英语中修辞方法

高级英语 修辞 1 By figures of speech we refer to those rhetorical devices termed tropes in classical rhetoric Tropes have to do with the way words are made to mean other than what they would normally imply and therefore involve deviation from the ordinary and literal meaning of words They are ways of making our language figurative 1 Simile 明喻 Simile develops out of the Latin word similis meaning like A simile is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common The comparison is purely imaginative To make the comparison words like as as so and like are used to transfer the quality we associate with one to the other Simile 明喻 一词源于拉丁语 意思是 象 如 一样 明喻直 接比较两个或两个以上不同的人或事物 英语中常用的喻词是 like 和 as 明喻比较的不同的人和事物之间必须至少有一个共同点 而 所进行的比较纯属想象 1 I was interrupted in my meditations by a noise like the Scotch express going under a bridge It was Honoria Glossop laughing by P G Wodehouse 一阵犹如直快火车在桥下隆隆驶过的响声打断了我的思 路 原来是格洛思蒲在笑 高级英语 修辞 2 2 He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow by George Eliot 这个人就像一只骄傲自负的公鸡 以为太阳升起是 为了听它啼鸣 3 One blinks before the dirty houses as one blinks before a man with his face shot away H L Mencken 人们看到这所肮脏的房子 就像看 到一个脸被子弹崩掉的人一样 惊愕不已 4 Mary and her mother are as like as two peas 玛丽和她母亲长得酷似 2 Metaphor 隐喻 A metaphor like a simile also makes a comparison between two unlike elements but unlike a simile this comparison is implied rather than stated A metaphor is in a sense a condensed simile differing from the latter only in form and artistry Let s compare Metaphor 隐喻 和明喻一样 也是两个不同事物之间的比较 但它 有别于明喻 这种比较是隐含的 非陈述的 隐喻是一种浓缩的明 喻 只是形式和表现手法不一样 Let s compare Jim was as cunning as a fox simile Jim was a fox metaphor The world is like a stage simile The world is a stage metaphor 高级英语 修辞 3 Let s look at more examples 1 They wanted to get into the fun before the whole thing turned belly up 它们要在这场战争结束之前也过一下打仗的瘾 analysis For description a dead fish which would be belly up implies the end of the thing In translation the implied rhetorical meaning is given instead of the literary meaning of the original 2 Malone accused Bryan of calling for a duel to the death between science and religion Then the court broke into a storm of applause that passed that for Bryan The crowd seemed to feel that their champion had not scorched the infidels with the hot breath of his oratory as he should have John Scopes 马隆呼吁学术自由 指责布赖恩挑起科学与宗教之间的殊死斗争 听众们似乎觉得他们的雄辨家布赖恩并没有能象往日那样以其三 寸不料之舌击败马隆那些异教徒们 analysis The write uses the words duel and storm and scorched to mean metaphorically the dead struggle between science and religion the idealistic support of the mass and the unreasonable resentment of them against reasonable ideas 决斗 暴风雨 和 烧焦 3 His eyes came out of his head like a prawn s and once more his moustache foamed up against his breakwater of a nose by Mr Woodhouse 他那两只对虾眼在头上凸出来 鼻孔中喷出的热气把胡 须吹得飘来飘去 高级英语 修辞 4 4 Of all the arts tragedy is the proudest the most triumphant for it builds its shining citadel in the very center of the enemy s country on the very summit of his highest mountain from its impregnable watch towers his camps and arsenals his columns and forts are all revealed Bertrand Russell 悲剧是艺术之巅 是艺术的骄傲 因为悲剧把自己 辉煌的城堡建造在敌人心脏地区的峰项上 在坚不可摧的敌人的防 区扎起营房 设下火药库 排好队列并且造起炮楼 5 Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual could be communicated to another by means of speech Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan The trickle became a stream the stream has now become a torrent by G N M Tyrell 语言一旦成为人们交流思想的工具 知识就开始增加 随后 就是知识的系统化积累 点点滴滴的知识汇成潺潺涓流 涓涓溪流 又汇成汪洋大海 取之不尽 用之不绝 6 The hall way was zebra striped with darkness and moonlight Kurt Vonnegut Jr 月光射进回廊 在黑暗中投下条条光影 3 Metonymy 换喻 Originating from Greek metonymy means a change of name that is the use of one thing for another related to it as the Bench for the magistrates or judges sitting in court a silk for a Queen s Counsel the bottle for alcoholic liquor 高级英语 修辞 5 Metonymy 换喻 一词来源于希腊语 意思是 名称的变换 换喻就 是用一个事物的名称替换与它有连带关系的另一事物的名称 例如 用法官坐的 板凳 替换 法庭的法官 用法官穿的 丝服 表示 英国 王室的法律顾问 用盛酒的 瓶子 替换 酒 The glories of our blood and state Are shadows not substantial things There is no armor against fate Death lays his icy hand on kings Scepter and Crown Must tumble down And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked Scythe and Spade Shirley The Glories of Our Blood Metonymy can be derived from various sources from names of persons from animals professions locations or names of places A Names of persons 1 John Bull England or the English people 2 Uncle Sam The United States of America B Animals 1 British Lion England or the English government 2 the bear The former Soviet union or the Soviet government C Parts of the body 高级英语 修辞 6 1 heart feelings or emotions 2 gray hair old age D Professions 1 the bar the legal profession 2 the bench position office of judge or magistrate 3 the veil vocation of a nun 4 the press newspapers newspaper reporters E Locations of government of business or industrial enterprises 1 Downing Street the British government or cabinet 2 The White House the President or Executive branch of the U S government 3 Capitol Hill the Legislative branch of the U S government 4 the Pentagon the U S military establishment 5 Kremlin the government of the former Soviet Union 6 Fleet Street the British press 7 Wall Street U S financial circles 8 Madison Avenue American advertising industry 9 Hollywood American film making industry 10 Foggy Botton U S State Department Let s look at some examples 1 Lands belong to the crown 普天之下皆王土 高级英语 修辞 7 2 The kettle boils 壶里的水开了 3 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread 为了生存 人皆要劳动 作者原文中用 汗水 替代 劳动 用 吃面包 替代 生存 4 Synecdoche 提喻 Synecdoche has often been confused with metonymy and sometimes even treated synonymously This is not surprising as both figures of speech involve substitution only metonymy involves substitution of the name of one thing for that of another closely associated with it whereas synecdoche involves the substitution of the part for the whole or the whole for the part A The part for the whole 1 hand a member of a ship s crew All hands on deck b worker laborer helper They were short of hands at harvest time 2 head person He paid the workers 5 per head 3 heart brave fellow Yet there were some stout hearts who attempted resistance C S Forester 4 legs coll persons on foot the infantry The legs could hardly keep up with the tanks 高级英语 修辞 8 5 bread food esp staple food Give us this day our daily bread Prayer They say there s bread and work for all And the sun shines always there But I ll not forget old Ireland Were it fifty times as fair Helen S Blackwood B The whole for the part 1 Name of country for group of people of that country Australia beat Canada at cricket the Australian team beat Canadian team 2 Vehicle for engine machine for mechanism of machine itself etc The car conked out The plane s flamed out The radio TV is out of order 3 Person for part of his body Then he cut me open and took out the appendix and stitched me up again cut his abdomen open Let s look at more examples 1 With thunders from her native oak She quells the flood below By Thomas Campbell 战舰喷出雷鸣般的炮火 在狂浪中稳健地向前冲 analysis Oak 高级英语 修辞 9 represents the warships as well as the material from which they are made 2 Chelsea won the match 切尔斯队在足球赛中获胜 analysis Chelsea stands for the Chelsea Football team In the Chinese version we put the synecdoche into the truth telling implied meaning 3 The case had erupted round my head 这个案子硬是把我搅了进去 analysis Head is a part of a person and here stands for the person This is a synecdoche in which part stands for the whole The Chinese version has the implied meaning given clearly 4 But neither his vanity nor his purse is any concern of the dictionary s 编撰词典 收录词条可不管谁有钱 谁有名气 原文中使用了提 喻 以装钱的包代替钱包里所装的钱 汉语中译出了提喻所寓的修 辞意义 5 Personification 拟人 By definition personification is a figure of speech that gives human form of feelings to animals or life and personal attributes to inanimate objects or to ideas and abstractions Personification 拟人 是写作中人为地把 人格赋予事物或抽象概念 使之似乎活起来的修辞格 1 I ran across a dim photograph of him the other day going through some old things He s been dead twenty five years His name was Rex and he was a bull terrier James Thurber 高级英语 修辞 10 analysis Here a dog is personified 2 The wind whistled through the trees analysis Here the wind is personified 3 If not always in a hot mood to smash the sea is always stealthily ready for a drowning Joseph Conrad analysis Here the natural phenomena the sea is personified 4 She sat like Patience on a monument Smiling at Grief William Cowper analysis Here an abstraction patience is personified 5 The long flames sang their drumming chorus in voices of the heaviest bass 6 The light we see coming from some far off stars started on its journey more than a hundred years ago 6 Euphemism 委婉 The word euphemism comes from Greek meaning fair speech It is the habit of avoiding an unpleasant or taboo reference by substituting some indirect word or expression for the blunt direct one as we say that somebody passed away when we mean that he died Euphemism 委婉 一词来自希腊语 意思是 顺耳的话 习惯上 这是一种用间接的 言词取代生硬的话语 以避免不愉快和禁忌语的方式 如 不说某 某 死了 而说他 过世了 高级英语 修辞 11 A Death Illness Old Age etc 1 to die to pass away to depart to go to sleep to go to heaven 2 old age senility getting on in years past one s prime feeling one s age second childhood 3 old people senior citizens 4 mad feeble minded not all there soft in the head of unsound mind simple minded 5 stupid pupil a slow learner under achiever 6 fat people weight watchers The motive for the euphemisms in this case seems to be to avoid hurting people s feelings B Toilet Habits etc 1 to urinate or to defecate go to the bathroom do their business answer nature s call The motive here obviously is to avoid using the true words which are 高级英语 修辞 12 considered crude and indecent in polite conversation C Poverty and Unemployment 1 dismiss sack lay off ease out give get the walking ticket pink slip 2 Penniless out of pocket hard up in reduced circumstances badly off D Menial jobs or professions of low social standing 1 a maid housekeeper etc domestic help day help live in help 2 chief waiter waitress captain hostess 3 real estate agent realtor 4 hairdresser beautician 5 janitor superintendent custodian 6 undertaker mortician 7 rat catcher exterminating engineer pest control operator 高级英语 修辞 13 The motive here is plainly to uplift these professions by name Let s look at more examples 1 A man is helping police with their inquiries 一名罪犯正在配合警察的审讯工作 analysis A suspected criminal is detained by the police and probably under close arrest 2 A clean bomb put quantities of people to rest 一枚炮弹送很多人回了老家 analysis An atom bomb kills many people 3 He is out visiting the necessary 他出去方便了一下 analysis He is in the lavatory or W C 7 Hyperbole 夸张 Hyperbole is the deliberate use of overstatement or exaggeration to achieve emphasis Instead of saying in plain language She is a pretty girl or He laughed heartily we could express the same ideas more emphatically by saying She is the prettiest girl in the world or He almost died laughing Effective hyperbole however is more than just to emphasize something in exaggerated terms In the hands of experienced writers it can be used to achieve various literary effects to intensify emotion to elevate a person or thing to heroic or mythical status or to poke fun at or ridicule 高级英语 修辞 14 Moreover its form too can vary from a phrase a sentence to a paragraph or paragraphs of description Sometimes a whole story or article may be one big hyperbole Examples of these various forms and uses are given below 1 A Vow to Zip His Lips analysis It is impossible to zip one s lip so this is hyperbole 2 Belinda smiled and all the world was gay 3 Hamlet I loved Ophelia forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum 4 For she was beautiful her beauty made The bright world dim and everything beside Seemed like the fleeting image of a shade P B Shelley The Witch of Atlas 8 Onomatopoeia 拟声 This device makes use of imitation of sounds for effect Onomatopoeia 拟声 是一种模拟声音 追求特殊语言效果的修辞手 法 These sounds may be those made by a person animal or thing or associated with some action or movement For example moo meow bow wow hiss roar and baa are respectively imitative of the cries or calls of cows cats dogs snakes lions and sheep In the same way trains 高级英语 修辞 15 toot doors bang windows rattle fire crackles machines clang and racing cars go vroom vroom It is a device much used in poetry and prose to add vividness or vitality to description or narration 1 Spring the sweet Spring is the year s pleasant king Then blooms each thing then maids dance in a ring Cold doth not sting the pretty birds do sing Cuckoo jug jug pu we to witta woo Thomas Nash Spring 2 Ding Whrrrrrrrrrrrrr Crash A tiny virus called Michelangelo whips the computer world into a frenzy 3 Rent a toot or buy a tweet boom zing twang tinkle hum or plink Advertisement for Dallas Music Company Reader s Digest June 1981 4 As you approach the copper smith s market a tinkling and banging and clashing begins to impinge on your ear 5 Four or five thousand men in all winding up the road with a clumping of boots and a clatter of iron wheels were marching southward 7 He finds himself projected into a hall full of people humming with anticipation 9 Paregmenon 同源词并列 As a figure of speech paregmenon is the use of several words of similar 高级英语 修辞 16 origin close together Its function is to accumulate strength by phonological means Paregmenon 同源词并列 并列这种辞格连续使用几个同源词 凭借 其类似的音韵增强语势 1 Can t you sense his sensibility 难道你没有意识到他是多么敏感 analysis sense echoes phonologically with the first part of the sounds of sensibility Such a short sentence have the same sounds repeated and the two words come from the same origin thus making the impression and the interrogation strong in sentiment 2 What will effect the effectiveness 还能有什么办法会产生这种效果呢 analysis effect matches effectiveness in sounds thus giving stress In translation we show the rhetorical effect by adding a part of undoubted question 3 There s one thing you may be sure of namely that lies are lies Don t you tell any more of them Pip And as to being common you can t get to be uncommon through going crooked said Joe after some reflection Dickens 乔伊想一阵后说 匹普 有一件事你要记住 谎言就是 谎言 再也不要说谎 至于 没出息 的问题 人若是不走正道 是 出 息 不了的 4 Although William Blake was evidently sometimes prone to answer a fool according to his folly he often explained in sober earnest his ideas of 高级英语 修辞 17 the essential truth of art 虽然威廉 布菜克往往好用 以其人之道 还 治其人之身 的办法回敬某个笨蛋 但是他常常极其诚恳而平和解释 他自己的精辟的艺术见解 5 Still I think you ll do the job all right Dixon It s not that you ve the qualifications but you haven t got the disqualifications and that is much rarer 丘克斯 我还是认为你可以干这件事 不是因为你合乎资格 而是因为你没有不合格的地方 这才是难得的 6 He tried to force his spirits down to expect nothing but unexpected and very marshy mushiness 他竭力镇静下来 只等着出乎意料和难解难分 的情况发生 7 The flowing water helped her thoughts to flow 潺潺流水使她思绪翩 翩 10 Pun 双关语 Pun is a figure of speech to play on words or rather to play with the form and meaning of words for a witty or humorous effect Pun 双关语 是一种使用音异义词或多义词以取得诙谐效果的修饰 手法 a form of word play which exploits numerous meanings of a statement allowing it to be understood in multiple ways for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic homographic metonymic or metaphorical 高级英语 修辞 18 language There are many words in the English language which look or sound alike but have different senses or connotations e g a arms part of the body arms weapons b see verb to sight see noun a bishop s diocese see noun a vast expanse of water c row verb to row a boat row noun a row of houses row noun a noisy quarrel pronounced rau There are also words which have more than one basic meaning or have developed figurative meanings e g d bridge a wooden bridge a dental bridge e power authority force energy as in electric power f table a dining table a table numbers a time table Based on the above two types of similarities in words there are two broad 高级英语 修辞 19 classes of puns 1 Why is an empty purse always the same Because there is never any change in it change can be 变化 or 零钱 2 What do lawyers do after they die Lie still 3 A professor tapped on his desk and shouted Gentlemen order The entire class yelled Beer 4 On Sunday they pray for you on Monday they prey on you homophone 同音异形异义词 5 If we don t hang together we ll hang separately homograph同形异义word spelt like another but with a different meaning 11 Transferred Epithet 移就 修饰转换 A transferred epithet 移就 修饰转换 is as its name implies a figure of speech where an epithet an adjective or descriptive phrase is transferred from the noun it should rightly modify to another to which it does not really belong Generally the epithet is transferred from a person to a thing or idea For instance when we say we spent sleepless nights on a project the word sleepless is a transferred epithet for nights cannot sleep We really mean to say we did not sleep for many nights while working on the project Below are further examples Transferred Epithet 移就 修饰转换 顾名思义是一种修饰转换 这 高级英语 修辞 20 种修辞格将修饰词转换位置不再修饰应该由它修饰的名词 而去修 饰一个本不应该 被它修饰的词 1The old man put a reassuring hand on my shoulder 2 He said yes to the question in an unthinking moment He did not think when he said yes 3 He sang with a passionate throat He sang passionately 4 We spent an anxious night sleepless night 5 He gave a wide eyed answer 6 He is not an easy poet His poems is not easy to understand 7 In his quiet laziness he suddenly remembered that strange word he is quiet not his laziness 8 The assistant kept a respectful distance from his boss when they were walking in the corridor to show respect 9 The letters sad and reproachful offer me the choice of pleading ignorance or being proved insensitive the writers of the letters were sad at my stand and full of blame 这封信 有的是对我的观点表示遗憾 有的是对我的观点给予斥责 他们要我承