Rhetorical Devices
一、 明喻（simile）
是以两种具有相同特征的事物和现象进行对比，表明本体和喻体之间的相似关系，两者都在对比中出现。常用比喻词like, as, as if, as though等，例如：
1、This elephant is like a snake as anybody can see.
这头象和任何人见到的一样像一条蛇。
2、He looked as if he had just stepped out of my book of fairytales and had passed me like a spirit.
他看上去好像刚从我的童话故事书中走出来，像幽灵一样从我身旁走过去。
3、It has long leaves that sway in the wind like slim fingers reaching to touch something.
它那长长的叶子在风中摆动，好像伸出纤细的手指去触摸什么东西似的。
二、 隐喻（metaphor）
这种比喻不通过比喻词进行，而是直接将用事物当作乙事物来描写，甲乙两事物之间的联系和相似之处是暗含的。
1、German guns and German planes rained down bombs, shells and bullets... 德国人的枪炮和飞机将炸弹、炮弹和子弹像暴雨一样倾泻下来。
2、The diamond department was the heart and center of the store.
钻石部是商店的心脏和核心。
三、 Allusion（暗引）
其特点是不注明来源和出处，一般多引用人们熟知的关键词或词组，将其融合编织在作者的话语中。引用的东西包括典故、谚语、成语、格言和俗语等。英语引用最多的是源出《圣经》故事以及希腊、罗马神话、《伊索寓言》和那些源远流长的谚语、格言等。例如：
1、Grammar may be his heel of Achilles.语法是他的大弱点。（Achilles是希腊神话中的一位勇士。除了脚踵处，他身上其他地方刀枪不入。）
2、The project is an economic albatross from the start.
这个项目从一开始就是一个摆脱不了的经济难题。(Albatross是英国诗人柯勒律治的《古舟子咏》中的信天翁，它被忘恩负义的水手杀死后，全船陷入灾难中。)
四、 提喻（synecdoche）
又称举隅法，主要特点是局部代表全体，或以全体喻指部分，或以抽象代具体，或以具体代抽象。例如：
1、The Great Wall was made not only of stones and earth, but of the flesh and blood of millions of men.
长城不仅是用石头和土建造的，而且是用几百万人的血和肉建成的。
句中的“the flesh and blood”喻为“the great sacrifice”（巨大的牺牲）
2、“...saying that it was the most beautiful tongue in the world,...”
……他说这是世界上最美的语言。
这里用具体的“tongue”代替抽象的“language”。
3、Many eyes turned to a tall,20—year black girl on the U.S. team. 很多人将眼光投向美国队一个高高的20岁的黑姑娘。
这里的“many eyes”代替了“many persons”。
五、 转喻/借代（metonymy）
是指两种不同事物并不相似，但又密不可分，因而常用其中一种事物名称代替另一种。
1、Several years later, word came that Napoleonyh himself was coming to inspect them...
几年以后，他们听说拿破仑要亲自来视察他们。
“word”在这里代替了“news, information”（消息、信息）
2、Al spoke with his eyes, “yes”.
艾尔用眼睛说，“是的”。
“说”应该是嘴的功能，这里实际上是用眼神表达了“说话的意思”。
六、 拟人（personification）
这种修辞方法是把人类的特点、特性加于外界事物之上，使之人格化，以物拟人，以达到彼此交融，合二为一。
1、Necessity is the mother of invention.需要乃是发明之母。
2、She is the favoured child of Fortune她是幸运之宠儿。
两句中名词mother和child通常用于人，而这里分别用于无生命的名词invention 和Fortune，使这两个词 拟人化了。
七、 夸张（hyperbole）
这是运用丰富的想象，过激的言词，渲染和装饰客观事物，以达到强调的效果。
1、My blood froze. 我的血液都凝固了。
2、When I told our father about this, his heart burst.
当我将这件事告诉我们的父亲时，他的心几乎要迸出来。
3、My heart almost stopped beating when I heard my daughter’s voice on the phone.
从电话里一听到我女儿的声音，我的心几乎停止跳动。
八、 Understatement: (含蓄陈述）
It is the opposite of hyperbole, or overstatement. It achieves its effect of emphasizing a fact by deliberately understating it, impressing the listener or the reader more by what is merely implied or left unsaid than by bare statement.
1、 It is no laughing matter.
九、双关语（pun）
是以一个词或词组，用巧妙的办法同时把互不关联的两种含义结合起来，以取得一种诙谐有趣的效果。
Napoleon was astonished. ”Either you are mad, or I am,” he declared. “Both，sir!” cried the Swede proudly.
“Both”一词一语双关，既指拿破仑和这位士兵都是疯子，又指这位战士参加过拿破仑指挥的两次战役。
十、讽刺（irony）
是指用含蓄的褒义词语来表示其反面的意义，从而达到使本义更加幽默，更加讽刺的效 果。
Well, of course, I knew that gentlemen like you carry only large notes. 啊，当然，我知道像你这样的先生只带大票子。
店员这句话意在讽刺这位穿破衣的顾客：像你这样的人怎么会有大票子呢？名为“gentlemen” 实则 “beg gar” 而已。
十一、Euphemism（委婉修辞法）
就是用转弯抹角的说法来代替直截了当的话，把原来显得粗鲁或令人尴尬的语言温和、含蓄地表达出来。这在汉语中叫委婉语。例如：
用sanitation engineer替代garbage man(清洁工)
用the disadvantaged替代the poor(穷人)
用industrial action替代strike(罢工)
十二、Transferred epithet（移就/转类形容词）
是采用表示性质和特征的形容词或相当于形容词的词来修饰、限定与它根本不同属性的名词。这种修辞手法能与汉语中的移就基本相似。例如： The doctor's face expressed a kind of doubting admiration.
（用"疑惑"修饰限定"钦佩"）医生的脸上流露出钦佩而又带有疑惑的神情。
十三、矛盾修辞法(Oxymoron)
用两种不相调和，甚至截然相反的特征来形容一项事物，在矛盾中寻求哲理，以便收到奇警的修辞效果，这就是矛盾修辞法，用这种方法，语言精炼简洁，富有哲理，并产生强大的逻辑力量，产生一种出人意料，引人入胜的效果。例如： in bitter-sweet memories, orderly chaos(混乱) and proud humility(侮辱).
十四、仿拟(Parody)
根据家喻户晓的成语或谚语，临时更换其中的某个部分，造成新的成语或谚语；或者根据古今名言警句，在保持其原句不变的情况下，更换其中部分词语，这种修辞方式叫仿拟。
1、To lie or not to lie-the doctor's dilemma(撒谎还是不撒谎——医生的难题)看到这个标题，我们不禁想起莎翁戏剧Hamlet中那个永远也解不透的句子“To be
or not to be, that is the question”。显然，文章的题目由此模仿而来，给人印象深刻。
2、Lady hermits who are down but not out(穷困而不潦倒的女隐士们)文中的down but not out源于down and out,原是拳击比赛的术语，后来喻指穷困潦倒的人。
十五、Antithesis (对句、平行对照)
它是把意义相反或相对的语言单位排列在平行、对称的结构里,以求取一种匀称的形式美和强烈的对照感。Antithesis 有两个特点:一是语义上的对照性,二是结构上的对称性。因此, 该辞格可看作是Parallelism(平行) 与Contrast (对照) 的结合,故译作“平行对照”。体现Antithesis 的语言单位可分为两个层次,即词语和句子, 所以又将Antithesis 译为“对语”、“对句”。英语Antithesis 形式整齐对称,音律节奏铿锵,内容既适于反衬对照,又适于重复强调,在形、音、义各方面都具有鲜明的修辞功能。Antithesis 的使用能揭示事物的矛盾性,对照的语句往往说得巧妙机智,寓意深刻,蕴含着某种人生的哲理或真谛,常见于英语谚语、名言、演说及文学作品中。例如:
1、Knowledge makes humble , ignorance makes proud. (Proverb)
有知使人谦卑, 无知使人骄矜。
2、A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities ; an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.
悲观的人把机会变成困难; 乐观的人将困难化为机会。
3、Ask not what your country can do for you —ask what you can do for your country. (John Kennedy: Inaugural Address)
不要问国家能为你们做些什么,而要问你们能为国家做些什么。
上述两个例句体现了一种特殊的Antithesis ,句中同样采用“交错配列法”, 用词巧妙,交叉重复,前后对照,含义隽永。
十六、头韵法（alliteration）
头韵是一种语音修辞方式，它指在文句中有两个以上连结在一起的词或词组，其开头的音节有同样的字母或声音，以增强语言的节奏感。常用于文章的标题、诗歌及广告语中，简明生动，起到突出重点，加深印象，平衡节奏，宣泄感情的作用。How and why he had come to Princeton, New Jersey is a story of struggle, success, and sadness.
十七、拟声（onomatopoeia）
是摹仿自然界中非语言的声音，其发音和所描写的事物的声音很相似，使语言显得生动，富有表现力。
1、On the root of the school house some pigeons were softly cooing. 在学校房屋的屋顶上一些鸽子正轻轻地咕咕叫着。
2、She brought me into touch with everything that could be reached or
felt——sunlight, the rustling of silk, the noises of insects, the creaking of a door, the voice of a loved one.
她使我接触到所有够得着的或者感觉得到的东西，如阳光呀，丝绸摆动时的沙沙声呀，昆虫的叫声呀，开门的吱嗄声呀，亲人的说话声呀。
十八、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.
1.Few, save the poor, feel for the poor.
十九、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.
1.I came, I saw, I conquered.
二十、Chiasmus（回文、交错法）
两个排比结构中第二个所用的修辞上的倒装
She went to Paris; to New York went he.
二十一、Paradox (似非而是的隽语）
这是一种貌似矛盾,但包含一定哲理的意味深长的说法
消极修辞(Passive Rhetoric Techniques) 和积极修辞(Active~)
积极修辞(Active Rhetoric Techniques)有相对固定格式的修辞性写作技巧。 常见分类如下：
1． 词义修辞格(Lexical Stylistic Devices)
metaphor（比喻）, metonymy（借代）, personification（拟人）, irony（反语）, hyperbole（夸张）, understatement（低调）, euphemism（委婉语）, contrast（对照）, oxymoron（矛盾修辞法）, transferred epithet（移就）, pun（双关）, parody（仿拟）, paradox（隽语）
2． 结构修辞格(Syntactical Stylistic Devices)
repetition（反复）, , chiasmus（回文）, parallelism（平行结构）, antithesis（对句）, rhetoric question（设问）, anticlimax（突降），climax （渐进）
3． 音韵修辞格(Phonetic Stylistic Devices)
alliteration（头韵）, onomatopoeia（拟声）
高级英语第五册修辞
1. Allusion:
L1-25: Let us be dissatisfied until that day… none shall be afraid. (a biblical allusion: the 1ion and
the lamb shall lie down together; every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid)
L5-64: We went to the Knoll, the campus trysting place, and we sat down under an old oak… (An
implied allusion to Robin Hood, whose trysting place was under a huge oak tree in Sherwood Forest.)
L5-138: I was not Pygmalion; I was Frankenstein, and my monster had me by the throat. L10-8: Overnight… surreal episodes…（a sword of Damocles）
2. Parody:
L10-25: Is our democracy… of liberty? (This is a parody of a line in Patrick Henry’s speech: “Is life so dear or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?”)
3. Metonymy:
L4-1: No demand was made upon the family purse. (“purse” stands for money)
L4-2: But to show you how little I deserve to be called a professional woman… with my
neighbors. (Butcher’s bills stand for meat bought from a butcher. )
L5-23: She was, to be sure, a girl who excited the emotions. But 1 was not one to let my heart rule
my head. (to let my heart rule my head: Metonymy. “Heart” stands for “feelings and emotions” and “head” for “reason and good sense”.)
L5-105: …surgeons have X-rays to guide them during an operation. (X-rays stand for X-rays
photographs)
L10-2: Anthrax panic… chambers (“Congress” stands for its members)
4. Synecdoche:
L1-25: Let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall… a mighty stream.
city hall (the naming of a part to mean the whole. Here, the naming of the building for the government)
L4-2: But to show you how little I deserve to be called a professional woman… with my
neighbors. (bread and butter: This set phrase means food and the most important and basic things. )
5. Transferred epithet:
L1-25: Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls… the forces of justice. (the tragic walls) L5-40: I said with a mysterious wink… (the wink was not mysterious)
L7-6: our bare upper bodies touching and shining with anticipatory sweat (In “anticipatory sweat”,
the adjective “anticipatory “ is a transferred epithet.)
L7-25: He kept coming, bringing the rank sharp violence of stale sweat. (the rank sharp violence: Logically rank and sharp modify “stale sweat”, not “violence”.)
6. Oxymoron:
L12-16: And any man or woman… chalice of Fame. (willingly drinking the poisoned chalice)
7. Hyperbole:
L5-5: It is not often that one so young has such a giant intellect. (exaggerating for effect)
L5-50: … he just stood and stared with mad lust at the coat. (It’s an exaggeration to describe his
longing for the coat as “mad lust”)
L5-135: You are the whole world to me, and the moon and the stars and the constellations of outer
space.
L5-135: I will wander the face of the earth, a shambling, hollow-eyed hulk.
8. Understatement or litotes:
L5-61: This loomed as a project of no small dimensions, and at first 1 was tempted to give her
back to Petey. (no small dimensions)
9. Contrast:
L3-22: A contrast is made between old Shanghai and Shanghai in the 1990s.
L8-3: While Oppenheimer was interrupting…. had invented the subject. (an implied contrast) L10-25: How do we… poise? (paranoia vs. poise)
10. Antithesis:
L1-5: As long as. . . can never be free. (mind vs. body, enslaved vs. free)
L1-5: Psychological freedom. . . physical slavery. (psychological freedom vs. physical slavery) L1-7: …love is identified… denial of love (1ove vs. power, a resignation of power vs. denial of
love)
L1-19: For through violence… but you can’t murder hate. (You may murder a murderer but you
can’t murder murder.)
L1-25: outer city of wealth and comfort vs. inner city of poverty and despair;
wealth vs. poverty (economic);
comfort vs. despair(mood, psychology)
dark yesterdays vs. bright tomorrows;
segregated schools vs. integrated education
on the basis of the content of their character vs. on the basis of the color of their skin
content(substance) vs. color (superficial)
character(fundamental) vs. skin (outward appearance)
L1-27: When our days…into bright tomorrow.
dark yesterday VS. bright tomorrow
L5-27: It is, after all, easier to make a beautiful dumb girl smart than to make an ugly smart girl
beautiful.
beautiful dumb vs. ugly smart
L5-50: Back and forth his head swiveled, desire waxing, resolution waning.
Desire waxing vs. resolution waning
L5-153: Look at me—a brilliant student, a tremendous intellectual, a man with an assured future.
Look at Petey—a knot-head, a jitterbug, a guy who’ll never know where his next meal is
coming from.
Brilliant, intellectual and assured vs. knot-head, jitterbug and never know where his next
meal is coming from”
11. Epigram:
L1-20: He who hates… ultimate reality.
12. Paradox:
L1-18: Without recognizing this…that don’t explain.
paralleled paradoxes: solutions that don’t solve
answers that don’t answer
explanations that don’t explain
L1-27: When our days…into bright tomorrow. (to make a way out of no way)
13. Chiasmus:
L1-9: It is precisely this collision… of our times. (immoral power vs. powerless morality) L6-6: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
14. Anaphora:
L1-25: let us be dissatisfied…
15. Onomatopoeia:
L3-14: click