英语修辞精讲

AReviewofRhetoricalDevicesRhetoricalDeviceWhatisrhetoricaldevice?Rhetoricaldeviceisatechniquethatanauthororaspeakerusestoevokeanemotionalresponseintheaudience(thereadersorlisteners).Therearesyntacticdevices,lexicaldevices,phoneticdevices,etc.RhetoricalDevicesWhatarethepurposesofusingrhetoricaldevices?Toincreasevividnessoflanguage;Tolendforcetoanidea;Toheighteneffect;Tocreatesuggestiveimagery;Toprovidefreshnessofexpression;Toprovideclarity.Tomakecommunicationmoreefficientandmoreeffective;RhetoricalDevicesTherearequiteanumberofrhetoricaldevices.Eachdevicehasitsownformandcharacteristics,anditsownwayofachievingeffect.Sometimestwoormoredevicescanbeusedtogetherforgreaterimpact.Alistofcommonrhetoricaldevices:Simile;metaphor;metonymy;synecdoche;personification;parody;transferredepithet;hyperbole;allusion;chiasmus;oxymoron;paradox;irony;alliteration,antithesis,rhetoricalquestion,periodicsentence,inversion,etc.SimileItisarhetoricaldevicewhichmakesacomparisonbetweentwounlikeelementshavingatleastonequalityorcharacteristicincommon.It’schieffunctionistodrawsharppicturesinthemindthroughcomparisons;togivedeeperinsightintothings,personsandideasthroughsuggestiveassociation;toexplainabstract,complicatedideasinsimple,concreteimagery.SimileAsimileshouldmeetthefollowingfourbasicdemands:Ithasthecomparativewordssuchas“like”,“as”,or“asif”,etc.Thereshouldbetwothingsinvolvedincomparison------thetenorandthevehicle;Thetwothingsmustbesubstantiallydifferent;Thetwothingsshouldbesimilarinatleastonequality.SimileAsimileisdifferentfromanordinary,literalcomparison.JimlookslikehisbrotherBilly.×JimandBillyareaslikeastwopeas.√Inthefirstsentence,twolikeelementsarecompared:JimandBillyarebothhumanbeings.Inthesecondsentence,twounlikeelementsarecompared:humanbeingsandpeas;thebrothershaveonethingincommonwithpeas:greatsimilarityinappearance.SimileAccordingtothecomparativewordsused,similesfallintothefollowingforms:Theworldislikeastage.Jimwasascunningasafox.Ascoldwaterstoathirstysoul,soisgoodnewsfromafarcountry.Thepenistoawriterwhatthegunistoafighter.(AistoBwhatCistoD)Afoolcannomoreseehisownfollythanhecanseehisears.蠢人不能自知其蠢，就像不能自见其耳一样.SimileYoumightaswellexpectarivertoflowbackwardashopetomoveme.你不能动摇我的心，正如不能使河水倒流一样。Awordandastoneletgocannotbecalledback.覆水难收。Fishandvisitorsstinkinthreedays.鱼肉易臭，访客难久。MetaphorLikeasimile,italsomakesacomparisonbetweentwounlikeelements,butunlikeasimile,thiscomparisonisimpliedratherthanstated.Metaphorrequiresgreaterabilityonthepartofthereadertoperceivethehiddenassociation,theinsightintopersons,thingsorideasthatisimplied.Forinasimiletheparticularaspectofthepointofresemblancebetweentwounlikeelementsisgiven,inametaphornothingisstated.MetaphorAccordingtothestructure,metaphorscanbedividedintotwocategories:visiblemetaphorsandinvisiblemetaphorsVisiblemetaphor:boththetenorandvehiclearepresentinthesentence.Youaremysunshine.Theworldisastage.Thereisamixtureofthetigerandtheapeinthecharacteroftheimperialists.tiger:ferocity;ape:slynessThesunshineofhappinessismadeupofverylittlebeams.MetaphorTheinvisiblemetaphorreferstoeitherofthefollowingtwotypes:Thetenorispresent,butthevehicleisnot.Somebooksaretobetasted,otherstobeswallowed,andsomefewtobechewedanddigested.FrancisBacon-----OfStudiesThevehicle“food”doesnotappearliterally,butitissuggestedbytheverbs“tasted,swallowed,chewedanddigested”ThebabydaughtercamewaddlingafterherMom.waddle:walkwithshortsteps,swingingfromonesidetoanother,likeaduck.MetaphorThevehicleispresent,butthetenorisnot.Andwecan’tturnbackclocks,andIdon’twantto.thetenorishinted:historicaltrendButwhilewecannotclosethegulfbetweenus,wecantrytobridgeitsothatwemaybeabletotalkacrossit.thehintedtenor:differenceArhetoricdeviceinvolvesthedeliberatearrangementofcontrastingwordsorideasinbalancedstructuralformstoachieveforceandemphasis.Antithesis,favoredbymanyspeakerswhenpersuading,placescontrastingideassidebysideforemphasisandrhythm.Arrangedthisway,thecontrastingideasprovideasharpandforcefulwayofmeasuringdifference.Tomakeantithesis,theelementsshouldbeantonymsordirectoppositesinmeaningbutsimilarinform.AntithesisSpeechissilver;silenceisgolden.Manproposes,Goddisposes.谋事在人，成事在天Andso,myfellowAmericans:Asknotwhatyourcountrycandoforyou-----askwhatyoucandoforyourcountry.-------JohnF.Kennedy(InauguralAddress)AntithesisIhaveadreamthatmyfourlittlechildrenwillonedayliveinanationwheretheywillnotbejudgedbythecoloroftheirskinbutbythecontentoftheircharacter.Ihaveadreamtoday!------MartinLutherKing,Jr.,IHaveaDream...althoughthesurfaceappearstobe...very,veryfine-grainedasyougetclosetoit.It'salmostlikeapowder...Okay,I'mgoingtostepofftheLEMnow.That'sonesmallstepfor[a]man;onegiantleapformankind.------NeilArmstrong,Apollo11MoonLandingSpeechAntithesisChiasmus[kai’æzməs]交错配列法:Adevicethatconsistsoftwobalancedstatements,thesecondofwhichreversetheorderofthewordsinthefirst,withorwithoutarepetitionofwords.(Eg.Weeattolive,notlivetoeat;immoralpowerv.powerlessmorality)Chiasmusservesdifferentpurposesindi