一、引言

　　人们在说话、写作或文学作品中常使用一些修辞说明问题、表示强调、渲染气氛、增加色彩等等.这种修辞方式在语体学中称为修辞格.简言之,修辞格就是修辞手段.修辞格运用得好与坏直接影响着人们交流思想、传递信息、表达感情及人们正确理解别人的文章、提高自己阅读欣赏水平的效果.难怪有人说,语言是表达思想的工具,修辞则是语言表达的艺术.表意确切,表达新颖、生动应该是修辞的主旨.因此,英语修辞格应成为中学英语教学内容的重要组成部分.

　　二、中学英语中出现的修辞格

　　修辞格多种多样,它可借助语音、语法或词汇等手段来增强表达的艺术效果.现论述如下:

　　(一)使用语音手段的修辞格.主要有:

　　1.头韵(alliteration):在词的开头重复相同的元音或辅音.例如:

　　①Time and tide wait for no man.

　　②Suddenly the sky turned gray,

　　The day,

　　Which had been bitter and chill,

　　Grew soft and still.

　　2.拟声(onomatopoeia):以相似的声音描摹非语言的声音.例如:

　　①She brought me into touch with everything that could be reached or felt-sunlight, the rustling(沙沙声、瑟瑟声) of silk, the noises of insects, the creaking(咯吱声、叽嘎声) of a door, the voice of a loved one.

　　②You see, life is made up sobs(哭泣声),sniffles(抽鼻子声) and smiles-but mainly of sniffles.

　　(二)使用词汇手段的修辞格.主要有:

　　1.明喻(simile):用另一种事物比喻所要说明的事物,通常用like或as连用.例如:

　　①It(The hair) fell about her, rippling and shining like a brown waterfall.

　　②It(The lion) is as big as a very large dog.

　　2.隐喻(metaphor):不用like或as隐藏的比喻.例如:

　　①He said, "A foreign language is a weapon in the struggle of life."

　　②Hope is the poor man's bread.

　　3.提喻(synecdoche):以部分代替整体,单个代替类别,具体代表抽象,或反过来,以全体代替部分,类别代替单个,抽象代替具体.例如:

　　①Once Lu Xun spoke to the youth about the study of foreign language.

　　[youth不只是抽象名词表"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。]

　　②A horse is an animal.

　　③The CCTV(中央电视台) has been broadcasting English programmes ever since 1977.(用整体代替部分,指中央电视台的工作人员)

　　4.讽喻(allegory):以形象的形式说明一些抽象的要领或深刻的道理,谚语是最常见的例子.例如:

　　①Fish begins to stink at the head.上梁不正下梁歪.

　　②You can not eat your cake and have it.两者不可兼得.

　　③Good medicine tastes bitter to the mouth.良药苦口.

　　5.借代(metonymy):不相类似的甲事物同乙事物之间有着不可分离的关系,利用这种关系以乙事物的名称来代替甲事物.例如:

　　①In the country the revolutionaries set fire to the noble's castle and burnt them to the ground.(划线部分代封建制度)

　　②I saw that a little further up the traffic lights had turned red.(用红灯代stop)

　　③When the light turned green, I said to him, "Don't be stupid in future..."(用绿灯代start)

　　④Hank couldn't believe his ears.(用ears代所说的话)

　　6.委婉语(euphenism):用比较温和的词代替粗鲁的词或使人不愉快的词,用通行的词代替禁忌的词.例如:

　　①Would you like some help?

　　试比较:

　　a. Will you like some help?

　　b. Do you like some help?

　　②You look rather pale. Is there anything the matter?

　　试比较:You look rather ill.

　　③The next day he had a red face.

　　试比较:The next day he felt shy.

　　7.曲言(litotes):用反对语的否定来表达肯定,它又叫间接肯定法.例如:

　　①There is no doubt about it.

　　②The sort of medicine is not useless.

　　③Fish can't live without water.

　　8.反语(irony):亦称讽刺,即通常所谓说反话,常用于讽刺或嘲弄的场合.例如:

　　Well, of course, I know that gentlemen like you carry only large notes.

　　9.双关语(pun):一个词在上、下文中有双重或更多的含义.在英语中,常利用同形异义词(拼写相同但意义不同)或同(谐)音异义词(发音相同或相似,拼写与意义不同)来造成双关的效果.例如:

　　①Customer：What's this?

　　Waiter：It has bean(豆子) soup.

　　Customer：I don't want to know what it has been(是); I want to know what it is now.

　　②A：What is the longest sentence(句子、判刑) in the world?

　　B：Prison for life.

　　10.夸张(hyperbole):在真实的基础上有意言过其实以更好地反映事物的本质.例如:

　　①I can wait all my life, sir.

　　②To Annie I owe thinks for this priceless gift(无价之宝) of speech.

　　11.拟人(personification):把事、物、观念等拟作人,赋予它们以人的思想与行为方式.例如:

　　①The bamboo answered, "Yes, and I am magic. I am getting tired of this."

　　②Can you tell me the way to the Sleeping Beauty Castle(睡美人城堡)?

　　12.通感(synaesthesia):五官感觉的相通,即身体的某个器官受刺激时,身体的另一个器官所感觉到的感觉.例如:

　　She has a sweet voice(甜美的声音).(sweet是一种味觉,声音属于听觉感应的范围)

　　13.层进(climax):一层层地推进与加强最终达到高潮或顶点的修辞方式.例如:

　　①Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.(Bacon)有些书只须浅尝即可,有些书却要囫囵吞下,只有少数的书才值得咀嚼和消化.

　　②Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.早睡、早起使人健康、富有、智慧.

　　14.对照(antithesis):揭出互相对立的现象,使它们相映相衬,以达到加强文势的效果.它包括一体两面的对照和两体对照.

　　(1)一体两面的对照:就是把相反的观念同时叙述在一个事物上,由此形成矛盾,并在矛盾上透出事物的特殊本质.因此,这种修辞手段也叫矛盾修辞格,例如:

　　①My friend said, what black and white and read all over?

　　②Many scientists have both these qualities, that is, they are both careful and careless.

　　(2)两体对照:就是互相对立的两个事物并列出来,使它们彼此映衬,这样,黑者愈黑,白者愈白,能使人获得极鲜明,极深刻的印象.例如:

　　①Harm set, harm get.害人反害己.

　　②Careful and careless are as different as fire and water.

　　15.低调陈述(understatement):就是轻描淡写地来陈述一种想法.低调陈述最基本的表现方法有下列三种:

　　(1)正话反说:就是用no,not,none,never以及否定词缀等否定词与否定表达法来表述肯定的内容,这种表达方式在修辞学中有一个专门术语叫曲言法(litotes).例如:

　　①There is no doubt about it.

　　②The sort of medicine is not useless.

　　(2)回避正面直说或不作正面的回答:就是其中所表达的含意让听话人自己去琢磨,在这样用时,以"情态动词+不定式(不定式完成式)"为多.例如:

　　Why should you be so late today?你今天怎么来得这么晚?

　　这样说,比Why are you so late today?要委婉得多,其中的含义是:You should come here earlier.(实际上来迟了)

　　(3)弱说代替强说:就是常用a bit, almost, a little, hardly, kind of, rather, pretty, scarcely, quite, something of, sort of等低调词(downtoners)来减缩事物的重要性.例如:

　　①By this time they were a little anxious.

　　②My shoe has been pressing against my foot, so it hurts a bit.

　　16.典故(allusion):诗文中引用的古代故事和有来历出处的词语。pound of flesh一磅肉,此典故出自莎士比亚戏剧《威尼斯商人》,现已成为合法但不合情理的要求的代名词。夏洛克(Shylock)在法庭上的一段话也就成了残酷的生意人的经典之语。例如:

　　The pound of flesh, which I demand of him dearly bought, it is mine, and I will have it. (Shylock)

　　一磅肉!我向他要求的一磅肉是我出了大价钱买下来的。它是属于我的,我一定要把它拿到手。

　　(三)使用句法手段的修辞格。主要有:

　　1.松散句(loose sentence):先表达主要概念,然后再补充次要概念,结构比较松散。其组成的部分可以比较自由地拆散,在句中某些地方还可以随时停顿。例如:

　　She was just about to open the window and shout at the dog to frighten it, when she stopped and stood quite still.

　　2.圆周句(periodic sentence):把主要意思留在句末讲,有时句子的结构也只有到句末才能完成。例如:

　　①By the time he was fourteen years old, he had learned maths all by himself.

　　②Such was Albert Einstein, a simple man and the 20th century's greatest scientist.

　　3.对偶句(antithesis):一种工整匀称的并列结构,常把字数。结构相同(或相近),意义彼此相关的两个词组或并列从句对称地排列在一起,是表示对比关系的有效手段。例如:

　　①Harm set, harm get.害人反害己。

　　②The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.

　　4.排比句(parallelism):一般由三项或三项以上的词语或句子构成,其并列的结构常相同或类似,意义相关,语气连贯。排列次序一般由轻到重,由低潮到高潮。例如:

　　Marie described her thoughts in words much like this: "Life is not easy for any of us. We must work, and above all we must believe in ourselves, we must believe that each one of us is able to do something well, and that, when we discover what this something is, we must work hard at it until we succeed."

　　5.反复(repetition):不止一次地使用同一词语或句子。与排比的区别在于反复着重于词语,排比着重于结构。例如:

　　M: Come, come. Get his change, Tod.

　　SA: Get him his change! It's easy to say, sir; but look at the bill yourself.

　　6.省略(ellipsis):句子成分有所省略。例如:

　　①(That) Sounds like a good idea.

　　②(What) Terrible weather (it is)!

　　7.倒装(inversion):词序不同于正常语序的句子。例如:

　　①Is breakfast ready yet。

　　②Never shall I forget it.

　　8.反问句(rhetorical question):用疑问形式表示肯定或否定意义的句式。例如:

　　①Who knows。谁知道呢。

　　②Isn't it funny。不可笑吗。

　　(四)修辞格的综合运用,主要有:

　　1.修辞格的连用:指同类修辞格或异类修辞格在一段文字中接连使用。如:

　　His final thoughts were: "It is a far, far better thing than I do, than I have ever done; It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."我所做的,是我做过的最好。最最好的事情;我所得到的,是我所知道的最安详。最最安详的休息。

　　这段话运用了委婉。夸张。反复。对照等修辞格。

　　2.修辞格的兼用:是说一种表达形式兼有各种修辞格,也叫兼容格。也就是从这种角度看是这种修辞格,从另一角度看是那种修辞格。这种修辞格一般多用,效果突出。例如:

　　Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

　　这句话运用了排比。隐喻。层进等修辞格。

　　(文/郭自茂；《英语辅导报》高中教师版03~04学年度第23、24、25期；版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)