英文修辞手法详解Figures of speech.doc

Figures of speech (修辞)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. Now we are going to talk about some common forms of figures of speech. ? 1) Simile：(明喻）It is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having 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. For example, As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. ? 2) 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. For example, the world is a stage. ? 3) Analogy: (类比）It is also a form of comparison, but unlike simile or metaphor which usually uses comparison on one point of resemblance, analogy draws a parallel between two unlike things that have several common qualities or points of resemblance. ? 4) Personification: (拟人）It gives human form of feelings? to animals, or life and personal attributes(赋予) to inanimate(无生命的) objects, or to ideas and abstractions(抽象). For example, the wind whistled through the trees. ? 5) Hyperbole:?(夸张）：?It is the deliberate use of overstatement or exaggeration to achieve emphasis. For instance, he almost died laughing. ? 6) Understatement:?(含蓄陈述）? It is the opposite of hyperbole, or overstatement. It achieves its effect of emphasizing a fact by deliberately(故意地) understating it, impressing the listener or the reader more by what is merely implied or left unsaid than by bare statement. For instance, It is no laughing matter. ? 7) Euphemism: (委婉）? It is the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive(无冒犯) expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. For instance, we refer to die a