English Rhetoric Devices 英語常用修辭手法

1、英語修辭(English Rhetoric Devices),Figures of speech (修辭)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. Rhetoric

2、 devices make your speeches, essays etc. more interesting and lively and help you to get and keep your readers / listeners attention. Now we are going to talk about some common forms of figures of speech.,Simile：(明喻）,It is an expressed likeness, which makes a comparison between two unlike elements h

3、aving 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. e.g As cold water is to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Reason is to faith as the eye to t

4、he telescope. He bellowed like a bull seeking combat.,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. e.g The world is a stage. The fountain of knowledge will dry up unless it is continuously

5、replenished by streams of new learning. Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness.,Analogy: (類比）,It is also a form of comparison, but unlike simile or metaphor which usually uses comparison on

6、one point of resemblance, analogy draws a parallel between two unlike things that have several common qualities or points of resemblance. The pattern is : a is to b as c is to d借助一些共同的相似之點來做平行的比較，比明喻和暗喻著眼點更廣闊。 e.g Shoe is to foot as tire is to wheel Followers are to a leader as planets are to a sun

7、Shells were to ancient cultures as dollar bills are to modern culture,Personification: (擬人）,It gives human form of feelings to animals, or life and personal attributes(賦予) to inanimate(無生命的) objects, or to ideas and abstractions(抽象). 把事、物、觀念等擬作人，賦予它們以人的思想。感情與行為方式。 e.g The wind whistled through the t

8、rees. Money talks; money prints; money broadcasts; money reigns.,Hyperbole: (夸張）,It is the deliberate use of overstatement or exaggeration to achieve emphasis. 在真實的基礎(chǔ)上有意言過其實以更好地反映事物的本質(zhì)。 e.g He almost died laughing. Hamlet: I love Ophelia: forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of

9、 love, make up my sum. His eloquence would split rocks. My legs weigh three tons.,Understatement: 低調(diào)陳述/含蓄陳述,It is the opposite of hyperbole, or overstatement. It achieves its effect of emphasizing a fact by deliberately(故意地) understating it or minimizing the importance, impressing the listener or th

10、e reader more by what is merely implied or left unsaid than by bare statement. 輕描淡寫地陳述一種想法。 You know I would be a little disappointed if you were to be hit by a drunk driver at two a.m., so I hope you will be home early. The face wasnt a bad one: it had what they called charm. (正話反說，反映說話者的矜持) The ma

11、n is no fool. 這個人決不是個傻瓜 Yes, I know a little about rocks. ( A rock expert says),Euphemism: (委婉）,It is the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive(無冒犯) expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. 用比較溫和的詞代替粗魯?shù)脑~或使人不愉快的詞， 用通行的詞代替禁忌的詞。 e.g Charles Shively, 94, passed away at h

12、ome and went to be with the Lord on April 22, 2004, from natural causes. He went to sleep peacefullybut forever. (be called to God; be no more; go to his long home; be gone to a better land) Funeralmemorial service graveyard memory garden.,Metonymy (轉(zhuǎn)喻/借代）,It is a figure of speech that has to do wit

13、h the substitution of the meaning of one thing for that of another. 用一個單詞代替另外一個在概念上有關(guān)聯(lián)的單詞 e.g The pen (words) is mightier than the sword (forces/war). Beware of bottle. (謹(jǐn)防喝醉酒) The red eyes walked into the classroom. He has a good ear for music. 他善于欣賞音樂。 He has a sharp tongue.他言語尖刻。,Synecdoche (提喻）,

14、Synechdoche is some kind of generalization or specification that involves the substitution of the part for the whole, or the whole for the part. 用局部代替整體，單個代替類別，具體代替抽象；或反過來。 They say theres bread and work for all. Turning our long boat round on the last morning required all hands on deck (hands = peo

15、ple) Troops halt the drivers (troops = soldiers) She wore gold around her neck. (gold = chain),Pun: (雙關(guān)語）,It is a play on words, or rather a play on the form and meaning of words. 一個詞在上下文中有雙重或更多的含義。英語中常用同形異義詞（拼寫相同但意義不同）或同音異義詞（發(fā)音相同或相似，拼寫與意義不同）來造成雙關(guān)的效果。 e.g A cannon-ball took off his legs, so he laid

16、down his arms. (Here “arms” has two meanings: a persons body; weapons carried by a soldier.) e.g Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man. ( grave man，即是嚴(yán)肅的人，又是墳?zāi)怪械乃廊恕?,Zeugma: (軛式搭配/拈連）,It is a single word which is made to modify or to govern two or more words in the same sentence, wit

17、her properly applying in sense to only one of them, or applying to them in different senses. 用一個形容詞修飾兩個名詞，其中一個修飾是通順的、規(guī)范的，另外一個修飾則是勉強(qiáng)的、不規(guī)范的。 With weeping eyes and grieving hearts - With weeping eyes and hearts e.g The sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night. (Here moon is not strong enoug

18、h to burn) She was dressed in a maids cap and a bright smile. It is better to have a patched jacket than to have a patched character. Pride oppresses humility; hatred love; cruelty compassion,Irony: (反語/諷刺）,It is a figure of speech that achieves emphasis by saying the opposite of what is meant, the

19、intended meaning of the words being the opposite of their usual sense. 即通常所謂的說反話，反意正說，正意反說。常用于諷刺或嘲弄的場合. e.g We are lucky.(when something bad happens) What you said makes me feel really good.(when someone says sth unplesant) This diligent student seldom reads more than an hour per week.,Sarcasm: (諷刺）

20、,It is a strong form of irony. It attacks in a bitter manner, and its aim is to ridicule and wound the feelings of the subject attacked. e.g Laws are like cobwebs（蜘蛛網(wǎng)）, which may catch small flies, but let wasps（黃蜂） break through.,Paradox: (似非而是的雋語),It is a figure of speech consisting of a statement

21、 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. e.g More haste, less speed. What a pity that youth must be wasted on

22、 the young.,Oxymoron: (矛盾修飾）,It is a compressed paradox, formed by the conjoining(結(jié)合) of two contrasting, contradictory or incongruous(不協(xié)調(diào)) terms一種把互相矛盾或不調(diào)和的詞合在一起的修辭手法， e.g a deafening silence震耳欲聾的沉默; a mournful optimist悲傷的樂觀. bitter-sweet memories; orderly chaos(混亂) ; proud humility(侮辱).,Climax: (漸

23、進(jìn)/層進(jìn)）,It is derived from the Greek word for “l(fā)adder” 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. 一層層地推進(jìn)與加強(qiáng)最終達(dá)到高潮或頂點。e.g I came, I saw, I conquered. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swal

24、lowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. The audience smiled, chuckled（竊笑）, and finally howled（捧腹大笑）. We are low, we are very, very low, as low as low can be.,Anti-climax or bathos: (突降）,It is the opposite of Climax. It involves stating ones thoughts in a descending order of significance or in

25、tensity, from strong to weak, from weighty to light or frivolous. 采用突然下降的手法使句意從嚴(yán)肅、深刻、重要等等的概念中急轉(zhuǎn)到滑稽、平庸、瑣細(xì)等的概念上， 從而造成一種語義上的大的反差而獲得一種鮮明、幽默的交際效果。 What shall I do? I have lost my lover and lipstick too. An early morning walk in the foot hill of the Himalayas lifts his spirit above material concerns and i

26、nspires in him noble thoughts. It also makes him hungry.,Transferred Epithet: (移就/轉(zhuǎn)類形容詞）,It is a figure of speech where an epithet (an adjective or descriptive phrase) is transferred from the noun it should rightly modify(修飾) to another to which it does not really apply or belong. e.g I spent sleepl

27、ess nights on my project. Forgetful snow He closed his busy life at the age of 80. Do you think I will have blood money? The American society saw a gnawing蟲咬般痛苦的 poverty during the Great Depression. They talked to the foreigners in hesitant English（結(jié)結(jié)巴巴的英語）. He crashed down a protesting chair. The t

28、hief made a trembling confession of his wrongdoings.,Parody（仿擬）,模仿別的固定表達(dá)方式而新創(chuàng)的語言表達(dá)方式 You are gin-drunk; I am creed-drunk. 你是酒醉，我是信條迷醉。 I had no outlook, but an uplook rather. My place in society was at the bottom. 我沒有人生觀， 但我有“上爬觀”， 我的地位在社會的最低層。 A friend in need is a friend to be avoided. 走別人的路， 讓別人無

29、路可走。,chiasmus（回文/交錯法）,A grammatical figure by which the order of words in one of two of parallel clauses is inverted in the other. One of the most fascinating features of chiasmus is this “marking with an X” e.g. Pleasures a sin, and sometimes sins a pleasure 1) Its not the men in my life its the li

30、fe in my men. 2) Home is where the great are small and the small are great 3) One should eat to live not live to eat,Alliteration: (頭韻）,It has to do with the sound rather than the sense of words for effect. It is a device that repeats the same initial consonant sound at frequent intervals(間隔). 在詞的開頭

31、重復(fù)相同的元音或輔音 e.g. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. the wild winds of winter ; the white foam flew; the furrow followed free.,Onomatopoeia: (擬聲）,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)

32、 of some action or movement. 以相似的語音描摹非語言的聲音。 I hear the clock ticktacking, and time goes by. No one talks in these factories. Everyone is too busy. The only sounds are the snip, snip of scissors and the hum of sewing machines. Click 滴答聲 clink 丁當(dāng)聲 coo 咕咕聲 mew 貓叫聲 moo 牛叫聲,Antithesis: (對偶/對照）,It is the

33、 deliberate arrangement of contrasting words or ideas in balanced structural forms to achieve emphasis. 兩個或多個句子，結(jié)構(gòu)相同，但含義相反，或者含義形成對比. Speech is silver; silence is golden. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Any man or state who fights on

34、against Nazidom will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler is our foe. Thats one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. -Neil Armstrong,Parallelism（平行結(jié)構(gòu)/排比）,Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses. e.g. Mary likes to hike, swim, a

35、nd ride a bicycle. The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. (William A. Ward) The mistakes of the fool are known to the world, but not to himself. The mistakes of the wise man are known to himself, but not to the world. (Ch

36、arles Caleb Colton) Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I will learn. (Benjamin Franklin),Repetition（反復(fù)）：,repeating words or phrases : Words or phrases are repeated throughout the text to emphasize certain facts or ideas. 一次地使用同一詞語或句子。 Down, down, down. Would the fall n

37、ever come to an end! I wonder how many miles Ive fallen by this time? she said aloud. Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again.,Anaphora:（首語重復(fù)法）,successive clauses or sentences start with the same word(s) Every child must be taught these principles. Every cit

38、izen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American. In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace. Slowly and grimly the

39、y advanced, not knowing what lay ahead, not knowing what they would find at the top of the hill, not knowing that they were so near to Disneyland.,Anaphora,A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so

40、 alive. (Pearl Bailey) We shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.,rhetorical question (反問句),question without a direct answer But how can we expect to enjoy the scenery when the scenery consists entirely of garish(brightly colored) billboards? . . For if we lose the ability to perceive o