played in tune.
(啊,我爱人像红红的玫瑰, 在六月里苞放;
啊,我爱人像一支乐曲, 乐声美妙、悠扬)
在这首彭斯著名的抒情绝唱《一朵红红的玫瑰》中,诗人把爱人比喻成红红的玫瑰,美妙的乐曲。这种直接的明喻完美地表达了诗人热烈而又情调轻快的爱情。
3, 明喻在《大学英语》课文中的应用。
明喻是一种最常简单、最常见的修辞方法,因此不仅在优美动人的诗歌中,作者通常用来描写或抒发自己的感情,而且在《大学英语》课文中,这种修辞手法也随处可见,如:The
cheque fluttered to the floor like a bird with a broken wing.
(支票跌落到地上,像一只断了翅膀的小鸟。)《礼物》一文中作者把那张支票比作断了翅膀的小鸟,形象地表达出了此刻老太太的失望心情。
又如:He jumped back as if he had been stung, and the blood rushed
into his wrinkled
face.(他往后一跳,好象被什么东西叮了一下似的,他那张布满皱纹的脸顿时涨得通红。)在《品尝家》一文中老人对“我”的慷慨施舍的反应如同被蜜蜂蛰过一样,生动地刻画出一个穷困潦倒、内心却极度敏感的可怜老人的形象。
4,
正确理解应用明喻。
不言而喻,明喻是作者描写场景,抒发情感,叙述故事,表达思想时可以使用的一种重要、直接的修辞手段。因此,众多的英语学习者喜欢使用明喻的手法,但有些人不顾修辞效果,生搬硬套,牵强附会。正如Jane
Goodsell在“As Silly as a Simile”一文中讽刺的那样:“These simile are as wrong
as rain at a garden wedding , and as hard as pie to forget even if
you have a memory as short as an elephant’s; as a matter of fact ,
the whole simile situation is in apple-pie disorder, as anyone who
isn’t as dull as a button will
agree.”(这些明喻就像在花园举行婚礼时下雨一样不是时候,就像馅饼一样难以忘记,即或你的记忆力差得跟大象一样,事实上,整个明喻完全是乱七八糟,任何不是愚笨得跟纽扣一样的人都会赞同这种看法。)因此只有合理地应用明喻才能为表达增色,否则,就会弄巧成拙。
暗喻(Metaphor)
暗喻是指将两种完全不同概念的事物通过含蓄、影射或婉转的表达方式达到形象比喻的言语形为。暗喻也是一种比喻,但不用疑问词,因此被称作缩减的明喻(a
compressed
simile),它直接把一种事物名称用在另一种事物上,从而更生动、更深刻地说明事理,增强语言的表现力,其基本格式是“A”是“B”。如:Hope
is the poor man’s bread.(希望是穷人的面包)
1, 暗喻的应用。
暗喻可以提供一种想象空间来构成一幅生动、难忘、激励情感的情景。如:
If you try to nail anything down in your novel, either the nail
kills the novel, or the novel gets up and walks away with the nail.
在这一暗喻句中,作者用“nail down”(用钉子钉)、 kills(杀死)、“gets up and walks away
with the
nail”(起身带着钉子离去)这些语言简单又表现力强的暗喻手法,形象地表述了“如果你在小说中强行添加某些东西或灌输某种观点,结果要么会彻底扼杀作品,要么会给作品留下一个抹杀不掉的败笔。”句中巧妙地利用了“nail”一词,不但使读者想象性地看到“手拿锤子使劲砸钉子”的情形,也给读者留下一种“伤痕难去,痛苦不已”的想象空间。这种图象性的表达效果,用直接描写来表达是绝对无法达到的。又如《大学英语》课文中《关掉电视一小时》一文中“What
will parents do without the electronic baby
sitter?”(如果没有这位电子保姆,父母该怎么办呢?)暗喻的手法形象地说明了电视机的保姆功用。
2,暗喻的理解。
从表面上看,暗喻句体现的是语言的美感,但是读者要理解的却是文字表层后的深层涵义。因此这就要求读者具有一定的观察能力,鉴赏水平,文化修养,生活阅历,审美经验等,否则就会雾里看花、不知所云、不能理解了。如:All
hands are
medicine.此句是套用暗喻的基本格式即“A”是“B”,是一个明显的暗喻句子。主体是“hands”喻体是“medicine”。“hands”和“medicine”之间必然有相关之处,在确定主体和喻体之间的相似点时,必然涉及到了对词义的理解和选择。“hand”有手;秒针;人手(劳动力)和帮助等意思。此句中,最可能关联之处是帮助和medicine(药物)之间。因为药物有医疗作用,可以帮人治病,而人在困难之中任何一种帮助都会起到安抚作用。因此只有了解这些,才能正确理解此句的意思为:任何一种帮助都有医疗作用。
3, 跨文化中对暗喻的理解与应用。
暗喻的理解与应用是建立在说话者和听者之间共享概念的基础上。也就是说,他们必须对喻体有共同的认知概念,如:He is really
pig-headed.(他真是个猪脑子)这是来自学生作文的一个暗喻句子,他的本意是说“他像猪一样笨”。在中国文化中,我们很容易理解;而英美文化中,猪贪吃、肥胖,却一般被认为是聪明的。所以,这种文化上的差异会导致交流中的偏差。因此,只有深刻地了解了英美国家的文化内涵,才能较为准确地理解和使用英语。暗喻,由于其含蓄性、隐藏性,更是如此。
三、结束语
明喻与暗喻是比喻的两种具体形式,是修辞格中最基本、最重要的修辞手法;了解、掌握这两种修辞手法,有助于学习者在学习英语过程中更恰当地丰富自己的表达。
分类:FOREIGN
STUDIES

英语常见的修辞格
赵宝斌 编辑整理
Figures of speech (修辞)are ways of making our language figurative.
When we use words in other than their ordinary or literal sense to
lend force to an idea, to heighten effect, or to create suggestive
imagery, we are said to be speaking or writing figuratively. Now we
are going to talk about some common forms of figures of
speech.
1) Simile:(明喻)It is a figure of speech which makes a comparison
between two unlike elements having at least one quality or
characteristic (特性)in common. To make the comparison, words like
as, as...as, as if and like are used to transfer the quality we
associate with one to the other. For example, As cold waters to a
thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
2) Metaphor:(暗喻)It is like a simile, also makes a comparison
between two unlike elements, but unlike a simile, this comparison
is implied rather than stated. For example, the world is a
stage.
3) Analogy: (类比)It is also a form of comparison, but unlike simile
or metaphor which usually uses comparison on one point of
resemblance, analogy draws a parallel between two unlike things
that have several common qualities or points of resemblance.
4) Personification: (拟人)It gives human form of feelings to animals,
or life and personal attributes(赋予) to inanimate(无生命的) objects, or
to ideas and abstractions(抽象). For example, the wind whistled
through the trees.
5) Hyperbole: (夸张) It is the deliberate use of overstatement or
exaggeration to achieve emphasis. For instance, he almost died
laughing.
6) Understatement: (含蓄陈述) It is the opposite of hyperbole, or
overstatement. It achieves its effect of emphasizing a fact by
deliberately(故意地) understating it, impressing the listener or the
reader more by what is merely implied or left unsaid than by bare
statement. For instance, It is no laughing matter.
7) Euphemism: (委婉) It is the substitution of an agreeable or
inoffensive(无冒犯) expression for one that may offend or suggest
something unpleasant. For instance, we refer to 'die' as ' pass
away'.
8) Metonymy (转喻) It is a figure of speech that has to do with the
substitution of the mane of one thing for that of another. For
instance, the pen (words) is mightier than the sword
(forces).
9) Synecdoche (提喻) It is involves the substitution of the part for
the whole, or the whole for the part. For instance, they say
there's bread and work for all. She was dressed in silks.
10) Antonomasia (换喻)It has also to do with substitution. It is not
often mentioned now, though it is still in frequent use. For
example, Solomon for a wise man. Daniel for a wise and fair judge.
Judas for a traitor.
11) Pun: (双关语) It is a play on words, or rather a play on the form
and meaning of words. For instance, a cannon-ball took off his
legs, so he laid down his arms. (Here 'arms' has two meanings: a
person's body; weapons carried by a soldier.)
12) Syllepsis: (一语双叙) It has two connotations.
In the first case, it is a figure by which a word, or a particular
form or inflection of a word, refers to two or more words in the
same sentence, while properly applying to or agreeing with only on
of them in grammar or syntax(句法). For example, He addressed you and
me, and desired us to follow him. (Here us is used to refer to you
and me.)
In the second case, it a word may refer to two or more words in the
same sentence. For example, while he was fighting , and losing limb
and mind, and dying, others stayed behind to pursue education and
career. (Here to losing one's limbs in literal; to lose one's mind
is figurative, and means to go mad.)
13) Zeugma: (轭式搭配) It is a single word which is made to modify or
to govern two or more words in the same sentence, wither properly
applying in sense to only one of them, or applying to them in
different senses. For example, The sun shall not burn you by day,
nor the moon by night. (Here noon is not strong enough to
burn)
14) Irony: (反语) It 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. For instance, we are
lucky, what you said makes me feel real good.
15) Innuendo: (暗讽) It is a mild form of irony, hinting in a rather
roundabout (曲折)way at something disparaging(不一致) or
uncomplimentary(不赞美) to the person or subject mentioned. For
example, the weatherman said it would be worm. He must take his
readings in a bathroom.
16) Sarcasm: (讽刺) It Sarcasm is a strong form of irony. It attacks
in a taunting and bitter manner, and its aim is to disparage,
ridicule and wound the feelings of the subject attacked. For
example, laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but
let wasps break through.
17) Paradox: (似非而是的隽语) It is a figure of speech consisting of a
statement or proposition which on the face of it seems
self-contradictory, absurd or contrary to established fact or
practice, but which on further thinking and study may prove to be
true, well-founded, and even to contain a succinct point. For
example more haste, less speed.
18) Oxymoron: (矛盾修饰) It is a compressed paradox, formed by the
conjoining(结合) of two contrasting, contradictory or
incongruous(不协调) terms as in bitter-sweet memories, orderly
chaos(混乱) and proud humility(侮辱).
19) Antithesis: (对照) It is the deliberate arrangement of
contrasting words or ideas in balanced structural forms to achieve
emphasis. For example, speech is silver; silence is golden.
20) Epigram: (警句) It states a simple truth pithily(有利地) and
pungently(强烈地). It is usually terse and arouses interest and
surprise by its deep insight into certain aspects of human behavior
or feeling. For instance, Few, save the poor, feel for the
poor.
21) Climax: (渐进) It is derived from the Greek word for 'ladder' and
implies the progression of thought at a uniform or almost uniform
rate of significance or intensity, like the steps of a ladder
ascending evenly. For example, I came, I saw, I conquered.
22) Anti-climax or bathos: (突降)It is the opposite of Climax. It
involves stating one's thoughts in a descending order of
significance or intensity, from strong to weak, from weighty to
light or frivolous. For instance, But thousands die, without or
this or that, die, and endow(赋予) a college, or a cat.
23) Apostrophe: (顿呼) In this figure of speech, a thing, place, idea
or person (dead or absent) is addressed as if present, listening
and understanding what is being said. For instance, England! awake!
awake! awake!
24) Transferred Epithet: (转类形容词) It is a figure of speech where an
epithet (an adjective or descriptive phrase) is transferred from
the noun it should rightly modify(修饰) to another to which it does
not really apply or belong. For instance, I spent sleepless nights
on my project.
25) Alliteration: (头韵) It has to do with the sound rather than the
sense of words for effect. It is a device that repeats the same
sound at frequent intervals(间隔) and since the sound repeated is
usually the initial consonant sound, it is also called 'front
rhyme'. For instance, the fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
the furrow followed free.
26) Onomatopoeia: (拟声) It is a device that uses words which imitate
the sounds made by an object (animate or inanimate), or which are
associated with or suggestive(提示的) of some action or
movement.