要学习的。