谈谈英语的修辞格

作为一种语言艺术,修辞格的运用是必不可少的。修辞格多种多样,可借助语音、语法或词汇几种手段,这里仅介绍使用词汇手段的几种主要的修辞格。

先谈表示类似或关系的修辞格。这一类包括英语中一些最主要的修辞方式,如明喻、暗喻、转喻、提喻等。

明喻(simile)明喻是用来表达两种不同事物之间的相似关系,一般用like或as连接。

如:

(1) o my luve is like a red,red rose

that’s newly sprung in june,

o my luve is like a melody

that’s sweetly played in tune.

(robert burns)

(2) the young hunter was as strong as a lion and as keen-eycd as an eagle.

类似as…as的用法很普遍,有的成了习惯用语,如:

as timid as a mouse

as white as snow

as black as pitch

as busy as a bee

暗喻(metaphor)又称隐喻,暗喻的结构不同于明喻,没有as或like之类的比较关系词,它是隐含的比较。英语词义通过暗喻方式可以产生转义:

when the curtain fell,there was a storm of applause.

he was so angry that he stormed about the house.

暗喻多用to be结构来联系相比较的两个不同事物的:

the society was his college.

the guest is god of us.

he is one of the dogs of the rich.

children are flowers of the motherland.

拟人(personification)比喻可以使无生命的事物具有生命,或者赋予动物以人性,从而造成某种意象或抒发某种情感。如:an angry sky;the grave yawned;killing half-an-hour;the shoulder of the hill;the foot of the mountain;the dancing daffodils; the thirsty crops.

money talked as sweetly in athens as it had in chicago in the old days.(john dos passos)

转喻(metonymy) 转喻反映两个密切相关的事物的现实关系,转喻与明喻、暗喻不同,不需要两个事物相比,而是借用一个相关的事物代表本体。因此,转喻是一种用另外一种事物的名称来代替某种事物名称的修辞手段。如:the village rejoiced, 这里的village实际上喻指the people in the village.“转喻”的表现形式是很多的,在英语中常见的转喻有以下几种:

用一个事物来象征人或另一事物:

to defy the crown(反抗君王)

to be promoted to the bench(升为法官)

用工具或器官来代替本体:

the pen has more influence than the sword.

he has an eye for beauty.

give every man thine ear,but few thy voice.

用容器的各称来代替所盛的东西:

they serve chinese dishes.(中餐)

the baby was brought up on the bottle.(喝牛奶或羊奶长大的)

they chatted over a bottle.(边喝酒边聊天)

the whole village came out to welcome the singers.(全村的人)

用制造者的名字代表制成品:

do you like schubert?

i’ve never read shakespeare.

用地方代替事物:

kremlin(苏联政府)

white house(美国政府)

转喻可以收到言简意骇的修辞效果,给人以耳目一新的感觉,因而在诗歌中常常得以运用,

从如下的诗句中我们可以感受到转喻的魅力:

sceptre and crown must tumble down

and in the dust be equal made

with the poor crooked scythe and spade.

(j•shirley)

when from the cradle to the grave i look,

mine i conceive a melancholy book.

(george crabble,the parish register)

beneath the rule of men entirely great

the pen is mightier than the sword.

(edward george bulwer-lytton,richelieu)

the camp,the pulpt and the law

for rich men’s sons are free.

(percy bysshe shelley)

在诗歌中,还有一种转喻式的“转换形容词”,这是维吉尔、斯宾塞、弥尔顿、格雷等古典派艺术诗人作品中一种文体上的特色:“sansfoys dead dowry”(意为“死去的圣斯伏依的嫁妆”)中将形容词的dead从占有者(sansfoys)转到被占有的东西上(dowry—嫁妆)。在格雷的“drowsy tinkling”(“昏昏欲睡的叮铃声”)和弥尔顿的“merry bells”(“欢乐的铃”)中,形容的实际上分别指佩铃的人和敲铃的人。在弥尔顿的牛绳在“吹着她闷热的号角”(“winding her sultry hern”)一句中,形容词形容的是闷热的夏季黄昏,这种情形乃是由牛绳发出的嗡嗡声联想而来的。所有这些从上下文中摘出的例子,似乎都可以从万物有灵论的角度去阅读,关键是联想的逻辑是否起作用。

虔诚的宗教诗多采用隐喻式的比喻。但新古典主义赞美诗的作者瓦茨(i.watts)博士则采用转喻而获得了感人的、庄严的效果:

when i survey the wondrous cross

on which the prince of glory died,

my richest gain i count but loss

and pour contempt on all my pride.

see,form his head, his hands,his side

sorrow and love flow mingled down;

did ever such love and sorrow meet

or thorns compose so rich a crown?

(当我审视这奇妙的十字架

光荣的王子死在那上边,

我把最丰富的收获只当做损失

用轻蔑浇灭我全部的傲慢。

看吧,从他的头,他的手,他的两侧

混合流下的是哀愁和哀怜;

这种爱和哀愁从前可曾合流

或者荆棘曾编织过如此华美的皇冠?)

“sorrow”与“love”等用于“water”和“blood”, 他为爱而死,他的爱是因,流血是果。

提喻(synecdche)提喻也是不直接说某一事物的名称,而是借事物本身所呈现的各种对应的现象来表现。提喻与转喻不同,转喻主要借助于密切的关系与联想,而提喻则是借助于部分相似。

转喻通常是借助于密切的关系与联想,而提喻则是借助于部分相似。提喻通常是局部来代替整体,间或也用整体来代替局部,局部与整体之间总有相似之处。英语词义的扩大也有通过提喻这一演变方式的,如有些词从特指扩大到一般:journal从“日报”发展到指一切“期刊”;有些词义从具体扩大到抽象,或从抽象扩大到具体:grasp从具体的“用手抓住”发展扩大为抽象的“用头脑去掌握、领会”;youth不只是抽象名词表示“年轻、青春(状态或阶段)”,在古英语中就已经可以作集合名词指“青年人”这一整体。有的词义从专有名词扩大到普通名词:用科学家的名字watt来命名物理学的单位;此外象paper 来自papyrus(纸草,做纸的原料)也是词义通过提喻方式演变的例子。

常见的提喻有如下几种:

1. 用局部代替整体:

many hands make light work. (用hand表示干活的人)

the case was defended by eloquent lips.(用lips表示有辩才的人)

they came to live under the same roof.(用roof表示整个房子)

2. 用整体代替局部:

china won the volleyball match.(用china代表中国队)

3. 用个体代替整个一类:

she is another madam curie.

4. 用具体代替抽象:

the father yearns in the prince’s breast.(dryden)

5. 用抽象代替具体:

the authorities(当局)

6. 用材料代替事物:

a piggy-bank full of coppers

矛盾修饰法(oxymoron)矛盾修饰法是把两个意思截然相反的词放在一起,如:

a victorious defeat

a living death

cruel kindness

parting is such sweet sorrow.(shakespeare,romeo and juliet)

writing is busy idleness.(goethe)

这种修饰法看起来很矛盾,很可笑,但却表现了一个事物的两个方面,正好像汉语中文盲自称“睁眼瞎”一样,是有深刻涵义的。

反语(irony)反语就是说反话,用与本意相反的话语来表达本意。反语常用于嘲弄、讽刺,在表扬或持中立态度的掩饰下提出批评或表示贬责,是反话正说。反语有表里两层意思。真正的意思不是来自字面,而是由特定的上下文赋予的。在口语中,真正的意思往往寄寓于语气、语调及说话人的表情之中。如:

his designs were strictly honourable,as the saying is; that is, to rob a lady of her fortune by way of marriage.(henry fielding, tom jones)

i like work: it fascinates me. i can sit and look at it for hours. i love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.(jerome k.jerome)

作为一种表现风格,反语常用来进行尖刻的讽刺。英国十八世纪的著名作家jonathan swift所写的a modest proposal for preventing the children of ireland from being a burden to their parents or country 就是运用反语的典范。他说:

…a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, backed, or boiled; and i make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout. …those who are more thrifty (as i must confess the times require) may flay the carcass; the skin of which artificially dressed will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen.

读者根据斯威夫特对爱尔兰问题的态度,通读他的荒谬绝伦的建议,不难看出delicious, nourishing, wholesome food 以及admirable gloves summer boots 背后的涵义。carcass 一词指动物的死尸,指人的尸体时带有贬义。作者用它来表明爱尔兰穷人犹如猪狗,可供ladies与fine gentlemen任意宰割。

双关语(pun)有意识地利用语言中的同音异义(homonymy)或一词多义(polysemy)现象使一句话产生两层不同的意思,导致“一语双关”。例如:

- why is the middle ages also called the dark ages?

- because there were many knights.(利用knight和night同音)

on sunday they pray for you and on monday they prey on you. (利用pray和prey同音)

一词多义:

we must all hang together, or we shall hang separately.(benjamin franklin)

hang 既可作“紧紧团结在一起”解,又可当“被绞死”讲;一词两义,形成双关。

运用双关,不仅可以使语言俏皮、幽默,而且读起来和谐悦耳,所以常见于文学作品中。 莎士比亚是用双关语的能手。在《第十二夜》有这样的台词:“give me now leave(允许) to leave(离开) thee”。《罗密欧与朱丽叶》中乐观、开朗的mercutio受到致命剑伤,临死前还要说俏皮话:“ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man!” 这里grave有“坟墓”与“严肃”的双重意思。

双关语有的利用重复一个词的不同意义明确表示出来,有的则不重复,需要读者自己去分析决定词的意义。比较而言,利用一词多义的双关语比同形异义现象的双关语更有趣、更巧妙。

以上是英语中最基本的修辞手法,从英语文体来看,还有很多修辞上的手法,在此就不一一而论了。掌握好英语修辞手法,既可以提高我们的阅读欣赏能力,而且对我们的写作同样大有裨益。