修辞：Irony.ppt

1、Irony,Irony is a figure of speech that achieves emphasis by saying the opposite of what is meant, the intended meaning of the words being the opposite of their usual sense. (冯翠华，1995： 213),2.Irony is the expression of ones meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for

2、 humorous or emphatic effect.,Classifications of Irony: there are two different ways of dividing Irony. The first case is based on the genre, the second case is on the form a mild form or not.,Generally speaking, Irony can be divided into four categories on the basis of Genre: 1.Verbal Irony (语言倒反)

3、2.Stylistic Irony (风格倒反) 3.Dramatic Irony (戏剧倒反) 4.Situational Irony (情景倒反),1.Verbal Irony What a noble illustration of the tender law of his favored country! they let the paupers go to sleep! (Dickens) 这是证明他那可爱的国家的仁慈法律的一个多么漂亮的例证！ 他们允许穷人睡觉！,b. It is incredible that mere ignorance should have achieve

4、d such masterpieces of horror. (H. L. Mencken: The Libido for the Ugly) 很难想象人们仅仅出于无知会搞出这些可怕的杰作。 (masterpieces here means the opposite the extremely ugly building),c. After a while, it is the setting of man against man and creed until we are marching backwards to the glorious age of the sixteenth cen

5、tury when bigots lighted faggots to burn the men who dared to bring any intelligence and enlightenment and culture to the human mind. (John Scopes: the Trial That Rocked the World) (Zhang hanxi Advanced English ),用不了多久，就会出现人与人，宗教与宗教之间的相互争斗，直到我们退回到16世纪那个辉煌的年代，那时偏执的教徒们点燃柴堆活活烧死那些敢于给人类带来智慧、启迪和文明的人。 (glo

6、rious here means the opposite dark),Background Information,Eighty years ago, in July 1925, the mixture of religion, science and the public schools caught fire in Dayton, Tenn. The Scopes trial - or Monkey Trial, as it was called - dominated headlines across the country. The trial lasted just a week,

7、 but the questions it raised are as divisive now as they were back then.,Now, he had not even a penny with him and did not have to think about what to eat for lunch, wonderful! (Robert Tressell: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists) 现在他一名不文，也不必操心午饭吃什么了，真棒！ (wonderful means the opposite bad; here it

8、is used in a rakish manner) e. This diligent student seldom reads more than an hour per month. 这个勤奋的学生每个月读书时间不超过一小时。,f. 根据报纸上官方介绍，他是天底下头等大好人，浑身上下毫无缺点，连肚脐眼都没有。（宗福先于无声处） According to the official write-ups in the papers, hes the best man in the world. He doesnt have a single defect in his whole body.

9、Why, he doesnt even have a belly-button!,Note that: Some of the Verbal Irony is light-hearted and humorous: for example, we call a very thin boy “Fatty”, a fat one “Skinny”. But more often, it is used to veil feelings in a subtle way, using words of praise where condemnation is meant, or vice versa.

10、,Light Irony: a. We are lucky. Its the other side on the thirteenth of December. That makes us feel really good. (David Parks: G. I. diary) (The author means exactly the opposite of what he says: 13 is an unlucky number to most Westerners. Since on that day December 13, they will land on the other s

11、ide of the Pacific to fight in the Vietnam War, they dont feel good at all),b. Like all the other officers at Group Headquarters except Major Danby, Colonel Cathcart was infused with the democratic spirit: he believed that all men were created equal, and he therefore spurned all men outside Group He

12、adquarters with equal fervor. (Joseph Heller: Catch 22) (This passage implies that Colonel Cathcart was not democratic at all: his democratic spirit extended only to his own group; all others he treated with scorn and high-handedness),Heavy Irony: A famous example of heavy irony is Mark Antonys spee

13、ch at the burial ceremony of Caesar in Shakespeares Julius Caesar:,“Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Cae

14、sar was ambitious. If it were so, it was a grievous fault; And grievously hath Caesar answerd it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest For Brutus is an honorable man;,So are they all, all honorable men Come I to speak in Caesars funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me; But Brutus says

15、 he was ambitious, And Brutus is an honorable man.,(Antony means exactly the opposite of what he says. By constant repetition of the statement “Brutus is an honorable man”, after showing Caesar was not ambitious, he is really condemning Brutus as dishonorable for his part in killing Caesar.),2. Styl

16、istic Irony 指用与内容相反的风格来表现主题的一种手法。比如叙述一件小事时故意虚张声势，讲述滑稽故事时板着面孔，处理严肃的主题时冷讽热嘲。 A case in point is “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public” written by Jonathan Swift. 他一本正经地以“建议者”的

17、身份，提出了一个十分残忍的“建议”把孩子养肥，屠宰后运送到英国市场上出售。,3. Dramatic Irony: 主要指小说或戏剧中的人物的语言或动作表明他们不知道某些情况，而读者或观众却一清二楚。这种手法在于人物所表达的意义和读者或观众所知道的的不同意义之间的对比。 比如在Romeo and Juliet 中。读者/观众清楚地知道Juliet 并没有死，而剧中Romeo却并不知道，他以为自己的心上人已经死去，悲痛万分，甚至于徇情自杀。,4. Situational Irony 常常用来描写事物的现象与本质的矛盾，行为与反应的矛盾，预料与结果的矛盾，常理与现状的矛盾。作者通过这些矛盾的揭露和描

18、绘来表现世情的颠倒和荒谬。 情景倒反有助于反应复杂的现实，准确地展示作者对现实的分析，从而更有说服力地表现主题。,It was an immaculately(perfectly) planned crime by three Norwegian safe-breakers who knew their business. They found the company safe and placed a small explosive charge. Calmly, they lit the fuse and sheltered in the next room. There came the

19、 bang and a whole wall washed down round the trio on a roar of flying bricks and mortar. The safe did not contain money. It contained explosives.,The second case of the classification of Irony is based upon the Form, mild or not: A. Innuendo A mild form of Irony, hinting in a rather roundabout way a

20、t something disparaging or uncomplimentary to the person or subject mentioned.,“The weatherman said it would be warm. He must take his readings in a bathroom.” (David Parks: G. I. Diary) (The author is hinting at the inaccuracy of the weathermans weather report. The weather is cold, rather than warm

21、.),B. Sarcasm While Innuendo is a mild form of Irony, Sarcasm is just the opposite. It attacks in a taunting and bitter manner, and its aim is to disparage, ridicule and wound the feelings of the subject attacked.,1. From Jonathan Swifts “A MODEST PROPOSAL for Preventing the Children of Poor People

22、in Ireland from Being Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public”:,Background Information,It is nevertheless important to understand the economics of Swifts time in order to fully understand the piece. With the start of a new industrial age in the 18th century i

23、t was believed that “people are the riches of the nation,” and there was a general faith in an economy which paid its workers low wageshigh wages meant workers would work less.,Furthermore, “in the mercantilist view no child was too young to go into industry.” We can better understand Swifts satiric

24、al cannibalistic proposal when we take into account this idea in his time of the human being as a number or commodity. In this text, Swift attacked the English mistreatment of the Irish poor.,A Modest Proposal,I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to t

25、he least objection. I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fr

26、icassee or a ragout.,I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of the hundred and twenty thousand children already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one-fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle or swine; and my reas

27、on is, that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded by our savages, therefore one male will be sufficient to serve four females.,That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in the sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the

28、 kingdom; always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned

29、with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter.,在此请允许我冒昧的提出我的拙见，希望不会遭到异议。 我在伦敦结识的一个博学的美国朋友曾经向我保证，一个被细心的看护至一岁大的年幼的健康的小孩是最美味、滋补和健康的食品，无论是用炖、烘烤或是煮的；而且我毫不怀疑，将这样的小孩做成炖肉丁或菜炖肉都会一样美味。,因此，请允许我冒昧的向公众提出我的拙见，将记录在册的120，000孩童中留下20，000个用来繁殖后代，其中1/4须是男孩。这个数目比我们养的羊、黑牛和猪

30、多多了。我的理由是，这些孩子大部分都不是婚姻的结晶，而既然我们这些野蛮人并不注重婚姻这种形式，那么一个男人足以应付4个女人。对于剩下的100，000个孩子，可以在他们一岁时卖给上流社会人士（食用）；叫他们的妈妈在出售前一个月喂足奶，让他们又肥又胖可以卖个好价钱。（一般而言）一个孩子可以做成两个菜招待朋友，而当家庭自己聚餐时，身体的前后1/4段就足够提供一盘好菜色，如果加少许胡椒粉和盐，在第四天下锅就能煮出美食，特别是在冬天。,Analysis,Swift appears to suggest in his essay that the impoverished Irish might ease

31、 their economic troubles by selling children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies. Swifts rhetorical style persuades the reader to detest the speaker and pity the Irish. Swifts specific strategy is twofold, using a “trap” to create sympathy for the Irish and a dislike of the narrator.,Swift has his

32、 proposer further degrade the Irish by using language ordinarily reserved for animals. The speaker uses “the vocabulary of animal husbandry” to describe the Irish. Once the children have been commoditized, Swifts rhetoric can easily turn “people into animals, then meat, and from meat, logically, into tonnage worth a price per pound”.,2. From Samuel Johnsons letter to The Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield： “ Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumber