Figures-of-Speech--修辞手法.doc

I. Literal Translation
Simile:
She sat like patience on a monument, smiling at grief.她坐在纪念碑上，像个木偶人，对悲哀一笑置之。
He drove as if possessed by the devil.他着魔似的驾车狂奔。
As cold as ice冰冷/as hot as fire火热/as hard as a rock坚如磐石/as light as feather(air)轻如鸿毛/as busy as a bee像蜜蜂一样忙碌/as bold as a lion像狮子一样勇敢/as cheerful as a lark像云雀一样快活/as blind as a bat瞎得像只蝙蝠/as cool as a cucumber非常冷静/as sharp as a needle十分精明/as tight as a drum非常不肯花钱As sure as a gun一点不错
As black as ink(night/pitch)/as clear as crystal/as cheap as dirt/as close as an oyster/as cunning as a fox/as deep as a well/as fit as a fiddle/as gentle as a lamb/as green as grass/as free as air(a bird)/as fat as a pig/as easy as ABC/as fresh as a rose/as happy as a king/as heavy as lead/as innocent(helpless) as a new-born babe/as hungry as a hunter/as obstinate(stubborn) as a mule/as nervous as a kitten(cat)/as old as the hills(time)/as proud(vain) as a peacock/as quiet(silent, still) as the grave(tomb)/as strong as a horse(an ox)/as smooth as velvet/as sweet as honey/as wise as Solomon(an owl)/as sober as a judge
Clothes or no clothes, I can read you like a book. (Ma Hongjun, P.24)

Metaphor
Jane’s uncle is an old fox, up to all kinds of evils.简的叔叔是个老狐狸，什么坏事都干得出来。
After that long talk, Jim became the sun in her heart.那次长谈之后，吉姆成了她心中的太阳。
So, gently close the door on yesterday and throw the key away. 那么，何不轻轻扣上昨天的门扉，将那钥匙扔掉？

Personification
“Don’t talk to me about no opportunity any more. Opportunity’s knocking down every door in the country, trying to get in. When I was young, a man had to go out and find opportunity and drag it home by the ears.”休说什么机会难逢。机会正在国内每家每户敲门，想要进去呢。我年轻那会儿，人们得出门去寻找机会，揪着耳朵把它拖回来。
How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year.时间，这个盗窃青春的狡猾的小偷，盗窃了我二十又三年飞走了。

Hyperbole
He ran down the avenue, making a noise like ten horses at a gallop.他在林荫道上跑着，发出的声音像十匹马在奔腾。
She is the prettiest girl in the world.

Euphemism
Her daughter is rather weak in the head.他的女儿脑子不太好使。
Thousands of people flocked to the hospital to pay their respects to the remains of the great film star.成千上万的人涌进医院，瞻仰这位伟大的影星的遗容。
She is in a delicate situation.
Finally, life flickers out and one goes into eternal sleep, never to wake up again. 最后，生命的火光闪灭了，一个人永远长眠不再醒了。

Metonymy转喻（相当于汉语中一般的借代）
His wife spent all her life on the stage.
Great minds think alike.英雄所见略同。
Gray hair should be respected.老年人应受到尊敬。

Ellipsis(asyndeton连词省略)
They smiled, shook hands, parted.
He has provided the poor with jobs, with opportunity, with self-respect.

Periphrasis折绕（故意绕弯子）
Her olfactory system was suffering from a temporary inconvenience.她的嗅觉系统暂时有些不便。（她鼻塞）
His brother is a disturber of the piano keys.他哥哥是一个跟钢琴找麻烦的人。（钢琴家）

Hypallage(transferred epithet)移就（将用于人的形容词用于物）
among others (such as Metonymy, synecdoche etc.), a violation of Semantic Selection Restrictions, a figure of speech based upon Contiguity (rather than Similarity) where an epithet (an adjective or descriptive phrase) is transferred from the noun it should rightly modify (usually a person) to another to which it does not really belong (usually a thing or idea).
1. It’s different from personification in that personification depicts things as persons or vice versa, while transferred epithet is only a transfer from the noun it usually modifies. Cf:
我的车子缓缓驰过快乐的绿林翠木，驰过那阳光之下奇花盛开的山谷。（海涅《诗歌集.抒情插曲》）[transferred epithet]“快乐”here is the speaker’s inner feelings, and is transferred to depict the green forests. The focus here is not on the forests but on my feelings.
那是力争上游的一种树，笔直的干，笔直的枝。（茅盾《白杨礼赞》）[personification] the focus here is on the birch. It is bestowed with personal qualities. There is no transfer of modification from man on objects.
2. It is also different from metaphor in that the former is based on Contiguity, whereas the latter is a comparison based upon Similarity. Cf:
angry waves metaphor)
an angry book (TE, Transferred epithet)
bright future, flying rapture, buried memory, the thirsty ground, pitiless cold, a frowning rock, our unwearied and unsubsidized allies, 反客为主的比喻如a hell of a life, an angel of a woman, a mountain of a wave, a hogshead of a chest (metaphors)
a sleepless night, a sleepless bed, a mad house, an understanding smile, a sympathetic look, an annoyed look, angry words, a malignant speech, dumb anger, careless days, nervous hours, merry bells, weary way, The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck), these dizzy heights, an easy writer, easy money, a reassuring arm.
---They prolonged the clasp for the photographers, exchanging smiling words. (H. Wouk, The Winds of War)为了让摄影师拍照，他们延长握手的时间，微笑着交谈。
---A wink and a one-liner instantly changed the dinner from a red-faced embarrassment to a conspiracy of fun. (W.D. Ellis, Solve That Problem with Humour)使下眼色，讲一句笑话立刻改变了宴会的气氛，原来大家红脸相对，窘态百出，一下变得和谐有趣。
---Franklin Roosevelt listened with bright-eyed smiling attention, saying nothing, and applauding heartily with the rest. (H Wouk, The Winds of War) 富兰克林.罗斯福目光炯炯，满脸笑容，聚精会神地听着；他没说什么，只是跟大伙儿开心地鼓掌喝彩。
After a happy day, she had a sleepless night.
In the examination, the boy threw a nervous glance at the teacher, who was obviously suspicious of his cheating.
It begins with innocent childhood, followed by awkward adolescence trying awkwardly to adapt itself to mature society, with its young passions and follies, its ideals and ambitions. 它的开始就是天真烂漫的童年时期，接着便是粗拙的青春时期，粗拙地企图去适应成熟的社会，具有青年的热情和愚憨，理想和野心.

Apostrophe呼告
England! awake! awake! awake!
Jerusalem thy sister calls!英格兰！醒来！醒来！醒来吧！你的姐姐耶路撒冷在呼唤着你！
Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee!弥尔顿，你现在该活在人世，英格兰是多么地需要你啊！

Climax递升
Threaten him, imprison him, torture him, kill him: you will not induce him to betray his country.威胁他，监禁他，拷打他，处死他：这些都不能使他背叛自己的国家。
It is an outrage to bind a Roman citizen; to scourge him is a crime; to put him to death is almost parricide.绑架一个罗马公民是一种违法行为；对他进行肉体折磨是一种犯罪行为；把他处死几乎等于杀父母一样的叛逆行为。
Shakespeare was like Nature herself, and that is the greatest compliment we can pay to a writer or thinker. He merely lived, observed life and went away. 莎士比亚和大自然本身一样，这是我们对一位作家或思想家最大的称赞。他仅是活于世界上，观察人生，而终于跑开了。

Anti-climax(bathos)递降
The explosion completely destroyed a church, two houses, and a flowerpot.
How haughtily he cocks his nose,
To tell what every schoolboy knows.他昂首挺胸，趾高气扬，傲慢无比，讲开了没个小学生都知道的东西。

Irony
What a noble illustration of the tender laws of his favoured country!---they let the paupers go to sleep!以此说明他那行善的国家的仁慈法律是多么有意义的例证！---他们竟允许穷人睡觉。
“The boy has broken another glass,” said the mother.
“A fine thing!” the father replied.“好得很”

Aposiopesis跳脱（说话中断）
Four hours ago the child was alive and well, but now…!
“Well, I did think of one thing…rather odd…of a girl at Cambridge that I might have…you know.”
Yes, when we reach the station, that will be it!” we promise ourselves. “When we’re eighteen...win that promotionput the last kid through college...buy that 450 SL Mercedes Benz...pay off the mortgage...have a nest egg for retirement. 是的，一旦火车到站，我们的理想将会实现！”我们向自己保证，“十八岁的时候……我们将得到晋升……我们要供养最小的孩子顺利读完大学……要买一部梅塞德斯·奔驰450 SL……要还清购房贷款……还要存下一笔钱留作退休用。

Parallelism and Parataxis
The seed you sow, another reaps;
The wealth you find, another keeps;
The robes you weave, another wears;
The arms you forge, another bears.

We can gain knowledge, by reading, by reflection, by observation or by practice.求知门径颇多，或阅读，或思考，或观察，或实践。
I came, I saw, I conquered.我只身前往，我明察秋毫，我旗开得胜。
We laughed, we sang, we danced.我们纵情欢笑，我们放声歌唱，我们翩翩起舞。

Question and Answer设问
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Why, having won her, do I woo?
Because her spirit’s vestal grace
Provokes me always to pursue,
But, spirit-like, eludes embrace.

Rhetoric question反问
O, if you felt the pain I feel!
But O, who ever felt as I?
Then who will cheer my bonny bride
When they have slain her lover?

White lie（用以掩饰真情的假话）
A lad got on a bus to travel up to the West End. He offered the conductor 2 pence. “You can’t travel for 2 pence if you are over 14,” said the conductor.
“That’s right mate,” said the boy. “I’m only 13.”
“Oh, yes? And when will you be 14?”
“As soon as I get off the bus.”

A young girl entered a hospital to see her boyfriend. She walked boldly up to a woman whom she took to be a nurse there. “May I see Mr Jackson, please?” She said politely.
“Certainly,” said the woman. “By the way, may I ask who you are?”
“I’m his sister,” calmly replied the girl.
“Well, well!” chuckled the woman. “I’m so glad to meet you, honey. I’m his mother.”

II. Liberal Translation
Onomatopoeia
Antithesis对偶
Beauty, strength, youth, are flowers but fading seen;
Duty, faith, love, are roots, and ever green.
When all the bravest spoke of surrender,
He, the coward, insisted on continuing the defense.

断取（只取一个词语中某一字或词的意思）
Rhyme脚韵
When the cat’s away, the mice will play.猫儿不在，鼠儿作怪。

析数（汉语更多）
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again.我的七十寿数内，有二十已一去不回。

Pun
The professor rapped on his desk and shouted: “Gentlemen, order!”---the entire class yelled: “Beer!”
What do lawyers do when they die? Lie still. 律师死了干啥？身子动弹不得，可口里依然撒谎。
A Farewell to Arms《战地春梦》

Zeugma粘连
The blood stained her honour and her new brocade.
She lost her heart and necklace at a ball.

统括：汉语中独有，如三从四德等。带数释。

Paradox; Oxymoron精警
The land did not move, but moved. The sea was not still, yet was still. Paradox flowed into paradox, stillness mixed with stillness, sound with sound.大地止而亦行，大海动而亦静。万寂交而万籁和，若真若假，若是若非。

Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first created!
O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Still-waking sleep that is not what it is!---
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
啊，吵吵闹闹的相爱，亲亲热热的怨恨！
啊，无中生有的一切！
啊，沉重的轻浮，严肃的狂妄，
整齐的混乱，
铅铸的羽毛，光明的烟雾，寒冷的火焰，憔悴的健康，
永远觉醒的睡眠，否定的存在！

Antonomasia（专有名词借代）
He is a modern Samson.
Our village Hercules has come.我们村的大力士来了。

Anastrophe倒装
Fine and sunny it was when we started on our way.
So beautifully did she sing that the audience burst into applause.她唱得美妙动听，全体听众都为他鼓掌。

Graphic摹形
It was just impossible for him to get into this I-shaped hole. 要他钻进这个“工”字形的洞口，是完全不可能的。
What they need now is a large quantity of Z iron.他们现在需要的是大量的乙型铁。

Repetition
A thin man in a thin overcoat watched them out of thin, emotionless eyes.一个骨瘦如柴、衣服单薄、双目失神的男子注视着他们。
It was a day as fresh as grass growing up and clouds going over and butterflies coming down can make it. It was a day compounded from silence of bee and flower and ocean and land.绿草萋萋，白云冉冉，彩蝶翩翩，这日子是如此清新可爱。蜜蜂无言，春花不语，海波声咽，大地音沉，这日子是如此安静。

Alliteration
Dumb dogs are dangerous.
Sarah sits by six sick city slickers.萨拉坐在来自城里的六个生着病的狡猾的骗子的身旁。
Four fat friars fanned flickering flames.四个肥胖的修士扇着闪烁不定的火焰。
Round the rough and rugged rock the ragged rascal rudely ran.那个衣着破烂的恶棍绕着粗糙不平的岩石狂奔。
It was a splendid population---for all the slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained sloths stayed at home.出来的这帮人个个出类拔萃——因为凡是呆板、呆滞、呆头呆脑的呆子都呆在了家里。（马红军，《翻译批评散论》）
Life must be lived as we go along. 生命固长久，生活当如斯。
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew;
The furrow followed free;
We were the first the ever burst---
Into that silent sea.
Begot by butchers, but by butchers bred, How high his highness holds his haughty head.君居屠户屋，君属屠户后；俯仰何佼佼，倨傲俨倬倬。

Enallage转品（故意改变词性、用法、场合）
You can never fox me.
You have no right to boss me.
The sight of the happy children warmed his heart.
顶真
歇后语、镶字，汉语独有

Chiasmus; Palindrome回文
Flowers are lovely; love is flower-like. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Youth and Age)
Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. (John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Inaugural Address)
And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. (ibid)
He went to the theatre, but home went she.
Fools learn nothing from wise men; but wise men learn much from fools.
Know something of everything and everything of something. 通百艺，专其一。
英语中的回文单词如radar，rotator，句子如
“Madam, I’m Adam.”
“Sir, I’m Iris.”
Mad? Am I? Madam?
No X in Nixon.
ABLE WAS I ERE I SAW ELBA. 若非孤岛孤非弱
Ma is as selfless as I am.
RISE TO VOTE SIR（大选口号）
The melody was old; old also were the words.
Girl, bathing on bikini, eyeing boys, finds boys eyeing bikini on bathing girl.
You can cage a swallow, can’t you? But you can’t swallow a cage, can you?
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (G.B. Shaw: Man and Superman)
汉语的是讲究词序有回环往复之趣的一种措辞法。如“信言不美，美言不信“，“知者不言，言者不知”，“善者不辩，辩者不善”，“来者不善，善者不来”等。（见陈望道《修辞学发凡》198页）
后人好奇，定要做到词序完全不拘，顺读倒读都可成文，于是有了回文体。如《碧芜》：碧芜平野旷，黄菊晚春深。客倦留甘饮，身闲累苦吟。（《王临川集》，同上），客上天然居，居然天上客。
回文的极端使用是神智体，即对墨色与字形离合的运用以成体，如苏轼著名的《晚眺》：长亭短景无人画，老大横拖瘦竹节。回首断云斜日暮，曲江倒蘸侧山峰。（此处无法打出，请参见陈书内容。）

Misinterpretation别解（有意曲解）
Sophomore: “But I don’t think I deserve quite a zero on this paper”.
Teacher: “Neither do I, but it’s the lowest mark I can give.”

Meaning shift换义
A man has two hands, but a clock has three hands.
If we don’t hang together, we shall most assuredly hang separately. (Benjamin Franklin)我们要不抱在一起，准保会吊在一起。/我们不紧紧团结一致，必然一个个被人绞死。/我们必须共赴沙场，否则就得分赴法场/刑场。

Anagram析字
Committees: cost me time
Softheartedness: often shed tears
人曾为僧，人弗可以成佛；女卑为婢，女又何妨称奴。
Monastical men make monks,
But become Buddhas barely;
Miserable maidens make maids,
Styled slaves so squarely.

析词
Tom looked at her with eyes and envy.
They drank from goblets and from gold.

Abbreviation