目录

总序

前言

修订版前言

第一章 英语修辞学的研究对象和方法

1.1 修辞学的研究对象

1.2 修辞学的研究方法

练习一 （Exercise One）

第二章 修辞活动层次与传统修辞技巧

2.1 修辞活动层次

2.2 关于修辞学传统

练习二 （Exercise Two）

第三章 写文章的步骤与要领

3.1 写文章的基本步骤

3.2 写文章的几个要领

练习三 （Exercise Three）

第四章 词语的选择与使用（一）： 择语的标准

4.1 词语选择的重要性和可能性

4.2 词语选择的三项标准

练习四 （Exercise Four）

第五章 词语的选择与使用（二）：得体与创新

5.1 得体与创新的关系

5.2 “创新词语”与“生造词语”

5.3 掌握影响读者的三种词语使用手段

练习五 （Exercise Five）

第六章 词语的多重意义

6.1 词义的重要性

6.2 “指示意义”与“隐含意义”的区别

6.3 积极意义与消极意义

6.4 褒义与贬义

6.5 字面意义与比喻意义

练习六 （Exercise Six）

第七章 句式的多样化

7.1 句子的语法分类与修辞上的多样化

7.2 掉尾句和松散句

7.3 渐进句和突降句

7.4 省略句和重复句

7.5 长句与短句

练习七 （Exercise Seven）

第八章 SIMILE和METAPHOR

8.1 Simile

8.2 Metaphor

8.3 Simile和Metaphor用法中的两个问题

练习八 （Exercise Eight）

第九章 ANALOGY, ALLEGORY, METONYMY和SYNECDOCHE等四种比喻性辞格

9.1 Analogy和Allegory

9.2 Metonymy和Synecdoche

练习九 （Exercise Nine）

第十章 PERSONIFICATION，ZOOSEMY，ONOMATOPOEIA

10.1 Personification

10.2 Zoosemy

10.3 Onomatopoeia

练习十 （Exercise Ten）

第十一章 IRONY, PARADOX, OXYMORON, INNUENDO, SARCASM

11.1 Irony

11.2 Irony的几种变异形式

练习十一 （Exercise Eleven）

第十二章 HYPERBOLE, UNDERSTATEMENT, EUPHEMISM

12.1 Hyperbole

12.2 Understatement

12.3 Euphemism

练习十二 （Exercise Twelve）

第十三章 PARODY, REVERSE, ANADIPLOSIS, REGRESSION等四辞格

13.1 四辞格的含义和形式

13.2 四辞格的使用

练习十三 （Exercise Thirteen）

第十四章 PAREGMENON, MALAPROPISM, CORRECTION

14.1 Paregmenon

14.2 Malapropism

14.3 Correction

练习十四 （Exercise Fourteen）

第十五章 PUN, TRANSFERRED EPITHET和SYLLEPSIS

15.1 Pun

15.2 Transferred Epithet

15.3 Syllepsis

练习十五 （Exercise Fifteen）

第十六章 CONTRAST, PARALLELISM和ANTITHESIS

16.1 Contrast

16.2 Parallelism

16.3 Antithesis

练习十六 （Exercise Sixteen）

第十七章 ALLITERATION, ASSONANCE, CONSONANCE 等韵格

17.1 几种主要韵格的含义与形式

17.2 韵格使用中的三个问题

练习十七 （Exercise Seventeen）

第十八章 句子的一致、连贯和强调

18.1 正确句和有效句

18.2 句子的一致（Sentence Unity）

18.3 句子的连贯 （Sentence Coherence）

18.4 句子的强调 （Sentence Emphasis）

练习十八 （Exercise Eighteen）

第十九章 文章段落的修辞要求

19.1 段落的含义和要求

19.2 写好段落的三个环节

练习十九 （Exercise Nineteen）

第二十章 段落的展开与文体类型（一）

20.1 段落展开的方式与文体类型

20.2 说明

练习二十 （Exercise Twenty）

第二十一章 段落的展开与文体类型（二）

21.1 辩论

21.2 记叙

21.3 描写

练习二十一 （Exercise Twenty-one）

第二十二章 论文写作

22.1 论文的概念与写作要求

22.2 论文的写作过程

22.3 有关论文格式的几个问题

练习二十二 （Exercise Twenty-Two）

第二十三章 应用文写作

23.1 应用文的使用场合与写作特点

23.2 几种普通应用文

23.3 建议与可行性报告

练习二十三 （Exercise Twenty-Three）

练习参考答案

主要参考文献

附录 上海市高等教育自学考试修辞学样卷

索引

图书在版编目（CIP）数据

英语修辞与写作 / 黄任编著. —修订本. —上海：上海外语教育出版社，2012

（21世纪英语学习丛书）

ISBN 978-7-5446-2752-8

Ⅰ.①英… Ⅱ.①黄… Ⅲ.①英语—修辞—研究 ②英语—写作—研究　Ⅳ.①H315

中国版本图书馆CIP数据核字（2012）第054303号

总序

英语修辞与写作随着改革开放步伐的加快，我国与世界各国在经济、文化、教育、政治等方面的交往日益频繁，合作进一步扩大。在这一过程中，外语作为媒介手段和信息转换工具越来越显出其重要性，越来越为社会各界所重视。为了普及外语，提高全社会的外语水平，以适应形势发展的需要，我国中小学已普遍开设了外语课，社会办学也日趋活跃，业余成人外语教学已遍及全国，广播电视等媒体也为提高社会各界的外语水平作出了自己的贡献。

改革开放以来，随着我国社会主义现代化建设各项事业的迅速发展，社会各界对英语的需求日益增长，英语使用场合日益增多，范围日益扩大，英语已自然成为我国的一种通行的国际交流语言。在这一形势下，“外语热”经久不衰，各级各类英语学习班、培训班层出不穷，大大促进了英语的普及和水平的提高。但是，由于这类班的教学往往注重单项或几项技能的学习和训练，因而学生学习的语言知识往往是不全面的，他们的语言运用能力更是一个薄弱的环节。因此，帮助广大英语学习者全面学习和掌握英语语言知识和英语运用能力，为迎接21世纪的到来，培养既有专业知识又懂英语的跨世纪人才，是我们一项责无旁贷的任务。

《21世纪英语学习丛书》就是以此为目的而设计并组织我国英语语言教学和研究方面学有专长、造诣颇深的著名专家和学者编写的。这套面向21世纪的英语学习丛书的最大特点是语言知识与能力训练并重，选材新颖，练习形式多样丰富，讲解详细，书后附练习答案，有的书还配有辅导用书。总之，《丛书》是针对中国学生学习英语的特点和需要进行编写的，富有新意，充满时代气息，可读性强，具有实用性和趣味性，便于读者自学。读者学习这套《丛书》后能系统地学好英语语言及相关的知识，全面提高应用英语的能力，并为进一步提高、深造和向专业领域发展打下扎实的基础。

《丛书》的另一特点是讲解深入浅出，既有一定的学术性，又通俗易懂，实例丰富，因此能适应不同层次的英语读者的需要。

现在，越来越多的中青年正在业余自学外语，这是一个可喜的现象。对于他们来说，学习中的困难更多一些，但只要坚持不懈，注意方法，总是可以学好的。从不少成功者的经验看，学习中务要持之以恒，避免急躁和囫囵吞枣。例如，在学习这套《丛书》时要循序渐进，认真阅读和独立完成练习，碰到书上的答案与自己的做法不同时，要认真思考，与别人讨论或请教老师（包括书的作者）；一时找不到答案也不气馁，可作为问题记录下来，继续研究。除了认真学习这套《丛书》，还应结合其他读物（特别是优秀文学作品）和听力材料学习外语，大量练习，大胆实践。

在世纪之交，上海外语教育出版社组织编写的《21世纪英语学习丛书》为推动我国英语教学事业的发展做了一件好事。《丛书》的出版必将有助于广大读者学好英语，为普及外语、提高全社会的外语水平作出贡献。

上海外国语大学校长
戴炜栋
一九九五年秋于上海

前言

英语修辞学是专业英语教学中的一门基本课程，目的是帮助学生掌握修辞技巧，有效地进行外语交际，本书乃多年教学和科研实践的总结，既反映了国内外英语修辞学研究的最新成果，又结合具体情况提出了个人的见解和主张。为帮助学习者进一步掌握修辞学的基本技巧，本书各章配有练习，书末附参考答案。

迄今的现代英语修辞学著述甚多，常见的有两大类：一类专论修辞格，一类着重描述写作过程。本书提出了英语修辞活动的3个层次，即词语选择、句式变化（包括辞格运用）、段落与篇章写作，比较全面地论述了英语修辞的各个环节，有助于学生全面地了解和掌握修辞这样一个系统的过程。最后两章讨论论文写作和应用文写作，旨在引导学生结合实践应用修辞技巧。

怎样对待修辞传统？这是修辞学界一个有争议的问题。本书第2章第2节提到的美国前几年出版的两部修辞与写作著述具有相当的代表性。我们主张，对传统的事物都应一分为二，要继承，又要发展，不能否定某个方面以致走向极端，因为墨守成规也好，无根据地标新立异也好，都不利于学术发展，都是有害的。在我们的教学中也有过两种倾向，有时句法章规过死，辞格划分过细，有时又由于强调实践而放松了基本写作程式的训练，结果都不利于修辞学习，不利于写作水平的提高。

修辞和语法、词汇等学科有密切关系，彼此之间有些内容交叉或重叠（overlapping），为此有的学者在修辞学著述（例如 Bander的American English Rhetoric）的章节里直接穿插语法项目。这本书中也涉及重叠现象，同时又严格把握修辞学的研究对象，例如在词语选择部分涉及词汇学内容，但主要从3项择语标准上着眼，这就既反映出相关学科间的必然联系，又避免由于学科间的相互渗透而混淆它们之间的基本界限，也避免了重复。

本书中的例句有的来自经典名著，有的来自商品包装盒，有的来自电视节目，有的源于名人言论，有的则取自外国小朋友的聊天。这样做的目的，不仅是为了反映语言的丰富多彩，而且是想借此重温中国已故外语界权威、著名外语语言学家和教育家，我的恩师许国璋先生的教诲：“外语学习者要做有心人，不但要用心读书，还要随时留意外语在实际生活中的使用。多看、多听、多记、多说、多写，持之以恒，必有左右逢源之乐。”

关于本书的练习，它们既是各章的复习与巩固，又是各章的继续和提高。各章练习的长度和形式不尽相同，但都包含3个方面的内容：一、问答，二、填空或改写，三、阅读理解或讨论。其中问答内容都在该章的范围之内，要求学习者至少能看懂英语提问，最好用英语回答；填空或改写部分的题目也大都与各章的说明有关，要求学习者尽量独立用英语操作，千万不要依赖参考答案；第三部分练习重在阅读理解，讨论最好在同学之间或教师的指导下进行，有些练习实际上是以英语说明该章的某些重点内容，旨在加深对该章的真正理解和消化。总之，既应把练习看作是各章的有机组成部分，又要按照学习者的不同情况灵活掌握。

最后，希望读者提出宝贵意见，对本书的不足之处批评指正。

作　者
1994. 2.14

修订版前言

本书1996年出版，十多年来，受到广大外语老师和学生的厚爱，最近又第14次印刷。这些年来我不断收到老师和学生提出修改的要求与建议，要求我进行修订；听说我缺少新的资料，美国朋友Carol Prorok博士在百忙中为我搜集，并给我邮寄来一大包近十年英语修辞方面的重要著作。正是在他们的督促、指导和帮助之下我才一章一章地修改、补充，直到最近终于完成。

这次修订主要体现在以下几个方面：

第一、再次界定修辞学的研究对象，确定修辞学的基本内容为词语选择、句式变化和组段谋篇等3大修辞活动层次，其中贯穿审美修辞手段，包括修辞格的使用。

我在初版前言中讲到，“修辞和语法、词汇等学科有密切关系，彼此之间有些内容交叉或重叠（overlapping）”，因此在不同学科的著作中会涉及其它有关学科的内容，这有便于让读者获得一个比较完整的印象，但基本内容是本学科。在这方面有两种情况值得注意：一是模糊了学科之间的界线，把所论学科的范围扩大化了，如在语法书里用颇大的篇幅讨论修辞学的内容（包括辞格），或者把修辞学扩大到语义学、语用学等不同的学科；二是由于强调所论学科与另一学科之间的差别而会在客观上造成对另一学科的某种误解。王文斌教授在其最新力作《隐喻的认知构建与解读》中提出了一系列有创见的观点，对隐喻理论研究作出了积极贡献，但从修辞学的角度上看，笔者难免对他在4.2节的几句话持保留态度。

他说：“尽管现代隐喻研究已否定了隐喻的修辞性，认为隐喻不是语言的简单装饰，而是一种认知现象，是意义的一种创造过程，……”

（王文斌 2007:89）

这里，作者把“隐喻”和“修辞”对立了起来，似乎“修辞”只是“语言的简单装饰”，这个提法值得商榷。应该说，隐喻作为一种修辞手段是正确的，但从认知语言学的角度看，隐喻又超出了修辞范围，成为人们的普遍思维机制和认知手段。语言学从规范、描写到认知，属于不同的发展阶段，不同时期的认识程度有深浅，不同学科的研究对象有差异，或者说侧重点不一样，但总的来说，它们之间的关系是继承与发展或相互借鉴，而不是彼此对立或相互否定。

第二、更新内容，包括删削冗余的信息，改进不完整的论述，补充新鲜的资料（包括补充章节或阅读材料）以及调换过时的例句等。

第三、适当改变练习形式，主要是减少机械的填空练习，增加判断正误、句式修改、多项选择以及短篇阅读材料等，为学习者提供更多的操练形式与机会。

第四、鉴于本书一直被列为上海市高等学校自学考试“英语修辞学”课教材《英语修辞学概论》（An Introduction to English Rhetoric）的配套用书，在这次修订时，编者根据自学考试的要求对原书的练习做了适当调整，还在书后附上样卷一份，并加答案和说明，旨在帮助学生取得令人满意的成绩。

编者
2011年6月

第一章　英语修辞学的研究对象和方法

1.1　修辞学的研究对象

1.1A　修辞学的概念

1）英语中的“修辞”（Rhetoric）具有多层的含义，可大体概括为两个方面的意思：从较为狭义或传统的角度上看，“修辞”主要涉及“语言文本”（verbal texts）的各种表现技巧；而从较为广义或现代的角度上看，它涉及任何形式的信息表述（any information expression）。苏格兰修辞学家坎贝尔认为，修辞学必须表现出“理解、想象、激情和意志”（understanding, imagination, passion and will）等四个方面的思维功能, 从而使自己的表述具有说服力。（Keith Brown, 2nd Edition, Vol. 10, 580－581）

2） 我们讲话或写文章，都是出于社会交际的需要。为了达到交际目的，就要考虑怎样说、怎样写，即怎样从客观的环境和对象出发，选择恰当的语言表达方式，力求准确、鲜明、生动，使对方易于理解和乐于接受所要表达的思想。这就是修辞学所要研究的问题。作为语言学的一个学科，修辞学既是研究语言，更是研究语言使用，着重考察人们在交际中的社会言语规律和特点。美国语言学家Brooks和Warren在他们合著的《现代修辞学》（Modern Rhetoric）一书中说：修辞学是有效地使用语言的艺术（Rhetoric is the art of using language effectively）。我们这本书的目的是从写作角度研究修辞，故名为《英语修辞与写作》。

3） 修辞学研究的核心问题是如何优化人的思维及其表现形式，它同心理学、交际学、逻辑学、语用学和社会语言学等等学科有着密切的关系; 修辞和语法也密切相关，是在语法基础上再前进一步。Francis Christensen说：

Grammar maps out the possible; rhetoric narrows the possible down to the desirable and effective.

伍海伦先生在《英文修辞手册》前言中通过一位学者的话点明了语法和修辞之间的区别：

Grammar is the law of language, considered as language; rhetoric is the art of language, considered as thought. Grammar tells what is correct; rhetoric tells what is effective and pleasing.

这说明人们在社会交际中为了有效地使用语言，不仅要遵守语法规则，还要追求语言的使用技巧，既要考虑句子结构对不对，话说得通不通，又要注意话说得是否准确有力，是否鲜明生动，是否协调连贯等。简而言之，就是话说得是否有艺术性，而这种说话的艺术性，要与有效性结合起来，一切技巧的使用都要考虑语境，针对不同场合与不同对象，才能取得更好的交际效果。

1.1B　修辞学的基本内容

1） 关于现代修辞学的内容或研究对象，各家说法不一，前面1.1A提到Keith Brown的看法，从具体内容来讲，有的把修辞学狭义地理解为各种词格的形式与使用，而有的修辞视野却宽泛得多，认为修辞学应该包括下述三个方面：

一是风格学（Stylistics），包括不同的语域（registers）和各种风格变体（stylistic variants）。前者指诸如科技写作、商贸写作及新闻写作等；后者指不同作家、不同学派或不同时代的文学语体等。

二是交际修辞学（Communicative Rhetoric），包括词语选择（choice of words）,句式变化（sentence varieties） 和组段谋篇（organization of paragraphs and composition of the whole text）等三个方面，统称之为修辞活动的三大层次（the three levels of rhetorical operations）。

三是审美修辞学（Aesthetic Rhetoric），指通过种种艺术手段，其中包括修辞格（figures of speech）的使用，使自己的说话或文章生动、优美，具有更强的感染力。

2） 本书把交际修辞学和审美修辞学作为现代修辞学的基本内容，以词语选择、句式变化和组段谋篇等修辞活动的三大层次为框架，以审美修辞为手段，即在整个修辞活动中贯彻审美修辞的种种技巧与要求。

我在初版前言中讲到，“修辞和语法、词汇等学科有密切关系，彼此之间有些内容交叉或重叠（overlapping）”，因此在不同学科的著作中会涉及其它有关学科的内容。例如，为了能够准确地选择词语，必须把握词语的意义，也会涉及词语的构成。词语的构成和词语意义的分析属于词汇学的范畴，修辞学中的词语问题仅在词汇学的基础上集中研究词语在使用中表现出来的态度差异或不同的感情色彩，如指示意义与隐含意义（denotative meaning and connotative meaning），褒义与贬义（approving meaning and disapproving meaning），所指意义（referential meaning），社会意义（social meaning）及情感意义（affective meaning）等等，而非简单地重复词汇学的内容。这样处理修辞学与其他相关学科的关系，目的在于让读者既能对语言使用中的种种情况获得一个比较完整的印象，又不脱离本学科。

1.1C　现代修辞学的发展趋势

1） 修辞这门学问起源于公元前4世纪，即希腊亚里士多德时期。当时它仅指口头表达技巧，相当于我们今天所说的“辩论”（argumentation）。17世纪末期英国哲学家John Locke曾把修辞称作“演说术”（the science of oratory），是“说话得体、优美和有力的艺术”（the art of speaking with propriety, elegance, and force）。因此，在希腊语、拉丁语、法语、西班牙语以及意大利语中，rhetoric这个词的词根都是“说话”的意思。

随着19世纪印刷业的高度发展，人们也越来越普遍地采用了书面交际手段，于是修辞的原则和方法也进入了各种书面语体。

现代语言学的迅速发展推动了现代修辞学的发展，修辞学研究呈现两种主要趋势：一是着重研究修辞手段的体系，称之为语言修辞学；二是着重研究话语中的修辞现象，称之为话语修辞学，或言语修辞学。本书两者兼有，但非简单地合并，而是以前者为基础，以后者为重心，以提高学习者的使用能力为目的。

2） 我国的汉语修辞研究源远流长，近代有陈望道先生的《修辞学发凡》（1932年）和吕叔湘、朱德熙先生的《语法修辞讲话》（1952年）两座里程碑。但我国的英语修辞研究则起步甚晚。虽然上世纪60年代初王佐良先生就曾撰文论述英语修辞在外语教学中的地位和作用，但政治运动使这方面的研究停顿了近20年，直到改革开放以后才真正得到开展。据不完全统计，1981—2009年间我国学者共发表论文150余篇，出版专著和词典20多部，把我国的英语修辞研究不断推上新的台阶。在这大量的修辞学著述中，有的评介了西方古典修辞学和现代修辞学，有的专论词格，有的把修辞学和语用学、认知语言学等结合起来加以研究，形成跨学科研究成果。中国修辞学会会长、我国著名语言学家、上海外国语大学教授王德春先生的《现代修辞学》在继承传统修辞学的基础上构建了现代修辞学的理论框架，并对其主要内容做了全面的概括和生动的描述。

不少大学已开设了英语修辞学课程，并开展这方面的专题研究。

3） 当前我国的英语修辞研究主要在下述三个方面展开：一是继续对传统修辞学和现代修辞学派进行研究，继承和发扬英语修辞学的优良传统，同时吸收现代修辞学派的新观念、新思路和新方法，改进和提高我们的研究和教学；二是把英语修辞同汉语修辞加以对比研究，既促进文化交流，又利用汉语优势促进英语修辞研究；三是把英语修辞同其他学科联系起来，如认知学与修辞学，心理学与修辞学，交际学与修辞学，话语学与修辞学等等，从而引出种种跨学科研究的新课题、新成果。本书的主旨是从学习英语写作的实际需要出发，系统扼要地介绍各个修辞活动层次的要求和技巧，并结合语境论述修辞中应注意的问题。

1.2　修辞学的研究方法

1.2A　学习修辞与写作的意义

1） 有人认为，现代社会的有声联络十分方便，不用学习修辞与写作了。这是一种片面的看法。有声传播技术的发展确实减少了某些方面的写作需求，如人们通过电话交流信息，书信往来就少了，但在另外一些领域内写作却比以往更加重要，如技术报告和新闻报道，即使电视新闻也多是先写好文字稿而后播出的。有些工作中不一定非用写作不可，然而能以文字形式表达自己的观点仍不失为一技之长。

此外，会写作也是一个人成熟的一种标志和良好素质的一种体现。不论当律师、会计师、教师、工程师或普通工作者，虽然不像作家那样一定要写诗歌、小说等，但若写点小文章也难以提笔，甚至连一般的计划、报告、小结或说明书、介绍信之类的应用文也写不好，那显然是不符合文明社会成员的基本要求的。而要写文章，就要不同程度地涉及修辞与写作技巧。

2） 也有人以为，只要模仿不同的文章格式并能按照语法规则把句子写正确就够了。这种看法也不全面。客观情况千差万别，不可能把固定的某些格式到处套用；诚然，写出符合语法规则的正确句子是必需的，但不能仅仅停留在这一点上。前面1.1A已讨论到语法与修辞的关系，说明修辞是在语法正确的基础上如何进一步使用语言技巧，提高交际效果。这里还需说明，学习了修辞与写作的基本技巧和规律，虽然不能说就等于会写好文章了，但对写好文章肯定是有帮助的，若忽视它们，则不可能把文章写好。

3）口语中是否用得着修辞技巧呢？答案是肯定的。俗话说某某人“能言善辩”，某某人“出口成章”，均指其人十分善于辞令，会说话。我们在口头交际时首先要清楚应当“说什么”，“怎样说”，做到话随旨遣，又要根据具体谈话对象，做到因人而异；什么地方应当详尽，什么地方应当简略，等等，这些都是涉及修辞技巧方面的问题。

1.2B　学习修辞与写作的方法

1） 结合实践学习。修辞学是社会交际实践的产物，也只有密切结合社会交际实践才能掌握好修辞技巧。教师的课堂讲授，只能为学生提供一把研究修辞的钥匙，学生还必须通过阅读才能巩固课堂知识。不仅如此，还要在说话、写文章和进行翻译时有意识地利用各种修辞手段来提高自己的语言使用技能，以取得更好的交际效果。有个留美学生曾以A Way Out for the Homeless Couples为题写了一篇文章。在修辞课上讨论到择语的准确性后，他想到文中的homeless一词有待斟酌：虽然在美国英语中home可以和house同义，但一般说来，house主要指住房，而home除指住处以外，还往往包括家庭生活；由于文中所谈的是青年成家后的住房问题，故houseless一词较为恰当。

2） 针对语境使用。Patrick Hartwell说：“修辞是适于某种语境和出于某种目的所做的选择。”（Hartwell, Patrick, Open to Language）如果离开语境就难以确定某种表达方式是否符合修辞要求。例如根据一般修辞要求，被动结构应避免使用，因为它需要增加助动词，不符合用词简炼的原则，而且也不如主动结构那样明确有力，但有时为了突出受事者，或为了强调通常情况下不作主位的句子成份，则应使用被动结构，例如：

The tree was struck by lightening.

（Thomas S. Kane）

Out of the windows could be seen three hickory trees placed irregularly in a meadow that was resplendent in spring time green.

（Stephen Crane）

又如，想要别人把门关上时，可以有多种表达方式，除了生硬地命令式只适用于某些特殊场合外，通常还可以用下面的某种说法：

A） Close the door, dear.
B） Would you be so kind to close the door?
C） It's a bit cold here. Can you close the door?
D） Would you like to close the door for me?
E） I would be glad if you could close the door.
F） Would you mind closing the door?

上述A、B两句用于家庭成员或好友之间，属于亲昵的表达方式；D、E两句突出对对方的尊重或客气，适用于对社会地位高于自己或与自己相同的人说话，属于婉转的表达方式；C句介乎两者之间，可用于其他两种场合。当然也可选择其他的表达方式，包括“Would you mind ...?”不过用这个句式请别人做（或停止做）某事时，很可能带有“贬”的色彩，是不满或甚至是愤怒情绪的一种表达，例如“Would you mind stop making so much noise?”等。

3） 注意母语的影响

语言学家Dorothy M. Guinn和Daniel Marder说：“Rhetorical operations are patterns of thought that direct and order our perceptions, ideas, and feelings.” （Guinn, Dorothy M. & Daniel Marder, A Spectrum of Rhetoric.）。

不同民族的人从小养成了独特的思维方式，这种方式反映到修辞活动中，便形成修辞的民族特色。我们在研究英语修辞时要经常注意母语的影响。例如汉语的词语组合中有一种表示强调的格式，如“确切的事实”、“参差不齐”，其中“确切”强调“事实”，“参差”修饰“不齐”，修饰成分同被修饰成分的含义有重复，但并不使人感到别扭，这是汉语，若是在英语中这样写，用“true facts”，“irregularly uneven”这样的组合形式，就不对头了。

刘宓庆教授说：“以汉语为母语的人注重思维形态上的主体性，认为任何行为都只可能是人这个行为主体完成的，因此行为主体‘尽在不言之中’。这种思维风格（方式）使汉语句子的语态（主动式或被动式）呈隐含式，形成受事的施事化。”这同英语中施事、受事（被动式）并用的表现法形成对照。为此，类似“我们改革开放政策取得了很大成绩”这样的汉语句子，内容和形式都是站得住的，但若以同样的句式套用到英语，即以“Our policies of reform and opening to the outside world”做主语，后接谓语“have won great successes”，那就不符合英语的思维逻辑，而应采用类似下面的表达方式：

We have won great successes for our reform and open policies.

Great successes have been won for our reform and open policies.

练习一　（Exercise One）

I. Preview Questions:

1. What have Brooks and Woolen said about rhetoric in their book Modern Rhetoric?

2. What have you learned about the difference between grammar and rhetoric?

3. Do you agree with John Locke that rhetoric is the science of oratory?

4. Do you think it important to study rhetoric? Why?

5. What do you think are the effective approaches to studying rhetoric?

II. Read the following passages and then do the multiple choice exercises:

1. What is Rhetoric? Is it merely concerned with word choices, figures of speech, topic sentences, and transitions from paragraph to paragraph? Does it merely have to do with outlining a discussion and studying the principles of unity, coherence, and emphasis? Certainly it is concerned with those things, but they are not studied for their own sake.

They are studied because it is through language that we discover the world and ourselves. They are studied, too, because they contribute to the effective use of language — and thus to effective living.

Rhetoric, more specifically, is the art of using language effectively.

2. The human being may be called the animal with language. Upon a little reflection, we can see that only by means of language can mankind create and transmit the body of concepts, attitudes, values, and skills that constitute civilization. Only by language can we carry the past with us, understand the present, and project the future. Only by language can we have a clear notion of ourselves as individuals. “I think, therefore I am,” as the philosopher Descartes put it. And only by language can we forge the bonds of a society — a society as distinguished from some sort of instinctual hero or swarm.

3. Rhetoric involves practicing the most effective means or strategies for informing or persuading an audience. All writing, even technical or business writing, is “creative.” Deciding what to write, how to write it, how best to get your reader's attention, and how to inform or persuade your reader requires creativity and imagination. Every major requires the skills that writing courses teach: exploring new ideas, learning concepts and processes, communicating with others, and finding fresh or creative solutions to problems.

Now make the best choice and be prepared to explain why you made it.

1） Our study of rhetoric should__________.

（a） aim at informing or persuading our readers
（b） enable us acquire the body of concepts, attitudes, values and skills
（c） be like the study of an art for its own sake
（d） contribute to the effective use of language

2） What you think did Descartes mean by saying “I think, therefore I am”?

（a） He thinks he is right.
（b） He is a human being because he can think with a language.
（c） He believes that he is a philosopher.
（d） As he can think, he becomes a philosopher.

3） Why is language so important?

（a） Because language helps human beings to communicate with each other and forge the human society.
（b） Only language can create a clear notion for every person.
（c） Without language, human beings will become animals as well.
（d） It is language that enables human beings to communicate with others and find fresh or creative solutions to problems.

III. Go over the following passages and fill in each blank with a suitable word or phrase:

1. Traditional grammarians have always been （1）____________meaning, but meaning of a rather narrow kind: verb tenses, clausal relationships, kinds of nouns （common and proper, abstract and concrete）, and so on. Descriptive grammarians set aside the problem of meaning in order to concentrate on observable forms and how they occur with one another. They talk in terms of grammatical （2）____________that can be abstracted from lexical meaning, of the grammatical meaning of ‘Twas brilling, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe .... More recently, however, transformational linguists have turned back to lexical meaning because they have set as their task a description of how semantic content is “mapped” onto syntactic and phonological forms.

2. It was Aristotle who, in the 4th century B. C., first defined （3）____________as the art of persuasion. In Athens, then the center of western civilization, great orators, by exercising their rhetoric, gained following and support, and eventually, political power.

With development of printing, rhetoric came to be （4）____________the ability to write or speak well in ornate, showy language. Today there are still people who equate rhetoric to the adoption of stylistic devices or the use of figures of speech in speech or writing.

Nowadays, however, with the quickened tempo of life, the increased stress on efficiency and efficacy, and the ascendance of the idea that languages are means of communication, more and more people have come （5）____________rhetoric as the art of effective communication. Furthermore, rhetoric tends to be connected more with writing than with speech, and more with prose writing （6）____________with verse.

IV. Passages for further reading:

Writing can change your life. It can help you deepen your understanding of yourself as well as achieve the goals you set for yourself. It can help you make sense of the information that assaults you every day and present ideas so that others take you seriously. And it can broaden your world by enabling you to communicate effectively with people you have never met.

Despite the tremendous advantages of writing well, many people persuade themselves that they can never learn to write, because they believe that writing is a talent they were denied at birth. People who think in these terms are unlikely to write well, because they lack the motivation to take their writing seriously. It is true that some people learn to write more easily than others because they have a certain aptitude for it or because they have been encouraged by parents, friends, or good teachers. But to a large extent writing is a skill that that can be learned by anyone willing to take the trouble. Believe that you will fail, and you are likely to fail. Believe that you can succeed, and you will have begun to succeed. It will certainly take time and effort to write successfully, for writing involves hard work; but you will find that this investment will pay rich dividends.

（Robert Keith Miller, 2005:1）

第二章　修辞活动层次与传统修辞技巧

2.1　修辞活动层次

修辞活动是一个系统的思维过程，包括择语、选句、设格、组段到谋篇的整个系列。从修辞活动基础上看，它可大致分为词语选用、句式变化和段篇安排三个层次。有学者提出风格也属修辞范围，应列入修辞活动层次。笔者以为，虽然在古典修辞学理论中风格曾是重要组成部分，但实际上风格应看作是人们进行修辞活动的结果，而且一个人写作或演说风格的形成，除了修辞活动结果以外，还同其个人素质、社会文化等诸多因素相关。上述各层次的修辞活动均有不同要求，同时它们又密切相关。只有抓好所有这些环节，才能达到有效交际的目的。

笔者在拙作《英语语法教程——形式、意义与使用》的最后一章“从语法到修辞”中概述了“英语修辞学中的三个活动层次”。这里再加以简要说明。

2.1A　词语选用

有人讲，“英语易学难精”（English is easy to learn but difficult to master.）。这个说法颇有道理。首先，英语是一种词汇丰富的语言，《韦氏大辞典》（Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language）的“前言”说，由于篇幅所限，该词典只收了45万多个词，实际上英语的全部词汇估计有60万甚至100多万个，且使用上灵活多变，创造力强，不容易掌握。在学生的作文练习上会发现教师的这样一些标记：“use”, “usage”, “dic（tion）”, “exac（tness）”, “loc（alism）”, “colloq（uialism）”, “arch（aic）”, “sl（ang）”, “id（iom）”, “approp（riateness）”，等等。 这些评语标记大都涉及词语选用问题。

美国哥伦比亚大学的李·戴顿教授说：“要真正学习一个单词，就要知道在你选择词语的时候，词语也在同时选择你，所以，你必须对此具有强烈的兴趣感、兴奋感、奇妙感和愉悦感。”（Lee C. Deighton. Vocabulary Development in the Classroom）

关于词语选用，详见第4－6章。

2.1B　句式变化

1） 不同句子形式的选择和运用，是修辞活动的一个关键环节，因为词语要通过句子发挥作用，段落也由句子组成，人们在家里说话和朋友间通信所用的词句必然和在正式场合的讲话或写论文时大不相同。下面是一个学生在宿舍里对同学讲的一段话：

“I've gotta be in court at nine on Tuesday morning. For sure I won't be back in time for Walker's bio test. Hope the old guy lets me take a makeup.”

当该学生在那位教师的面前，讲法就不一样了：

“Excuse me, sir. I have to be in court next Tuesday and so I must be absent from the biology test. Would it be possible for me to take it at some later time?”

上述两段话说的是同一件事，前一段遣词造句很随便，后一段用词礼貌、句式正规。可以想象，如果该学生当着教师的面仍用宿舍里的那些话，就会使教师十分不快。可见不论说话，还是写文章，都要适应场合，适合对象，即适合不同的语域（register）要求，“正式”（formal）、“非正式”（informal）、“俚语”（slang）等是不同的语域标志。

笔者曾看到一个人珍藏的女友的几封信。从信的结尾款式就可以看到他们之间关系的发展过程：

再下面一封信的落款很有意思，先是写上Yours，后来又改成Your friend，可能是他们之间的关系经过一番曲折，又热乎起来了。

关于句式多样化，详见第7章。第18章将讨论句子的一致、连贯和强调。

2） 辞格属于美学修辞，结构上有一定的修辞格式，如打比喻、讲反话、设排比、用双关等等，有的在意义上出花样，有的在结构上做文章，有的突出语气技巧，有的妙用音韵组合，目的都是为了加强表达效果。试比较：

A） He said he was very hungry that day and ate four big cakes within two minutes.

B） He said he was starving that day and wolfed down four big cakes within two minutes.

上述B句含有夸张（starving）和比喻（wolfed down），显然比A句的表现力强。

辞格以词语为核心，以句子为表现层次，虽然也可能扩大到段甚至到篇（例如《伊索寓言》可说整书都是拟人和讽喻），但多数情况下辞格都包含在句子范围之内。

英语辞格繁多，据粗略统计，莎士比亚剧作中就有60多种。本书将只对三十几种常见辞格加以简要介绍，详见第8－17章。

2.1C　段篇安排

1） 组段和谋篇是修辞活动的最高层次，是各种修辞手段的综合运用。在交际过程中，词语和句式的选用固然重要，但孤立的词语和句子不足以表达连贯完整的思想，而需要把许多句子围绕一个中心意思，组织成话语段落和篇章，包括篇章布局、层次安排、思路贯通、首尾呼应等，这如同下棋，既要着着慎重，又要全局在胸。对于初学写作的学生，有必要指导他们在修辞活动的各个层次上学习、观察和练习使用，逐步做到运用自如。本章2.2C提到的美国“现代修辞学”派认为不应对学生进行任何传统的写作讲解和训练，用不着讨论段落或篇章结构，只要让他们写就行了。这种看法是片面的。

2） 英语的段落有两个基本要求：

一是有较为明确的中心思想（Central thought）或意群（Unit of thought）；

二是组成段落的句子之间须有恰当的连接。

我们应注意汉语句间衔接的特点是重“意合”，不像英语中同时要做到“形合”。另外，汉语自然段的划分较为灵活，同英语相比，有更大的随意性。

关于文章段落的修辞要求，详见第19章。

3） 关于一致（Unity）、协调（Coherence）和强调（Emphasis）等3项修辞要求，既适用于段落，也适用于篇章。同样，说明（Exposition）、辩论（Argumentation）、记叙（Narration）和描写（Description）既是展开段落的4种基本模式，又是篇章的4种基本类型。

关于4种文体类型，详见第20—21章

2.2　关于修辞学传统

2.2A　传统修辞学的两项基本内容

1） Patricia Bizzell和Bruce Herzberg在他们合编的《修辞学传统》（The Rhetorical Tradition）中指出，传统修辞学包含两大部分：一为“非艺术”性（Inartistic proofs），二为“艺术”性（Artistic proofs）。

2） 所谓“非艺术”性，并不是否认语言艺术，而是强调这一方面的修辞技巧直接表现在结构形式上，例如通过对比结构达到突出某事物或其某项特征的目的。“非艺术”性有三项主要内容，包括事实（Facts）、实例（Examples）和证词（Testimony）。（参见黄任2012:13.1）

3） “艺术”性主要归结为逻辑（Logos）、情感（Ethos）和人格（Pathos），其中“逻辑”用于突出所述论点的合理性；“情感”指如何根据不同对象调动他们的感情，使他们在情绪上倾向于接受所述的论点；而“人格”则是通过说话人或写作人的自我表白使听众或读者产生一种信任感，并由于信任而较容易地接受他们的论点。用18世纪苏格兰修辞学家George Campbell的话说，就是“促进理解，引起想象，调动感情，或者说影响人们的意志”（to enlighten the understanding, to please the imagination, to move the passion, or to influence the will）。

2.2B　写作中的三要素

1）在Dorothy Margaret Guinn和Daniel Marder合著的《修辞学要略》中作者概述了英语写作中的“事实、道理和感情”（fact, reason and feeling）等三个要素，它们同上面讲到的修辞学传统中艺术性的三个方面相呼应，存在于任何一个写作篇章之中。例如，一篇科技论文必须以实际的调查、实验与数据为基础，同时一定要有正确的推理，也会带着作者的感情色彩；相比之下，在写给亲人或好友的信中，无疑感情的分量更重，但也需建立在道理与事实的基础之上。

2）然而在实际生活中，这三者之间的关系往往得不到恰当处理，有时甚至被人为扭曲。例如，在新闻报道中，不同记者根据公认的要素去写，应该基本上一致，但实际上往往大相径庭，甚至连基本事实也完全相反。之所以如此，主要有几个方面的原因：

一是由于写作者的经历不同，了解的情况不一样，因而得出不同的结论；

二是由于写作者的立场和思想观念不同，对同样的情况做出了不同的解释，并得出不同的结论；

三是由于受到政府和主管部门的规定和态度的影响或限制，写作者不得不说违心话。一些西方记者标榜他们的“新闻自由”，实际上只不过是宣传而已。例如在“9·11”事件后在报道中批评了时任总统布什的专栏作家汤姆·卡廷和记者丹尼斯·马克先后丢了饭碗的事实，说明那里并没有真正的“新闻自由”。

2.2C　修辞学传统的现实意义

1） 美国一些大学里使用了两部观点截然相反的修辞学著作：一是Edward P. J. Corbett的《为现代学生讲古典修辞学》（Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Students），二是C. H. Knoblauch和Lil Brannon合著的《修辞传统和写作教学》（Rhetorical Traditions and the Teaching of Writing）。这两部书分别被一些大学用作英语修辞学教材。

2） C. H. Knoblauch和Lil Brannon在《修辞传统和写作教学》中高举“现代修辞学”（Modern Rhetoric）的大旗，认为不论从思维活动、话语进程或知识的本质上看，现代修辞学均占有绝对优势，它能够在理论上把形式和内容更好地结合起来。他们指出，现代修辞学注重写作内容，不用传统的写作套路束缚学生的思想，鼓励学生创造性地自由表达，提倡教师与学生并肩坐在一起平等讨论，等等。笔者认为，这些都有道理，也确有新意，但这部著作的问题是把传统修辞与现代修辞完全对立起来了，认为古典修辞学的观点都是“虚假”的，“具有欺骗性”的，有关修辞与写作的教科书只能起到“束缚学生思想”的作用，甚至认为教师站在讲台上讲课也没有必要。这种全盘否定传统、全盘否定别人和“唯我正确”的态度是不可取的。

3） 相反，Corbett在其著述的前言中明确指出：“古典修辞学的某些原则和实践在我们今天的社会生活中仍然在起作用。”

作者扼要介绍了修辞艺术的3个要素：

从理性角度看，说话人或写作人要善于通过逻辑推理引导听众或读者理解自己的观点，并举例说明两种基本的推理形式：演绎法（Deduction）和归纳法（Induction）。今天我们若善于运用唯物辩证法去阐明道理，当会更有效果。

就感情而言，说话人或写作人要研究听众或读者的心理，善于从感情上打动他们。亚里士多德在《修辞》第二卷中用主要篇幅分析了人们的几种常见感情，并研究怎样去影响人们的感情，这就是人类心理学研究的开端。

人格的力量来自说话人/写作人的本身。例如一位演说者一开头就能给听众一种良好的印象，其演说就往往成功。我们今天常常看到，主要演说者开始时通常有一种自我介绍式的开场白，甚至会议主持人事先就要介绍一通。同样，出版物的开头常有知名人士写的“序”，这也是提高该著述“人格”力度的一种方式，同时一篇好的序言又有助于指导读者有效地阅读。

此外，作者还系统地介绍了各种修辞技巧，并在书的开头就通过一篇广告分析了一些修辞手法怎样在今天的实际生活中仍然具有使用价值。

4） 由Thomas S. Kane教授撰写的The Oxford Guide to Writing: A Rhetoric and Handbook for College Students为我们进行英语修辞与写作教学提供了示范。该书共分9个部分，计54章，还有若干附录和一份使用手册，从分析人们有关写作的几种看法开始，系统介绍了写作过程、文章结构、段落类型、句式、词语选用与辞格、语法及标点符号等，内容全面。在书的开头“To the Student”和“To the Teacher”中，作者针对一些人提出的“写作可学而不可教”的观点，一方面强调写作是以语言为工具的复杂脑力劳动过程，不像结毛线或骑自行车那样容易教和容易学；另一方面，又肯定了写作课、指导教师和教科书等的价值，它们对学习写作具有帮助和指导作用。关于写作中的一些规则，也可叫做人们长期以来形成的“惯例”，包括标点符号的用法，既不应孤立地去死扣，又不可漠然置之，因为好的文章作者仍然遵循它们。对于学习写作者来说，要大胆开拓思路，做到笔下言之有物，同时应有步骤地在词语选择、句式变化、段落展开和文章结构上下功夫，不断提高修辞与写作技巧，提高交际的有效性。

练习二　（Exercise Two）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Do you agree with the point that rhetoric is associated with the whole process from choice of words and sentence patterns, use of figures of speech to the organization of paragraphs and the whole piece of writing?

2. If you find that your teacher has written in your composition something like “arch（aic）” or “approp（riateness）”, do you know what you should do?

3. “Formal”, “informal” and “slang” are different register labels, aren't they?

4. In which chapters are figures of speech discussed in this book?

5. Have you read Aesop's Fables? Why is it said the book is a book of figures of speech?

6. Do the three devices of “unity”, “coherence” and “emphasis” apply to paragraphs and whole pieces of writing as well?

7. Can you tell the four basic models of writing?

8. What three aspects does the concept of “artistic proofs” and “inartistic proofs” respectively refer to?

9. What do you think of the “modern rhetoric” put forward by C. H.Knoblauch and Lil Brannon?

10. Do you agree with the idea “writing is something to learn but not to be taught”?

II. Read the following paragraphs and then decide whether the statements are true （T） or false （F）:

Whenever language is simple, plain, direct, whenever it employs words to mean what they conventionally mean, we say that it is literal. Literal comes from the Latin litera, “letter”; what is literal is according to the letter. Literal meanings are those recorded in a dictionary. Consider, for example, this literal statement:“A writer's style should be purposive, not merely decorative.” The words are direct and straightforward: they mean exactly what they say.

Figuratively, on the other hand, the same idea has been expressed like this: “Style is the feather in the arrow, not the feather in the cap.” Figurative indicates that the meaning of a word is stretched to accommodate a larger or even a very different sense than it usually carries. The writer can make the stretch because of some likeness（or other relationship） between two different things that the context makes apparent. Thus the literal meaning of “feather in the arrow” is the stabilizer that keeps the arrow on target; the figurative meaning is that style makes communication fly to the target and hit it.

A writer's task is to provide clues so that attentive readers will understand the special sense carried by a figurative word. In speech we signal such meanings by gestures, facial expressions, pronunciation, or tone of voice （think of the intonation we give to the word generous in order to twist its sense to “stingy” when we say sarcastically of a cheap acquaintance, “He's a generous guy!”）. In writing, it is primarily the context the other words in the sentence, paragraph, or even the total composition that controls a figurative word, pointing its meaning in a special direction.

The effective use of figurative language depends upon total diction, upon all of the words you choose. You cannot improve a composition by sticking in occasional similes and metaphors. You must weave them into the fabric of your composition.

When woven in, figurative language adds enormously to the richness of prose. Consider once again the comparison of style to the feathers on an arrow. For one thing, the figure clarifies a relatively unfamiliar and abstract idea （style） by expressing it in a striking image that readers can visualize and understand. For another, it emphasizes and enlarges the idea of style, giving it the functions we associate with the feather in an arrow （providing stability and guidance, directing the shaft swiftly and surely to its target）, and denying it the qualities we associate with a feather in a cap （pretentious, pointless decoration, an expression of vanity）. For a third, it implies a personal judgment which influences our feelings about the subject: we approve of style in the functional, directive sense and disapprove of it in the self-glorifying sense. Finally, the figure entertains. We take pleasure in the cleverness and succinctness with which a complicated idea is expressed in the images of the two feathers.

Thus figures clarify, they expand, they express feelings and judgments, and they are a source of delight. Among all the common figures of speech, the most frequent and most useful are similes and metaphors. Similes first.

Statements:

1. The most frequent and most useful figures of speech are similes and metaphors, the former in particular.

2. Appropriate use of figurative language can add enormously to the richness of a prose, which is demonstrated by four aspects in the 5th paragraph.

3. The saying “Style is the feather in the arrow” means that style plays an important role in making communication effective.

4. The word “context” in writing refers to the other words in the sentence, paragraph, or even the total composition, which signals the special sense carried by a figurative word.

5. If one weaves figures of speech into the fabric of his / her writing, he / she will fail to use the language effectively.

6. “Literal” comes from the Latin litera, which means that the words are direct and straightforward and that they mean exactly what they say.

III. Fill in each blank with the appropriate form of the word given in brackets.

Today, more than 2000 years after the emergence of rhetoric and rhetorical （1）____________（think）, scholars are still grappling with the intricate issues of its definition. Since rhetorical inquiry concerns human agents, symbol communication systems, and audiences, there are overlaps with （2）____________（relate） scholarly disciplines, such as linguistic pragmatics, argumentation theory, anthropology, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics, to name but a few.

It seems justifiable to agree with Scott （1972） that “any definition of rhetoric that is （3）____________（take） as once-and-for-all is apt to be gravely （4）____________（mislead）,” since any definition will only partly cover its wide range of uses. He suggests that any definition of “rhetoric” will be, itself, a rhetorical use of language.

Although rhetoric in Greece and Rome was primarily （5）____________（teach） as an art of persuasive speaking or writing, it was widely recognized that rhetorical techniques were also employed in imaginative compositions not explicitly intended to persuade an audience to adopt some action or belief, but （6）____________（aim） at an aesthetic effect, to give enjoyment to an audience or to demonstrate the imaginative and linguistic skills of the speaker or writer. Accordingly, the definition of rhetoric as the “art of persuasion” might easily be extended to the “art of effective expression”.

（Excerpts from Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, 2nd ed.）

第三章　写文章的步骤与要领

3.1　写文章的基本步骤

3.1A　三个基本步骤

1） 酝酿和提纲。要写出一篇文章，通常得有一个酝酿过程。这个过程可能很长，即经过长时间的思考研究；也可能很短，只需“眉头一皱”的工夫。有时要写篇东西，不知写些什么好，或从哪里写起。在这种情况下，不妨就一系列有关问题加以思考，如：

1. What happened?

2. When did it happen?

3. Where did it happen?

4. Who did it?

5. What does it look like?

6. What are its characteristics?

7. What impressions does it make?

8. What are some typical cases or examples of it?

9. How did it happen?

10. What makes it work?

11. How is it made?

12. Why did it happen?

13. What caused it?

14. What does it cause?

15. What are its effects?

16. How is it related to something else?

17. How is it like other things?

18. How is it different from other things?

19. What are its parts or types?

20. How can its parts or types be separated or grouped?

21. Do its parts or types fit into a logical order?

22. What categories can its parts or types be arranged into?

23. On what bases can it be categorized?

24. How can it be defined? What is it?

25. How does it resemble the members of its class?

26. How does it differ from other members of its class?

27. What are its limits?

应当强调，上述问题都是为了打开思路，作为酝酿文章过程中的启示，并不是要对每个问题机械地回答，也并不意味着回答了这些问题就写出文章来了。

还应说明，应根据自己文章的主旨、对象、场合等灵活地使用上述问题，因为它们提出的角度不同，适用于不同的写作需要：1－4用于叙述（Narration），5－7用于描写（Description），8用于例证（Exemplification），9－11用于说明过程（Process），12－16用于说明原因和结果（Cause and Effect），17－18用于比较和对照（Comparison and Contrast），19－23用于分类（Classification and Division），24－27用于定义（Definition）。

思路打开以后，还可将所得到的内容记录成提纲。提纲有两种形式：

一为“草纲”（Scratch outline），是作者随手记下的思考要点，仅为作者个人参考之用。

二为“正式提纲”（Formal outline），是经过作者归纳、整理后的提纲，它更加有条理，不仅作者本人，其他人看了也可能明白内容要点以及它们之间的主次、先后关系。正式提纲中通常使用数码和字母排列出内容要点，如：

2） 起草与修改

一般说来，写文章都需要打草稿。思路打开以后，应该大胆地写。现在一般人都习惯于用电脑写，但有时还需用手写，例如作文考试。若用手写时，最好隔行，留出必要的边空，以便对草稿进行修改。一篇草稿完成以后，如时间允许，可先把它放置一边，几小时或甚至一两天后再去修改。这样一种“冷处理”会使作者更冷静、更敏锐地发现草稿中的问题，把它修改得更好。写长文章时，也可在完成一部分或一个章节的起草之后回头通读一遍，作些必要的修改，或标出需要进一步修改的地方，待整篇文章的草稿完成之后再统一处理。

修改时应注意下述几个方面：

首先，检查文中的基本观点是否正确，事实是否可靠。自己可以设想从读者的角度提出质疑，或请同学、朋友过目后加以评论，最后由作者本人认真考虑，决定是否要修改以及怎样修改。

其次，检查文中的段落安排及内容是否符合整体要求，对薄弱环节应加强，繁琐部分应割爱，进行必要的删节。

第三，检查文章的开头和结尾是否恰当、有力。开头能否吸引读者？结尾能否给读者回味？

第四，检查有无病句、不必要的重复或使用不当的其他句式，及时加以修改或调整。

第五，检查有无用错或使用欠妥的词语，有电脑时可利用电子词典检查拼写。

最后，审视文章的标题，尽可能加以改进。

3） 定稿与誊清

人们（尤其是较年轻的人）翻译好一个文件之后会请有经验的老翻译工作者审阅，一篇报纸或杂志文章发稿之前也需要主编过目，所谓“审阅”和“过目”也叫做定稿。我们这里所说的“定稿”是由文章作者本人进行，指作者全面完成了前面讲到的六项修改要求，可以正式成文了。

定稿之后还需要誊清。若是在电脑屏幕上起草和修改，最后打印出来的就是誊清稿；但手写时因为经过修改，草稿不易辨认，必须誊清后才能交老师批阅，或送出版部门发表。誊清过程中仍需要作者采取认真仔细的态度，不但要防止誊写错漏，还应注意原稿中有无差错，并做到格式规范（参见3.2B）。

3.1B　几个步骤之间的关系及最后检查

1） 酝酿是写好文章的基础，而提纲是反映酝酿成果的一种好形式。许多学生在考试中碰到作文时，通常先针对题目（包括有关提示、要求等）思索片刻，在草稿纸上迅速列出几道提纲（若时间允许时还打点草稿），然后有条不紊地写出来。反之，也有的学生见到作文就挥笔疾书，写不下去时再涂涂改改，或甚至把整段划掉重写，给人一种“慌不择路”的印象，而这样的作文效果一般不理想。

2） 不少学生作文时喜欢一挥而就，不愿意打草稿。有的甚至问：“既然能一次成文，为什么一定要打草稿？”诚然，草稿并不是所有人写文章的必经步骤，作家和翻译家大都是一次成文（联合国机构的笔译必须一次成稿，要求又快又准）。然而，对于做作文练习的学生来说，草稿又是必要的，前面3.1A讲到，思路有了，就要放手去写，把酝酿好的内容尽快写出来；由于是草稿，不必仔细考虑词语的选择（参见第4－5章），甚至个别拼法无把握时也可以凭自己的印象先写下来，同时可用下横线或在旁边空白处打个记号，等修改时查对。由于这样的草稿是在酝酿的基础上、甚至是依据提纲（或腹稿）写出来的，因而具有一定的质量，而且随着练习的增多，水平不断提高，草稿就基本上符合正式稿的要求，“一次成文”的能力就逐步具备了。

3） 一个画家作一幅肖像画时，必须先有构思，然后抓住脑海里酝酿成的形象勾勒出大体轮廓（或草图），再加工、修改、补充、完善，最后绘出整个画面。作文中的修改既要在起草的基础上进行，又不是同起草截然分开的另一道工序，因为在起草过程中也会顺手作某些修改或补充，草稿或其中的一部分完成后还须回过头来系统地加以修改。事实上，一个写作者的态度愈是严肃认真，愈是觉得有修改的必要。

4） 前面讲到的修改过程也可以看做是定稿的过程，修改到一定的程度，作者满意了，稿子就算定下来了，从这个意义上讲，定稿又是修改的必然结果。如果时间允许，作者经过初步修改后，把稿子再放到一边，过一段时间再进行最后一次修改，或者说进行定稿。当然，也并不是说定稿以后就不可以再改动了。对一篇文章来说，修改是没有止境的，即使在誊清过程中还会发现问题并加以修改，做到精益求精。

5） 这里讲到的“最后检查”，是指稿子誊清之后作者还应认真再读一遍，包括检查誊清过程中可能出现的差错，或者电脑排版上出现的新问题。此外，还应检查页码、署名等方面有无错漏或不清之处。

3.2　写文章的几个要领

3.2A　注重内容，避免两种倾向

1） 内容是文章的主体，又是文章的灵魂，言之无物的东西算不上好文章。为此，本章开头讲到写文章的基本步骤时首先强调要有酝酿，要打开思路，并建议使用提纲，把思考到的内容加以条理化，以便更好地把内容表达出来。有人认为，写文章就要提起笔来自由发挥，用不着顾及什么步骤，因为那样会束缚思想、限制内容。其实这是一种误解。我们也曾听说，某位诗人触景生情，一首好诗脱口而出；或某位作家灵机一动，一篇文章一气呵成。其实，即便是这样，也是诗人和作家观察生活的结果，脑海里早有某种酝酿，在某种触发下写出了东西，这好比“十月怀胎，一朝分娩”。对于我们青年学生来说，生活经验不够，写作基本功不够，应当在一般规律指导之下练就写作本领。

2） 这里所说的避免两种倾向，是指文章的内容展不开或者中心不突出。在笔者接触的美国学生中，写文章时通常能开门见山，中心内容突出，但毛病是三言两语，几句话写下来，文章就结束了。而东方学生似乎相反，写的东西往往较长，但兜圈子的话多，读者难以抓住作者的主题。我们还有的学生一见写文章就感到“话不投机”似的，既写不出多的话，又写不到点子上。这是由于思路没有打开的缘故，或者说脑筋没有开动。此外，也还有个知识积累的问题。古人说：“读得多胸中有主，写得多笔下生花”；“熟读唐诗三百首，不会写诗也会吟”。多读书，多积累知识，多观察生活，是写好文章的必要准备。这对我们学习写作是大有好处的。

3.2B　遵循规则，力求规范

1） 这里所说的规则，指拼写、移行、大小写等。试看下面两个不合规则要求的句子：

a. last wednesday they argued for hours about the best place for a holiday.

b. Last Wednesday, they spent an hour in arguement about where to go for a holiday.

上述a句句首字母l和表示周日（星期三）的为首字母w均应大写，Last Wednesday后应加逗号，句尾应加上句号，b句中的arguement拼写错误，where不应移行。这些都违反了英语的基本规则，因而未达到规范要求。

2） 关于拼写、移行、大小写等规则，一般教科书和语法书中均有说明。这里需要指出的是，不同书中的移行规则可能不尽相同，或详略不一。如果使用电脑，其中编辑程序会自动处理移行问题；如果用手写或用打字机，则首先记住两点：一是尽量避免移行，二是不得已要移行而又非确有把握从哪个字母开始移时，最好查对词典：凡中间有黑圆点的字，可从黑点后边的字母往下行移，有几个黑点则表示有几种不同的移法，没有黑点的字不可移行，如：change（不能移行），change·a·ble（两种移法），change·ful（一种移法），change·a·bil·i·ty（四种移法），等。

3.2C　提高修辞技巧，写出个人风格

1） 提高修辞技巧和写出个人风格体现了继承和发展的关系，或者叫做学习和创新。有人问：是不是每个会写文章的人都系统地学过修辞技巧？显然，实际情况并不一定如此，但我们可以说，每个会写文章或善于辞令的人都肯定具有较高的修辞涵养。有这样一个例子：一个男青年乘公交车站在一个女青年的后边。突然遇到急刹车，男青年朝前踉跄一步，碰了女青年一下。那女子很不高兴，白一眼道：“德性!”男青年感到委屈，但未以牙还牙地回骂，而是轻声辩白：“不，这是惯性!”说得女青年扑哧一笑。一字之差，赢得了令人满意的效果。这是为什么？因为使用了修辞学上的“仿化”或“换语”（分别见第13章和第14章），既得体，又诙谐。有些人不一定上过修辞学课，甚至未读过修辞学著作，但善于从其他读物和别人的言谈中学习各种说话和写文章的技巧，因而不论出口的话或出手的文章都显得很有教养。

2） 俗语云：青出于蓝而胜于蓝。不论绘画、武术、戏曲各界，都有高徒出自名师，然又自成一派，与师长齐名，甚至超过师长。这些徒弟的共同点在于：他们一方面很好地继承了师长的技艺，另一方面又有所发展，形成了自己的独特风格。我们在本书中讨论的修辞技巧，有些是大家熟悉的，甚至从小就学会了（如我曾听到两个美国小姐妹用夸张形容口渴：“I'm dying of thirst!” “I can drink the whole sea!”），也有些是比较生疏的，或者只知其然而不知其所以然。如能进一步加以系统化、条理化，就会更加得心应手地运用，并逐步在实践中形成自己的风格。

英语中的风格有不同含义，如某个知名作家的风格（Hemingway's style），某种特殊文体（an academic style）等，但这里需要强调一点：风格不是表面的装饰，而是内在美的体现；谁能根据主题、对象和场合灵活得体地应用各种修辞规律和手法，把话说得打动听众，把文章写得吸引读者，收到良好的效果，那就算是有了自己的风格。

练习三　（Exercise Three）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Do you make an outline when you write an essay?

2. Can you tell a “scratch outline” from a “formal outline”?

3. What do you think of the six points in revising an essay?

4. Do you think it necessary to make a draft in writing an essay?

5. Have you ever come across the problem in writing that you find it difficult to develop your ideas or expound your main point?

6. What norms do you think should be followed in preparing a fair copy of one's writing?

7. How is one's style in writing related with his/her command of rhetorical techniques?

II. Fill in each blank with a suitable word:

Instead of “stages”, researchers today （1）____________as Gordon Rohman and James Britton tend to speak of the “phases” of composition: planning, drafting, and revising. （Some people break （2）____________into “rewriting” and “editing”, or they use one of these terms instead.）

The problem with “steps” and “stages” to explain the writing process is that writing isn't linear, （though reading is.） It's recursive; like the “phases” of the moon, its phases can be repeated. But writing isn't circular, either. It goes back and forth, like alternating currents. We plan, we （3）____________, we revise, we plan again, we write ...

Planning is the “prewriting” phase of the process. In it, you look for a subject to write about, conceive ideas about that （4） ____________, gather information, and begin to select details from a growing mass of data. Because it is partly unconscious and so requires time for percolating, this is the phase that gets slighted most when you start a paper the night before it is due. （Well, come to think of it, so does drafting — and maybe revising, （5） ____________.）

The planning phase is traditionally considered the finding phase of composition; its main business is to “invent” a subject in the root sense of “to come upon”. The main （6）____________of the second, or drafting, phase is presentation. Here the writer orders what she / he is discovering into a form comprehensible to other people. But she / he goes on discovering, too. In the （7）____________phase, revision, the writer is not so much ordering as reordering what she / he has （8）____________say.

III. Go over the following passages and decide whether each of the statements is true （T） or false （F）.

Two students, identified by writing theorist Robert Brooke only as Writer A and Writer B, respond in opposing ways to what he calls “the paradox of control” in writing. What paradox do you suppose he has in mind? Who do you think, A or B, can possibly resolve it and how will he do so?

Writer A: I'm having trouble with my writing. I'm stuck; I can't figure out what I've got to say. I'm frustrated. I'm a lousy writer.

Writer B: I'm in the fun part of writing. At the moment, I don't know what I've got to say but I know if I just give myself time to wander around, to explore what I'm thinking, I'll end up with something insightful and powerful. Right now I just have to let go and let my writing do its thing.

Statements:

1. The word “lousy” is an adjective meaning “low in quality and quantity”, or simply （infml） “bad”, “poor”, “mean”, “disgusting”, etc. as “a lousy meal”, “a lousy holiday”, “to feel lousy-ill”, etc. According to the context in the above passages, we can say that both A and B are lousy writers.

2. The “paradox of control” he has in mind refers to the situation in writing when one does have something to say but hasn't formed a proper way to say it. B is probably to resolve it by giving himself time to express what he's thinking.

IV. Further reading: Go over the following passage and the notes, and try to apply what you have learned to your own experience.

Students who read for pleasure, whatever they read — science fiction, mysteries, the daily paper — have a better grasp of what written prose looks like. They have absorbed most of the conventions of punctuation, without being able to repeat the “rules”;they have a vision of how conventional spelling looks without doing drills; they understand, at least, that paragraphs are indented. In the same way, students who examine their own writing, no matter how short or simple it seems, to make sure they have made a clear point, that that point is supported with reasons, will be closer to becoming critical readers.

Note to the above passage:

1. The quotation of Elisabeth McPherson is taken from Thomas Cooley's The Norton Guide to Writing, p.60.

2. For many writers, reading is a more vital source of ideas than their own adventures. Since people learn complicated skills from other people, it figures that writers are also readers. For example, the table of contents of a big city newspaper is in face an index to the broad categories of human experience: arts, autos, books, business, fads, movies, deaths, music, political opinions, public events, etc.

3. Great writers are, generally speaking, critical readers. Some writers read widely and take extensive notes; others read a few favorite sources over and over, often memorizing the rhythms of passages they like.

第四章　词语的选择与使用（一）：择语的标准

4.1　词语选择的重要性和可能性

4.1A　词语选择的重要性

1） 在The Right Word at the Right Time一书的“绪言”中，编者对词语选用的重要性作了一个很好的比喻：

“Using the right word at the right time is rather like wearing appropriate clothing for the occasion: it is a courtesy to others, and a favor to yourself — a matter of presenting yourself well in the eyes of the world.”

— The Right Word at the Right Time, edited and designed by The Reader's Digest Association Limited, London, 1985

显然，说话或写文章时用词适当比穿着适当难度大得多，因而也具有更大的重要性。在我国，古人写文章时常为一个词语的选用冥思苦想，因而有“语不惊人死不休”的说法。类似中国唐代诗人贾岛把“推”字改为“敲”字的典故在英语里也不乏其例。据说英国诗人Thomas Gray写好《乡村墓地挽歌》初稿后继续进行修改，直到8年后才发表。试以该诗第9节为例：

The boasts of heraldry, the pomp of power,

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,

Awaits alike th' inevitable hour,

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

上例第三行的awaits在诗人的初稿上是await，改成第三人称单数谓语动词形式后，主语也由原来的boast, pomp, all that ...等改成th' inevitable hour，从而确切地表明了诗人的意思。

2） 成语“一字值千金”也说明了选择词语的极端重要性。有时“一字之差”造成令人遗憾的败笔，或招致成千上万亿元的经济损失。据悉美国前总统克林顿在联大讲话时照秘书的讲稿信口开河，未发现原稿有误，结果把“反恐怖活动训练”说成“恐怖活动训练”，在英语里仅少了个前缀anti-，意思却完全反了。这些反面的教训也告诉我们必须重视词语选用的问题。

4.1B　词语选择的可能性

1） 前面3.1A讲，打草稿时要尽快照自己的思路写下去，不必过多地考虑词语，这是有一定道理的。但在修改草稿时，则有必要在词语选用上下工夫了。有人说：“我写文章时想到什么词语就用上去，没法选择。”

需要注意的是，不要满足于脑子里首先出现的词语，应当再想想有没有更好的说法。实际上，我们每个人的脑子里都有了一个或大或小的词库，只要我们肯去发掘，往往可以得到更好的表达方式。这是我们做好词语选用的主观条件。

2） 从客观条件上看，我们有各种类型的词典和参考书，在这方面英语学生可以说是得天独厚，因为英语的工具书在外语中最多最全，只要我们平时多翻阅，写作时勤查考，就会在词语选用上不断进步。

我国改革开放以来，随着“外语热”升温，也出现了“词典热”。无论你走进哪家书店，都会看到各种各样的双语词典。这是好事，又是麻烦事——品种繁多，有挑选余地，这固然好；但质量参差不齐，不仔细挑选就会上当。当然，一部好词典也不会毫无缺点，更难以面面俱到，不可能解决读者碰到的所有问题。这里我们应记住著名英国作家、评论家和辞书编纂家Samuel Johnson的话：

Dictionaries are like watches: the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.

4.2　词语选择的三项标准

关于择语标准，人们说法不一，但准确、鲜明、生动三点则是公认的。准确的反面是含糊；鲜明的反面是晦涩；生动的反面是死板、冗赘。当然，某词语用得是否符合标准要求，不可孤立地从词语本身的含义上着眼，还要看其具体使用场合，包括同其他词语搭配等。

4.2A　择语的准确性

1） 准确性，就是要根据使用场合选用确切的语言形式。正如有句英语俗语所言：

Do not write so that your words may be understood, but write so that your words must be understood.

著名美国作家马克·吐温（Mark Twain）说：

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is as great as that between lightning and the lightning bug. （用词准确与用词几乎准确，这两者之间的差异就如同闪电与萤火虫之间的差异。）

2） 为了择语准确，必须熟悉词语的多义性。例如depression一词对心理学家、经济学家或地质学家来说，含义各不相同：

He is in a state of deep depression as a result of his setback in the latest experiment. （抑郁）

The depression first hit almost all the small and medium sized enterprises. （萧条）

Transportation was at a standstill caused by the depressions in the highways after the earthquake in that area. （塌陷）

反之，也常常有几个词语可以表示类似的含义，如心理学上的“depression”也能用melancholia, the blues, the dismals, in the dumps, low等词语表示。当然，同义词语在使用上也会有所不同，如上面的melancholia属正式专业术语，而low, the blues则常用于口语中。

3） 要做到准确选择，有必要注意词语的两种意义：“基本意义”（denotation）和“引申意义”（connotation）。前者指该词语的本身，或客观的固有含义，后者指该词语在一定搭配或上下文中出现的其他意义，往往比较含蓄，带有词语使用者的主观态度或感情色彩。试以cheap为例。它的基本意思是表示价格便宜，如顾客问营业员：“May I have something cheaper?”意思是希望要价钱便宜一点的（=less expensive），当然并不是说质量可以不好，但在其他句式或使用场合里还可引出“低劣”、“平庸”、“吝啬”、“卑鄙”等多种意思，这类意思正是修辞上的“敏感地带”。例如：

Such cheap shoes can never last long. （质量如此低劣的鞋绝不会耐穿。）

4） 选用词语的准确性还表现在区分表示大体/抽象含义的词语和表示具体/特定含义的词语上，需要根据不同的使用场合作出正确的选择。例如为了突出某人所受到的良好教育和在工作中取得了突出成就，就不宜笼统地讲他是“graduated from a famous university and made great achievements in his work”，而应具体说明他毕业于哪所大学，得到了什么学位，在某单位担任了什么职务，取得的成就是什么，其社会效益如何，得到过什么奖励等等。

抽象含义词语和具体含义词语不是两个对立的家族，在一定的条件下可以转化，如labour一词通常带抽象含义，但并非一成不变。试比较：

句A： Honest labour creates wealth for the society.

句B： In the GM contract dispute, labour seeks a five cent per hour wage increase.

上述A句中labour一词为抽象含义，泛指各种社会劳动；B句中labour为具体含义，特指UAW，即（美国）联合汽车工会。

4.2B　择语的鲜明度

前面讲到的准确性是鲜明度的前提，也是提高鲜明度的基础。然而，鲜明与简练相关。英国文豪莎士比亚的名言“Brevity is the soul of wit.”相当于汉语的“言贵简洁”。我们说话、写文章都要以“言简意赅”四字为目标，为此，应从两个方面加以注意：

1） 在可以用较简短的常见词语表达意思时不要用复杂而少见的词语，如do something for （不用perform, accomplish），用end / finish a letter （不用terminate, conclude），用learn / find out the truth （不用ascertain），用 get a birthday present （不用procure）, 用try to do something well（不用endeavour）；用speak in anger with him that day（不用indignation）, 用make choice of one's teacher / tutor of English （不用selection, educator）, 用one's old friends （不用aged）, 用ask a friend to supper / dinner / dine （不用tender him a banquet）, 用begin one's answer （不用commence / initiate, rejoinder）, 等等。上述斜体都是简单词（simple words），拼写和发音都较简明，易为别人理解和接受。

2） 多余的或转弯抹角的词语都不利于明白地表达思想，因此下列短语中加括号的部分都应省去： mutual aid （to each other）/（mutual） aid to each other, （an entirely） complete confidence, repeat the question （again）, return （back） from abroad, etc.

试比较下列三组句子：

A1: There are sixteen boys attending the crash course.

A2: Sixteen boys attend the crash course.

B1: A great many of the students in the class lack the ability of being able to speak fluently.

B2: Many students in the class lack the ability of speaking fluently / can't speak fluently yet.

C1: The fact of the matter is that the office does not have enough funds in the allotment to make expenditure on programs of this nature.

C2: In fact the office doesn't have enough money to spend on these programs.

显然，上述3组中的第一句都不够简洁，应采用第二句为宜。

4.2C　择语的生动感

生动感也可以叫做优美感（gracefulness），它是建立在准确性和鲜明度的基础之上的，否则，单纯追求生动或优雅，就会出现词藻华丽（flowery）而内容空洞的文风，那是应当避免的。下面让我们比较两段文章：

A） For several days snow fell heavily in the south of England. It lay many inches thick on the ground. The roofs of houses were white; walking through the streets was difficult; driving was dangerous.

B） It was the coldest winter for forty-five years. Heavy snow blankets swallowed everything on earth: Villages in the English countryside were cut off and the Thames froze over. Cars crawled along while pedestrians trudged through the deep snow. Horns hoarsened; road accidents shot up. People told jokes about how it was more risky to drive by day than to go boating on the sea at night.

上述两段都是写大雪天的情景，相比之下，A篇不及B篇生动，因为其中一般概念性的词语较多，如heavily, difficult, dangerous等等，B篇其所以比较生动，主要取决于下面几个因素：

1） 选用含义准确、具体的词语。如用trains, cars, pedestrians, cut off, freeze over, crawl along, trudge, horns以及具体的时间地点，给读者以明确具体的印象，而不是笼统地讲walking, driving如何危险。

2） 采用适当的辞格。如blankets, swallowed, hoarsened, shot up等，带有比喻、夸张，增加了生动感。

3） 提高句式的多样性。整段文章5句话，结构各不相同。人言“Variety breeds vividness”，可谓言之有理。

练习四　（Exercise Four）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Can you give an example to indicate the importance of word choice?

2. Do you think it a good idea to give a second thought to your word choice and consult dictionaries from time to time?

3. What other things, apart from preciseness, distinctiveness and vividness, we should pay attention to in the choice of words?

4. Can you cite an example to prove how polysemy affects the choice of words?

5. Can you tell the difference between denotation and connotation?

6. Please cite an example of a word or phrase to be used in one context for its general sense and another for its specific sense.

7. What kind of words, simple ones or long and difficult ones, should you choose if you want to write in an informal, easygoing way?

8. Is it possible for one to achieve gracefulness in writing if he uses many flowery words and expressions only?

II. Read and determine whether each of the following statements is true （T） or false （F）:

1. Words must be used in context clearly, accurately and effectively.

2. English is a language with a large vocabulary, which offers plenty of room for word choice.

3. When one writes that his words may be understood in one way or another, he can be regarded as an accurate writer.

4. If you want to achieve clarity, you should be able to avoid word wasters and avoid lofty language including inflated words, stuffy phrases, etc.

5. If you want to write accurately, the first and most important thing is to pay attention to denotation and connotation.

6. In the sentence “Honest labor creates wealth for the society”, the word “labor” is used in its specific meaning.

7. Shakespeare's saying “Brevity is the soul of wit” means that we should only use simple, short words in writing on all occasions.

8. The saying “Variety breeds vividness” tells us that if we repeat the same words, expressions and sentence patterns, our writing will be dull and dry.

III. Use a single word for each of the underlined part in the following sentences:

1. John is of the opinion that everything will be going on smoothly.

2. He is always ready to give encouragement to any of his friends who is in need of it.

3. We can keep in contact by means of telephone, telex or fax.

4. Please find there is a cheque for ￡5 in this letter together with two photos.

5. You may have noticed that the policeman's story comes into conflict with that of the accused.

6. Our university is in close proximity to the second largest lake of the country.

7. There are two main methods of transporting the oil, through the use of pipeline or through the use of tanker.

8. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to offer assistance to you.

9. I will not interpose any objection to your proposal.

10. The cart is making a noise on the pavement.

IV. Fill in the blanks with the words given in corresponding brackets:

1. As we know, “pretty” and “handsome” are synonyms but often used in different collocations. For instance, they both can be used to modify boys but not girls, and you have a____________color but a____________overcoat. （handsome, pretty）

2. In the sentence “Out in the West where men were men”, the____________（first, second） “men” is used not in the sense of “men in general” but “men with courage, firmness”.

3. When you say “Bill delivered a lengthy apology and gained his suit”, you mean he made a long____________（justification, excuse）.

4. — Waiter!

— Yes, sir.

— What's this?

— It's____________soup, sir.

— No matter what it's____________. What is it now?

（been, bean）

5. The real cause of bad relations between the brother and sister is the shortage of____________. （alternative accommodation, other flats/rooms/houses）

6. The phrase “get to the first base” in the sentence “If you don't dress neatly, you won't get to the first base” means____________. （“make a successful start”, “obtain the best opportunity”）

V. Fill in each blank with one of the verbs: move, roll, run, spin, turn, whirl:

Today it can be said that wheels____________America. The four rubber tires of the automobile____________America through work and play. Wheels , and people drive off to their jobs. Tires____________, and people shop for the week's food at the big supermarket down the highway. Hubcaps____________, and the whole family spend a day at the lake. Each year more wheels crowd the highways as 10 million new cars____________out of the factories. One out of every six Americans works at assembling cars, driving trucks, building roads, or pumping gas. America without cars? It is unthinkable.

第五章　词语的选择与使用（二）：得体与创新

5.1　得体与创新的关系

5.1A　得体与创新的含义

1） 前面4.2节讨论的3项择语标准也是得体的基本要求。所谓使用得体，就是恰到好处。这好比做一件新衣，从选料到做工都要讲究，做到既适合穿着者的身材，与其年龄、特征相配，又同流行款式和穿着场合相符，才能取得满意的效果。

2） 所谓“创新”，就是词语的选用上别有新意。创造新的词语（参见5.2A）和新的句式固然是创新，但更基本的创新还在于使用现有的语言把内容表现得生动一些、深刻一些、全面一些；别人未讲到的你讲到了，别人未讲清的你讲清了，别人已讲过的你讲得另有一番意味，等等，这些都是创新的表现。因此，从本质上看，创新还在于有新的思路，新的内容。例如slip和slide是英语中两个常见词，但像下面的句中那样用来比喻人们说话时难免出点错儿，就显得颇为新鲜：

Even with the most educated and the most liberated, the King's English slips and slides in conversation.

5.1B　得体与创新的联系

1） 首先应该强调，得体是创新的前提，又是创新的基础。有的学生忽视写作的基本功，用词不正确，句式不稳妥，却一味追求“新意”，随便用上一些从词典里找出来的生词，或抄录一些名句，但同上下文不协调，不但没有什么“创新”，反而妨碍了应有写作水平的发挥，结果适得其反。

2） 作为社会交际工具的语言总是随着社会的发展而不断地有所变化，出现了新的事物，新的思想，就有新的词语，新的表达方式。为此，创新又是语言发展的需要。在使用得体的基础上有创新，如同“锦上添花”，推出好的新作。

5.2　“创新词语”与“生造词语”

5.2A　创新词语

1） 创新词语（Neologism）是一类不常见到的特殊词语，或者叫做“新词”，是由作家或演说家根据需要创造出来的，主要分“拟声”（Onomatopoeia）和“特殊合成”（Nonce compounds）两种。

2） 新创的拟声词是别出心裁地依照声响模拟出来的词语，如英国作家Thomas Hardy在长篇小说Tess of the d'-Urbervilles第10章中新创了Ho-ho-ho, Hee-hee-hee和Heu-heu-heu等3个拟声词，用来分别描绘中年女人、喝醉酒的女人和缺牙漏缝老太婆发出的不同笑声，惟妙惟肖。

3） 许多创新词来自合成法，用连字符把几个词甚至整个短语串起来构成一个单词。例如：

（1） It was a groan-making thing to do and only an archeologist could have thought of it.

（Lawrence Durrell）

（2） I doubt whether even the breathless, gosh-gee-whiz-can-all-this-be-happening-to-me-TV-celebrity-author could cap this shlock classic with another.

（Pauline Kael）

5.2B　生造词语

1） “生造词语”（Coinage）指那些既不循常规又不属创新，而是随意乱造的词语，自己道不出使用目的，别人则莫名其妙。为此，许多写作课老师谆谆教诲自己的学生：

“Do not coin words and expressions that nobody can understand!”

2） 生造词语是一种既无知又不负责任的滥用，因而被斥之为“Barbarism”。例如下面几个句子中的斜体词就是：

Americans used to pay more attention to idealness.

（应为：idealism）

This signing the document is uneligible.

应为：signature, illegible）

No average man is conscience of the predictableness.

（应为：conscious, predictability）

3） 学生作业中出现的生造词语，往往是错别字，究其原因，大多是拼法不熟悉，就根据一知半解的构词知识来个想当然，或在打草稿时随便写上了（这有时难免，也是可以的），后来又未在修改过程中加以查对，或干脆就把草稿交给了老师。这种不严肃的态度必须改正，否则在今后的写作、工作中会用出更多的生造词语，犯更多更严重的错误。

5.2C　对创新词语与生造词语的态度

1） 当我们在阅读中碰到创新词语时，尽管在字典上查不到，但从上下文一看，意思就明白了，而且颇有一番新鲜感，乐于接受它（们）。词典学家经常留心收集这类词语，编进Supplement，并在词典再版时正式收入。

2） 在我们对别人的创新词语采取乐于接受的态度时，自己若要使用它们，则应慎重考虑，看看是否确有价值，是否适应自己的上下文。此外，如果自己想创造新词语，更应谨慎从事，即使在Creative Writing课的写作练习中也应如此。否则，就容易犯生造词语的毛病，而生造词语是应绝对避免的。

5.3　掌握影响读者的三种词语使用手段

5.3A　让事实说话

1）提出一个论点之后，紧接着列出事实，令读者感到信服。例如：

The United States faces a major crisis in health care, and has a worsening social crisis in which over 30 million Americans live below the poverty line, and in which large segments of its population continue to be deprived of adequate opportunities for economic advancement.

（Phil Williams, et al.: International Affairs, 1993）

鉴于十多年前的情况依然存在，现任总统奥巴马提出了医疗改革。

历史和人物传记之类著作中更加重视事实，包括具体时间、地点、人物姓名、身份、年龄等。例如：

Mary [Queen of Scots] had returned to Scotland in 1561, a young widow of nineteen, after an absence of thirteen years in France ...

（D. Harris Willson）

2） 在说明抽象的概念或道理时，也选用一些似乎可以看得见、摸得着的字眼，给读者以实在感。例如：

The principle of verification is supposed to furnish a criterion by which it can be determined whether or not a sentence is literally meaningful.

（Alfred Jules A yer）

句中的verification和criterion具有“实证性”和“可操作性”的意味。下例通过比喻把抽象的概念“实体化”了：

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation ...

（Martin Luther King, Jr.）

5.3B　贴近读者

1）通过使用I think之类的插入语给读者一个谦逊、严谨的印象，从而使读者更容易接受所写出的道理或事实。例如：

What, then, can we learn from Samual Johnson in general? First, I think, the inestimable value of individuality.

（F. L. Lucas）

Whether this slowing-down of traffic will cause a great or a small loss of national income is, I am told, a point on which expert economists are not agreed.

（Max Beerbohm）

2） 在汉语文章中，我们常发现作者明明一个人，却不用第三人称单数，而说“我们（认为）”，“我们的（看法是）”，英语写作中也有同样情况，似乎不是作者发表看法，而是与读者一起说话，或共同探讨。例如：

No doubt, if one has more than one self （like most of us）, it had better be one's better self that one tries to become.

（F. L. Lucas）

By and large, the report of the National Commission on Educational Excellence has been received favorably by those of us in the teaching profession, even though the blame for a shoddy educational system falls so often on our shoulders. For example, recently we have been hearing a lot about teacher competency and the need for merit pay, as if this would solve our problems.

（Helen C. Vo-Dinh）

5.3C　引导和感染

1）引导是指为了帮助读者跟上作者的思路，使用一些过渡性的词语，如so much for ..., however, even so, on the other hand, for example, in the next chapter, and so on等。这些在组段和谋篇中十分重要，详见19.2C“恰当的过渡”。

2） 使用一些带有感情色彩或含义倾向性的词语去影响读者，因为词语有褒义、贬义或中性含义之分。例如：

She's a dear old soul（褒义） / an old woman（中义） / an old witch（贬义）.

He's a literary artist（褒义） / a writer（中义） / a hack（贬义）.

That's an ancient and glorious tradition（褒义） / an old tradition（中义） / an old-fashioned tradition（贬义）.

下面一段描写，既生动逼真，又带几分刻薄：

Immediately next to me was an aggrieved French couple with a small child who looked around with a rat-like malevolence. He had the same face as his father. They looked like very cheap microscopes.

（Lawrence Durrell）

邵志洪先生在“Slanted Words的语义特征及其语言表达中的Slanting”一文中引用了描写同一个人的两段文字（《外国语》1993.1）：

A. Although his face was bearded and neglected, his eyes were clear, and he looked straight ahead as he walked rapidly down the road. He seemed very tall; perhaps the fact that his coat was too small for him emphasized that impression.

尽管他留着胡子，忽视了容貌的整洁，然而目光炯炯。当他快步沿路而下时，目光正视前方。他似乎很高大，可能是因为他的外套太小的缘故，于是便使这印象更加深刻。

B. He had apparently not shaved for several days, and his face and hands were covered with grime. His shoes were torn, and his coat, which was several sizes too small for him, was spotted with dried clay.

他显然已有几天没刮脸了，脸上和手上满是污垢，鞋儿破了，尺寸比他身材小了好几号的外套上星星点点沾满了泥巴。

上述两段描写中虽然都未使用明显的褒义或贬义词语，但两种截然不同的态度却流露于字里行间：A篇突出优点，如明亮的眼睛，高大的身材，对其短处一笔带过，其中although, neglected等还带有为之辩护的味道；B篇则是不留情面地揭他的短，首先用apparently突出他几天未刮脸，最后又嘲弄他外套小，等等，显然是一概否定。

这两段描写也说明，一个作家要表现自己的好恶，固然可以选用褒义或贬义词语，但如果中性词语使用得当，同样可以达到目的，而且手法更高明、更隐蔽，也更能有效地感染读者，让他们在阅读中不知不觉地接受自己的看法。这岂不是最理想的使用得体和最巧妙的创新？

练习五　（Exercise Five）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Is it still necessary for us to pay attention to grammar and choice of words in speech and writing since “the King's English slips and slides in conversation”?

2. What are the two chief ways to create “neologism”?

3. Is “coinage” similar to or part of “neologism”?

4. Do you think “letting the facts speak” an effective method to convince the readers?

5. Can you cite an example to indicate that the use of parenthesis helps improve the relationship between a writer and his readers?

6. What do you think of the two devices suggested in Section 5.3C which are used to win over the readers?

II. Correct any mistakes in the following sentences:

1. It was a groan-made thing to do and only an archeologist could have thought of it.

2. This signing of the document is illegible.

3. No average man is conscious of the predictableness.

4. Most of us think poor of that movies.

5. Her arguement is that bear （“carry”）, bear （“animal”） and bare （“naked”） are three different words having the same pronunciations.

III. Decide which words are incorrect for the context, and replace them with appropriate ones:

1. Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that our distinguished speaker cannot appear with us tonight, as a result of his having suddenly gotten sicker than a dog.

2. My buddies and I, dog-tired from a long haul at the foundry, inferred from each other's lamentations that we were all set for a few beers.

3. My Uncle Amos has always been a devoted, honest husband and a true, upright American citizen. That is why he received due notoriety.

4. That is a most glorious and very old-fashioned tradition in my hometown where people still stick to it.

5. At my great expense, I obtained the original manuscript of Professor Brown's widely admired scientific treatise, only to discover, alas, that it was really lousy.

IV. Fill in the blanks in the following chart to see the choice of words, favourable, unfavourable, or neutral:

Favourable

Unfavourable

Neutral

1. assembly

mob

____________

2.____________

hovel

house

3. resolute, determined

head-strong / obstinate

____________

4. thrifty

_____/_____ /_____ /

economical

5.____________

devour

eat

6. conversation

gossip

____________

7. svelte

____________

thin

8. ____________

that old witch

that old woman

V. Read the following and try to apply the points to analysing sample passages in the respect of word choice:

One way to pep up your prose and make it livelier is to avoid lifeless words, which consist mainly of what can be referred to as overworked verbs, worn-out nouns, and petrified phrases.

The life of a sentence depends to a great extent on its verbs, the word that directs the action. In the sentence “The professor looked at the student”, the verb is general and lifeless, and therefore should be substituted with some other verbs: stared, suggests a lengthy look, perhaps at some wrongdoing; gazed, a steady look, maybe of admiration or appreciation; glanced, a quick look, probably as a check; and peered, a searching look, probably through glasses or with squinting eyes.

In selecting nouns, we often rely on the same worn-out few, instead of struggling to find the precise one to explain exactly what we mean. Compare the sentences in the two columns:

In many cases, students fail to learn about career opportunities.

Many students fail to learn about career opportunities.

The nature of this emergency situation called for drastic action.

This emergency called for drastic action.

There has been persistent instability in numbers of staff.

The staff has continually varied in numbers.

There exists a considerable lack of knowledge of the disabled.

We do not know much about the disabled people.

Once fresh and striking, hackneyed phrases or clichés, have lost all their sparkle. They pop into our mouths when we talk, and in our haste to express ideas, we find them handy. But in writing we have an advantage: the time to search for other words in the first draft or a later one.

Now analyse the language in the following letter from President Abraham Lincoln to General Ulysses S. Grant. Is the language natural, simple, concrete, and concise? How appropriate, sincere, and effective is the letter?

My dear General:

I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally did — march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join General Banks; and when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I thought it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong.

Yours very truly, Abraham Lincoln

第六章　词语的多重意义

6.1　词义的重要性

6.1A　词语错用的缘由

前面4.1A讲到，言语得当，如同衣着得体，是我们在交际中必须追求的目标，Better M. Dietsch也指出怎样才能做到用词得当：

Selecting words is like shopping in an enormous supermarket. But instead of roaming the aisles for groceries, a writer thumbs through the pages of a dictionary or thesaurus, searching for the right words.

（1998：119）

在日常谈话中，我们会听到下面这样的问题：

“Sorry, I don't understand the word. Could you explain it to me?”

“Would you please tell me what you meant by that word?”

这往往是由于在口头或笔头交际中碰到了词语使用错误的情况；而要避免错用词语，有必要把握词语的多重意义。例如：

Teacher: As a freshman, you'd try to learn your way around.

Student: No problem, sir. I know my way quite well. In fact I've got a new map with me and won't lose my way.

看来这个新生还没有完全理解老师的意思。实际上“learning your way around”这个短语可以表示几种不同的含义，除了解校园里办公楼、教室楼以及宿舍楼等的位置以外；还包括了解新开设哪些课程，有哪些授课老师，什么社团正在组建，何处有免费文体活动等；知道哪里可以买到所需要的东西，有些什么样的规定，到哪里了解有关情况，找谁去咨询问题，等等。

6.1B　词语多重意义的类型

在多种词语意义中，我们特别要关注“指示意义”（Denotation）与“隐含意义”（Connotation），“字面意义”（Literal meaning）与“比喻意义”（Figurative meaning），“积极意义”（Positive meaning）与“消极意义”（Negative meaning），“褒义”（Favorable meaning）与“贬义”（Unfavorable meaning）等。

6.2　“指示意义”与“隐含意义”的区别

6.2A　“指示意义

”词语的“指示意义”（Denotation / Denotative meaning）指该词语字面的意义，即在词典里明确列出的种种意义，它们之间很少会出现混淆；而“隐含意义”（Connotation / Connotative meaning）则指隐藏于字里行间的人们附加上去的情感意义（Emotional overtones），有时难以直接理解。把握上述两种词语意义对于正确选用词语极为重要。

这里试以“brick”一词为例。该词原指“砖”，“坯”（a rectangular piece of baked or dried clay used for building），属于中性的物质名词，如“a pile of red bricks” （一堆红砖）；“to lay bricks”（砌砖头）；也可指像砖状的东西，如“冰砖”（a brick of ice-cream）等。当“brick”在“bang / bash / beat / hit / knock one's head against a brick wall”（碰壁）中用于“比喻”意义时，也与其本身的特点直接相关。 例如：

You want to get him to do something for the community? Well, that's like banging your head against a brick wall!

（你想要他为社区做点事吗？哎，那简直是白费劲！）

但是当该词用在下面一句中就不是简单地指砖头：

He's really a brick, providing timely help. （他雪中送炭，真够朋友！）

上句中的“brick”指“慷慨或诚实可靠的人” （a generous or trustworthy person），“好朋友”（a good friend）等，含有积极的肯定意义。

6.2B　“隐含意义”

“指示意义”比较固定，而“隐含意义”则会不断变化，特别是在积极意义与消极意义之间相互转化。例如“Dear Madam”曾经是公务信函中的一种礼貌称呼，但现在已经过时了，可能是用多了，用俗了，以至于带有某些消极含义；反之，“Ms.”在上世纪70年代还不太流行，但在今天的美国，它已成为对单身或已婚妇女的一种直接称谓，显得很有礼貌。

这里再以“brick”一词为例。2001年秋，美国高盛公司在一份预测报告中说，到2050年，世界经济的主导者，将不仅有现在的美国、欧洲和日本，还将有来自发展中世界的四国，它们是巴西（Brazil）、俄罗斯（Russia）、印度（India）和中国（China）。这四国的英文名字首字母缩写“BRIC”，同“BRICK”的读音一样。高盛的这一说法曾引起众多议论，开始时并不看好，然而事实是这些国家近10年来迅速崛起，在国际上的影响力越来越大，四国都已跻身“20国集团”，因此由“BRIC”代表的四国被人们赋予了积极意义，汉语翻译成“金砖四国”。后加上南非，则成了“金砖五国”。

6.3　积极意义与消极意义

6.3A　积极意义

所谓“积极意义”与“消极意义”（Positive meaning and Negative meaning），或者说“正面意义”与“反面意义”，“肯定意义”与“否定意义”等，都是指人们在表达自己的意思时给对方的印象。记得鲁迅先生在一篇杂文里讲到这样一个故事：某个人家生了一个小孩，亲戚朋友前往祝贺。有的说这个孩子将来一定有福气，有的说这个孩子将来一定大富大贵，有的说这个孩子将来一定漂亮，等等，都是吉利话，唯有一个人说这孩子将来总要死的。虽然说的是句大实话，却让主人很不高兴。原因在于这句实话给人的印象是消极的、反面的和否定的，以致产生了不好的结果，或者说交际失败。其所以如此，是由于那句实话的使用场合不对。

6.3B　消极意义

英语里有句格言：“Tell them what you can do, not what you can't.”无论口头或者笔头交际中，当涉及负面的，令人不快的信息时，往往不宜直接讲出来，最好能用较为正面的词语加以委婉表述。试比较：

（1a） We are out of the Fullmark multistrike ribbons you requested. They will not be available for three days.

（1b） Your Fullmark multistrike ribbons will be here in three days.

（2a） I don't have any paper finished. I had to work seven days last week.

（2b） Professor James, although I worked seven days last week, I do have a typed draft. May I have another day to polish? Or would you prefer the rough draft now?

上述例句表明，不论在生意场合或日常交往中，采用像b句积极正面的表述方式，都会给对方较好的印象，从而取得良好的交际结果。

6.3C　不同意义的相对性

当然，我们也不能把正面的、肯定的表达方式绝对化，即对意义的理解和使用都要注意某种相对性（relativity）。例如，有时某种委婉的否定式同样取得正面的积极效果。几年前我校新游泳馆开张试运行时，有一周时间对全校师生免费开放，我也去了。值班的那位小姐看看我，微笑着对我问道：

— You're not retired, sir?

— Yes.

— Then will you please come next week. This week is supposed to open only for those who're still working.

试想如果那位小姐直接问我退休了吧，并说明本周只对在职人员开放，会令人感到生硬了些，而像她那样用个否定疑问式，似乎带有一种但愿我尚未退休的意味，显得更为客气、得体。

据说上世纪30年代英国大萧条时期，货物供应短缺，人们去购物时往往用否定疑问式，或者any疑问式，因为后者也是由于心中完全没底而发出的一种疑问。例如：

— No milk, sir?

— Any chicken, madam?

6.4　褒义与贬义

6.4A　褒义、贬义与中性意义

“褒义”与“贬义”在英语里除了Favorable和Unfavorable以外，还可以表示为Approving，Disapproving； Complimentary，Derogatory等。前者表示正面的、积极的和肯定的评语，后者则表示反面的、消极的和否定的评论。

本书前面5.3C“引导和感染”部分讲到，英语里的词汇可以分为褒义与贬义外，还有一种是“中性意义”词语（Expressions of neutral meaning）。上述褒义与贬义等的使用目的都是为了让读者或听话人对所述对象产生肯定或否定的印象，而选用“中性意义”的词语则表示处于中间立场，既不“褒”也不“贬”。

6.4B　使用目的与不同意义的选择

“褒义”与“贬义”的使用目的也可以是为了让读者或听话人对写作者/说话人产生较为有利的印象。本书5.3B讲到的使用插入语和把第一人称由单数改为复数等方法都是如此。另外，写作者/说话人也可以通过不同的表达方式来达到目的。例如，在讲到本公司出现财政赤字这一情况时，可以有两种表达方式：

（1） My company is operating in the red for the time being.

（2） My company is at present achieving a programmed deficit.

句1是承认公司由于某种原因陷入财政赤字，句2的意思则指“预算赤字”（a budget deficit），通常是由于业务扩展而出现的暂时的负债。前者给人的印象是公司出现了问题，后者却让人们对公司的进一步发展充满期待。

6.4C　“中性意义”表达方式的使用

在涉及某些较为敏感的问题或人物时，如果采用“中性意义”的表达方式，就会给别人以客观、公正的印象。这时除了选用“中性意义”的词语（5.3C2）外，还可以采用一个常见的句型，即“It is said / believed / reported / rumored that ...”该句式给人的印象是说话人 / 写作者如实地转述了别人的意见或看法，不带个人观点，但实际上这往往是说话人 / 写作者的一种表示个人观点的方式。例如：

（1） It is generally believed that the accident was caused by the poor management of the local authorities.

（2） The accident is generally believed to have been caused by ...

6.5　字面意义与比喻意义

6.5A　字面意义与比喻意义的差别

“字面意义”（Literal meaning）与“比喻意义”（Figurative meaning）同前面6.2中讲到的“指示意义”与“隐含意义”有相同之处，前者指词语直接表示的意义，人们一看便知道，而后者则往往需要人们根据上下文加以引申才能理解。例如：

（1）The man was knocked down by an iron bar.

（2） Madame Curie completed her studies in Paris with an iron will.

句1中的“iron”是字面意义，指“铁（棒）”，而句2中的“iron”则为比喻意义，表示“钢铁般的（意志）”的意思。又如：

（3）Just a moment, please. The tea is brewing.

（4） Watch out: there's trouble brewing.

句3中的“brewing”是字面意义，指“沏茶”；而句4中的“brewing”则为比喻意义，表示“（麻烦事）即将发生”的意思。

6.5B　词语意义的细微差别

同样一个词语既有字面意义与比喻意义的不同用法，而且即使用于字面意义，也会出现种种细小的含义区分。试以literal和literally为例：

（1） The literal meaning of the expression “run after sb.” is “to chase sb.”, whereas its extended or figurative meaning is “to seek company of sb.”.

（literal: basic）

（2） Every word of this is literally as the man spoke it.

（literally: exactly）

（3） It's not a good idea to follow a literal approach to the subject. You need imagination and creativity.

（literal: stubborn, old-fashioned）

（4） You need to demonstrate to the examiners that you have more than a literal understanding of the text.

（literal: word for word, basic; a literal understanding = surface impression）

（5） During the World Cup, most of our eyes were literally glued to the television for every round of the competition.

（literally: almost）

（6） Twenty million people are threatened by famine and the food aid required runs quite literally into millions of tons.

（literally: completely, truthfully）

（7） Hurry up, my dear! We had literally ten minutes to catch the first train.

（literally: only, merely）

此外，literal和literally还可以用来强化比喻意义。例如：

（8） The village in the twenties was a literal hotbed of political, artistic, and sexual radicalism.

（literal: indeed）

（9） New York city is literally hanging by its fingernails.

（literally: just）

6.5C　掌握“比喻用法”的关键

掌握“比喻用法”的关键在于分清“What is said”和“What is implied”，即分清“指示意义”与“隐含意义”（见6.2）。请看下面的两句对话：

Harry: Would you like one more piece of cake, Jenny?

Jenny: I'm on a diet.

一般说来，当别人请吃什么东西时，正常的回答有两种；肯定的回答为“Yes, thank you”，否定式为“No, thank you”，但是这里Jenny的话却有点特别。表面看来，似乎是答非所问，实际上是另有其意：说她在控制饮食，就是说她不想再吃啦，等于说“No, thanks”。

日常生活经常会有这样的情况。如果夏天有人来到你的房间，说“It's quite warm here”，其意思不是称赞你的房间里暖和，而是抱怨那里温度太高，需要打开电扇或空调。

一个普通的疑问句也可以不是提出什么问题，而是对听话人提出要求或发出指令。例如妈妈看到厨房里垃圾箱满了，便对孩子说“Have you taken out the garbage?”

英语中的“比喻用法”（Figurative use）十分普遍，引出了各种各样的“辞格”（Figure of speech）。关于辞格，详见本书8－17章，另参见黄任（2012:15）。

练习六　（Exercise Six）

I. Preview Questions:

1. What does the phrase “to learn one's way round” mean?

2. What have you learned about the words “brick” and “BRIC”?

3. Which type of expressions do you prefer in communication, positive or negative?

4. Can you tell the difference between “to operate in the red” and “to achieve a programmed deficit”?

5. What is the key point in interpreting “the figurative use”?

II. Go over the following and fill in the blanks with either “work” or “mow” in their proper forms.

Now imagine the situation of Mr. Smith （1）____________his lawn Saturday morning. Inside the house, Mrs. Smith receives a telephone call from a friend, who asks, “Is your husband still in bed?” “No,” replies Mrs. Smith, “He's already outside, （2）____________in the garden.”

Consider now the same situation, except that we also know that Mr. Smith is a firefighter who is often on duty on Saturdays. A friend of his knows this is the case and is wondering whether Mr. Smith on this particular Saturday might be free to go fishing with him. He therefore calls and asks Mrs. Smith, “Is your husband （3）____________today?” “No,” replies Mrs. Smith, “He is outside （4）____________the lawn.”

III. Go over the following two passages and paraphrase the last sentence “Must you open the window?” in each of them.

Passage One:

Mrs. Smith was watering her garden one afternoon. She saw that the housekeeper was pushing a window open. She didn't understand why he needed to have it open. A bit worried, she went over and politely asked, “Must you open the window?”

Passage Two:

One morning John felt too sick to go to school. The night before he and his friends got very drunk. Then they went swimming in a cold lake. Because of this John caught a bad cold. He was lying in bed when his mother stormed into the room. When she started opening the window, John groaned, “Must you open the window?”

IV. In the following sentences, substitute each of the verbs in parentheses for the italicized one. Jot down the resulting difference in meaning as you find in Exercise V for the verb “look”, consulting a dictionary or synonym book if you wish.

1. When he closed the door, the girl cried out. （shut, banged; screamed, shrieked, yelled）

2. That day I saw them walking along the streets. （noticed, observed, watched, witnessed; doddering along, trudging along, strolling about, trotting along）

3. He fixed it in about two days. （repaired, corrected, mended, remedied）

4. What he had done made his colleagues and friends surprised. （performed, achieved, executed, fished for; alarmed, startled, irritated, baffled）

V. Further reading

Selecting words is rather like shopping in an enormous supermarket. But instead of roaming the aisles for groceries, a writer thumbs through the pages of a dictionary or thesaurus, searching for the right words. Both the shelves and the pages are well stocked; the English language has more words than any other language.Whether a writer wants plain bread-and-butter words, sweet words, tart words, tasteless words, kosher words, gourmet words, or playful words — they are all there for the taking, free of charge. Because there are so many words to choose from, a writer has countless opportunities to be creative, whether writing papers, letters, reports, poetry, or short stories. True, some writing offers more opportunities for creativity than expository writing does, but all rhetorical situations afford leeway in phrasing and sentence structure.

Reading widely and often will help you to become more aware of the nuances and subtle meanings of words.Frequent use of a good thesaurus and dictionary during revision will help you maintain an appropriate tone. Your awareness of the delicate distinctions in words will increase as you study this chapter. Your skill in detecting inappropriate words and in selecting appropriate words will be honed. With regular practice, your writing will become more precise and positive.

（Better M. Dietsch）

第七章　句式的多样化

7.1　句子的语法分类与修辞上的多样化

7.1A　句子的语法分类

一般语法书都是从两个角度对句子进行分类：

1） 从使用上看，有陈述句（Declarative sentence）、疑问句（Interrogative sentence）、祈使句（Imperative sentence）和感叹句（Exclamatory sentence）等。

2） 从结构上看，有简单句（Simple sentence）、并列句（Compound sentence）、复合句（Complex sentence）和并列复合句（Compound complex sentence）等。

复合句亦称包孕句（Embedding sentence），即句子（主句）里面包含句子（分句）的意思。

凡结构正确，包括动词的时体、语态和语气变化，名词、代词数、性、格的使用，限定词的搭配，以及大小写、标点符号等都符合英语的通常使用规则与习惯，那就是语法上正确的句子。

7.1B　修辞上的句式多样化

1） 著名英国作家、评论家和辞书编纂家Samuel Johnson说：“The joy of life is variety”。英国戏剧家和小说家Aphra Behn说：“Variety is the soul of pleasure”。写作也是如此。修辞上对句子的要求除了语法正确，还讲求句子形式的变化。这主要表现在两个方面：一是采用不同的句型，二是合理安排长句与短句。例如下面这段文章都是简单句，结构上一律“主—谓”句型，因而读来单调乏味：

I sit here at this keyboard. I try to think of things to say. The words are not coming very freely. I think that is probably because it is the end of a long day. It may be that I am tired. I am smack up against writer's block. Free writing may help me break through the wall.

如果像下面这样稍加变化，就带来了句式较为多样化的效果，显得较为生动和流畅，节奏感也有了：

I sit here at this keyboard trying to think of things to say, but the words aren't coming very freely. Probably, they aren't coming because it's the end of a long day, and I'm tired. Whatever the reason, I'm smack up against writer's block. Perhaps free writing will help me break through the wall.

（Charles W. Bridges & Ronald F. Lunshford:Writing:　 Discovering Form and Meaning）

2） 有些句子的修辞功能是在一定的上下文里表现出来的，如“修辞疑问句”（Rhetorical question）形式上是个疑问句，但不是让别人回答，而是为了达到某种修辞目的，如用来提出所要表达的主题，作为段落过渡，或作为强调等，是人们在演说或写作中实现句式多样化的一个常用形式。例如：

英国散文家Hilaire Belloc在The Historian中开头就是一个修辞疑问句：

What is the historian?

The historian is he who tells a true story in writing ...

Michael Harrington连用的几个修辞疑问句具有很强的号召力：

Yet this need not be. The means are at hand to fulfill the age-old dream: poverty can be abolished. How long shall we ignore this underdeveloped nation in our mist? How long shall we look the other way while our fellow human beings suffer? How long?

读了Rupert Brooke下面这段文字，就会发现作者通过修辞疑问句避免了平铺直叙的写法，起到了突出主题和引起读者兴趣的作用：

But Toronto — Toronto is the subject. One must say something — What must one say about Toronto? What can one? What has anybody ever said? It is impossible to give it anything but commendation. It is not squalid like Birmingham, or cramped like Canton, or scattered like Edmonton, or sham like Berlin, or hellish like New York, or tiresome like Nice. It is all right. The only depressing thing is that it will always be what it is, only larger, and that no Canadian city can ever be anything better or more different. If they are good they may become Toronto.

在下面几节里讨论的掉尾句和松散句、渐进句和突降句、省略句和重复句等6种句子，是相互对应的3组句型，是修辞学中经常涉及的一些句式，使用得当，就有助于实现表达形式多样化，增强表达效果。

7.2　掉尾句和松散句

7.2A　掉尾句

1） 掉尾句（Periodic sentence）是一种把关键意思放在整句末尾、因而要读完全句才能了解该句完整含义的句子结构；从语法上看，掉尾句是一个不可分割的语言单位。例如：

Just before I went away to college, my father took me aside, as I had expected, and said, as I had not expected, “Now, Son, if a strange woman comes up to you on a street corner and offers to take your watch around the corner and have it engraved, don't do it.”

这个长句是掉尾句，一直要读到最后的句号才能明白全句的意思，而其中父亲对儿子的话也是一个掉尾句，只有听他讲到“don't do it”才能明白他要说什么。

2） 掉尾句的特点是把整句的主要部分（如复合句的主句或主句的主要成份）置于末尾处，形成整句的高潮，从而达到突出该部分内容的目的，所以，掉尾句属于一种修辞强调句。例如：

But if life hardly seems worth living, if liberty is used for subhuman purposes, if the pursuers of happiness know nothing about the nature of their quarry or the elementary techniques of hunting, these constitutional rights will not be very meaningful.

（Aldouds Haxley）

作者是用3个if引导的从句引出主句，达到突出主句的目的。

3） 掉尾句是一种比较正式的书面语体，结构上没有固定模式，多数情况下是把较长的状语提前，而把较短的主句留到最后。注意下面这个掉尾句却是以并列结构形成的长主语先出现，后面再出谓语，同样铿锵有力：

Whoever wishes to be made well acquainted with the morbid anatomy of governments, whoever wishes to know how great states may be made feeble and wretched, should study the history of Spain.

（Thomas Babington Macaulay）

7.2B　松散句

1） 松散句（Loose sentence）不同于掉尾句，它不要求把某个部分特意留到句尾，而是想到哪里说到哪里。例如：

Angela Mina lives in a very poor country where many children born die before their first birthday. Over 75% of all children suffer some forms of malnutrition, and unclean water, disease, civil conflict, and natural disaster are all challenges to the survival for many children and their families.

（The Atlantic, Jan. 1993）

并列句是一种松散句，它的分句各自表达比较完整的意思，并且前后次序常常可以颠倒。主句在前、从句在后的复合句也可算是一种松散句，因为一般说来主句表示的是整句意思的主体部分，而从句是表示次要部分，如补充、修饰等。松散句中的分句通常可以改成独立的句子。

2） 同前面的掉尾句相反，松散句不属严谨的正式文体，而适用于一种自然朴实的文风。例如：

He was an inch, perhaps two, under six feet, powerfully built, and he advanced straight at you with a slight stoop of the shoulders, head forward, and a fixed from-under stare which made you think of a charging bull. His voice was deep, loud, and his manner displayed a kind of dogged self-assertion which had nothing aggressive in it. It seemed a necessity, and it was directed apparently as much of himself as of anybody else. He was spotlessly neat, apparelled in immaculate white from shoes to hat, and in the various Eastern parts where he got his living as ship-chandler's water-clerk he was very popular.

这是英国作家Joseph Conrad的小说Lord Jim的开头一段。作者使用了一连串松散句，把他的故事以轻松的口气随意道来，直到最后一句的后半部分，即从and开始作者才改变句子结构，以倒装掉尾句的形式使“he was very popular”得到强调。这个小小的段落表明，优秀作家是多么善于做到句式多样化！

7.3　渐进句和突降句

7.3A　渐进句

1） 一个句子由一个基础句式引出以后，再逐渐增加具体细节（通常是以独立结构和分词短语形式出现），使基础句的内容得到补充或深化，这种句子即称渐进句（Cumulative sentence），即逐渐进一步说明的意思。例如：

The fall came early that year, the trees turning bare overnight, their yellow leaves scattered by the winds.

（Arnold Lazarus H. Wendell Smith）

Geiser serves his regular customers with special care, scraping the tops of steaks for those who insist on it, handing free frankfurters to the little tikes, adding an extra quarter pound of sausage to the order.

（Bizzell et al.）

2） 渐进句通常是由基础句提出整体或一般的概念，然后从整体到局部，从一般到个别，通过修饰语进一步加以说明。基础句的位置通常在句首，但也可能根据具体情况放到两个修饰短语之间或几个修饰语的最后面。例如：

Careening out of the lot, the car rumbled down the deserted alley, weaving from side to side.

（Leonora Woodman）

Their hair mussed, their clothes wrinkled, their eyes dull and half-shut, they had the look of the recently sick.

（Leonora Woodman）

7.3B　突降句

1） 从句子范围看，突降法表现为：在几个含义重要或结构正式的词语后面突然出现一个不像前面那样同等重要或同样正式的词语，因而构成一种明显的“落差”。这种句式称突降句（Anticlimax sentence）。例如：

As a serious young man, I loved Beethoven, Keats, and hot dogs.

作为一个serious young man，热爱音乐家和诗人，均属精神生活方面高层次爱好，但后面跟上hot dogs就是突降。这表面看来有点不伦不类，实际上不无道理：当一个人的兴趣集中在高层次的文化艺术上时，对吃喝就不大在意了，因而喜欢快餐食品就在情理之中。这里突降法，充满幽默感，给人的印象格外深刻。

2） 突降也是一种修辞强调手法，从结构上看，它既是cumulative的对称句式，更是climax的对称句式。Climax汉译“层进式”，同cumulative相比，climax在结构上一般是较为工整的并列式，语义上各并列部分依照由轻到重，由浅到深的次序排列，层层推进。例如：

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

（Francis Bacon）

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

（Martin Luther King Jr.）

培根把读书同吃食物相比，从尝、吞到咀嚼、消化，层次分明。马丁·路德·金的理想是从消除社会现实中的崎岖不平现象到实现所有肤色民族的真正自由、平等，由近及远，由低到高，由现象到本质，井然有序。

反之，anticlimax中的组成部分是依照从大到小的方向排列。例如：

For God, for America, and for Yale.

这是美国耶鲁大学的校训。同上帝和国家相比，一所具体学校的重要性当然小多了，可算是一种突降，正是因为这样，反而给人以格外深刻印象，使人们认识到要从耶鲁做起，从我做起。又如：

She had a warm and sympathetic personality, a quick and perceptive intelligence, beautiful features, and real skill at bowling.

（Wilma R. Ebbitt and David R. Ebbitt）

为什么在一系列总的肯定评价之后来一个具体的real skill of bowling？乍听到或读到这样的结尾，会给人一种滑稽感，但稍加思索，就觉得特别幽默、俏皮，并且越想越有道理：也许正是由于这项运动爱好，她才能有那样聪明的头脑和健美体型。

3） 由于突降句式具有丰富的修辞功能，它不仅在文学作品中常见，在谚语和广告中也时常出现。例如：

Religion, credit and the eye are not to be touched.

— Proverb

宗教、荣誉和眼珠，三者都不能亵渎。

You manage a business, stocks, bonds, people. And now you can manage your hair.

你能管理公司、股票、债券、人员，现在也能管好你的头发了。

“尾重”（End weight）是英语句式的一般要求，即把结构较长、用语较正式、含义较重要的成份放在句子的结尾处，anticlimax反其道而行之，有意造成前6.3B1提到的“落差”。然而，我们又要注意避免无意识造成的突降误用。试比较：

a） Poodles are smart but they are no smarter than pigs, I have read.

b） Poodles are smart, but I have read that they are no smarter than pigs.

（Sylvan Barnet and Marcia Stubbs）

上述a句以I have read结尾，冲淡了前面“no ... than”表示的强调意义，因而出现了无意识造成的突降，给人的印象是说话者对所说的情况没有把握似的，为此应当像b句那样把I have read放到句子中间去，类似I have read, in my opinion, it seems to me, in general这样的插入语式或附加修饰语，都应插入句中适当位置或移到句首，以保持尾重。

7.4　省略句和重复句

7.4A　省略句

1） 省去句中某个成分，因而从语法上看句子结构不算完整，但从上下文看意义是清楚的，这种句式称为省略句（Elliptical sentence）。省略句在口语中最为常见。例如下面一段对话中都是省略句：

— Hi!

— Morning!

— Got troubles?

— Sure have.

— Lost a friend?

— No, just tired.

— Up late last night?

— Yeah. Big party.

2） 省略是简洁文体（Laconic style）的一个特色，在警句、格言、谚语中尤为常见。有一种称为Asyndeton的省略句主要省去连词and，适用于描写快速的连续动作。例如：

I came, I saw, I conquered.

（Julius Caesar）

As a boy, he recalls, he tried to break up a fight, got a drubbing for his pains.

（TIME）

3） 略语或缩写（Abbreviation）也是一种省略，主要用于对人的称呼，一些拉丁语短语，知名的组织、机构名称、地址，等等。例如：

Mr. T. Fingar （Mister的缩略式）

Dr. E. Laine （Doctor的缩略式）

NATO （The North Atlantic Treaty Organization的缩略式）

e.g. （for example的缩略式）

i.e. （that is的缩略式）

etc. （and so forth的缩略式）

422 S Main St, Slippery Rock, PA 16057, USA （美国的通讯地址，其中有不少缩略式，如开头直书门牌号，s表示south, St或ST表示Street, PA表示Pennsylvania，等）

现代英语——尤其美国英语中缩略语有增多的趋势，但使用时注意不要让读者费解，如在文章中正式提到名称、日期等时不应当用缩略式。例如：

The first lady is visiting Pennsylvania this weekend.

（句中Pennsylvania不能用PA替代。）

On Tuesday, February 26, the editor of the Plainviez Herald announced the paper would no longer advertise X-rated films.

（句中Tuesday, February, editor等不应改缩略式。）

7.4B　重复句

1） 重复句一般是写作中应避免的东西，但它却是种常见的修辞手法。散文中的重复往往具有两个方面的目的，即为了更加连贯，或为了强调。例如：

Those of us who came to know baseball when there was little television and no big-time professional football or baseball talked its language, heard its lore, and were taken with its special sense before we had ever played an organized game or pondered its beautiful mystery. There were giants on the field, men of legend whose voice we had ever heard, whose faces we knew only from newspaper photographs or from the murky images on our bubble-gum cards, and whose records — batting average, home runs, runs battled in — suggested meaning beyond anything we understood. “Facts” supported myth, and myth magnified the facts on which it was supposed to be based.

（Peter Schrag）

上面这段文章中its和whose重复使用，加上平行结构，加强了句间的连贯和呼应，使整个段落浑然一体。

下例中no的重复及由此构成平行句式，使语气加强：

Kurtz, he realized, had “looked over the edge” and had seen the “inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraints, no faith, and no fear yet was struggling, blindly with itself.”

（Norma Youngbirg）

下例中empty的重复既加强了作家笔下描写的空旷气氛，又构成了上下句间的自然连贯：

Across the boulevard where a milk truck scurries to more lucrative fields lies the sea and miles of empty beach on which thousands come to bask and bathe in summer. The empty life-guard towers look out to sea; their boats are gone; no human being is in sight.

（John Rowlands）

2） 古罗马修辞学家昆廷利安（Quintilian）曾论及两种修辞重复：Reduplication和Synonymy（或Interpretation）。

前一种重复是相同词语的重复，例如：

“You are promoting riots, Gaius Gracchus, yes, civil and internal riots.”

“You were not moved when his mother embraced your knees? You were not moved?”

“You now even dare to come into the sight of these citizens, traitor to the fatherland? Traitor, I say, to the fatherland, you dare come into the sight of these citizens?”

在演说和辩论中的这种重复如同重锤反复敲击听话者的心灵，如同利剑连续点击敌方的痛处，具有很强的力度。

后一种重复是利用含义相同的词语，如：

“You have overturned the republic from its roots; you have demolished the state from its foundations.”

“You have impiously beaten your father; you have criminally laid hands upon your parent.”

一句话刚说完，接着跟上一句含义相同的话，使原话的力量增强，势必给听话者以深刻的印象。

7.5　长句与短句

7.5A　句子长短同句子结构的关系

句子的长短和句式结构密切相关。一般说来，简单句比较短，复合句较长。写作上忌讳的是重复使用类似长度的相同句型，例如下面这段学生的作文里就存在这个毛病：

I took a great deal of courage when I registered for class on June 11. But I am also pleased that I have finally decided to take the step. On that day I purchased all the textbooks that I would need for this class. I wanted to be sure that I would have all the material I needed.

这段作文句式单调、呆板，有3个方面的原因：

第一、整个段落中的4句话都是由“主句+从句”组成的复合句；

第二、各句都是以“I”做主语的“主—谓”句型；

第三、各句字数是14－15个。

为此，应对这个段落加以改写，下面是可采用的一种方式：

Although it took great courage of me to register for class on June 11, I'm pleased to have taken the step. On that day I also purchased all the textbooks arranged for the class, so that I would have the necessary material.

7.5B　长句与短句的不同功能

1） 从修辞角度看，长短句的不同功能主要表现为：

第一、短句的特点是具有速度和力度感，在文章的紧张或戏剧性关头连用短句能收到良好的效果。例如Joan Didion在写到圣安娜风（Santa Ana，一种吹自沙漠的干热飓风）即将到来时人们的不安心情：

There is something uneasy in the Los Angeles air this afternoon, some unnatural stillness, some tension. What it means is that tonight a Santa Ana will begin to blow, a hot wind from the northeast whining down through the Cajon and San Gorgonio Passes, blowing up sandstorms out along Route 66, drying the hills and the nerves to the flash point. For a few days now we will see smoke back in the canyons and hear sirens in the night. I have neither heard nor read that a Santa Ana is due, but I know it, and almost everyone I have seen today knows it too. We know it because we feel it. The baby frets. The maid sulks ...

第二、长句适用于细节描写，人们在从容不迫地进行叙述或说明论点时也往往使用较长的句式，让事实充分展现，让说理深入透彻，而且在这样的几个长句之后出现一个短句，则有助于调整节奏；在段末出现时常常是对前述各句的一个小结。例如Robert Benchley的“How to Get Things Done”一文在节奏上就给读者一个“紧张而有秩序”的感觉，其原因之一是连续的长句之后出现短句，有的句子仅几个或一个单词（如“Now.” “Hello, what's this!”），让读者在紧张中感到一阵轻快和幽默，下面这个例子中的段末短句既是小结，又隐含着问题：“果真是这样么？”因而它具有承上启下的功能：

But the fact remains that hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country are wondering how I have time to do all my painting, engineering, writing and philanthropic work when, according to the rotogravure sections and society notes I spend all my time riding to hounds, going to fancy-dress balls disguised as Louis XIV or spelling out GREETINGS TO CALIFORNIA in formation with three thousand Los Angeles school children. “All work and all play,” they say.

The secret of my incredible energy and efficiency in getting work done is a simple one ...

2） 在写作中恰当地使用长句和短句，是一个应当认真学习的技巧，更是一种从大量实践中获得的能力，是人类思维和交际习惯的客观反映，为此，优秀作家的作品都是长短句综合运用的范例。下面再引Joan Didion的一段文章，其中不仅长句、短句用得恰到好处，各句在结构上也富于变化：

This is a story about love and death in the golden land, and begins with the country. The San Bernardino Valley lies only an hour east of Los Angeles by the San Bernadino Freeway but is in certain ways an alien place: not the coastal California of the subtropical twilights and the soft westerlies off the Pacific but a harsher California, haunted by the hot dry Santa Ana and that comes down through the passes at 100 miles an hour and whines through the eucalyptus windbreaks and works on the nerves. October is the bad month for the wind, the month when breathing is difficult and the hills blaze up spontaneously. There has been no rain since April. Every voice seems a scream. It is the season of suicide and divorce and prickly dread, wherever the wind blows.

练习七　（Exercise Seven）

I. Preview Questions:

1. What is the purpose of having sentence varieties in rhetoric?

2. Is periodic sentence usually a short simple sentence or a long complicated one?

3. How is the loose sentence different from the periodic sentence?

4. Is the cumulative sentence similar to the periodic sentence or the loose sentence?

5. What rhetoric effects can an anticlimax sentence achieve?

6. Can you cite an example of an elliptical sentence?

7. What effects do you think the rhetoric device of repetition can achieve?

8. Have you learned anything about Quintilian?

II. Read the following and decide whether each of the statements is true （T） or false （F）:

In effective sentences the component words, phrases, and clauses are put together not only according to the grammatical principles of coordination and subordination, but also according to certain stylistic principles. There are three basic ones: serial structure, parallel and balanced structure, and hierarchy structure.

First of all, however, we should note that while different, none of these sentence types is better or worse than the others in any inherent, absolute sense. Each works well for some purposes, poorly for others. And none represents an ideal style. A skillful writer uses them all well, knowing when one works better than another.

A second warning: with regard to style, classifications are rarely adequate. The reality is too subtle. The English sentence, like Shakespeare's Cleopatra, possesses infinite variety. It cannot be reduced to rules. And that is a good thing.

Serial structure means that a sentence is built by the simple addition of more or less equal units, one after the other. It exists in three basic varieties: the segregating, the freight train, and the cumulative sentence.

In its purest form the segregating style consists a series of short sentences, each consisting of a single idea. Skillfully handled, this style can be very effective. For example, an English essayist once interviewed the novelist Philip Guedalla and described Guedalla's method of writing in this passage:

He writes, at most 750 words a day. He writes and rewrites. He polishes and re-polishes. He works in solitude. He works with agony. He works with sweat. And that is the only way to work at all.

（Beverly Nichols）

These short repetitive sentences are as strong and seemingly as monotonous as hammer strokes. The monotony suits the point, for what Nichols says is that writing is often tedious, wearing toil.

Another advantage of the segregating style is its potential for dramatic description and narration. By isolating individual details of a scene or an action, the short sentence enables — even forces — us to look very closely.

The freight-train sentence consists of several （three or more） independent clauses. As a style in English literature multiple coordination goes back a thousand years or more to Anglo-Saxon narrative, which is useful when you wish to join a series of events, ideas, impressions, feelings, or perceptions as immediately as possible, without judging their relative value or imposing a carefully ordered logical structure upon them.

In its usual form of the cumulative sentence, a main clause precedes a series — even quite long — of appositive, modifying, or absolute constructions which accumulate details about the scene, person, or event being described, eg:

A creek ran through the meadow, winding and turning, clear water running between steep banks of black earth, with shadow places where you could build a dam.

（Mark Schorer）

Statements:

1. The freight-train sentence consists of three or more independent clauses.

2. The segregating style is monotonous and rarely used by skillful writers.

3. All effective sentences follow not only grammatical rules but also stylistic principles.

4. Cumulative sentences most often appear in description when the writer begins with a general picture and fills in the picture with details.

5. Every sentence type has its advantages and limitations, and no one works better than another in any case.

6. According to Beverly Nichols, writing is by no means a tedious, wearing toil.

7. Multiple coordination has a tradition of more than 1000 years in English literature.

8. Conjunctions like “and”, “but”, “as”, or “nor” are usually used in freight train structures.

III. Fill in each blank with an appropriate word:

One way to achieve sentence variety is to move adjunct phrases of manner, place, or time to the beginning of the sentence. You can use （1）____________sentence structures as well: to get special emphasis, to achieve greater clarity, to break the monotony of using two, three or even （2）____________similar patterns at one place. You can also provide clarifying or colorful details by adding modifiers to elements of the subject, the predicate, or to the sentence as a whole. The latter — the addition of modifiers （3）____________a simple sentence serves as the base clause of an expanded sentence — can be accomplished in two ways.

One is to pile up modifiers before the base clause, resulting in what is usually called a periodic sentence, as in the following sentence （4）____________the base clause is italicized:

When all classes are over, after the students have left, and as few staff members are around, the campus is quiet and serenely beautiful.

Another （5）____________to add sentence modifiers is to state the base clause first, then pile up modifiers after it, e.g.:

They were silent and intent, facing the wind, feathers ruffling, eyes turned upward.

A sentence in this form is called a cumulative （or loose） sentence; most sentences follow this pattern, perhaps because when we start speaking or （6）____________a sentence, we usually think of the main idea first.

Expanded or complex sentences are found in all kinds of communication, formal writing in particular.

IV. Transform the following sentence patterns as required.

1. Mr. Sampson is rumoured to have been involved in a bribe scandle.

→__________________________（a complex sentence）

2. I believe him to be innocent.

→__________________________（a complex sentence）

3. He was offered a professional contract after winning two gold medals in swimming at the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing, according to the newspaper reports.

→__________________________（a periodic sentence）

4. The road requires that it should be maintained regularly.

→__________________________（simple sentence）

5. One cannot accomplish anything if he doesn't take pains.

→__________________________（a simple sentence）

第八章　SIMILE和METAPHOR

8.1　Simile

8.1A　Simile的含义和形式

1） Simile一词源自拉丁语的similis，意思是like（像），通常译作“明喻”，亦称“直喻”，它是就两个不同类对象之间的相似点进行比喻。例如：

New China is like a red sun rising in the east.

（本体）（比喻词）（喻体）

从结构上看、明喻包括“本体”（subject或tenor），“喻体”（reference或vehicle）和“比喻词”（indicator of resemblance或simile marker）。本体指被比喻的对象，喻体指用来作比喻的对象，比喻词like用在本体和喻体之间起连接介绍作用。

2） 明喻中除用like作比喻词以外，常用作比喻词的还有as, as if, as though, as ... as, （just） as ... so, similar to, to bear a resemblance to等。

例如：

Records fell like ripe apples on a windy day.

（E. B. White）

It is with words as with sunbeams — the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.

（Leuthey）

She spoke hurriedly, as if her heart had leaped into her throat at the boy's words.

（Hardy）

3） 许多以as为比喻词组成的明喻，如fresh as a rose, brave as a lion, cunning as a fox, proud as a peacock等等，已成为习语，虽然生动形象，但人们用得多了，已失去新鲜感。

4） 除上述明喻结构外，有时比较级结构、介词短语及其他某些词语搭配也可构成明喻。例如：

He has no more idea of money than a cow.

（Galsworthy）

With the quickness of a long cat, she climbed up into the nest of cool-bladed foliage.

（Lawrence）

The process of gaining or losing weight can be explained by comparing your body to your car ... And just as your car uses more energy when the engine is racing than when it is idling, so does your body use more energy when you are working hard than when you are resting.

（Kirszner）

8.1B　Simile的使用

明喻具有丰富的修辞功能，尤其适用于描写和说明。

1） 用于描写时，明喻能形象、生动地勾画出各种不同的形状、动作或状态等，如形容女孩清瘦，说她“长得像绿豆芽似的”，说某人的行动“慢得像蜗牛爬一样”，说天气“热得如汤煮”，屋子里“冷得像冰窟窿”等等，十分形象生动，使人如同耳闻目睹或身临其境一般。明喻能使人对熟悉的东西感到新意，对陌生的东西产生熟悉感。例如：

Mother was short and plump and pretty. Her eyes were blue, and her brown hair was like a bird's smooth wings ...

（Wilder）

The mothers stayed back in the kitchen washing and drying, putting things away, recrossing their traceless footsteps like the life time journeys of bees, measuring out the dry cocoa for breakfast ....

（Knoxville）

下面是Annie Dillard对黄鼠狼（weasel）的一段描写：

He was ten inches long, thin as a curve, a muscled ribbon, brown as fruit-wood, soft-furred, alert. His face was fierce, small and pointed as a lizard's; he would have made a good arrowhead. There was just a dot of chin, maybe two brown hair's width, and then the pure white fur began that spread down his underside. He had two black eyes I didn't see, any more than you see a window.

2） 用于说明时，明喻能使深奥的哲理变得浅显易懂，如把积累知识的艰难比作针尖取土，把开展批评与自我批评的必要性比作天天需要洗脸和扫地，把个人与祖国的亲密关系比作孩子与母亲，等等，生动、深刻，有很强的启示和感染作用。下面一个例子是以细线结成粗绳索的过程说明人的习惯一旦形成就难以改变的道理：

Habit may be likened to a cable; every day we weave a thread, and soon we cannot break it.

科普文章中常常通过比喻把人们不易认识的自然现象解释成看得见摸得着的东西。如果要问激光和普通光束有何区别？只要想象一下军训时正步前进和人群涌向足球赛球时的混乱情景就有数了：

So compared with any ordinary beam of light, the laser beam is a very orderly affair indeed. It's like a military march — everyone in step. In an ordinary beam, the waves are like the people in a crowd going to a football match, justling and bumping into one another.

（Cooley）

8.2　Metaphor

8.2A　Metaphor的含义和形式

1） Metaphor为“隐喻”，亦称“暗喻”。它同明喻一样，也是在两个不同类对象之间进行比喻，区别在于：明喻把本体和喻体说成是相似的，而隐喻则干脆把两者说成是一致的；明喻中有“比喻词”，而隐喻中不用了，故隐喻也被称为“压缩了的明喻”（Condensed simile），试比较：

明喻

隐喻

The news is as a dagger to his heart.

The news is a dagger to his heart.

Joe fought like a lion.

Joe was a lion in the battle.

Learning may be likened to climbing up a mountain.

Learning is climbing up a mountain.

The gossip was like a net that strangled her.

She was strangled in the net of gossip.

2） 隐喻不仅不用“比喻词”，直接把本体说成是喻体，而且有时句中仅仅出现喻体，而没有写出本体，因此含义较含蓄，需要读者根据上下文去领会。例如：

J. T. Adams有句名言：

Money is the lens in a camera.

为什么说金钱是一部照相机的镜头？照相机的镜头能反映出一个人的不同面貌，金钱则能检验出一个人的不同品质，故而两者有共同之处。

又如美国总统Lincoln曾把南北战争比作家庭纷争，主张南北统一，共建国家。为陈述分裂和内战的危害，他使用了一个发人深省的隐喻：A house divided against itself can't stand.我国古代有位老人用一根筷子易断而一打筷子难折的比喻教导他的孩子们搞好团结，两个隐喻有异曲同工之妙。

8.2B　Metaphor的使用

1） 隐喻和明喻具有同样的修辞功能，不论在描写、说明或论述等各种文体中都得到广泛的使用，因而Jevans说：

We should often be at a loss how to describe a notion, were we not at liberty to employ in a metaphorical sense the name of anything sufficiently resembling it.

由于隐喻不直接将本体与喻体相比，而是巧妙地通过人们熟悉的形象、特征、动作或哲理去暗示人们尚不熟悉或不易把握的对象，表面上看来不像比喻，实际上在暗中打了个比喻，而且往往是比明喻更进了一层的比喻，显得更加简炼、贴切、生动、含蓄。试比较：

A1） The machine-gun shot down the enemy like a mower cutting down the grass.

A2） The machine-gun mowed down the enemy.

B1） The parks of our city are like human lungs.

B2） The parks are the lungs of our city.

上述A1和B1都是明喻，A2和B2都是隐喻，前者固然生动明了，但不及后者简洁有力。当然这并不是说在任何情况下隐喻总是比明喻好一些，何况有时还只宜用明喻，例如：

Sometimes I rambled to pine groves, standing like temples, or like fleets at sea, full-rigged, with wavy boughs, and rippling with light ...

（Henry David Thoreau）

总之，明喻和隐喻各有千秋，关键在于用得恰当，做到明喻明而不俗，隐喻隐而不晦，使之配合使用，相得益彰。

2） 有些通过隐喻构成的词语使用多了，逐渐失去了原有的新意和生动感，人们习以为常，不再视作隐喻，于是成了“Faded（或Dead） metaphors”，如table-leg, bottleneck, running brook, square shooter （原与shooting iron有关）等。研究词源的人会对这种现象感兴趣。例如：“magazine”一词，人们通常只知道它指“periodical （publication）”，实际上，它的阿拉伯语原意是指“a store house”，为此，我们有“powder magazine（火药库）”，“magazine of a rifle （弹仓、弹匣）”这样一些短语。

8.3　Simile和Metaphor用法中的两个问题

关于明喻和隐喻的使用，除上一节提到的以外，再着重说明两点，即注意本体和喻体的合理性和比喻的民族特色。

8.3A　本体和喻体的合理性

明喻说本体“像”喻体，隐喻说本体“是”喻体，但要注意它们都是指不同类对象之间的相似点，既有别于语法上同类对象（如两个人、两部汽车）之间的比较，又要把握本体和喻体间“相似点”的合理性。例如：

A） Paul looks very much like his brother.

B） The boy is more than intelligent.

C） My car runs as fast as the train.

D） I have an old photograph of the drug store, taken in 1894; it shows my grandfather and two clerks standing behind showcases, as if waiting for customers, and my grandmother sitting at the switchboard, surrounded by wires. She looks like a fish struggling in the net, and my grandfather and the clerks, though they smile bravely, are captives, held by invisible strands.

上述A句指同类对象之间的比较，B句是带强调含义的系表结构，C句中的car和train都是机动交通工具，也算同类对象，所以这3句都不是修辞上的比喻。D句摘自Richard Armour的文章Grandmother and My Grandfather，其中斜体部分原来是“... looks like a spider spinning a web ... are captive flies ...” 其中包含一个明喻和一个隐喻，但被改之后，明喻缺少合理性，隐喻也成了一般的系表结构。

下面几个句子原是改进后（划线部分）的学生习作（括号内是原文）：

Life was like a journey full of pitfalls.

（... studded with ...）

Not all pretty girls are paper flowers.

（... tigers.）

A real friend is like a mirror that can help you see any dirt on your face.

（... your mistakes clearly.）

Exams are the harvest season of a student.

（... death sentence to ...）

8.3B　比喻的民族特色

比喻是一种常见的修辞方法，其心理基础是对世间万物某些共同特点的联想。若以英语和汉语相比，我们会发现许多惊人的相似之处，如都以绵羊比喻温顺，以钢铁比喻坚强，用狐狸比喻狡猾等，还有不少成语和习语中的比喻简直不谋而合，如“火上加油”（add fuel to the flames），“晴天霹雳”（a bolt from the blue），“空中楼阁”（castles in the air），“滴水穿石”（constant dropping wears the stone），“轻如鸿毛”（as light as a feather），“坚如磐石”（as hard as a stone），“像狐狸一样狡猾”（as cunning as a fox）等；有些意思相符，但措辞稍有差别，如“寿比南山”（as old as the hills），“欢欣雀跃”（as cheerful as a lark），“船到桥头自会直”（you will cross the bridge when you get to it）等。

但是由于各个民族的自然环境、社会文化背景和风俗习惯不同，比喻各有特色。例如我们用“四面楚歌”来比喻处境孤立，而英国人没有这个历史故事，也没有这个比喻；反之，英语里却有meet one's Waterloo来形容遭到惨败，这样的比喻也不可能出现在汉语里。英语里说carry coals to Newcastle（比喻多此一举），汉语里讲“洛阳纸贵”（比喻著作风行一时），分别与各自的地名有关。英语里的have a Christian concern for others，汉语里的“立地成佛”，各与自己的宗教信仰相联系。凡此种种，都是比喻中不同民族特色的反映，需要我们在学习和使用中留意。

练习八　（Exercise Eight）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Can you tell a few words or phrases that can be used as simile markers （indicators of resemblance）?

2. Why is a metaphor also called a condensed simile?

3. Does simile have the same rhetorical functions as metaphor?

4. What metaphors are regarded as “faded metaphors”?

5. Can you cite examples to indicate similar similes or metaphors in English and Chinese?

II. Read the following passages and fill in each blank with one word chosen from those in brackets:

A simile is a （complicated, brief） comparison, usually introduced by the preposition “like” or the conjunction “as”, eg:

My words swirled around his head （like, as） summer flies.

The decay of society was praised by artists （like, as） the decay of a corpse is praised by worms.

（G. K. Chesterton）

A simile consists of two parts: tenor and vehicle. The tenor is the primary subject — “words” in White's figure, the “decay of society ... artists” in Chesterton's. The vehicle is the thing to which the main subject is compared — “summer flies” and the “decay of a corpse ... worms.”

Usually, though not invariably, the vehicle is or contains an image. An image is a word or expression designating something we can perceive with one or another of the senses. “Summer flies,” for example, is an image, primarily a visual one, though like many images it has a secondary perceptual appeal: we can hear the flies as well as see them.

Although generally （brief, complicated）, now and then similes may be expanded. Most often this is done by analyzing the vehicle into its parts and applying these to the tenor. Thus a historian, writing about the Italian patriot Garibaldi, explains: ... his mind was （like, as） a vast sea cave, filled with the murmur of dark waters at flow and the stirring of nature's greatest forces, lit （here and there, now and then） by streaks of glorious sunshine bursting in through crevices hewn at random in its rugged sides.

（George Macaulay Trevelyan）

III. Go over the passages and decide whether each of the statements is true （T） or false （F）:

A metaphor is also a comparison. The difference is that a simile compares things explicitly — that is, it states literally that X is like Y. A metaphor compares things implicitly. Read literally, it does not state that things are alike; it says that they are the same thing, that they are identical:

Cape Cod is the bared and bended arm of Massachusetts ...

（Henry David Thoreau）

Thoreau writes “is,” not “is like.” We understand, however, that he is making a comparison — that he means the Cape resembles an arm, not really is an arm. The metaphor has simply carried the comparison a degree closer and expressed it a bit more economically and forcefully.

Metaphors have the same functions as similes. They are valuable in clarifying unfamiliar concepts and in translating abstractions into images that readers can intuit directly, as in this passage about science:

[Science] pronounces only on whatever, at the time, appears to have been scientifically ascertained, which is a small island in an ocean of nescience.

（Bertrand Russell）

Metaphors also enrich meaning by implying a range of ideas and feelings and evaluations. Consider all that is suggested by the term “idol” in this metaphor: We squat before television, the idol of our cherished progress.

“Idol” means a false god and thus questions the value of the progress television symbolizes and celebrates. The word implies also the unreason and subservience of those who worship it.

Such a metaphor not only complicates an idea, it also implies judgment. In the next example the judgmental quality of the metaphor is even more pronounced. Speaking of ancient Romans, a writer remarks:

They were marked by the thumbprint of an unnatural vulgarity, which they never succeeded in surmounting.

（Lawrence Durrell）

Statements:

1. Both the simile and the metaphor are used to make comparisons.

2. Russell's image of a small island （scientific knowledge） in a wide and lonely sea （the vastness of all we do not know） is a memorable expression of the relationship between knowledge and ignorance.

3. Not only can a metaphor complicate an idea, it can also imply judgment.

4. The image of a greasy thumbprint, like one left on a china or a white wall, is a graphic signature of crudeness.

5. Similes and metaphors are identical because they are both comparisons and have the same functions.

6. A most valuable function of a metaphor and a simile is to clarify an unfamiliar idea or perception by expressing it in more familiar terms or turn something abstract into an image that people can see or hear.

IV. Identify the similes and metaphors in the following; then convert the similes into metaphors or expand the metaphors into similes, if possible.

1. He is a wolf in sheep's skin.

2. The parks are the lungs of our city.

3. His voice sounded like a thunder in the hall.

4. Money is a lens in a camera.

5. Lottie staggered on the lowest verandah step like a bird fallen out of the nest.

6. We tore through the black-and-gold town like a pair of scissors tearing through brocade.

7. The machine-gun was shooting down the enemy like a mower cutting down grass.

8. Slim canals crept like green snakes beside the road.

9. Applications for jobs flooded the Employment Agency.

10. Hitler's attack on Poland in 1939 was like lightning.

V. Study and improve the following sentences:

1. Life was like a journey studded with pitfalls.

2. Not all slim girls are paper tigers.

3. A real friend is like a mirror that can help you see your mistakes clearly.

4. Examinations are the death sentence to students.

5. Jack's house was destroyed by fire. Jim went to comfort him and asked him to contact the insurance company. “Cheer up, my friend,” he said. “Your insurance claim will be proceeding like a house on fire, I'm sure.”

VI. Translate the following into Chinese:

1. Their data processing is going on as slow as a snail.

2. Every man has a fool in his sleeve.

3. The brains don't lie in the beard.

4. Two heads are better than one.

5. The exception proves the rule.

6. An ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory.

7. Variety is the soul of pleasure.

8. Caution: Frenemies Can Be Bad for Your Health.

第九章　ANALOGY, ALLEGORY, METONYMY和SYNECDOCHE等四种比喻性辞格

9.1　Analogy和Allegory

9.1A　Analogy和Allegory的含义与形式

1） Analogy译作“类比”，Allegory译作“讽喻”，两者都是便于阐述事理的修辞格，即用人们熟悉的事例说明较深的道理，或通过具体形象阐明抽象的概念。

2） 类比是就两种本质上不同的事物之间的共同点加以比较。从结构上看，它常常既有带比喻的明喻（8.1A），又有直接把本体说成喻体的隐喻（8.2A）；它是通过比喻手法的综合运用来说明道理或情况。例如Alexander Pope曾用类比说明人们的想法、看法何以千差万别：

It's with our judgments as with our watches; none go just alike, yet each believes his own.

上例表明，类比在形式上很像明喻（有比喻词as），但区别在于：作者还进一步说明了产生差别的道理，而不像明喻或隐喻那样把具体情况统统留给读者去想象。

下面是Budora Weity在How I Write中所用的一个生动类比：

The inspiration for a story is like “a pull on the line ... the outside signal that has startled or moved the creative mind to complicity and brought the story to active being ...”

作者把小说创作灵感的产生同水中的鱼拖动钓线相类比，说明具有创造性的头脑受到外部信息的触动、启发，产生共鸣，并把小说创作出来。

3） 讽喻也叫寓意，是一种比隐喻更为委婉的比喻，其基本形式是以具体形象说明抽象概念，通过具体形象或浅近事实，给人以启发，引导人们去认清事物的本质或深邃的哲理。例如：

There's no rose without a thorn. 玫瑰都有刺——有快乐就有苦恼。

It's time to turn swords into ploughs. 是该把剑变成犁的时候了。（说明应以和平代替战争。）

9.1B　Analogy的使用

1） 在阐述事理时，把抽象概念具体化，把深奥的哲理浅显化。例如：

Judicious praise is to children what the sun is to flowers.

明智的赞扬对于孩子的作用，就像阳光对于花朵的作用一样。

An individual human existence should be like a river — small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.

（Bertrand Russell）

人生应该像一条河——开始是涓涓细流，仅局限于两岸之间，未免狭窄；然后奔放地冲过巨石，翻越瀑布，慢慢地河面变得开阔，两岸后移，水面更趋平静，于是最后毫不犹豫地与大海融为一体，毫无苦楚地丧失自己的存在。

2） 在进行劝说时，通过人们熟悉的事例和易于接受的常理启发别人明白什么是应该做的，什么是不应该做的，以及怎样做才能得到更好的结果等。

Before you reprehend another, take heed you are not culpable in what you go about to reprehend. He who cleanses a blot with blotted fingers makes a greater blur.

（Quarles）

在指责别人之前，必须注意自己不要犯所要指责的毛病。用脏手擦污迹，只会把污迹弄得更大。

Intellectual assimilation takes time. The mind is not to be enriched as a coal barge is loaded. Whatever is precious in a cargo is carefully on board and carefully placed. Whatever is delicate and fine must be received delicately, and its place in the mind thoughtfully assigned.

（Arlo Bates）

吸收知识要从从容容，不能像驳船装煤那样来填塞大脑。我们应小心地把珍贵的货物搬上船，并谨慎地安放好。吸取精华时必须敏感，而且要在头脑中加以周密安排。（借驳船装货从“反”设比，以反“托”正，喻吸收知识不应囫囵吞枣，而应鉴别精华，分门别类，存入大脑。）

In rivers the water that you touch is the last of that has passed and the first of that which comes: so with time present.

（Leonardo Da Vinci）

你在河流中感触到的水，既是最后的逝者，又是最先的来者；眼前光阴亦是如此。

3） 在描述客观情况和介绍事物发展过程时，能化平淡为生动，变纷繁为简明。例如：

The cultivation of a hobby and new forms of interest is ... not a business that can be undertaken in a day or swiftly improved by a mere command of the will. The growth of alternative mental interests is a long process. The seeds must be carefully chosen; they must fall on good ground; they must be sedulously tended, if the vivifying fruits are to be at hand when needed.

（Winston Churchill）

培养业余爱好和新的兴趣……不是一朝一夕之功，也不单凭意志便可奏效。培养第二精神爱好是个漫长的过程。如果要使那给人带来活力的果实在需要之时能信手摘来，就必须细心选择种子，且播于沃土之中，并予以辛勤照料。

9.1C　Allegory的使用

1） Allegory一词源于希腊语allegoria，意为speaking figuratively，往往利用象征性的虚构人物和情节表示作者对某种人类行为、品性、感情等的看法，这种手法称之为symbolism allegory，例如像班扬（Bunyan）在《天路历程》（Pilgrim's Progress）和但丁（Dante）在《神曲》（Divine Comedy）中那样使用拟人化或象征手法引导人们去认识罪恶性的本质和必然造成的精神后果。《天路历程》中的主人公Christian “trudged through the Slough of Despond”，其实Christian并非真人，the Slough of Despond也非真正地点，只不过表示一名基督徒的灵魂在人世间的一次经历。《神曲》中的但丁虽是诗人自己，但领着他游览地狱的却是罗马诗人Vergil的幽灵。

布莱克（Blake）的《先知书》（Prophetic Books），勃特勒（Butler）的《乌有乡》（Erewhon），刘易斯（Lewis）的《朝圣的回归》（The Pilgrim's Regress），奥威尔（O'well）的《兽园》（Animal Farm）等，和《天路历程》及《神曲》一样，都可看作是讽喻作品，或叫做讽喻的扩展形式。英语文学中的劝诫故事、劝世戏和醒世诗等，统称为“训教文学”（Didactic Literature），像Henry Brooke在Fool of Quality中强调道德训练重于体能训练，Thomas Day在Sanford and Merton中劝导青年人不仅应具备各项基本美德，还要学习天文、生物、地理、政治经济学等知识。还有诗人Ella Wheeler Wilcox的名句“Laugh and the world Laughs with you; weep and you weep alone.”等，都属这类型的文学作品，其中许多为人处世之道至今仍不失其现实意义。

2） 讽喻作品中的许多情节来源于古典神话传说，被作者用来借古喻今。斯威夫特（Swift）是著名的英国讽喻作家，他写的《一只澡盆的故事》（The Tale of a Tub）和《格利佛游记》（Guliver's Travels）都是脍炙人口的讽喻名作。《格利佛游记》中的“小人国”、“大人国”等情节是影射当时英国社会的专制政治、阴谋诡计和宗教迫害，包括大端派和小端派的宗教斗争。

3） 英语中许多谚语和格言都是讽喻的精彩范例，它们来自长短不等的故事。例如：“All that glisters is not gold.”这句谚语出自莎士比亚的《威尼斯商人》（The Merchant of Venice）：富家女鲍西娅的父亲在遗嘱中规定女儿的求婚者必须在金、银、铅3只盒子中挑选一个，谁挑中了其中藏有鲍西娅的小像的盒子，谁就可娶他的女儿。求婚者摩洛哥亲王打开他所挑到的盒子时，发现里面是一个死人的骷髅，空眼眶中有张纸条，上面写着的话就是这条谚语，说明外表美丽的东西不一定都有价值，这和另一条谚语“Never trust appearances.”异曲同工。

9.2　Metonymy和Synecdoche

9.2A　Metonymy和Synecdoche的含义与形式

1） Metonymy译作“换喻”，Synecdoche译作“提喻”。

这两种辞格十分相近，其共同点是不直接说出所指对象的名称，而采取某种替代形式；它们的区别在于：Metonymy是借与某事物密切相关的东西来表示该事物，因此亦称之为“借代”，而Synecdoche是以某事物的局部表示整体，或反过来以整体表示局部。例如人在幼年离不开摇篮，因而借用the cradle表示“婴儿时期”，这就是Metonymy：

He must have been spoilt from the cradle.

又如：“头”和“手”等是人体的部分，用它们表示整个人，则是常见的Synecdoche形式：

More hands（=working men） are needed at the moment.

We had dinner at ten dollars a head（=each person）.

2） 注意这两种辞格与其他比喻形式之间的区别，试比较：

Greece was the cradle of Western culture. — Metaphor

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. — Analogy

9.2B　Metonymy的使用

1） 不像明喻、隐喻等比喻形式那样利用不同类对象的相似或类同点构成比较，而是利用两个对象之间的某种联系来唤起别人的联想，从而避免生硬直说。例如，通过讲某物的常用盛器，让别人联想到被盛的东西，或用某地名指那里的人。例如：

The kettle is boiling.

— The water in the kettle is boiling.

Italy cannot be vanished in warfare nor Greece in studies.

— Italians cannot be vanished in warfare nor Greeks in studies.

通过讲工具或所有物，让别人联想到经常使用该工具的人或该物的所有者：

The pen is stronger than the sword.

— Those who use the pen have more influence than those who use the sword. / The officials have more say than the officers.

Land belonging to the crown occupied the best part of the country.

— Land belonging to the monarch occupied ...

通过讲特征或特定环境，让人联想到具有该特征或在该环境下的人：

The grey hair should be respected.

— The old/aged should be respected.

What is learned in the cradle is carried to the grave.

— Things learned in childhood will not be forgotten till death.

Having finished the law school, he was called to the Bar.

— ... he became a lawyer （Am E） / a barrister （Br E）.

2） 借用历史上或传说中的典故与现实生活中某种人或事之间的相似性来暗示说话者的观点，达到借古喻今或借此言彼的目的。这类metonymy也称之为“引喻”。例如：

Every government should attend to cleaning its own Augean stables.

相传国王奥吉尼斯的牛舍内养牛3000头，30年未打扫，故Augean stables成了肮脏的代名词。这里用来影射各国政府都有腐败现象，应注意克服。

Bacchus has drowned more than Neptune but has killed fewer than Mars.

Bacchus, Neptune和Mars分别为希腊、罗马神话中的酒神、海神和战神，这里用它们表示酒、大海和战争，说明被酒淹死者多于大海，而被酒杀死者少于战争，表示了劝人戒酒和反对战争的意思。

At the end of two years, your sheep-skin should be the least important thing you take away.

美国女作家Diane Wakoske在Writer's Digest杂志1992年8月号撰文谈到上大学进修写作时，强调要趁这个机会多读书、研究和提高写作能力，而不要去追求学位文凭，并利用童话故事A Wolf in Sheep-skin说明她的观点。

3） 新闻报道中记者们经常利用metonymy形式称呼各类人或物，给人以简洁有力而又幽默巧妙的印象。人的姓名、人体部位、地名、地址、动植物、社会职业，等等，都可以用作换喻，而且可以新创，故而不断有新的换喻出现。这里是一些常见的例子：

Down Under: Australia

British Lion: England / the English government

Ivan: the Russian people

John Bull: England / the English people

Uncle Sam: the United States of America

Capitol Hill / the Hill: the Legislative Branch of the U. S.

Downing Street: the British government/cabinet

Hollywood: American film-making industry

Fleet Street: the British press

Foggy Bottom: U. S. State Department

Madison Avenue: American advertising industry

the Pentagon: the U. S. military establishment

Wall Street: U. S. financial circles

the White House: the U. S. President/administration

brain/head: wisdom, intelligence, reason

heart: feelings, emotions

Quisling: traitor

Romeo: lover

Helen: beautiful woman

Milton: poet

the Bar / the bar: the legal profession

the bench: position （or office） of judge / magistrate

the press: news reporters, journalists, newspapers

9.2C　Synecdoche的使用

1） 美国著名诗人罗伯特·佛罗斯特（Robert Frost）说：

I prefer the synecdoche in poetry — that figure of speech in which we use a part for the whole.

除了诗人所说的局部表示整体外，还可以反过来用整体表示局部，例如：

This famous port used to be a harbour which was crowded with masts.

句中masts代替boats，即局部表示整体。又如：

All the plants in the cold country are turning green in this smiling year.

句中this smiling year指the spring，乃整体表示部分。

2） 在单数与复数、抽象与具体、物体和它的构成原料之间也会构成提喻。例如：

To the Carthaginian came aid from the Spaniard, and from the fierce Transalpine. In Italy, too, many a wearer of the toga shared the same sentiment.

（Patricia Bizzell）

句中Carthaginian等3个斜体字都是单数表示复数。又如：

Dread disaster smote his breasts with grief; so, panting, from out his lungs' very depth he sobbed for anguish.

（Patricia Bizzell）

句中breasts, lungs形式上复数，即把一个身上的左右胸肺以两个的形式表示出来，意在强调，实际上只是单数。又如：

There is a mixture of the tiger and the ape in the character of a Frenchman.

（Voltaire）

句中tiger和ape分别表示“残暴”与“狡猾”，是具体表抽象。又如：

“Einstein is my admiration,” the little girl said.

句中admiration指所崇拜的人物，是用抽象表具体。又如：

This child who is so curious of music is going to be a Beethoven, I dare say.

句中用Beethoven表示“杰出的音乐家”，即特殊表示一般。又如：

Even if you don't know Pavlov's dog from Qedipus Rex, you can write helpful, topical articles dealing with the workings of the mind or human behavior.

（Carol Turkington）

句中dog指巴甫洛夫神经学，是具体表示抽象，也可作局部表示整体。又如：

Instances of synecdoche can be found in the uses of “iron” for golf club, “cotton” for dress, “pigskin” for football, etc.

句中iron指高尔夫铁头球棒，这既是以典型用具联系人，也是局部代整体，或以某物品的制作材料代表该物，等。

练习九　（Exercise Nine）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Is analogy similar to simile in form?

2. Allegory is more tactful than metaphor, isn't it?

3. Can you cite an example to indicate that the use of an analogy can make an abstract idea concrete?

4. Indicate with an example how useful an analogy can be in persuasion?

5. What does the Greek word “allegoria” mean?

6. What play did the idiom “All that glitters is not gold.” originate from?

7. What figure of speech is used in the sentence “He must have been spoilt from the cradle.”?

8. What figure of speech is used in the sentence “More hands are needed now.”?

9. What examples can you give to indicate the popular use of metonymy in journalism?

10. What figure of speech does Robert Frost prefer?

II. Identify the figures of speech in the following sentences:

1. In rivers the water that you touch is the last of that has passed and the first of that which comes: so with time present.

2. Greece was the cradle of western culture.

3. Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone.

4. Every government should attend to cleaning its own Augean stables.

5. The birds are singing to the smiling year.

6. Would you like a cup or two, Eve?

7. The city has its philharmonic but also its poverty.

8. People often compare life to a road through the mountain because both have their ups and downs.

9. Too many professionally-prepared resumes read like a pitch from an old-time snake-oil pedlar.

10. There was a glamour in the air, a something in the special flavour of that moment that was like the consciousness of Salvation, or the smell of ripe peaches on a sunny wall.

11. I took a last drowning look at the title as I gave the book into her hand.

12. The Wall Street definitely has more say in their policy making.

III. Read and identify the types of figurative language:

1. The poor man had six mouths to feed.

Wisconsin meets Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

2. Suited to the pen, he sought to live by the plow.

Only a limited number of the press were admitted to the ceremony.

3. There has been a radical transformation of power. In traditional conflicts, states were like boiled eggs: War — the minute of truth — would reveal whether they were hard or soft. Today interdependence breaks all national eggs into a vast omelet. Power is more difficult to measure than ever before.

（Stanbey Hoffman）

4. What I like best are the stern cliffs, with ranges of mountains soaring behind them, full of possibilities, peaks to be scaled only by the most daring. What plants of high altitudes grow unvanished among their crags and valleys? So do I let my imagination play over the recesses of Laura's character, so austere in the foreground but nurturing what treasures of tenderness, like delicate flowers, for the discovery of the venture-some.

（V. Sackvile-West）

5. It is certain that had he never lived, most of what is correct in their parrot-learned knowledge would be absent.

（J. London）

6. The messenger was not long in returning, followed by a pair of heavy boots that came bumping along the passage like boxes.

（Dickens）

IV. Further reading

Grammatical metaphor is a semiotic process first described by Halliday as three familiar types of “rhetorical transferences”: “metaphor,” in which a “word is used for something resembling that which it usually refers to”; “metonymy,” in which a “word is used for something related to that which it usually refers”; and “synecdoche,” in which a “word is used for some larger whole of that which it refers to is a part,” e.g.

Metaphor 　A flood of protests poured in. [flood exemplifies a large quantity]

Metonymy 　Keep your eye on the ball. [eye directs the gaze]

Synecdoche 　Let's go and have a bite. [a bite is part of eating a meal]

The term “metaphor” is also used as a general label for these types of verbal transference. A common view of metaphor is a transference in the usage of words. We should look at it first from the perspective of meaning and ask “not ‘how is this word used?’ but ‘how is this meaning expressed?’”

Halliday distinguished types of grammatical metaphor most generally as metaphor of “mood” and “modality” and metaphor of “transitivity”: the first expands the potential of language for interpersonal meanings, and the latter expands its potential for ideational meanings.

[Keith Brown （Editor-in-chief） et al. 2nd ed., vol. 8, 66－72]

第十章　PERSONIFICATION，ZOOSEMY，ONOMATOPOEIA

10.1　Personification

10.1A　Personification的含义与形式

1） Personification译作“拟人法”，它实际上也是一种比喻，尤其是隐喻。其形式是通过把原属于人所特有的品质、行为、情感等赋予大自然其他有生命或无生命的东西，使它们具有类似人的特征，因此，也有人把拟人法叫做“静物动化”的一种修辞技巧。例如：

The sun kissed the green fields.

The thirsty desert drank up the water.

Ambition is but Avarice on stilts and masked.

（Walter Savage Landor）

There has been, after all, something in the talk of American innocence. No doubt it is a false innocence, fabricated by a myth-charged education: the lady who was “once a beauty of magnificence unparalleled” nourished her complexion on genocide and slavery. Yet her beauty existed in the eyes of her children, especially her adopted, immigrant children.

（Conor Cruise O'Brien）

2） 拟人法虽然本质上是一种隐喻，但有两个特点：一是与人相联系，包括人特有的形象、动作、情感等，二是通常用动词、形容词、副词或副词性短语，利用这类具有动态或描述性的词语“移花接木”，达到借物喻人的目的，若用名词，则会变成了simile或metaphor。例如：

The little goat was so fussy that he often cried for wolf. — personification

The little goat was like the shepherd who often cried for wolf. — simile

The little goat became a shepherd who often cried for wolf. — metaphor

10.1B　Personification的使用

1） 利用拟人法借物寓情，把人的喜怒哀乐之情渗透到所描写的客观对象之中，从而起到烘托人物的作用。例如：

The youth were singing, laughing and playing the music instruments.The trees and flowers around them danced heartily as if touched by merry mood.

（Y. Miyashita）

The interview was over. Mary Thompson said good-bye to the manager, turned back and stepped out merrily and light-heartedly. The gate smiled after her and the sun stretched out her arms to greet her.

（J. Wooten）

The night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand at our fevered head, and turns our little tear-stained face up to hers, and, though she does not speak, we know that she would say and lay our hot, flushed cheek against her bosom and the pain is gone.

（Jerome K. Jerome）

2） 利用拟人法借物喻人，不论影射时政，或是鞭挞小人，皆可收到戏剧性的效果。例如：

There is a rowdy strain in American life, living close to the surface but running very deep. Like an ape behind a mask it can display itself suddenly with terrifying effect. It is slack-jawed, with leering eyes and loose, wet lips, with heavy feet and ponderous cunning hands; now and then when something tickles it, it guffaws, and when it is angry it snarls; and it can be aroused more easily than it can be quieted. Mike Fink and Yankee Doodle helped to father it, and Judge Lynch is one of its creations; and when it comes lumbering forth it can make the whole country step in time to its own irregular pulse beat.

（Bruce Catton）

Besides, the Kettle was aggravating and obstinate ... it wouldn't hear of accommodating itself kindly the knobs of coal; it would lean forward with a drunken air, and dribble, a very idiot of a kettle.

（Dickens）

3） 拟人法能使抽象的概念具体化，使之具有人的某种形貌、声音、性格、行为等。下述前三例皆涉及人生命运，十分感人；第四例讲社会变化，其中rank and fashion代表贵族，他们车轮滚滚到西区，trade代表新兴资产者，他们蹑手蹑脚，但迅速扩展地盘，完全把社会的变动形象化了。

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year!

（Milton）

Death feeds on his mute voice, and laughs at our despair.

（Shelley）

Ignominy, Want, Despair and Madness have, collectively or separately, been the attendants of my career.

（Dickens）

As London increased, however, rank and fashion rolled off to the west, and trade, creeping on at their heels, took possession of their deserted abodes.

（Washington Irving）

10.2　Zoosemy

10.2A　Zoosemy的含义与形式

1） Zoosemy译作“拟物法”，同拟人法相反，拟物法是把人当成物来描写，包括描写成动物、植物、无生命物、抽象概念等。例如：

“A lucky dog you are!” exclaimed Jim.

Terribly hungry, the man wolfed down all the cakes.

Children are flowers of our country.

She found in him model and admiration.

2） 拟物法在形式上同明喻、隐喻一样，唯内容局限于把人物化。试比较：

Ill-gotten wealth is like a palace built on the sand. — Simile

Ill-gotten wealth is a palace built on the sand. — Metaphor

Ill-gotten wealth is but an evil friend. — Personification

His spoilt children are （like） ill-gotten goods that'll never prosper. — Zoosemy

为此，有时同一个句子既可以说是用了拟物，也可以说是用了明喻或隐喻。

10.2B　Zoosemy的使用

1） 拟物法往往含褒义或贬义。前者突出美丽、忠贞、勇敢等优秀品质，表示敬仰、热爱等感情色彩。例如：

O, my love is like a red, red rose,

That's newly sprung in June.

O, my love is like the melody,

That's sweetly play'd in tune.

（Burns）

Like a lion he rushed to meet his foe.

（Homer）

Mr. Smith may serve as a good secretary, for he is as close as an oyster.

2） 表示贬义时，则是把人同低等或丑恶的东西相比，以示嘲弄、讽刺、鞭挞等。例如：

He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow.

（George Eliot）

That wretch who daily glides through the middle of the forum like a crested serpent, with curved fangs, poisonous glance, and fierce panting, looking about him on this side and that ....

（Patricia Bizzell）

She lives separate from her husband, and talks on platforms; so she's already singled out from the sheep, and, as far as I can see, hasn't much to lose.

（D. H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers）

3） 有时拟物法不带明显的感情色彩，只是为了更加生动、形象。例如：

He slept like a log.

They [prostitutes] are nothing but paper toys, played, ruined, torn, and thrown into the garbage can.

（NBC TV Debate, Feb. 9, 1993）

10.3　Onomatopoeia

10.3A　Onomatopoeia的含义与形式

1） Onomatopoeia译作“拟声法”，是模拟声音的一种构词方法（创造拟声词，参见5.2A），又是一种生动逼真的修辞手段。试比较：

a） The stream flows through the woods.

b） The stream is murmuring through the woods.

Dasi started laughing.

Dasi started giggling.

The door was pushed open.

The door crashed open.

Heavy rain drops fell on the tent.

Heavy rain drops began pitter-pattering on the tent.

上述A、B两组句子中，每对句子表示的意思相近，但由于B句都采用拟声法，即利用拟声词突出了人或物的动作声响，因而较为生动。

2） 拟声法在汉语中也很常见，汉语中也有大量的拟声词，例如上述B组各句都能在汉语中同样以拟声法表示：

小溪带着潺潺的流水声穿过树林。

戴西咯咯地笑了起来。

门砰地一声开了。

沉重的雨点啪哒啪哒地落到帐篷上。

3） 除了运用拟声词这一直接的基本形式外，还可巧妙地利用音韵的特殊组合取得某种拟声效果，达到拟声修辞目的（详见10.3B3）。

10.3B　Onomatopoeia的使用

1） 恰当地运用拟声词是拟声法的基本技巧。拟声词种类繁多，有的模拟人的声音，有的模拟动物的叫声，还有很多是模拟各种客观事物的声响。例如：

chortle（哈哈大笑），snigger（扑哧地笑），snore（呼噜声），mumble（咕咕噜噜说话声），cackle（母鸡下蛋后咯咯的叫声），baa（羊、小牛的咩咩声），clink（杯子的碰撞声），clank（金属撞击声），bump（重物碰撞声），crack（鞭炮等的响声），等等。有些声响类似，因而有些拟声词可以表示几种不同的声响，如bang（桌上敲击声，呯地关门声，枪炮声等），boom（隆隆的雷声、炮声、波涛澎湃声等），grumble（人嘟嘟囔囔的抱怨声，沉闷的雷声等）。

拟声词是一个开放性词类，作家可以利用原有拟声词，也可以根据情况需要创造出新的拟声词（参见5.2A）。

2） 通过拟声的连串使用，或者以拟声词为核心，伴以谐音、半谐音词，造成一种声音回响，从而达到扩大和增强拟声效果的目的。例如：

Tires booped and whoosed, the fenders queeled and graked, the steering wheel rose up like a spectre and disappeared in the direction of Franklin Avenue with a melancholy whistling sound, bolts and gadgets flew like sparks from a Catherine wheel.

（James Thurder）

上例中两对新创的拟声词连用，描绘汽车被撞的情景，使之如同发生在眼前，既看得明明白白，又听得清清楚楚。又如：

The traffic has just started, not yet a roar and a stink. One car at a time goes by, the tires humming almost like the sound of a brook a half mile down in the crease of a mountain I know — a sound that carries not because it is loud but because everything else is still.

（John Ciardi）

上例描写清晨偶尔有辆汽车在路上开过的情景，其中只有hum这个拟声词带来声响，但整段文章读下来似乎耳边既有来往汽车的嗡嗡声，却又不像白天马路上通常那样繁闹，这是由于上下文词语搭配得当，加上那个恰到好处的比喻。

3） 不使用拟声词，而是巧妙地利用音素组合创造所需要的音响效果。一般说来，/s/表示柔和的音响，如（蛇、沸水等的）嘶嘶声；/l/表示流畅、欢快的音响，如（小溪的）流水声等；/m/，/n/等表示郁闷、冗长的音响；/k/，/g/表示急促、尖锐的嗓音，等。元音也一样，长元音、双元音和三元音柔和、婉转，短元音急促、粗硬，等等。

下面的A、B两段文章都是描写一对恋人在河边行走的情景，其中A段连用拟声词，B段不用拟声词，但读来都有清晰的音响感：流水潺潺，和风飒飒，私语窃窃，近处情意绵绵，远方一片喧闹。

A） ... She looked at me with intensity. “It is the gift of the great,” she went on, and the sound of her low voice seemed to have the accompaniment of all other sounds, full of mystery, desolation, and sorrow, I have ever heard — the ripple of the river, the soughing of the trees swayed by the wind, the murmurs of the crowds, the faint ring of incomprehensible words cried from afar, the whisper of a voice speaking from beyond the threshold of an eternal darkness. “But you have heard him! You know!” she cried.

（Joseph Conrad）

B） Ursula and Anton Skrebensky walked along the ridge of the canal between. The berries on the hedges were crimson and bright red, above the leaves. The glow of evening and the wheeling of the solitary peewit and the faint cry of the birds came to meet the shuffling noise of the pits, the dark, fuming stress of the town opposite, and the two walked the blue strip of water-way, the ribbon of sky between.

（D. H. Lawrence）

练习十　（Exercise Ten）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Personification is in essence a kind of comparison, isn't it?

2. Do you know that the word zoosemy is derived from zoosemiotics, a word created by Thomas A. Sebeok in the year of 1965?

3. Can you cite an example to indicate how an English poet used personification in his or her poetry?

4. What effect can the figure of personification achieve in describing something abstract?

5. What other figures you have learned are similar to zoosemy?

6. Can you give examples to indicate how zoosemy is used to express certain favorable sense or unfavorable sense?

7. Can you tell some words that are formed like “cuckoo” to refer to a bird or animal or something that make that sound?

8. What other devices can you use to achieve the effect of onomatopoeia without using onomatopoeic words?

II. Identify the figures used in each of the following sentences:

1. “Well, the sight of me is good for sore eyes, as the Scotish say,” replied Steerforth, “and so is the sight of you, Daisy, in full bloom.”

（Dickens）

2. The handsome houses on the street to the college were not fully awake, but they looked very friendly.

（Lionel Trilling）

3. Rent a toot or buy a tweet, boom, zing, twant, tinkle, hum or plink.

（Lionel Trilling）

4. Ignominy, Want, Despair and Madness have, collectively or separately, been the attendants of my career.

（Dickens）

5. Freedom blushed for shame.

Justice lamented the deed.

King of the jungle, the lion strode across the plain.

How rarely Reason guides the stubborn choice.

（Samual Johnson）

6. Wherefore, Bees of England, forge

Many a weapon, chain, and scourge

That these stingless drones may spoil

The forced produce of your toil?

（P. B. Shelley）

7. “Hold him by the nose, dearie, then he'll splutter and wake up.”

（转引自张培基）

8. ... The place presents itself as pathetic fallacy: the sky “broods,” the stones “weep,” a constant seepage of water weighting the ferns and moss. The foliage is thick and slick with moisture. The only sound is a steady buzz, I believe of cicadas.

（Joan Didion）

III. Read the following passages and the questions, and then determine whether each answer in brackets is true （T） or false （F）.

Personification means referring to inanimate things or abstractions as if they were human. Personification is really a special kind of metaphor. At its simplest it consists of using personal pronouns for objects, as when sailors speak of their ship as “she”.

Personification can be more subtle. Thus Washington Irving personifies the social changes in a London neighborhood:

As London increased, however, rank and fashion rolled off to the west, and trade, creeping on at their heels took possession of their deserted abodes.

“Rank” and “fashion” are abstractions personifying aristocratic Londoners, “trade” an abstraction signifying the merchant class. These abstractions behave in the manner of the beings they personify, “rolling off” elegantly （in carriages） and “creeping” in with the deference of inferiors.

The purpose of personification — like that of metaphor generally — is to explain, to expand, to vivify. The following figure implies, in only eight words, a great deal about the relationship between ambition and greed:

Ambition is but Avarice on stilts and masked.

Personification can help one make his point with extraordinary emphasis, which has the additional advantage of bringing a topic into a human and social relationship to the reader. Skillfully employed, personification is one of the most dramatic of all figures of speech.

Opposite to personification is zoosemy in which names of animals are metaphorically used to denote human qualities, as in “You're shedding crocodile tears”, which means “You're shedding insincere tears”.

Onomatopoeic words are those that are formed by directly imitating sounds, including those produced by metals （clang, clank, clash, ding-dong, jangle, tick-tack, ting, tinkle, etc.）, those produced by water or other liquids （bubble, drip-drop, sizz, sizzle, splash, splish-splosh, etc.）, those produced by various animals （coo, hiss, moo, miao, screech, etc.）, those produced by human beings （chatter, chuckle, grumble, grunt, gurgle, mumble, murmur, shriek, smack, sneeze, snigger, snort, sputter, whisper, whoop, etc.）, etc.

Questions:

1. What figure of speech is it when sailors call their ship “she”?

（Personification.）

2. What does the word “trade” refer to in Washington Irving's description of London?

（The merchant class.）

3. Is it advisable to use “rolling off” for “trade” and “creeping” for “rank and fashion”?

（Yes, it is.）

4. What's the general purpose of using personification?

（To explain, to expand and to vivify.）

5. What is the advantage of using personification?

（It can bring a topic into a human and social relationship to the reader, and make one's speech or writing more vivid, more impressive, and less effective.）

6. Can you cite an example of zoosemy?

（Yes. For example, “The bad guy is shedding crocodile tears.”）

7. How are onomatopoeic words formed?

（They are formed by directly imitating sounds.）

8. Is there anything similar in personification and zoosemy?

（No, but they are in essence metaphors.）

IV. Tell what kind of figurative language you find in each of the following, and tell if they are properly used:

1. It was a long head, bony, tight of skin, and set on a neck as stringy and muscular as a celery stalk.

（Steinbeck）

2. He thought he had a key to the problem, but he found he did not get to the heart of it.

（M. E. Adelstein）

3. Her hands trembled among the hooks and eyes, and her eyes had a feverish look, and her hair swirled crisp and crackling under the comb.

（W. Faulkner）

4. You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. ‘Sblood, do you think that I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.

（Shakespeare）

5. A little while later, the ice accepted the moonlight. The tip of the moon's upper limb was actually shining through miles and miles of piled-up ice! The light rays glittered, splintered, and slithered at odd angles, flashing right across the horizon. Then, slowly, the moon showed herself, her light shining horizontally over the cluttered masses of ice, casting long shadows.

（Tristan Jones）

6. The rangy dog darted from between the wheels and ran ahead. Instantly two ranch shepherds flew out at him. Then all three stopped and with stiff quivering tails, with taut straight legs, with ambassadorial dignity, they slowly circled, sniffing daintily.

（J. Steinbeck）

7. Oak sighed a deep honest sigh — none the less so in that, being like the sigh of a pine plantation, it was rather noticeable as a disturbance of the atmosphere.

（T. Hardy）

8. And now, if I had time and room to describe the state of men's fair, in the country through which I have passed, I should show, that the people at Westminster would have known how to turn paradise itself into hell.

（Cobbett）

9. The crowd began to hiss and boo him for his unsportsmanlike conduct, but he sat unmoved. Another great outburst of applause was Danny's as he walked back across the ring. When Danny stirred, there were ohs! and ahs! of delight.

（J. London）

第十一章　IRONY, PARADOX, OXYMORON, INNUENDO, SARCASM

11.1　Irony

11.1A　Irony的含义与形式

1） Irony译作“反语”，一般指用同本意相反的词语表示本意。例如明明天气不好，却故意说：

It's a nice, pleasant sort of weather indeed!

又如英语中的Gotham是有名的愚人村，却故意说：

They are almost as wise as the wise men of Gotham.

2） 英语中的反语可分为三种类型：

第一种叫Verbal irony，指说话人利用词汇、语法手段表示明显的反意，例如：

It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one's pocket.

I stayed in the hospital ten days with my sister who was dying. Barbara, my ex-best friend, came to my house to look after my children. She helped things out and took my things out. She did help!

（CNN, Dec. 1993）

第二种叫Circumstantial irony，也叫Irony of fate，指由于事态的发展同某人原来的意料或期待相反而造成的一种嘲弄。例如在Kate Chopin的短篇小说The Story of an Hour中，Mallard太太得知丈夫因车祸去世的消息时表面上一阵号哭，心底里却暗自高兴，她早就盼望的一天来到了，不禁低声对自己说：“Free! Body and soul free!”但当她暗自得意时，丈夫突然出现在门口！原来他大难不死，安然回家，而Mallard太太却由于这突如其来的刺激而心脏病发作，不治身亡，这是否算命运多舛？

第三种叫Dramatic irony，它同上面第二种密切相关，区别在于它往往指作者对Irony of fate叙述中带总结性的画龙点睛之笔，突出戏剧性的转变，如Kate Chopin在上面那个故事结尾时写道：

When the doctors came, they said she had died of heart disease — of joy that kills.

句中的joy语义双关：医生们以为她是由于看到丈夫生还后欣喜至极，以致引发心脏病；故事的读者则不难看到事情正好相反——她是乐极生悲，是由于庆幸丈夫去世过分激动了，结果又事与愿违，受到突然刺激而猝死的。

Dramatic irony也指作家利用上下文或特定的历史背景暗示某段话所表示的是反义，这种反语较为含蓄。例如下例中的“西方的良心”就是反话，因为以色列人从西方大国在1973年阿以冲突中的所作所为中发现，他们的一切言行实际上都是从维护自己的利益出发的，因而有种“痛心疾首”之感：

In the October 1973 war，Israel ... also suffered an acute understanding of the “conscience of the west” under oil pressure.

11.1B　Irony的使用

反语是一种很常用的修辞手法，但使用中应掌握分寸，即不可滥用，让别人难以接受，又不宜过于隐晦，使人家难以明白你的真正意思。在使用反语时，必须处理好反语的线索（Clue），这也是我们分析和理解反语的钥匙。

反语线索主要表现为3个特点：

1） 形式与内容之间不协调，或辞面意义和辞里含义之间形成反差。例如：

Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.

（H. L. Mencken）

上面这个句子以严肃、庄重的措辞开头，俨然是道德家或牧师说教布道，但所论及的内容却根本不搭界，这就是形式与内容之间的矛盾，也是反语的线索，例如：

“Every time we trusted Democrats,” says House Republican Whip Newt Gingrich, “they cheated.” Such kindergarden compliments were happily returned.

（Gloria Barger）

这里的反语生动刻画了共和党和民主党议员们争吵程度之激烈和用词之尖刻。字面上似乎在“愉快地回报赞美”，实际上却是“猛烈抨击无稽之谈”。

2） 口气与内容之间的反衬，著名英国讽刺作家Jonathan Swift的名篇A Modest Proposal就是这样的一个范例。作者开头以郑重的口气从关系国家存亡的高度提出解决爱尔兰问题的“建议”：为了解决粮食不足和人口过多的双重难题，对那些穷人的小孩除“留种”者以外，应一律出售给富人家做“美味佳肴”。该“建议”说道：

... a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.

作者以“漫不经心”的口吻把这样一个充满血腥味的“建议”说得冠冕堂皇，正是为了对处于统治地位那些道貌岸然的衣冠禽兽进行无情的揭露和讽刺。

下例也是以淡然的口气提出严峻的社会主题：

By midmorning a forty-one-year-old teacher had been shot dead, with his security card in hand, and another teacher struck by two nine-millimeter bullets, was extraordinarily lucky to be alive. Two others narrowly escaped Nicholas Elliot's bullets.

The Atlantic杂志的这篇文章是有关一名中学生在学校拔出手枪打老师的报道，试想事情发生在学校，大白天，在每个人都有Social Security Card的美国，其严重性怎能用文字表达？于是作者干脆反其道而行之，以幽默的笔调“轻描淡写”，这样，却能更好地引起读者反思，唤起人们对美国严重社会问题的注意。

3） 词语的异常搭配或突降、双关等辞格的出现都可能是反语的标志，例如：

Heark ye, Clinker, you are a most notorious offender — you stand convicted of sickness, hunger, wretchedness, and want.

（Tobias Smollett）

动词短语“Stand convicted of”系法律用语，意为“犯有……罪”，但句中这个短语后面跟着的却不是什么罪行，而是一连串表示饥饿、贫困和不幸的词语，作者采用这种不同于常规的词语组合，意在嘲笑不合理的法律观念，为穷人鸣不平。又如：

He （Henry Ford） announced to the press that he'd turn over his war profits to the government.

But there's no record that he ever did.

（John Dos Passos）

俗话讽刺有的人讲空话“只听楼梯响，未见人下楼”，这位先生做得更绝，他居然通过新闻媒介夸下海口，收买人心，而行动呢？一点没有，从语言结构上看，这是一种突降，而且从but分句另起一段，用意是增强突降力度，产生强烈的反语讽刺效果。又如：

First Gentleman: Thou art always figuring disease in me, but thou art full of error, I am sound.

Lucio: Nay, not as one would say, healthy; but so sound as things that are hollow; impety has made a feast thee.

（W. Shakespeare）

这里“sound”一词语义双关；前者表示自己身体结实（响当当），后者反其意思而用之，说他那个酒色之徒身体极为虚亏（像空心的东西那样一碰就当当响），这是利用双关讲反语的一个好范例。

11.2　Irony的几种变异形式

11.2A　Paradox

汉语里称这一辞格为“反论”，“逆论”，即乍听似乎荒唐而实际上却有道理的某种说法，故有人称之为“翻筋斗的真理”。例如：

More haste, less speed.

Paradoxically （enough）, the faster he tried to finish, the longer it seemed to take him.

In fact, it appears that the teachers of English teach English so poorly largely because they teach grammar so well.

（W. Johnson）

这里需要说明，对我们中国学生来说，英语语法还是需要学的，只是不应该把语法条条扣得太细太死，或机械地“以语法为纲”，因为那样的确不利于英语学习。

11.2B　Oxymoron

1） 汉语称此辞格为“矛盾修饰法”，例如cruel kindness, bitter-sweet memories等，修饰成分与被修饰成分之间或修饰成分内部看起来有矛盾，实则相反相成。

2） 矛盾修饰结构主要有以下5种形式：

Adj.+N.

creative destruction, living death, tearful joy, etc.

Adj.+Adj.

cold pleasant manner, sour-sweet days, poor rich guys, etc.

Adv.+Adj.

dully bright, mercifully fatal, falsely true, etc.

V.+Adv.

hasten slowly （=make haste slowly）, shine darkly, groan loudly, etc.

N.+N.

love-hate relationship, the sound of silence, etc.

11.2C　Innuendo

汉语称“暗讽”是用婉转的口气讲反话。例如：

— Have you finished my book yet?

— Sorry, I stopped at page 412, with 407 pages to go.

答话人表示已读了412页，但不想再读下去了。又如：

— It's rather cold today, isn't it?

— But the weatherman said it would be warm. He must take his readings in a bathroom.

说话人是笑气象员的预报不准确。

11.2D　Sarcasm

1） 同Innuendo相反，Sarcasm是指尖刻的挖苦，甚至是严厉的叱责，汉语中称作“讽刺”、“讥讽”、“挖苦”，等，常常是单刀直入，不留情面地以反话指责别人，使人家在感情上受到刺激甚至伤害。例如：

When children call a boy “Four Eyes” because he wears glasses, they are speaking in sarcasm.

“How unselfish you are!” said Ellen in sarcasm as her sister took the biggest piece of cake.

（Liang Shin-chiu）

2） Sarcasm和Irony, Satire同义，区别在于：Sarcasm的特点是尖刻，往往蓄意中伤或讥讽，Irony的特点是幽默或俏皮，故意使用同本意相反的说法，必须靠其语调或笔调表示真意；Satire可用来泛指Irony, Sarcasm等，其特点是用来讽刺社会现象或一些人，不像sarcasm那样指个人。试比较：

（A） Irony

In the novel Vanity Fair, W. M. Thackeray comments of a “good woman” that “those who know a really good woman are aware that she is not in a hurry to forgive, and that the humiliation of an enemy is a triumph to her soul.”

（B） Satires

A Kid being mounted on the roof of a lofty house, and seeing a Wolf pass below, began to revile him. The Wolf merely stopped to reply: “Oh, my brave friend, it is not you who revile me, but the place on which you are standing.”

（Aesop's Fables）

（C） Sarcasm

In the evening the poor wounded boy was taken to that experienced doctor, who by applying some poisonous concoction of crushed leaves to his left eye, succeeded in blinding him!

练习十一　（Exercise Eleven）

I. Preview Questions:

1. What are the three types of Irony?

2. Why is it said that Paradox implies some “truth which has turned a somersault”?

3. Can you tell the five common constructions of Oxymoron with examples?

4. Which is stronger and more direct between Innuendo and Sarcasm?

5. Irony, Sarcasm and Satire can be regarded as synonyms; each one of them, however, has something different from another either in meaning or usage. Do you agree with this statement?

6. Can you analyse the clue in an Irony with an example?

II. Identify the figure used in each sentence:

1. While in bed, she called to mind all the sour-sweet days.

2. That man's as practical as Don Quixote.

3. — Have you finished my book yet?

— Sorry, I stopped at page 412, with 407 pages to go.

4. At eleven, she enjoyed the fright of reading Dracula.

5. How great you are to lord it over a small nation!

6. The child is father to the man.

III. Read the following and then decide whether each of the statements is true （T） or false （F）:

Irony is using words in a sense very different from their usual meaning, often, in fact, the very reverse of it. The simplest form occurs when a term is given its opposite meaning. Here, for example, a historian describes a party at the court of the English King James I:

Later the company flocked to the windows to look into the palace courtyard below. Here a vast company had already assembled to watch the King's bears fight with greyhounds, and mastiffs bait a tethered bull. These delights were succeeded by tumblers on tightropes and displays of horsemanship.

（C. P.V. Akrigg）

By “delights” we are expected to understand “abominations,” “detestable acts of cruelty.”

In subtler forms irony plays more lightly over words, pervading an entire passage rather than twisting any single term into its opposite. An instance occurs in this sentence （the writer is commenting upon the decline of the medieval Knight at Arms）:

In our end of time the chevalier has become a Knight of Pythias, or Columbus, or the Temple, who solemnly girds on sword and armor to march past his own drugstore.

（Morris Bishop）

None of Bishop's words means its reverse. Indeed the whole sentence is to be read literally. Still, Bishop intends us to smile at modern men playing at knighthood. The irony is found in the fact that some of the words ought not to be taken literally. A twentieth-century business man ought not to “solemnly gird on sword and armor,” unconscious of the disparity between romantic ideals and modern life.

Disparity is the common denominator in both these examples of irony: the difference between the ideal and the actual, between what we profess and what we do, between what we expect and what we get. In stressing such disparities, irony is fundamentally different from simile and metaphor, which build upon similarity. The whole point of irony is that things are not what they seem or what they should be or what we want them to be. They are different.

Irony reveals these differences in several ways. One is by using words in a double sense （“delights”）, making them signify both the ideal and the actual. Another is by setting side by side contrasting images of what could be （or once was） and what is （the chevalier girding on his sword and the neighborhood druggist）. Either way, we are made conscious of the gap between “ought” and “is”: people ought to treat dumb animals kindly, for instance; they do take pleasure in sadism.

Writers using irony must be reasonably sure that readers will understand the special sense in which they use their language. Sometimes the ironist depends upon the general knowledge and attitudes of the audience. Akrigg's ironic use of “delights” is successful because modern readers know that such amusements are not delightful. Here is another example of irony that is played off against the reader's values and expectations:

Proud as a peacock, NBC announced an uplifting afternoon of sports programming. “In Chicago,” the press release read, “six night club strong men compete for the title of ‘America's Toughest Bouncer’ as they throw a 110-pound stuntman for distance and accuracy, and run an obstacle course by leaping a bar and threading through a maze of chairs and tables to crash through a door.”

Supplementing this cultural offering was a chug-a-lug drinking contest, a tug-of-war between Teamsters and Longshoremen and a field-gunnery meet in which teams of the Royal navy in England race against the clock to dismantle a cannot, reassemble it and fire it three times.

（Melvin Durslag）

Durslag does not label the words “uplifting” and “cultural offering” as ironic. He depends upon his readers knowing that tossing a human being “for distance and accuracy” is not an uplifting cultural event. And he assumes-properly — that they will recognize the allusion to NBC's promotional slogan （“Proud as a peacock.”） and understand the irony.

Statements:

1. Irony differs from simile and metaphor by building upon similarities.

2. Irony usually contains the difference between the ideal and the actual, between what we profess and what we do, between what we expect and what we get.

3. “The press” in Durslag's passage is an example of Metonymy, referring to newspapers and magazines in general.

4. In Akrigg's description, “these delights” are in ironical sense, which are “not what they seem or what they should be or what we want them to be”.

5. According to Bishop, it is something ironical for modern people to “solemnly gird on sword and armor.”

6. The words “uplifting” and “cultural offering” are not ironic in Durslag's writing.

7. If you want to express your idea in an ironical way, you should see that your reader（s） understand the special sense of your wording, especially in written form where you can't resort to the help from intonations, gestures or facial expressions.

第十二章　HYPERBOLE, UNDERSTATEMENT, EUPHEMISM

12.1　Hyperbole

12.1A　Hyperbole的含义与形式

1） 运用丰富的想象，在数量、形状或程度上加以渲染以增强表达效果，就是Hyperbole，汉语叫做“夸张”辞格。试比较：

一般表达方式

夸张说法

Thank you. / Thanks.

Thanks a million.

John is a good second baseman.

John is the greatest second baseman in the world.

They laughed heartily.

They almost died laughing.

When she smiled, other people were all gay.

Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay.

I'm hungry.

I'm starving!

2） 夸张的形式灵活多样，最基本的是下述两种：

一是用语法上的比较级、最高级结构或表示极端意义的词语。例如：

From his mouth flowed speech sweeter than honey.

So great was his splendor in arms that the sun's brilliance seemed dim by comparison.

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Mark Twain's description of a tree after an ice storm：

... it stands there the acme, the climax, the supremest possibility in art or nature, of bewildering, intoxicating, intolerable magnificence. One cannot make the words strong enough.

二是用数量或程度上大得多或小得多的词语。例如：

The two sisters are different in a thousand and one ways.

（On the New England weather） In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours.

（Mark Twain）

12.1B　Hyperbole的使用

1） 夸张是一种生动有力的强调形式，能给读者/听者造成深刻的形象或声响概念，因而在文学作品和日常生活中都很常见。例如：

For she was beautiful — her beauty made

The bright world dim, and everything beside

Seemed like the fleeting image of a shade.

雪莱的这些诗句同汉语中“沉鱼落雁之姿，闭月羞花之貌”异曲同工，通过夸张，使诗意极浓，形象极美。又如：

“... A shot from our front trench struck me in the head .... Had it penetrated to the brain I might never have sat on another Royal Commission. Fortunately we have strong heads, we Highcastles. Nothing has ever penetrated to our brains.”

萧伯纳的讽刺喜剧Augustus Does His Bit中的主人公是皇族的代言人。他吹嘘自己家族的脑袋“硬”，子弹也难以穿透。这正如汉语中的“花岗岩脑袋”，是夸张，又是反语，把封建统治者愚蠢而顽固的本质揭露得淋漓尽致。又如：

The Keebler Elves have baked up the lightest, crispest snacks ever to be called crackers, These extra thin bite-size crackers are rippled with zesty seasonings and crunch just like your favorite chips, but they're baked, not fried. They're the perfect snack for munching by the handful.

这是美国一种薄脆饼干Munch'ems的包装盒说明，其中一再使用形容词最高级结构和extra thin, the perfect等表示极端含义的词语，极尽夸张之能事，顾客见了于是都想买盒尝尝。夸张是广告类语言的一个显著特色。

2） 夸张法具有长时期的使用历史，至今仍然得到广泛使用。注意使用时应掌握分寸，不要夸张过分，否则效果会适得其反。例如：

- Football is the most magnificent sport ever developed by the mind of man. It tests physical skill, stamina, courage, and intelligence more thoroughly than any other human activity.

- One shudders to think what the world would have been like had Shakespeare never written The Tempest.

- Only here can you have such jeans of the best quality and the lowest price at downtown!

像上面这样的夸张只会让人发笑，因为即使足球爱好者也不会像这样夸赞足球，而The Tempest虽然是部伟大的剧作，但也不可言过其实。现在有些广告过分夸张，人们一看就腻，以致宣传效果大打折扣，至于那些产品本身不够好，却一味瞎吹，就根本是糟蹋了夸张法。

12.2　Understatement

12.2A　Understatement的含义与形式

Understatement，汉语称之为“低调陈述”，也叫“含蓄陈述”，是与夸张法对应的一种辞格。其表现形式主要有两种：

1） 以反说代替正说，即通常以否定形式表示肯定的内容。这种形式也叫“曲言法”（Litotes）。例如：

That's no laughing matter.

试比较：That's a serious matter.

She was not without ambition.

试比较：She was quite ambitious.

This boy was undoubtedly a difficult pupil, for he had a strong independent mind, and was impatient of accepted rules and conventions.

试比较：... mind, and hated / disliked ...

2） 以弱说代替强说，即用形容词或副词比较级或用程度副词（如：almost, hardly, kind of, rather, scarcely, something of, sort of, 等）减弱语气。这种形式也叫“弱陈法”（Meiosis）。以下两例分别摘自电视台记者同一位观众的对话和一篇体育述评：

（a） TV Reporter: Do you think all the programs are good?

One of the audience: Well, some are interesting, some could be better, and some are almost sort of rubbish.

（b） During last year's Central Park Bicycle Race, five of the racers were attacked and had their bikes stolen while the race was in progress. This is something of a handicap in bicycle race.

（Caskie Stinnett）

12.2B　Understatement的使用

1） 低调陈述不像夸张法那样夸大其词，而是正话反说，重话轻说，含蓄内敛，形式上迂回，其目的同样在于增强语言力度，提高表达效果。例如：

It's great being with my sister and my friend, Ann. I'm a real tourist now, and things here are the finest of the world: Food I've never tasted, scenery one could hardly tear themselves away, and music even Beethoven would admire ... It's by no means not a pity, however, that you're not with us!

（Laura's letter）

信中使用一连串夸张词语之后，突然笔锋一转，来个低调陈述，其强调效果更为突出了。

2） 由于低调陈述的语气婉转，人们在表示态度、提出看法时显得灵活和留有余地。例如：

Sorry, this is in fact more than I can promise.

若直说“I can't promise.”，虽然干脆利落，但会给对方造成不必要的刺激。又如：

This piece of work is nothing to be proud of.

若直说“It is disgraceful.”，就会显得粗了些，不易被别人接受。又如：

If this regime is out of power, no tear is to be shed.

这是外交辞令，若直说“We expect this regime to be out of power.”，就有失风度了。

3） 低调陈述具有很强的讽刺和幽默功能。有时客观事实骇人听闻，其恐怖程度难以用文字表达，于是作家使用低调陈述法，尽量以简明、直叙的笔法向读者展现那触目惊心的事件，或以“黑色幽默”形式进行揭露和控诉。这里的“低调陈述”和前面11.1B所讲的“反语使用”是相通的。例如：

（a） They shot the cabinet ministers at half-past-six in the morning against the wall of the hospital. There were pools of water in the courtyard. There were wet dead leaves on the paving of the courtyard. It rained hard. All the shutters of the hospital were nailed shut. One of the ministers was sick with typhoid. Two soldiers carried him downstairs and out into the rain. They tried to hold him up against the wall but he sat down in a puddle of water. The other five stood very quietly against the wall. Finally the officer told the soldiers it was no good trying to make him stand up. When they fired the first volley he was sitting down in the water with his head on his knees.

（Ernest Hemingway）

（b） Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how it altered her appearance for the worse.

（Jonathan Swift）

值得一提的是，据说曾有人认为上述作者“残酷”和“缺乏同情心”，实际上是由于粗浅的读者只停留在文字表面，没有读进去，因而产生了误会。然而，这也告诉我们，在使用低调陈述时，应把文章的内容和对象考虑进去，力求使这种修辞技巧发挥预期的作用。

12.3　Euphemism

12.3A　Euphemism的含义与形式

1） Euphemism一词源于希腊语，eu是前缀，意思是“好”，phemism的意思是“说法”，合起来就是说“好听的话”、“吉利话”，汉语称之为“委婉语”，即使用语气较温和、含义较雅致或含糊的表达方式代替粗俗、生硬、直露的说法。例如不直接说某人“死了”（died），而讲“去世了”（passed away），不直接讲“上厕所”（go to the lavatory），而说“去洗手间”（go to the bathroom），等。

2） 委婉语的形式多种多样，可从不同角度去分析归纳。这里仅从读音、构词、语法和变通表达几个方面简要地加以说明。

从读音方面看，laboratory的重音后移被认为是一个典型的例子：原来重读在第一个音节，同lavatory的读音相近，为了避免不愉快的误会或联想，就把重读后移一个音节。又如根据读音规则，特殊疑问句（如Where are you going?）句末不用升调，而应用降调，但人们为了客气，如不改变句型时就往往改用低升调，对方听了感到较亲切和有礼貌。

构词方面，缩略是常见形式，如ladies（代ladies' Room），W. C.（代water closet），out （out of work）, lav （lavatory）, G-man （garbageman）, BM （bowel movement）。

语法方面，过去时（或过去进行时）、否定式、情态词would / should等都可构成委婉形式。例如：

I wondered / I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes to go over my abstract.

I don't think that it is his idea. （Don't say: I think that it is not his idea.）

I would like / I'd like to hear your views.

There's something I'd advise you to consider in the program.

“变通表达”（Tactful expression）是委婉语的一种最常见的形式，实际上只要适应场合需要，有时美化，有时淡化，都是使用某种委婉形式。例如：

为了满足乘客的尊严感，一些航空公司改变机舱等级的称谓：一等舱（First Class）改称豪华舱（Deluxe Class或 Premium Class），二等舱（Second Class）改称头等舱、商务舱（Business Class），三等舱改称经济舱（Economic Class）或旅游舱（Tourist Class），这样一来，似乎所有乘客（尤其坐三等舱者）的地位和待遇都上升一级，皆大欢喜。

同样，为了照顾人们的尊严，对一些反面的人和事不直接说出，而使用较为含糊的词语加以淡化。例如，学校教师不直接讲某学生“愚钝”（stupid, obtuse），而讲他“反应较慢”（He a bit slow for his age）；某人犯法让警察抓进去了，也不直接说，而讲得含糊其辞：

Paul did something, and the police ... well, now he's staying at the correctional center.

句中correctional center是prison的代名词，to do something是个抽象词语，类似的还有it, the thing, the problem，等。除抽象词语外，一些外来语以及Synecdoche, Understatement等辞格都可用来构成委婉表达。

12.3B　Euphemism的使用

英语中的委婉语是经过长期使用的传统辞格，同时又是一个不断发展变化的开放性辞格，为此，注意把握传统性与开放性的关系是恰当使用这个辞格的关键。

1） 所谓传统性，首先表现在委婉语的使用范围，它主要是避免使用那些忌讳语（Taboo words），如对人的生、老、病、死等不直讲，而采用较为含糊、婉转的表达方式，如用to be expecting代替pregnant，用to be stout（指男）或plump（指女）代替fat，用heart condition代替heart attack，用social disease代替venereal disease，用to be elderly或senior代替old，用pass away / be no more / depart代替die，用cemetery / memorial park / memory garden代替graveyard；用make love with / go to bed with代替have sex with，等。

委婉语的开放性则表现在其使用范围大大突破了传统的忌讳语，如前面讲到的“变通表达”出现在社会生活的各个方面，出现了各行各业的礼貌语言。

2） 委婉语的传统性表现在其使用目的上，就是前面讲到的避讳和礼貌两个方面，而其开放性则表现在使用目的上的多样化，并引出了种种利用委婉语应付情面和满足自尊心理以及谋取不正当利益的消极倾向。在社会职业称呼上，把maid / housekeeper称为domestic help / day help / live in help诚然人性化一些，把prostitute称之为sex worker也似无不可，但若过分拔高，一般服务员也升级service manager，甚至butcher也称为meat technologist, garbage collector也成了sanitation engineer或solid waste ecologist，就未免太过头了。商人利用委婉语招徕生意，pawnshop换上了loan office的招牌，过去的secondhand store变成了resale store, “super”, “giant”, “special”字样满天飞，大多是新瓶旧酒，只名目悦耳罢了。政客们走得最远，他们不仅自己摇身一变，由politician成了legislator，而且肆意利用委婉语达到不可告人的目的，如为了掩饰社会矛盾，否认poor的存在，只讲disadvantaged / underprivileged，贫民窟也由slum变成了substandard housing / depressed areas / special areas；美国的海外驻军U. S. overseas military deployment名声不好，就用American presence代之，还用pacification代替war，用liberate代替capture，明明是入侵（invasion），却说成是“先发制人的行动”（pre-emptive action），等等，这就不仅远离了委婉语的本来宗旨，而是借此形式进行欺骗宣传和强词夺理了。

3） 委婉语有约定俗成、相对固定的表达方式。例如大小便不好直讲，就出现了一系列说法： I have to pay a call / I'd like to be excused / I have to retire for a moment / Where's the restroom? / May I wash hands？等等。据说有次一个随团旅游的女士别出心裁地生造了一个说法：“May I go somewhere？”导游未能领会其意，便信口答道：“Sorry, you can't now. We've got to stay together here for a break.”弄得女士十分尴尬。

虽然随意生造委婉语违反了传统要求，但另一个方面，委婉语的特点又正是推陈出新，不断有新的说法出现，或有几种不同的说法可以选择。对于这种情况，需要从两个方面加以注意：

从横向看，首先要注意不同国家可能有不同的委婉表达方式。例如同美国朋友谈到1993年是鸡年这个话题，就要用rooster一词。美国发行的1993年鸡年邮票上的图案是公鸡，文字是“The lunar calender in 1993 is symbolised by the rooster.”为什么不用cock?因为cock，还有ass, bull等都是美国人的忌讳词，而要分别用rooster, donkey, ox取代。此外，还要注意到同一词语具有多义时，要提防贬义有可能造成的不好联想。例如：to be intimate with somebody通常表示“跟某人亲近”、“关系密切”等一般含义，但intimacy也可能指不正当的男女关系，特别是美国电视上公布了“Jack is intimate with one of his twin daughters”事件之后，这个词语的贬义突出了，表示其他含义的功能受到削弱，甚至会被排斥掉，为此人们在谈及男女之间的正常交往时会尽量避免用它。

从纵向看，不同的委婉语往往带有不同时代的烙印。据说在英国维多利亚女王时代，人体胸部以下的名称都在忌讳之列，breast和leg都不能讲，于是就有以white（或light） meat和black （或dark） meat分别表示餐桌上的chicken breast和chicken leg这类当时使用的委婉语。17世纪英语中曾用occupy作为have sex的委婉语，但早已不再用，相反，两性关系的禁忌逐渐解除，西方的电视辩论中直接讲have sex with，连十几岁的小女孩也当众承认“I've slept with him and got pregnant”，而用不着expecting或in the family way了。由于反对性别歧视运动的影响，近几十年来带有男性标记的词语渐有被中性词语取代的趋势：一种情况是出现了一些新词，如wo/man代替woman and man（男人和女人），chairperson代替chairman（主席），supervisor代替foreman（领班），Member of Congress代替Congressman（国会议员），homemaker代替housewife（主妇），flight attendant代替airline hostess（航班服务员）；另一种情况是使用中性的代词或冠词指代或照应通性名词，如用（s）he取代he和she，用the代替his来确指像the teacher，the listener等可男可女的名词等等。

上世纪初叶，由于劳资关系紧张，又出现了industrial relation（劳资关系）和industrial dispute（劳资争端）这样的委婉语，分别取代relations between labour and capital, labour-capital relations, employee-employer relations, labour-management relations和dispute between labour and management等。美国在“越战”时期曾用pacification代替bombing，burning和imprisonment；海湾战争以来又出现了air operation, ground operation这类表示空中打击和地面战争的代用语，甚至把civilian casualties（平民伤亡）也说成是collateral damage（附带损伤），等等。显然这类委婉语都具有欺骗性，值得我们注意。

练习十二　（Exercise Twelve）

I. Preview Questions:

1. What synonym can you use for “Hyperbole”?

2. What constructions can you usually use for Hyperbole?

3. Is it true that Hyperbole is always describing something much bigger / greater than it actually is?

4. Which figure of speech can be regarded as one in opposition to Hyperbole?

5. Does Understatement include two chief forms called “Litotes” and “Meiosis”?

6. Can you give an example to indicate how tactful it is to express one's attitude by Understatement?

7. What is the basic meaning of “euphemism”?

8. What grammatical structures can you use as forms of Euphemism?

9. Can you give examples of “tactful expressions”?

10. What kind of Euphemism should we keep close watch on so as not to be deceived?

II. Rewrite the following sentences by turning ordinary expressions into emphatic forms or vice versa:

1. We produce good shoes for all marathon runners.

2. The two brothers are quite different.

3. I haven't seen you for a long time.

4. The cost mounted to very great figures.

5. The professor has a good knowledge of the ancient Greek culture.

6. Such a thing will be the last I can do.

7. I didn't like to see him at all.

8. In short, as I accepted the rising of the sun, I accepted that up above me was all that was fine and noble and gracious, all that gave decency and dignity to life, all that made life worth living and that enumerated one for his travail and misery.

III. Rewrite the following by using Understatement or Euphemism:

1. I think she will not come because she has been pregnant for about five months.

2. They were greatly surprised at the outcome.

3. It's rather difficult to restore peace in that area.

4. He has three good friends: One is a mailman, another fireman and the third policeman.

5. Sorry, I simply can't promise.

6. His father died last week and is going to be buried next Sunday.

7. Do you know which bus I should take to the natural museum?

8. The lunar calendar in 1995 is symbolized by the pig.

IV. Read the following and then determine whether each of the statements is true （T） or false （F）.

Euphemism — words with overly favorable connotations — are often used to conceal what might be offensive or disturbing. The word prison is being replaced by penal institution and correctional facility, suggesting places less harsh and dehumanizing than those in which we actually incarcerate violators of the law. Another social problem is being made less poignant because the words indigent, inner-city, and low-income are commonly substituted for poor, a term with more explicit connotations. And we no longer have poor children; they are disadvantaged, underprivileged, or culturally deprived.

Euphemism, or “language pollution,” or “doublespeak,” as some call it, is often intended to obscure or hide the real situation. Bureaucrats are especially skillful in selecting terms with inoffensive connotations, as was evident in the Watergate affair: the Watergate defendants' perjury and destruction of evidence were referred to as stonewalling; their unethical procedures as game plans. Government officials are not the only ones at fault. Big business no longer lays off workers, it furloughs them. And labor engages in work stoppages, not strikes.

Occasionally, but only occasionally, language pollution is reversed, the offensive terms replacing the more polite ones. More newspapers now report that women are raped instead of criminally assaulted, a word substitution that may contribute to greater public concern about this offense. Similarly, syphilis and gonorrhea, formerly taboo words, are replacing the polite term venereal disease in an effort to arouse public concern.

Sometimes euphemisms are harmless. Like white lies, they may be kinder than the literal truth. One of our ugliest words for people is crippled; a pleasanter one is handicapped. To many people, being considered old is a terrifying experience, so they sometimes prefer to be called senior citizens instead of old people. And to give individuals a greater sense of prestige and importance in their work, we often refer to hair stylists instead of barbers, beauticians instead of hairdressers, custodians instead of janitors, realtors instead of real estate salesmen, and morticians instead of undertakers. These substitutions and others like them do little harm and make life more tolerable for the people involved. But you should be so alert to the use of words that you recognize euphemisms and generally avoid them in your writing.

（Michael E. Adelstein & Jean G. Pival）

Statements based on the previous text:

1. When referring to children who are not bright, people tend to use terms such as “disadvantaged”, “underprivileged”, or “culturally deprived”, or “a bit slow” instead of “poor”, “silly”, “stupid”, for the latter are harsh and offensive that will hurt their parents or other relatives. （　　）

2. One should watch out for the use of euphemisms, and generally try to make use of them in your writing. （　　）

3. The two terms of “language pollution” and “doublespeak” both are used to refer to the same phenomenon in the English language — Euphemism.　 （　　）

4. The one successful use of Euphemism is to replace the offensive terms by the more polite ones; however, some newspapers tend to use some of the formerly taboo terms that may contribute to greater public concern. （　　）

5. The general purpose of using Euphemism is to conceal what might be offensive or disturbing, e.g. the word “prison” is being replaced by “penal institution” and “correctional faculty”, suggesting places less harsh and dehumanizing than those where violators of the law are usually incarcerated. （　　）

6. Generally speaking, more polite or more pleasant terms are used in our daily life, e.g. “handicapped” for “crippled”, “senior citizens” for “old peole”, “hair stylists” for “barbers”, etc.; however, the above tendency has just been reversed nowadays, as such ugly terms “raped”, “syphilis” and “gonorrhea”are found black and white in the newspapers instead of “criminally assaulted”and “veneral disease”in an effort to arouse public concern. （　　）

第十三章　PARODY, REVERSE, ANADIPLOSIS, REGRESSION等四辞格

13.1　四辞格的含义和形式

13.1A　Parody

1） Parody汉译“仿拟”，“仿化”，即仿照，又变化。它通常是对人们熟知的某个谚语、格言、名句乃至文章体裁适当地“改头换面”而构成一种颇为新奇的表达形式。例如：

Quality breeds success.

这是1993年3月间美国福特汽车公司电视广告中的一句话，是“Familiarity breeds contempt.”的仿化。

2） 仿化所涉及的不仅是句中的某一个或几个词语，也可能是整个句子，甚至整篇文章。例如：

Skill and Patience will succeed where Force fails.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention.

（Aesop's Fables）

上述“Necessity is the Mother of Invention.”和“Failure is the mother of success.”以及“Failure teaches success.”这三句谚语可视作仿化的结果。

在Carroll所写的儿童文学名著Alice in Wonderland中，有一首儿歌就是仿拟英国诗人Jane Taylor的“the Star”中的一节。试比较：

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat,

How I wonder what you're at!

Up above the world you fly

Like a teatray in the sky.

（Lewis Carrol）

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky!

（Jane Taylor）

13.1B　Reverse

1） Reverse汉译“序换”，是将谚语、成语中某词语的词序加以调换而构成的一种修辞形式。例如：

Isabel drove with Goodrich beside her. Happy, but still feeling she was casting swine before pearls, Isabel was painfully conscious of the shortcomings of the scenery; above all its literal flatness.

（L. P. Hartley）

句中casting swine before pearls是英谚cast pearls before swine的换序说法。谚语“把珍珠丢在猪前”是一句隐喻，意思是“把贵重的东西给不能欣赏的人”，序换后的意思是“很有欣赏能力的人（指伊丽莎白和古德里奇）遇上了不值一游的风景”。

2） 序换虽然只涉及谚语或成语中个别词语的词序，但往往引起内容上的显著变化，从而形成与原谚语或成语等的强烈对照。例如：

“Bennie's their son,” said Henry.

“Like son, like father, I imagine,” said Bonnefois.

（P. P.Read）

怎么英谚“有其父，必有其子”（Like father, like son）变成了“有其子，必有其父”呢？据美国作家里德在《教授的女儿》（The Professor's Daughter）中讲美国参议员的儿子贝尼有一次公然指责法国人“忘恩负义”，法国人鲍涅斯十分气愤，于是灵机一动，利用谚语的序换加以回击，意思是“儿子这么放肆，其父肯定更不像话了。”

13.1C　Anadiplosis

1） Anadiplosis汉译“蝉联”，是Repetition的一种形式，称“链式反复”或“尾首反复”，即在后一句的开头重复前句末尾的词语。例如：

This unfrequented place to find some ease,

Ease to the body some, none to the mind

From restless thoughts.

（Milton）

And, more over, if you must go to the sea, it had better not have been to South End.

South End is an unhealthy place ...

（Jane Austin）

In literature, as in life, one of the fundamentals is to find, and be, one's true self. One's true self may indeed be unpleasant, ...

（Frank Laurence Lucas）

2） 蝉联的成份富于变化，除重复前面的同样词语外，同源词、同义词语或同义分句等也可以构成链形反复。例如：

There had been enemies, criminals, workers — and there are rebels. These rebellious heads looked very subdued to me on their sticks.

（J. Conrad）

I heard a light sigh and then my heart stood still, stopped dead short by exulting and terrible cry, by the cry of inconceivable triumph and of unspeakable pain.

（J. Conrad）

“Oh, really?” She said, “She didn't seem to be giving you so much of a pain at Elsie's party last night, I notice. I notice you couldn't even talk to anybody else, that's how much of a pain she gave you.”

（D. Parker）

有时一项蝉联引出另一项蝉联，一环套一环，出现多层链式反复。例如：

It's the profit now, not the product. Half the time, we cheat the foreman, the foreman cheat the management, the management cheats the customers. And the customers are we.

（J. B. Priestly）

13.1D　Regression

1） Regression汉译“回环”，亦作“逆序反复”，指在一个句子或一段文字中以相反的顺序重复前面的词语。例如：

Woe to them who call evil good and good evil.

上例中的回环成分颇为工整，可以同古汉语中的“回文”相媲美。回文是一种既可以顺读也可以倒读的回环，如：“人过大佛寺，寺佛大过人”。

2） 在实际使用中的回环形式相当生动活泼，一是除了上例那种音、形、义都相同的词语外，还可以是同音、同形异义词或同音、异形异义词，等；二是除了上例那种工整的依次回环形式外，大量的还是采用错综词序，或者换词、增减词等方式。例如：

It is better to make friends fast than to make fast friends.

We can make young people grown and grown people young.

Britain rules the waves, Mussolini waives the rules.

You can fool all the people some of the time some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

（Abraham Lincoln）

Love is the business of the idle, but idleness （is） of the busy.

（Edward Bulwer-Lytton）

An original writer is not one who imitates nobody but one whom nobody can imitate.

（Chateaubian）

13.2　四辞格的使用

13.2A　四辞格与谚语、名句的关系

1） 在上述四种辞格中，前两种都同人们熟知的谚语、成语密切相关：仿化是变换其中的词语，序换是变换其中的词序。试比较：

（a） Lib and let lib.

这是一句口号：自己解放，也让别人解放。它是由下面这个谚语仿化而来：Live and let live. 自己活，也让别人活。

（b） A dead ass is better than a living lion. 一头死驴胜过一头活狮。

这是Arthur Zeiger对谚语A living ass is better than a dead lion.的序换说法。

2） 回环实际上是一种重复结构，它虽然不是在人们熟知的语句上做文章，却是构成名言警句的常见手段，有很强的生命力。例如：

A place for everything, everything in its place.

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

（Charles Colton）

Better to know everything of something than something of everything.

（Bacon）

Flowers are lovely; lovely is flower like.

（Coleridge）

蝉联辞格这种重复形式带有正式、庄重的语气，在经典名著中屡见不鲜。例如：

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of deep.

（Holy Bible, King James' Version: Genesis）

Hippolyta: Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;

Four nights will quickly dream away the time, ...

（Shakespeare）

A smile would come into Mr. Pickwick's face: a smile extended into a laugh; the laugh into a roar, and the roar became general.

（Dickens）

Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,

That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain.

Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,

Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain.

I sought fit words to pain the blackest face of woe.

（Sidney）

13.2B　四辞格的修辞特色

1） 这四种辞格都以文字技巧为特点，有时近乎文字游戏，使用得当时能妙趣横生，取得很好的幽默、讽刺效果。例如：

仿化：— You gallop with a loose rein.

— Pace gives life, was the riposte.

— I shall write it in my diary tonight.

— What?

— That a burnt child loves the fire.

（Oscar Wilde）

Children may cry wolf, and so do parents.

（CNN Program Forecast, March, 1993）

序换：Life has taught me to think, but thinking has not taught me to live.

（Alexander Herzen）

蝉联：For glances beget ogles, ogles sighs, sighs wishes, wishes words, and words a letter.

（Byron）

回环：How much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping.

（Shakespeare）

2）仿化和序换来自人们熟悉的语言形式而又有所变化，因而给人们“旧貌翻新”的感觉，既相识，又陌生，既亲切，又新颖，十分引人入胜，有利于引导听者/读者接受劝导、说理。这在前面的例句已有体现，现再举几例说明：

仿化：So will these unattractive and mysterious objects lead to a new world economic order, or will the game be played according to the unusual industrial rules: from each according to his ability, to each according to his investments?

（张汉熙：Advanced English, Book I）

In economics all roads lead to socialism.

（Bernard Shaw）

马克思主义创始人卡尔·马克思提出的社会主义和共产主义的分配原则分别为“各尽所能，按劳分配”（from each according to his ability, to each according to his work — the socialist principle of distribution）和“各尽所能，按需分配”（from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs — the communist principle of distribution），这里经过仿化，出现了“按资分配”，一字之改，道出了资本主义经济的私有制本质。

序换：A dead ass is better than a living lion.

上述序换由原来的谚语“A living ass is better than a dead lion.”而来，于是“一头活驴胜过一头死狮”变成“一头死驴胜过一头活狮”。表面看来不符合情理，甚至让人费解，但Arthur Zeiger正是利用这种形式讽刺了那种直到某人死后才肯承认其能力和成就的人和社会现象。

3） 前面7.4B讲到英语中的重复结构时，说明重复的两种基本修辞目的，或者说修辞作用：加强连贯或突出强调。本章讨论的蝉联和回环，称作“尾首反复”（或“链形反复”）和“逆序反复”，同样具有重复结构的两种基本修辞功能。例如：

Something hurried me through memory, too, but I can't pause to remember, for a guilt past memory or dreaming, much darker, impels me on. I pray but my prayer climbs up like a broken wisp of smoke ... Peyton, Me? Myself all shattered, this lovely shell?

（William Styron）

这段描写很有“意识流”的味道。通过一系列蝉联的使用，把小说主人Peyton受刺激后痛不欲生时的纷乱思绪贯连了起来。又如：

The same that off-time hath

Charm'd magic casement, opening on the foam

Of perilous seas, in fairy lands forlorn.

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell.

To toll me back from thee to my sole self.

（Keats）

诗中的“尾首重复”更加突出了perilous，sole等词语带来的孤独、凄凉气氛。

13.2C　四辞格使用中应注意的问题

1） 仿化、序换、蝉联和回环四辞格都具有开放性，被人们在不同场合灵活地加以使用。这一点在英语和汉语中情况相同。

例如，英语里萧伯纳首创superman一词之后，人们仿化出许多新词，如superwoman, super critic, supersecrecy, superpower，等。随着1972年尼克松的Watergate事件，出现了Billygate, Debategate, Irangate（或hostagegate）等许多仿化词语。

在电影《红高粱》唱出了“妹妹你大胆地往前走”之后，国家体改委陈主任号召“厂长们大胆地往前走”，《中国城市导报》载文呼吁“上海建筑业你大胆地往前走”，等。

又如，汉语里“要活必须吃饭，吃饭不是为了活着”的说法，同英语里的一句回环式名言相类似：

Other men live to eat while I eat to live.

（Socrates）

又如Lord Samuel把“A friend in need is a friend indeed.”加以仿化：A friend in need is a friend to be avoided，这样，“患难中的朋友是真正的朋友”成了“患难中的朋友是一个为众人所躲避的朋友”。寥寥数字，把人情冷淡，世态炎凉的社会现实刻画得淋漓尽致。

这些辞格在广告语言中十分常见。例如：

（a） Give a Timex to all, to all a good time.

这是一则手表广告，其中使用了蝉联。

（b） I Came Back

I came back to softness and comfort.

I came back to Dr. White's.

And I wonder why I ever went away.

Because only Dr. White's gives me two kinds of comfort. The super-comfort of their cotton-wool

content that makes them so much softer. And the comfort of a safer, more absorbent towel, with a

flush away design, too, for even more convenience.

I tried the rest, but I came back.

Isn't it time you came back to Dr. White's?

Dr. White's Two kinds of comfort.

（Women, April 1977）

在这则妇女卫生巾广告中，有不同形式的反复，特别是开头的“首语反复”（Anaphora）和末尾的“尾首反复”，当然还可以发现“拟人法”，“并列结构”，“修辞设问”（Rhetorical Question），等。

（c） Not all cars are created equal.

这是日本三菱汽车公司向美国开拓市场的广告。它可以看作是英语中一条著名谚语的仿拟。该谚语为：Not all that glitters is gold.

更可以看作是《美国独立宣告》第一句的仿拟。该句为：All men are created equal.

这种以家喻户晓的名言为基础仿拟出的广告语句特别惹人注意，能不胫而走，迅速产生巨大的影响力，实际上这句广告语对日本汽车打开美国市场的确发挥了很大作用。

2） 在文字表达中，为了生动起见，总要刻意求新，换个说法，常常通过一字的变化引出一个全新的意境。这一点在英语和汉语中相同。同样，也都要把握一条原则，即力求形式与内容的统一，不可脱离使用场合与上下文去片面求新求变。

例如，像“佛顶山顶佛，云扶石扶云”和“Woe to them who call evil good and good evil.”那样的形式固然工整，但实际使用中却需要像13.1D2讲到的那样灵活变化，否则会造成八股，妨碍意思的有效表达。

在Language Play中有“Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”的数种仿化形式：

Old burglars never die; they just steal away.

Old mailmen never die; they just lose their zip.

Old piano players never die; they just lose their tinkle.

Old teacher never die; they just lose their class.

显然，这些仿化形式虽不失幽默，但不宜随便套用，否则会成为对长者的一概否定。

近年来在汉语的广告语言中大量出现成语“换字术”，相当于英语中的“仿拟”或“飞白”（见14.2），如“饮以为荣”，“天尝地酒”，“一明惊人”，等等。这些固然会产生新颖、别致的效果，但若使用多了，也叫人感到腻烦，而且会在青少年中造成误解，影响到汉语的纯洁性。

从英、汉两种语言的特点看，在汉语中进行成语仿拟或在英语中使用重复，都须谨慎从事，务求得体或恰到好处。最近某培训公司在招生广告中把上海世博主题“Better city, better life”仿拟为“Better English, better life”虽然很讨巧，也有一定道理，但把庄重的主题实用化了，还是不宜提倡。

练习十三　（Exercise Thirteen）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Can we say that Parody is derived from proverbs, sayings, idioms, etc. that are already known to people?

2. Is Parody only associated with the change of a certain word?

3. Reverse is similar to as well as different from Parody, isn't it?

4. Regression is formed by repeating the former words in inverted order, isn't it?

5. What's the difference between Regression and Anadiplosis?

6. Can you cite examples to indicate how Parody, Reverse, Regression and Anadiplosis are used in our life today?

II. Tell which proverb, saying, idiom, quotation, etc. each of the following sentence or underlined parts is derived from:

1. A friend in need is a friend to be avoided.

2. Quality breeds success.

3. All roads lead to Holiday Inn.

4. Not all video recorders are created equal.

5. Give me Green World,

Or give me yesterday.

6. Billi slimming cream — Using is believing.

7. They came, they saw, they bought out.

8. While visiting a friend who was in the hospital, I noticed several pretty nurses, each of whom was wearing a pin designed to look like an apple. I asked one nurse what the pin signified.

“Nothing,” she said with a smile. “It's to keep the doctors away.”

9. Not so loud, you fool — remember — even people have ears.

10. So will these unattractive and mysterious objects lead to a new world economic order, or will the game be played according to the usual industrial rules: from each according to his ability, to each according to his investments?

III. Read the following passages and then do the multiple choices:

1. Parody as a figure of speech is to imitate any of the well-known sayings, idioms, proverbs, etc. in main structure while changing one or more words so as to achieve certain effects — humorous, sarcastic, more persuasive, etc.

2. A parody is a mocking imitation of a style of speaking or writing. As a weapon of persuasion, parody shifts the focus from matter to manner: it ridicules not so much what is said as how it is expressed.

3. Parodies of styles of prose fiction, such as Gothic novels, sea stories, and mysteries, have been popular for many years. James Joyce parodied just about every imaginable style in Ulysses. In 1981 Erica Jong, well known for her novels about contemporary women, wrote Fanny, using the style and heroine of the eighteenth century novel Fanny Hill.

4. Similar to Parody, the figure of speech “Reverse” is also derived from sayings, idioms, proverbs, etc. However, it is not formed by changing some wording but reversing certain word orders, though with more or less the same rhetorical effects.

5. Regression and Anadiplosis are both figures of speech formed by repeating one or more words of the previous phrase or clause at the beginning of the next. These two figures are not derived from sayings, idioms, or proverbs as Parody and Reverse, but many of them tend to become popular sayings themselves.

6. These four figures of speech are all open figures, i.e. new ones can be created when necessary. On the other hand, however, misuse or overuse should always be guarded against.

7. Young hen: How is it, Mum, that you're able to live so long?

Old hen: Well, my child. The secret is: an egg a day keeps the axe away.

Young hen: I see, Mum, If you don't lay eggs, you'll get the axe.

Old hen: What do you mean?

Young hen: Lose your job!

Multiple choices:

1. A parody is a figure of speech that refers to____________.

A） a well-known saying, idiom, proverb
B） any written or spoken text associated with a skillful change of expression similar to a famous saying, idiom, proverb, etc.
C） a mocking imitation of a style of speaking or writing which shifts the focus from what is said to how it is expressed.
D） prose fiction as Gothic novels using the style and heroine of the 18th century

2. The old hen's secret in life means that____________.

A） if the hen lays an egg every day, she won't lose her job
B） if a hen doesn't want to get the axe, she has to lay an egg each day
C） when a hen is unable to lay eggs, she'll be killed （and cooked）.
D） When a hen doesn't like to have eggs, her life'll be in danger unless she changes her mind.

3. Identify from A, B, C, and D the statement which is INCORRECT.

A） Reverse is a figure of speech similar to parody in the fact that both are derived from sayings, idioms, proverbs, etc.
B） Regression and Anadiplosis are not derived from existing sayings, idioms, or proverbs, but they themselves tend to become new sayings.
C） As Parody, Reverse, Regression and Anadiplosis are all open figures of speech in English, any one can use them at will.
D） The old hen's secret is a parody of the proverb “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

第十四章　PAREGMENON, MALAPROPISM, CORRECTION

14.1　Paregmenon

14.1A　Paregmenon的含义和形式

1） Paregmenon，汉译“同源”格。1993年3月4日美国电视节目“You Bet Your Life”主持人讲出“Don't you boast like a popcorn popper?”时，引出观众一阵大笑。句中pop和popper同源，把同源词连用构成的修辞结构即称为同源辞格。又如：

You shouldn't interrupt my interruptions: That's really worse than interrupting.

（T. S. Eliot）

2） 同源词可以是不同词性，也可以含义相反，只要搭配得当，都可以构成同源格。例如：

Home is home though never so homely.

（Proverb, 形式为N.+Adj.）

Aerial and light everything was, new as a morning, fresh and newly-begun. Like a dawn the newness and the bliss filled in.

（D. H. Lawrence, 形式为Adj.+Adv.+N.）

Money often unmakes the men who make it.

（Proverb，形式为反义词）

14.1B　Paregmenon的使用

1） 同源格是一种特殊的重复，即通过使用同一词源的不同词性或不同含义的几个词，取得重复强调或反衬对照的效果；它在英语的不同文体中都广为使用。例如：

Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.

（Shakespeare）

Alas, good friend, what profit

can you see in hating such a

hateless thing as me?

（Shelly）

He looked down and met her eyes. They were darker than darkness, and gave deeper space.

（D. H. Lawrence）

Man must change in a changing world. — Proverb

Rejecting Rejection.

上述最后一例系Katina Z. Jones在1992年8月 Writer's Digest 上一篇文章的题目，内容谈作家在未成名之前往往遭受退稿之苦，正确的态度是不要气馁，坚持再写。这个同源结构表现了作者不怕挫折的精神。

2） 同源格既能以简练的反衬做到准确、鲜明，又能与矛盾修饰（11.2B）配合表示诙谐、辛辣。例如：

What's done can't be undone.

（Proverb）

句中undone一词言简意赅，不容更改，如要paraphrase成What hasn't been done之类的从句则令人难以接受。这样的例子在谚语和经典作品中经常可以见到。下面再举几例：

While pensive poets painful vigils keep, sleepless themselves, to give readers sleep.

（A. Pope）

She was in her own world, quiet, secure, unnoticed, unnoticing.

（D. H. Lawrence）

Teach the unforgetful to forget.

（D. G. Rossetti）

I was prepared to be persecuted for not persecuting ...

（G. Eliot）

... for what says Quinapalus?

Better's a witty fool than a foolish wit.

（W. Shakespeare）

句中fool和wit分别与foolish, witty同源，witty fool和foolish wit各自构成矛盾修饰。用词简洁，结构工整，话说得既俏皮，又深刻，自成千古名句。类似的例子还有：

The shackles of an old love straighten'd him. His honour in dishonour stood.

And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.

（A. Tennyson）

14.2　Malapropism

14.2A　Malapropism的含义与形式

1） Malapropism指荒唐可笑的词语误用，俗称“飞白”（Mimesis），尤指使用发音相似而意义全非的词语，例如把“破绽”的“绽”（zhan）读成“定”（语音飞白），把“刻不容缓”改成“咳不容缓”（文字飞白，药品广告）等。

2） 18世纪英国著名剧作家Richard Sheridan的喜剧The Rivals中有个名叫Malaprop的人物，地位显贵而知识浅薄，好卖弄词藻，但因一知半解而满口错字别音，闹出许多笑话。后来就从这个人物的名字演变成为malapropism这样一种修辞格式，即利用近音异义，有意地利用白字别音的一种语言表达形式。

14.2B　Malapropism的修辞作用

1） 由于乡音重或缺乏正规教育，有些人标准音发不准，以致常在说话时弄出错误。例如：

“The girls were up at four this morning, packing her trunks, sister,”replied Miss Jemima; “We have made her a bow-pot.”

“Say a bouquet, sister Jemima, it's more genteel.”

“Well, a booky as big almost as a hay-stack; ...”

（Thackeray）

Jemima由于文化水平低，先是把bouquet说成bowpot，后虽经她姐姐纠正，还是未弄清，又错说成booky，一错再错，既令人好笑，又令人同情，作家这样描写，全是为刻画人物的需要。

2） 有的人明明知识不多，却不懂装懂，洋相百出。例如：

When Miss Sharp had performed the heroical act mentioned in the last chapter, and had seen the Dixonary flying over the pavement of the little garden ... and she sank in the carriage in an easy frame of mind, saying,“So much for the Dixonary; and thank God, ...”

（Thackeray）

同上例不同的是，作家在这里使用Malapropism，是为了讽刺和嘲弄Miss Sharp这类人的。

3） 在儿童文学作品中，作家常用这种辞格表现儿童的说话特点。例如：

“Ernest，”said Theobald, from the arm-chair in front of the fire, where he was sitting with his hands folded before him,“don't you think it would be very nice if you were to say ‘come’ like other people, ...?” “I do say tum,” replied Ernest, meaning that he had said “come”.

（Samuel Butler）

幼小的Ernest把come说成tum，父亲纠正了，孩子还是讲错。看来还应告诉他如何摆正舌位才行。又如：

“Sh-sh!”said Ruth. “Now you must listen. Mrs. Escobar's going to read you a lovely story about an owl and pussy, ....”

Mrs.Escobar began:

“The aul and the pooseh-cut went to sea ...”

（Leonard Xuxeley）

这里Escobar太太是在以儿童口吻给孩子讲故事。她故意把owl（猫头鹰）和pussy cat （猫）说成它们发音相近的aul和pooseh-cut这样两个别音词，同孩子们逗趣。

4） 白字别音是构成幽默笑话的常用手段。例如：

Questioner:What's usually used as a conductor of electricity?

Examinee:Why-er ...

Questioner:Correct, wire. Now tell me, what is the unit of electric power?

Examinee:The what?

Questioner:That's absolutely right. The Watt.

假若某人接受面试时能这样歪打正着，显然只能是说笑话罢了。又如：

A man from the Continent was travelling in England. He had caught a very bad cold. He coughed day and night. Then he put on his coat and hat and went to a chemist's. When asked what he wanted, the traveller said,“I want something for my cow, please.” ...

这是人们熟知的笑话。他根据英语字母组合-ough的发音可以是[aʊ]的经验推测，把cough误说成cow，试想如果不是药店人员细心询问，不知还会闹出什么笑话来。

14.3　Correction

14.3A　Correction的含义与形式

1） Correction亦称Epanorthosis，汉译“换语”，意思是改换前言，用一个更恰当、更明确、更深刻或更有力的说法取代或补充刚刚说过的话。例如：

... most brave, nay, most heroic act!

（Webster's Third New International Dictionary）

前面讲了most brave，但又觉得不够，于是用nay加以否定，换成most heroic。

2） 从结构上看，前面已说过的话和新的说法两者构成并列关系。这种并列结构的含义有转折、递进、让步等（参见笔者拙作《分析英语语法》16.2节），担任连接成分的有否定词no, nay，并列连词or, and，等。例如：

... But if the defendant had asked his hosts, or rather had only hinted, this could easily have been accomplished.

（Patricia Bizzell）

句中or以引出的换语rather had only hinted有让步含义。

... All the while I was working at, and learning to write, fiction.

（Writer's Digest, Aug. 1992）

句中and learning to write是对前面working at的修正，连词and也可以换用or，但相比之下，and语气较为恳切。

14.3B　Correction的使用

1） 日常说话中，有时说出一句话或说出半句时，觉得不够妥帖，于是往往自觉不自觉地使用换语。1993年4月29日美CBC节目中就有这样一个例子：

Do you think — do you believe that wild life can be preserved this way?

（Harry Smith）

2） 书面语中的换语通常是一种有意安排的加强语气的修辞手法。因为前面已有说法，并且使用的词语较为平常，改换说法之后，词语更为准确、鲜明、生动，就会大大加深读者的印象。例如：

After the men in question had conquered, or rather had been conquered — for how shall I call that which has brought more disaster than benefit to the conquerors?

（McCrimmon）

先用主动语态had conquered，再改换成被动语态had been conquered，形成一种强烈的对比，如果直接用被动语态，句子就显得弱了。

Plagiarism is the use of someone else's writing without giving proper credit — or perhaps writing without giving any credit at all — to the writer of the original.

（McCrimmon）

从without giving proper credit改换成without giving any credit at all，语气大为增强。

3） 通过使用换语，还可形成对照。例如：

O Virtue's companion, Envy, who art to pursue good men, yes, even to persecute them.

（Patricia Bizzell）

从pursue good men到persecute them，一针见血地道出了Virtue与Envy之间的区别，对后者具有尖锐的批判和讽刺意味。

诗人Robert Herrick的诗To Electra共两节，两句话，第二节可以看作是对第一节的换语：

I dare not ask a kiss,

I dare not beg a smile,

Lest having that, or this,

I might grow proud the while.

No, no, the utmost share

Of my desire shall be

Only to kiss that air

That lately kissed thee.

练习十四　（Exercise Fourteen）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Can you cite an example of Paregmenon which refers to words of the same root?

2. Why is it said that Paregmenon is a special kind of repetition?

3. Can you cite an example to indicate how Paregmenon is used together with Oxymoron?

4. Can you tell the origin of the figure of speech Malapropism?

5. What rhetoric effects can be achieved when Malapropism is used in children stories or describing people who are ignorant but pretend to know?

6. What effect can a deliberate use of Correction achieve?

7. Have you ever used the figure of Correction in your life?

8. How can you avoid using a wrong word as in Malapropism?

II. Read the following passages from Richard Sheridan and then do the exercises as required.

An error in denotation means that you have used a word wrong: the term simply does not mean what you think it does. Unlike a mistake in connotation, which results in a fuzzy word, a mistake in denotation results in an inaccurate word.

In a wonderful play, The Rivals, by Richard Sheridan, the character of Mrs. Malaprop was a silly woman who tried to appear more learned than she was and who constantly gave herself away by misusing words. In the following scene quoted, Mrs. Malaprop shows Anthony Absolute what she likes to do best — talk. Examine her choice of words.

MRS. MALAPROP: Fy, fy. Sir Anthony, you surely speak laconically.

ABSOLUTE: Why, Mrs. Malaprop, in moderation now, what would you have a woman know?

MRS. MALAPROP: Observe me, Sir Anthony. I would by no means wish a daughter of mine to be a progeny of learning; I don't think so much learning becomes a young woman; for instance, I would never let her meddle with Greek, or Hebrew, or algebra, or simony, or fluxions, or paradoxes, or such inflammatory branches of learning — neither would it be necessary for her to handle any of your mathematical, astronomical, diabolical instruments. — But, Sir Anthony, I would send her, at nine years old, to a boarding school, in order to learn a little ingenuity and artifice. Then, sir, she should have a supercilious knowledge in accounts; — and as she grew up, I would have her instructed in geometry, that she might know something of the contagious countries; — but above all, Sir Anthony, she should be mistress of orthodoxy, that she might not misspell, and mispronounce words so shamefully as girls usually do; and likewise that she might reprehend the true-meaning of what she is saying. This, Sir Anthony, is what I would have a woman know; — and I don't think there is a superstitious article in it.

Individual work: Tell whether each of the following statements is true （T） or false （F）:

1. The word “malapropism” is originated from Mrs. Malaprop, a character of The Rivals by Richard Sheridan. The woman is silly and pompous, who often makes mistakes in her choice of words or pronunciations and thus makes herself a laughing stock.

2. According to Mrs. Malaprop, she considers herself wise and learned and expects her daughter to be so too.

3. Mrs. Malaprop likes to show off by using formal and high-sounding words, but from time to time, she mispronounces a word, e.g. “simony” for “symphony”, or uses inappropriate words, e.g. The word “fluxion” is an outdated term related to “maths”. The word “reprehend” means “find fault with” and it is obviously out of place in the context, for the speaker must have intended to use “comprehend”, a formal word which means “understand”.

Group work: discuss the questions either in pairs or in group:

1. Even if you do not know everything that Mrs. Malaprop is saying, you can enjoy the fact that she misuses words shamelessly. With your partner, try to figure out what she “would have a woman know”. Use a dictionary to help you out.

2. Mistakes in denotation and connotation result in different ways. Sometimes a wrong denotation results less from not knowing a word's definition than from not thinking clearly. Analyse the errors in Mrs. Malaprop's talk and enjoy how malapropisms are used for a comedy.

III. Correct the malapropism if any, in the following sentences and tell what figure of speech can be found there:

1. Your appreciation of art depends upon your sense and sensibilizing.

2. If paid by the hour, some people will ponder away their time.

3. The space program is a waste of time and money. There are problems to solve on our land, such as starvation, overpopulation, etc. How do you think of this statement?

4. Her look was remote and reproachful, or sometimes tasteful and blameful.

5. In such stories it is exciting to break away from the predictable world we live in and to enter an unrealizable world where anything can happen.

6. Across this country one sees deep holes in the floor where man has mined, oil rigs working day and night, and open spaces which were once cradles of trees.

7. Both essential commodities and luxuries seem important, but their importance can be measured by deciding which we are prepared to live without them. Our decisions indicate our scale of preferring.

第十五章　PUN, TRANSFERRED EPITHET和SYLLEPSIS

15.1　Pun

15.1A　Pun的含义和形式

1） Joel Sherzer说：“A pun is a form of speech play in which a word or phrase unexpectedly and simultaneously combines two unrelated meanings.” Pun汉译“双关”，它不仅仅是一种文字游戏，而且是英语修辞的一种常见形式：巧妙地利用同音异义或同形异义现象使一个词语或句子具有两种不同的含意，不直接表露，显得含蓄委婉，而又十分幽默新奇。

英语双关的形式颇多，主要有语音双关和语义双关。

2） 语音双关即指谐音双关，利用某些词语发音相同相似而构成双关。例如：

Then there was the man in the restaurant.

“You're not eating your fish,” the waitress said to him.

“Anything wrong with it?”

“Long time no sea,” the man replied.

这是一个广为流传的使用双关的小故事。其中“see”和“sea”两个字发音相同。这个顾客的回答，表面听来似乎是“Long time no see”，相当于汉语中老朋友久别重逢时所说的“好久不见”，但实际上是说那些鱼已离开大海很久，不新鲜了。又如：

Drunk drivers put the quart before the hearse.

这是一句劝告司机戒酒的话。乍一听，似乎是“put cart before the horse”，因为quart与cart, hearse与horse发音近似，但其实际意义不是“本末倒置”，而是“拿性命当儿戏”的意思，其中quart喻指酒的盛器，在hearse（柩车）前挂着酒瓶，用语双关，发人深省，再嗜酒的司机见了这个标语，也会有所警觉。

3） 语义双关，如利用词语的多义构成双关：

I finally figured out how government works. The Senate gets the bill from the House, the President gets the bill from the Senate, and we get the bill for everything.

句中前面的两个bill均指法案，第三个bill指账单；由该词的双重意义构成双关，进行揭露讽刺：他们在官场无事生非，我们承担一切经费。又如：

“Fourth floor,” shouted the passenger to the elevator.

“Here you are, son.”

“How dare you call me ‘son’?”

“Sir, I called, or whatever. I've brought you up, anyway.”

乘客出言不逊。电梯管理员借谐音双关反讥，待他听出并提出质问时，管理员表面上是澄清事实，实则利用to bring somebody up的歧义构成双关语再次骂他，让他品尝“哑巴吃黄连”的滋味。又如：

“My Faith is gone!” cried he, after one stupefied moment.

（Hawthorne）

句中faith原不是多义词，但在这个语境中却具有双关意义；它既是表示人名的专有名词，又是一个表示抽象概念的普通名词：妻子菲丝（Faith大写）死了，对上帝的赤诚信念（faith小写，但不影响读音）也破灭了。

15.1B　Pun的使用

1） 美国学者Archibald A. Hill指出，我们分析和使用双关时应把握3个要素，即“双重语境”（Double context），“铰链”（Hinge）和“触机”（Trigger）。试以前面的“My Faith is gone!”为例。这里的“双重语境”是：一方面Faith身染重病，生命危在旦夕，另一方面是她的丈夫Goodman迷信上帝，指望用虔诚的祈祷感动上帝来拯救妻子。“触机”是上帝未显灵，Faith死了。他一阵昏迷，醒来时喊出了这句含悲带愤的双关语：“我的菲丝完了，”句中Faith和faith的同音异义就构成了双关的“铰链”（妻子走了，信仰也没了）。由此我们可以看到，“双重语境”是双关语出现的客观前提，“触机”是促使双关语出现的诱发因素，而“铰链”是串连双重语境和实现双关的语言功能，如词语的多义、同音异义，等。

2） 双关语以幽默、俏皮为特色，往往听时令人发笑，过后回味无穷，是语言技巧的高度体现。这种语言形式存在于各种语言，英语中尤为普遍。下面是含有双关语的小笑话：

“Give me a sentence about a public servant,” said the teacher.

A small boy replied, “The policemen came down the ladder pregnant.”

The teacher took the lad aside to correct him, “Don't you know what ‘pregnant' means?”

“Sure,” answered the boy confidently. “It means ‘carrying a child’.”

双关构成谜语，如：

What is that which, though black itself, enlightens the world?

Answer: Ink.

What trade should one follow in order to cut a figure in the world?

Answer: Sculpture.

广告中的双关语，如：

Try our sweet corn. You'll smile from ear to ear.

这是甜玉米广告：你一尝就会吃了一个又一个（ear指玉米穗头），高兴得合不拢嘴（ear指耳朵）。又如：

You will go nuts for the nuts you get in Nux.

这是坚果广告：句中（go）nuts和（the）nuts字同音同，Nux字不同而音似，但三者所指各异：前者与go构成的短语表示兴高采烈的意思，后者为坚果商标，中间的nuts指Nux牌的坚果，三者连用所构成的双关，声调铿锵，充满情趣。

文学作品中双关语也很常见，例如：

“At least put something warm on, Mr. Boker,”advised Tessie.

“I'm almost finished.” Morris grunted.

“It's your health,” said Nick.

The first floor window shot up. Ida stood there in her flannel nightgown, her hair down.

“Are you crazy?” she shouted to the grocer.

“Finished,” he answered.

...

“Come up now,” Ida shouted.

“Finished,” Morris cried. ...

（Bernard Malamud）

故事中的博卡·莫里斯先生是一家小杂货店店主，贫病交加，对生活感到绝望。此刻，他身着单衣在屋外铲雪，别人劝他增加衣服，保重身体，他却不听，只是三次重复使用“finished”一词作答，并由于该词的不同含义构成双关：活快完了，人也快完了。果然，他拖着病体铲雪，又遭严寒袭击，便死去了。叶封在译成汉语时，巧妙地利用“快铲完了”和“快完了”表达出原文的双关含义：

“你至少得穿暖些，”泰锡劝道。

“我快铲完了，”莫里斯咕噜一声。

“要保重身体。”尼克说道。

二楼窗口突然亮起来。艾达穿着法兰绒睡衣。披头散发，站在那儿。

“你疯了？”她对掌柜大声嚷叫。

“就快完了，”他答道。

……

“马上上楼来，”艾达叫道。

“就快完了，”莫里斯喊了一声。

（叶封　译）

15.2　Transferred Epithet

15.2A　Transferred Epithet的含义和形式

1） Transferred Epithet汉译“移就修饰”，亦称“转移修饰”，或简称“移就”。这种修饰语不直接说明它所修饰对象的性质、形象或特色，而往往转个弯子去表示该对象给人的某种感觉。例如：

a dizzy height: （a） *a height that is dizzy

（b） a height that causes people to feel dizzy令人眩晕的高度

a sleepless bed: （a） *a bed that is sleepless

（b） a bed on which the sleeper has little sleep寝不安枕

由于人的不同感觉器官相互间联系密切，移就修饰也指把通常与甲种器官相关的修饰语转移到了乙种感觉。例如：

a sweet voice: 一个甜嗓子。（表示味觉的形容词转移到了听觉。）

an icy look: 一副冷漠神色。（表示触觉的形容词转移到视觉。）

2） 移就格中的修饰语分前置和后置两种，可以由单个词（多为形容词）担任，也可以由词组担任。

上面的例子都是形容词前置，下例是副词前置：

“Of a lifetime,” repeated Mrs. Rymer, sweetly murmuring and casting towards her friend an eloquent glance.

（G. R. Gissing）

下面是前置短语作移就修饰语：

an angel of a woman: an angel-like woman天仙般的女人

a deafening roll of a thunder: a thunder with a deafening roll一声震耳欲聋的雷鸣

a beautiful model of an art: an art with a beautiful model一件精美艺术品

a bottleneck of a crossroad: a crossroad that is like a bottle-neck瓶颈般的路口

下面是后置形容词作移就修饰语：

The letters, sad and reproachful, offer the choice of pleading ignorance or being proved insensitive.

（Advanced English）

I am indeed aware that the movement of abolition is widespread and, especially in England.

（ibid.）

The dark greenish color grows as the plant decays, till it approaches a black.

（范家材）

15.2B　Transferred Epithet的使用

1） 通过移就格，作者或说话者可以把通常用来形容人类情感的词语转移到客观事物上，达到借物抒情的目的。在这一点上，移就格同拟人格（参见10.1）有共同之处。例如：

Indeed they seemed to know, or to wish to know, as little about that as the earth itself which, beautiful there at any time, seemed that afternoon to wear an extreme and pathetic beauty.

（Arthur Clutton-Brock）

这是作者写战争爆发前夕，人们对战争危险一无所知，甚至也毫不在意这种危险，而美妙的自然景色却有某种灵感，因而呈现一种极致的、悲怆的美——当然这正是作者抒发自己的感慨。

2） 移就修饰反映人们富于联想和跳跃的思维方式，把通常与甲类词语搭配的修饰语转到乙类，产生出一种形式简洁、新颖而含义形象、深邃的效果。例如：

There was an amazed silence. Slowly Alexander turned away.

句中silence是抽象名词，通常修饰它的是total, dead等形容词，amazed通常用来说明人的惊讶。这里通过移就结构，让amazed修饰silence，就把人们由于惊讶而产生的沉默景象生动地表现出来了，故汉译为：人们一阵惊讶，默不作声。

3） 前面讲到，移就格和拟人格有某种共同之处，但两者绝不等同：一是移就只限于修饰语，而拟人除修饰语外，也可以通过名词、动词等词语达到目的（参见10.1A），二是拟人法是把原属于人所有的品质、行为、情感等直接赋予大自然其他有生命或无生命的东西，别人很容易接受，而移就由于涉及修饰功能的转移，别人乍一看到（或听到）时会有某种“意外感”，稍作考虑才会恍然大悟，感到妙在其中。例如：

The big man crashed down on a protesting chair.

椅子怎么会提抗议？原来是大个子一屁股坐了下去，椅子吱吱嘎嘎地响（好像是提抗议似的）。

After an unthinking moment, she put her pen into her mouth.

时间哪里谈得上思考还是不思考？原来这句中的unthinking的逻辑主语不是它后面的moment，而转移到了所修饰的主语She，故全句意思为：她想了一会儿，想不出什么来，就把钢笔含在口中。

15.3　Syllepsis

15.3A　Syllepsis的含义和形式

1） Syllepsis的汉语名称为“一语双叙”，作为一种修辞格，它和Zeugma （轭式搭配） 同义，二词均源于希腊语，前者的意思是putting together，后者的意思是yoking，仿佛是用轭把几匹马套在一起拉车，看似强拉硬套，实则协调前进，具有强大的合力，结构上通常是指一个词语同时和并列结构的两部分搭配，形式上都要符合英语使用习惯，但含义上一为直义 （Literal meaning），一为喻义（Figurative meaning）。例如：

She had to swallow bread and butter and a spasm of emotion.

句中“to swallow bread and butter” 搭配表示直义，而“to swallow a spasm of emotion”为喻义。

2） 一语双叙除像上例那样由一个谓语动词和两个作宾语d）搭配外，也可以是两个主语共一个谓语动词b），还可能是一个介词带两个或更多的宾语a），或者一个修饰语修饰两个名词短语c）。例如：

a） He fought with desperation and a stout club.

b） Ten minutes later, the coffee and Commander Dana of Naval Intelligence arrived simultaneously.

（J. P. Bachman）

c） Miss Bolo rose from the table considerably agitated, and went straight home, in a flood of tears and a sedan chair.

（Dickens）

d） Yesterday he had a blue heart and coat.

15.3B　Syllepsis的使用

1） 英谚Kill two birds with one stone.在一语双叙法中得到了体现，显得简洁明快，试想若把一语双叙改成一语一叙，就要多费笔墨；并且即使增加一些词语，也难以道出一语双叙的味道。

2） 一语双叙的特色在于：直义和喻义的并行和交叉，往往给人某种“不协调感”，但稍加思索，就会感到格外幽默、俏皮，并由此产生出一种耐人寻味的逻辑力量，因此，不论在日常谈笑和商业广告及故事、小说中都经常出现这种辞格。例如：

I got up yesterday and managed to catch a bus and a cold.

清早起床上路，赶上了公共汽车，却着凉患了感冒。说得轻松幽默，颇有自我解嘲的味道。又如：

She looked at the faded photo with suspicion and a magnifying glass.

她带着满腹疑团看那张褪了颜色的照片，于是戴上了放大镜。通过一语双叙，把人物的心理和行动有机地联系起来。

We sell clothes that fit the figures and the times.

衣服既合身，又合时，这样的广告确具吸引力。

She braved it for a moment or two with an eye full of love and stubbornness, and murmured a phrase or two vaguely of Gen. Pinkney; but at length down went her head and out came the truth and tears.

（O. Henry）

讲出实话，动了真情，同时也流出眼泪，把心理反应和生理反应一语叙出，合情合理，令人回味无穷。

3） 一语双叙中有时会出现某种不符合一般习惯的搭配。例如：

Lawsuit consumes time, and money, and rest, and friends. Children suck the mother when they are young, and the father when they are old.

这是两句英语谚语，其中consume friends和suck the father不属规范搭配，不好单独使用，但在这两个句子里不仅可以让人接受，而且给人以新奇感，因为在语义上有内在联系，它所产生的语义优势超越了形式上的不协调，并形成一种得体的新颖表达方式，用中文表示则为：

诉讼使人丧失时间，金钱和安宁，也使人失去朋友。

小时吃娘奶，大了吃爹的。

练习十五　（Exercise Fifteen）

I. Preview Questions:

1. What did Joel Sherzer say about Pun?

2. Can you cite an example of homonymic pun?

3. What have you learned about semantic pun?

4. What effects can a pun achieve when properly used?

5. What does the phrase “a dizzy speed” mean in the sentence “The car is running at a dizzy speed”?

6. Can you cite examples to indicate that some transferred epithets are pre-positioned and some are postpositioned?

7. How can you compare Transferred Epithet with Personification?

8. How is Syllepsis similar to Zeugma?

9. Cite an example of Syllepsis and analyse it.

II. Identify the pun in each of the following:

1. “We must all hang together, or we shall hang separately” is a famous pun by Benjamin Franklin.

2. After successfully delivering the first child of a Canadian couple visiting Scotland, the doctor popped into the waiting room to tell the anxious husband the good news. “It's a boy — eight pounds exactly!”

“Oh,” replied the flustered father. “Will you take a check?”

3. A bus driver was filling out a report on a highway accident he had just had. When he came to the question “Disposition of passengers,” he wrote, “Mad as blazes.”

4. “Could I try on the trousers in the window?” asked the customer in the man's shop. “You can if you want, sir,” replied the salesman, “but we do have a dressing-room.”

5. What coat is finished without buttons and put on wet? — a riddle

6. After the flood had subsided, Noah asked all the animals in the ark to go forth and multiply. When all the other animals were gone, he saw two serpents remained in the ark.

“Why don't you go forth and multiply?” asked Noah, a bit angry.

“We can't,” said the serpent.“We are adders.”

III. Interpret the italic parts into proper Chinese:

1. Water flowed languidly into the thirsty fields.

2. Although young, she wrote a gem of a poem.

3. Not far from the brook stood a frowning rock.

4. IBM has a handsome increase of productivity this year.

5. He insisted that our assumptions were all wet.

6. The murderer has been put into the condemned cell.

7. In his devil of a hurry, he forgot to take down the address.

8. The Apple Company occasionally engages in electronic conversation with its users around the country.

IV. Point out the literal meaning and the figurative meaning in the syllepsis, and then try making your own sentences with syllepses:

1. Every time she went to a party, the woman put on ornaments and airs.

2. His temper was as short as his coattails.

3. Their talk continued on their three days' horseback journey, and finally they arrived at the town hall and an agreement.

4. He halted in the district where by night are found the lightest street, hearts, vows, and librettos.

5. She's too low for a high praise, too brown for a fair praise, and too little for a great praise.

6. Joanna, pursued by the three monks, ran about the room, leaping over tables and chairs, sometimes throwing a dish or a scriptural maxim at her pursuers.

V. Reading and discussion:

A pun is a word employed in two or more senses, or a word used in a context that makes the reader think of a second term resembling it in sound. In the first of the two following examples the pun depends upon different meanings of the same word; in the second, upon one word's sounding like another:

A cannon-ball took off his legs, so he laid down his arms.

（Thomas Hood）

During the two previous centuries musical styles went in one era and out of the other. ...

（Frank Muir）

While puns resemble one kind of irony in simultaneously using words in different senses, they differ in more important ways. For one thing, a pun is almost exclusively a device of humor. （At least it is so today. In earlier centuries poets and dramatists often employed puns in serious contexts.） Mark Twain, for instance, makes us laugh by punning on the expression “raising chickens”：

Even as a schoolboy poultry-raising was a study with me, and I may say without egotism that as early as the age of seventeen I was acquainted with all the best and speediest methods of raising chickens, from raising them off a roost by burning lucifer matches under their noses, down to lifting them off a fence on a frosty night by insinuating a warm board under their feet.

For another thing, puns, the better ones at any rate, work more like metaphors and similes. They reveal unexpected connections. A good pun not only amuses us, it surprises us by pointing out a significant and hitherto unseen similarity. The humorist S. J. Perelman entitles one collection of his essays The Road to Miltown, or Under the Spreading Atrophy. The pun on “atrophy” is effective not only because the word sounds like “a tree” and the phrase echoes a famous line of American poetry （“under the spreading chestnut tree”）, but also because in an age given to the wholesale swallowing of tranquilizers like Miltown, atrophy may indeed be spreading.

Because they have become a sign of “low humor，” many people think puns are unseemly in modern exposition. That judgment is a bit harsh: a good pun is often worth making. Use them only when you wish a light, informal tone, however. Even then a pun should be clever and revealing. A clumsy or inappropriate pun is worse than none at all.

Zeugma （pronounced ZOOG ma） is a special kind of pun involving a verb. It occurs when the same verb is used with two or more objects, either （1） applying to each of them in a different sense, or （2） even when having the same sense, creating an apparently incongruent combination of ideas.

In this example, the verb operates in slightly different senses:

Piano, n. A parlor utensil for subduing the impenitent visitor. It is operated by depressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of the audience.

In another example the verb has the same meaning but combines with two objects to create an unusual coupling of ideas, is found in this sentence:

She left his apartment with tarnished virtue and a new mink.

Zeugma, like puns in general, is a comic figure of speech. At its best zeugma is witty and amusing, and it increases meaning by revealing hidden connections. Not only does Durrell's pairing of dishes and scriptural maxims amuse us: it also leads us to see their equal inefficacy in Joanna's plight.

（Thomas S. Kane）

Questions for discussion:

1. What are the usual ways to form puns?

2. In what way is a pun similar to Irony?

3. How is it that puns work more like metaphors and similes?

4. What should we bear in mind in the use of puns?

5. Why is Zeugma a special kind of Pun?

6. What effects can Zeugma achieve in communication?

第十六章　CONTRAST, PARALLELISM和ANTITHESIS

16.1　Contrast

16.1A　Contrast的含义和形式

1） Contrast，汉译“对照”，亦作“对比”，是突出差别的一种修辞手段。例如：

The twins are as different as two people can be. Sally, who is always hoping someone will have a party, has black hair, brown eyes, and an outgoing personality. She wants to be an actress or popular singer. Susan, more serious and studious, has blonde hair, blue eyes, and a somewhat shy manner. Since she has done well in all her classes in graphic arts and math, she plans to become an architect or an engineer.

上例中开头一句点出这对双胞胎姐妹完全不同，接着从形象特征、兴趣爱好、专长和志向等方面加以对照。

2） 最基本的对照结构由两个成分构成，它们之间意义上构成反衬，结构上互不相同。例如：

Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of laboring those problems which divide us.

（John F. Kennedy）

Your knowledge of English “tells” you that certain strings of phonemes are permissible and others are not.

（Victoria Franklin）

上例中What problems unite us为名词性分句，与之对照的those problems which divide us为带后置修饰性分句的名词短语；certain strings of phonemes are permissible为完整的分句结构，与之对照的others are not为省略分句。

16.1B　Contrast的使用

1） 在实际使用中，Contrast常和Comparison密切配合，其中Comparison用于论述不同事物的相同点或类似点，Contrast用于论述不同事物的不同点，如人们常说的similarities and differences, relative merits, advantages and disadvantages。例如：

Most Americans would say it is not really possible to establish an ideal society. But time after time, a small dedicated group of people will drop out of the mainstream of American society to try, once more, to live according to the group's concept of an ideal society. Most of these groups have believed in holding their property in common. Most have used the holding their property in common. Most have used the word family to refer to all members of the group. Many of these groups, however, have differed widely in their attitudes toward sex and marriage.

（Conlin）

从整个段落看，首先是most Americans和a small dedicated group of people之间的对照，然后是most of these groups的比较（common property, group as “family”）和对照（attitudes toward sex and marriage），结构严谨，思路清晰。

2） “对比”兼有对照与比较两种意思，是用来说明道理或事实的有力手段。1960年4月下旬，周恩来总理与印度谈判中印边界问题，印方提出一个挑衅性问题：“西藏自古就是中国的领土吗？”周恩来说：“西藏自古就是中国的领土，远的不说，至少在元代，它已经是中国的领土。”对方说：“时间太短了。”周恩来说：“中国的元代离现在已有700来年的历史，如果700年都被认为是时间短的话，那么美国到现在只有100多年的历史，是不是美国不是一个国家呢？这显然是荒谬的。”印方代表哑口无言。这里周总理用了700年与100年的对比，谁也无法否认前者而承认后者。

3）不论比较或对照，都应有共同基础，即可以进行比较或对照的内容；当然这种基础或内容有时并非一眼便可看到，而需要通过一定的分析才能得知。例如要在人和蜜蜂之间进行比较或对照，乍一听似乎是荒唐的，但事实并非如此，因为两者虽然在智能和身体结构等方面有天壤之别，却都属群居动物，并有自己的社会分工，这就构成比较或对照的基础。当两个对象十分类似时，就需要通过对照找出不同点，以便加以识别；当两个对象不太相似时，则可以通过比较发现共同点，以便从总的方面去把握，所谓同中见异，异中求同，这既是分析和了解客观事物的方法，也是文章写作的方法。

16.2　Parallelism

16.2A　Parallelism的含义与形式

1） Parallelism汉译“平行结构”，是以语法结构对称（包括相同或相似的词、短语或分句）来突出意义的一种修辞手段。例如：

In its energy, its lyrics, its advocacy of frustrated joys, rock in one long symphony of protest.

上例中有介词in的3个平行宾语结构。

The Department of Justice began a vigorous campaign to break up the corporate empires, to restore the free and open market, and to plant the feet of industry firmly on the road to competition.

（Thurman Arnold）

上例句中campaign的3个修饰语为平行结构。

Here is where the hot wind blows and the old ways do not seem relevant, where the divorce rate is double the national average and where one person in every thirty-eight lives in a trailer.

（Joan Didion）

上例中用作主语的3个where分句构成平行结构。

2） 平行结构的各成分之间用并列连词and，or，逗号，分号等连接，笔者在《分析英语语法》16.7节“平行并列”部分也讲到这一点，下面再举几个例子说明：

Eskimos and native Americans, it is believed, came originally from Asia.

Immigrants to the United States have been compelled to leave their homelands because of religious, political, and economic constructions.

According to one woman, becoming drunkards, deserting their families, or committing suicide proved the only answers for some of their fellow immigrants.

（Parker）

3） 有一种特殊的平行结构，叫做“平衡句”（Balanced sentence），由两个平行的分句构成，用词对等或近似，且各分句中的字数相当；不过第二个分句中的某些词语可能省去。例如：

Many Mexicans immigrated to the United States after the 1910—1920 revolution, and many Cubans （immigrated to the United States） after the 1959 revolution.

（ibid）

In good weather, the passage from England to America could take twenty days; but in bad weather, it could take more than two months.

（ibid）

平衡句中配上回环（亦称逆序反复，参见13.1D），往往构成工整的回环句，例如：

Some people believe that too many people have been admitted to America lately — they want emigration of immigrants rather than immigration of emigrants.

（ibid）

16.2B　Parallelism的使用

1） 平行结构形式上精致、工整，声调上富于韵律，因而能给读者或听话者深刻的印象；同时能以较经济的表达方式突出含义。例如：

We must somehow take a wider view, look at the whole landscape, really see it, and describe what's going on out there.

（Annie Dillard）

句中主语和助动词后跟4个动词短语组成平行结构，既经济，又紧凑。

According to the 1980 census, the largest number of immigrants that have come to the United States have been of German origin, and the second largest, of Italian origin.

（Parker）

例中第二个分句省略了“number of immigrants that have come to the United States have been”，而通过逗号，读者很容易看出平行结构中省略的内容。这样不但不会造成理解困难，而且由于用词经济，使基本含义更为突出了。

2） 平行结构有重复强调的功能，往往通过一连串动词短语的平行出现，表示说话者或写作者的雄辩口才或特别情感，如 John F. Kennedy的这席话就颇具鼓动性：

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.

又如，在Thomas Jefferson对 George III的指控里，愤怒之情溢于言表：

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

平行结构中动词短语的连续出现，如同画家挥动手中的彩笔，或摄影师放出的镜头，由单个动作或画面构成一幅幅活动的景象或情节，格外生动逼真。例如：

Hilland valley followed valley and hill; the little green and stony cattle-tracks wandered in and out of one another, split into three or four, died away in marshy hollows, and began again sporadically on hillsides or at the borders of a wood.

（Robert Louis Stevenson）

She laid two fingers on my shoulder, cast another look into my face under her candle, turned the key in the lock, gently thrust me beyond the door, shut it; and left me to my own devices.

（Walter de la Mare）

3） 避免不对称平行结构（Faulty parallel structure），即应注意平行结构中各个成分形式上的一致。例如：

Glittering white horses lend romance and a nostalgic air to Cinderella's Golden Carrousel; it was originally built for a Detroit amusement park in 1917.

句中romance为名词，nostalgic为形容词，应将romance改为romantic，构成对称的平行结构“... lend a romantic and a nostalgic air ...”。又如：

I am interested in the folklore of Howard Hughes, in the way people react to him and in what words and expressions they use when they talk about him.

这原是 Joan Didion的一个平行结构，斜体部分为被改动后的形式，并因而破坏了原平行结构的对称，其原句是这样的：

... in the way people react to him, in the terms they use ...

16.3　Antithesis

16.3A　Antithesis的含义与形式

1） Antithesis汉译“平行对照”，可看作是Contrast+Parallelism，因为构成此辞格的成分之间须结构上对称，而意义上对照，例如：

The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

（Abraham Lincoln）

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

（Samuel Johnson）

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

（Abraham Lincoln）

上述例句说明，平行对照格的成分可以是词，短语或分句。

2） 平行对照的两个成分可以是某个对象的不同方面的对比，也可以是两个对象的不同方面的对比。例如：

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

（John F. Kennedy）

Why are some people argumentative and domineering, while others are shy and hesitant? ... Why are some people greedy, selfish, and cynical, while others are kindly and easy to get along with?

（Gordon R. Lowe）

上述第二个例句还表明，除了由两个成分构成的平行对照外，还可能由这个平行对照结构同另一个类似的平行对照结构组成新的平行对照关系，可视作并列平行对照。又如：

In Australia, where people are few and rabbits are many, I watched a whole populace satisfying the primitive impulse in the primitive manner by the skillful slaughter of many thousands of rabbits. But in London or New York, where people are many and rabbits are few, some other means must be found to gratify primitive impulse.

（Bertrand Russell）

16.3B　Antithesis的使用

1） 平行对照格形式整齐匀称，音律节奏铿锵，内容既适于重复强调，又适于反衬对照，从音、形、义各方面看，都具有鲜明的修辞功能，在富于形象、音乐美的诗歌和充满逻辑辩证力量的论说文章和演说中特别常见。例如：

Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are:

One equal temper of heroic hearts

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

（Tennyson）

Paine argued that Kings of England did not rule by divine right and wrote persuasively of the prospects for forming an independent government without any king at all, Americans, many of whom had hesitated to think such thoughts even as they had gone about the business of setting up idependent governments, found in common sense an ideological justification for their actions. The pamphlet was read in every city and hamlet in the colonies. It was read in taverns and at hearthside, denounced by furious loyalists and praised by friends of liberty, among whom it set in motion a groundswell of support for independence.

（Diana Karter Appelbaum）

It will not be easy. It will require sacrifice. But it can be done and done fairly. No choosing sacrifice for its own sake, but for our own sake.

（Bill Clinton）

在劝说性的格言及现代广告中，都会经常出现平行对照格。它们用语简练，结构工整，往往通过鲜明的对照把深邃的哲理说得明白动听。例如：

There is more danger from a pretended friend than from an open enemy.

（Aesop's Fables）

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

（Holy Bible）

Small sorrows speak: great sorrows are silent.

— Proverb

Warehouse Clearance.

Pentax Importer Overstocked.

Their Loss, Your Gain.

（New Zealand Herald, May 10, 1991）

2） 平行对照格常常和明喻与隐喻（见8.1 和8.2）、逆论（见11.2A）、矛盾修饰法（见11.2B）、头韵（见17.1A）等辞格并用，从而使该辞格所具备的形式美、音韵美和内容上既有同向强调又可反向对照的特色得到更加充分的表现。例如：

False Eloquence, like the Prismatic Glass,

Its gaudy Colours spreads on ev'ry place;

The Face of Nature we no more survey,

All glares: alike, without Distinction gay:

But true Expression, like th' unchanging Sun,

Clears, and improves whate'er it shines upon,

...

（A. Pope）

Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.

（Bacon）

More haste, less speed.

— Proverb

Why then, O brawling love!

O loving hate! O anything, of nothing first great!

（W. Shakespeare）

Many are brash, but few are brave.

练习十六　（Exercise Sixteen）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Is the figure “Contrast” used to intensify differences or similarities?

2. Does Parallelism require that elements in the figure must be parallel in structure?

3. Antithesis can be regarded as a combination of Contrast and Parallelism that the elements of the figure are parallel in structure and contrastive in meaning. Do you agree with this statement?

4. Can you tell Contrast from Comparison in use?

5. What does a Balanced Sentence refer to?

6. Can you tell how to avoid Faulty Parallel Structures?

7. Can you cite examples to indicate how Antithesis is used with other figures of speech?

II. Identify what figures of speech are used in the following:

1. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flame of withering injustice.

（Martin Luther King, Jr.）

2. It is certain that if you were to behold the whole woman, there is that dignity in her aspect, that composure in her motion, that complacency in her manner, that if her form makes you hope, her merit makes you fear.

（Richard Steele）

3. To complain of the age we live in, to murmur at the present possessors of power, to lament the past, to conceive extravagant hopes of the future, are the common dispositions of the greatest part of mankind.

（Edmund Burke）

4. Maintain its independence, uphold its constitution, preserve its union, defend its liberty, let it stand before the world in its original strength and beauty, securing peace, order, equality and freedom to all within its boundaries, and shedding light and hope and joy upon the pathway of human liberty, and Washington needs no other monument.

（Robert C. Winthrop）

5. My only love sprung from my only hate.

Too early seen unknown, and know too late.

（Shakespeare）

6. Let us be ruthless in our criticism, cruel to personal vanities, indifferent to age, rank or experience if these stand in our way. Let all theories be subjected to the bright clear light of practice.

（Norman Bethune）

III. Identify faulty elements in the following and revise them:

1. These books are not primarily for reading, but they are used for reference.

2. Gary is not a good track man, and neither is his swimming.

3. We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that the cavalry's winning was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre.

4. When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know it, admit that you do not — this is true knowledge.

5. To know that we know what we know, and we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.

6. Anaheim's recently rebuilt Fantasyland once looked like a cartoon collage; now the Tudor buildings make it resemble a small village. （Change some words in one of the clauses so that it is parallel in structure to the other.）

IV. Read the following statements and comment them with examples:

1. Antithesis is a figure which assumes a balanced structure and emphasizes a contrast in meaning by arranging antonymous elements （words, phrases, clauses, etc） in parallel construction, generally for a tuneful rhythm and wisdom of brevity.

2. “Contrast” points out difference;“compare to” points out likenesses; “compare with” does both. In the figure of Contrast, opposite ideas are expressed by structures which are different to each other （or one another.）

3. In rhetorical parallelism, the writer uses similar structures in separate sentences to express related ideas. The parallel sentences may occur one after the other, or they may be separated by other sentences or by whole paragraphs. Like rhetorical questions, Parallelism is common in argumentation and persuasion because it can help the writer emphasize important points.

4. Balanced constructions have similar form and function and approximately equal length, and they usually occur in the same sentence — occasionally in successive ones. Unlike parallel constructions, however, elements in balanced constructions do not necessarily relate grammatically to the same thing. Balanced elements may be played against one another, sometimes repeating the same idea, sometimes expressing contrasting ideas. When the contrast is sharply pointed it is called Antithesis: antithetical constructions are simply balanced phrases or clauses expressing opposed ideas.

第十七章　ALLITERATION, ASSONANCE, CONSONANCE 等韵格

17.1　几种主要韵格的含义与形式

17.1A　Alliteration

1） Alliteration汉译“头韵”，指一组词，一句话或一行诗中重复出现开头音相同的单词。例如：

Promise, Problem and Provision

这个词组是John Hagee编定的一本书的书名，其中发音相同的3个字母P重复使用，构成头韵。

US trade policy is often viewed as inconsistent, incoherent and incomprehensible to the countries of the origin.

（C. Michael Aho）

这句话中in在字首三次重复出现，构成头韵。

2） 构成头韵的多为辅音字母，但应注意不发字母本音的字母不构成头韵，如physical pain, psychological power这样的短语，由于ph组合读/f/音，ps组合中的字母p不发音，因而不能在短语中构成头韵。

17.1B　Assonance

Assonance汉译“母韵”，也称“元音韵”，或“半谐音”，指一组词，一句话或一行诗中同一元音重复出现。例如：

短语：fair and square, near and dear, etc. 在上述短语中分别重复元音/eə/和/ɪə/，等。

句子：The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.

在上句中元音/eɪ/ 五次重复出现。

诗歌：

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

（Thomas Gray）

这是Thomas Gray名诗Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard中的一节，其中双元音/əʊ/ 重复五次，还有/ə:/, /eɪ/, /i:/, /ɑ:/等，均构成母韵。

17.1C　Consonance

Consonance，汉译“尾韵”，指相同词尾辅音在一组词、一句话或一行诗中重复出现。例如：

词组： rough and tough, a blessed ghost, etc.

上述词组中 /f/ 和 /t/ 分别重复出现，构成尾韵。

句子：When I lent I was a friend, when I asked I was unkind.

句中辅音 /t/ 和 /d/ 重复出现，构成尾韵。

17.1D　Single Rhyme, Double Rhyme

1） Single rhyme汉译“单韵”通常在重读词或音节上押韵，包括前面讲到的头韵、母韵和尾韵。由于这类押韵富于雄健阳刚的特色，故又称“阳韵”（Masculine rhyme）。例如：

Fit or Fat?

例中由头韵 /f/ 构成阳韵。

China and Britain concur on at least one point. The 13-year transition to Chinese rule can make or break HongKong.

（Daily Telegraph, 1984）

例中由母韵 /eɪ/ 构成阳韵。

2） Double rhyme, 汉译“双韵”，指“押韵重读音节+相同的弱读音节”，故又称“长短二音韵”，重轻配合，韵律悦耳，具有多姿的女性美，亦称“阴韵”（Feminine rhyme）。例如：

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

— Proverb

上例中由 /'ə:+ɪ/ 和 /'e+ɪ/ 分别构成双韵。

Days, that need borrow

No part of their good morrow.

From a fore-spent night of sorrow.

（Richard Crashaw）

上面的诗句中由 /'ɔ+əʊ/ 构成双韵。

17.2　韵格使用中的三个问题

17.2A　韵格的综合使用

英语是一种韵律丰富的语言，不仅押韵的形式多种多样，而且经常是一种韵格连用，或两种甚至多种韵格综合使用，尤其在诗歌中更是如此。例如诗人Algernon Charles Swinburne的长诗Nephelidia 通篇充满Alliteration，这里仅引其中一句：

Life is the lust of a lamp for the light that is dark till the dawn of the day that we die.

Robert Graves的诗 The Traveler's Curse After Misdirection中除了尾韵连续出现外，还可以找到其他多种韵格：

May they wander stage by stage
Of the same vain Pilgrimage,
Stumbling on, age after age,
Night and day, mile after mile,
At each and every stile, withal,
May they catch their feet and fall;

上节诗中除了尾韵/dʒ/和/ɪ/分别构成前三行和后四行的韵脚以外，每行中还含有头韵、母韵、尾韵，真是韵味无穷。

17.2B　韵格同其他辞格并用

英语中的韵格常常和其他辞格并用，给它们增添各种音响色彩，如前面Robert Graves的那节诗中不仅有多种韵格，还可以找到 Repetition, Parallelism, Contrast等，反之，也可以说，在其他各种辞格中都会出现并用的韵格，其中尤其和拟声格配合时，能创造出理想的声响效果，例如：

Tom Carvel, 84, the ice-cream tycoon whose voice — a near-indescribable mix of grumble, mumble, rasp and gasp — Peddled his company's wares in radio and TV ads for 35 years, died in his sleep in Pine Plains, N. Y., Oct. 21.

（People, Nov. 1990）

句中一连串拟声的母韵、尾韵给读者以清晰的音响感，老人发出的嘟嘟囔囔、咕咕哝哝、嗄擦嗄擦、扑哧扑哧的声音似乎就在耳边。又如：

Hark, hark

Bow-Bow.

The watch-dogs barks!

Bow-Bow!

Hark, hark! I hear

The strain of strutting chanticleer.

Cry, “Cook-a -doodle-doo!”

上面是W. Shakespeare的一首抒情小诗，题为Song: Hark, Hark!诗中拟声词和几种韵格结合使用，读来生动、逼真，似有犬吠鸡鸣之感。

17.2C　韵格的恰当使用

1） 英语中各种韵格的使用十分普遍，诗歌、谚语中随处可见，新闻和广告中更为风行。

有篇广告词是这样的：

One man's disaster is another man's delight.

The Sale is now on.

在这个相当耸人听闻的大削价广告中，首先引人注意的恐怕是对照 （参见16.1A），接着是对谚语 One Man's meat is another man's poison的仿拟（参见13.1A），与此同时，头韵又增添几分幽默情趣，似乎店老板果然是真心让利，乐意酬宾呢。相比之下，我曾见到的另一份促销广告则逊色得多：

Kick your can into higher gear.

Come to our clearance here!

这个广告虽有头韵和尾韵，但相当于顺口溜，没有什么深度，可以说是为韵而韵。

2） 范家材教授在《英语修辞赏析》一书中提出了“避免因韵害义”的告诫，同时引用了Dr. Samuel Johnson的话：“It's the mind that governs the ear.”在韵格使用中，除了上面讲到的单纯追求押韵以外，还有的押韵不和谐，甚至损害文体的协调。例如：

Can the Democrats Defy Decline?

这是《经济学家》论述美国民主党如何挽回颓势一文的标题，其中谓语动词defy虽然达到了押头韵和尾韵的目的，但与宾语decline搭配牵强，音韵呆板，若将defy换成check, face out这样清辅音开头的词语，则既保持了头韵又使浊清辅音相间，效果会更好些。

练习十七　（Exercise Seventeen）

I. Preview Questions:

1. The three figures Alliteration, Assonance and Consonance are all related with sounds, aren't they?

2. Is it true that all English letters can be used to form Alliteration?

3. Is Assonance always associated with vowels?

4. Consonance is formed by repeating the last consonants of two or more words, isn't it?

5. Both Single Rhyme and Double Rhyme can occur in the three figures Alliteration, Assonance and Consonance. Do you agree with this statement?

6. Is it advisable to use the rhyming figures as much as possible since they can produce musical effects?

II. Identify what figures are used in the following:

1. The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.

2. “No sweet without sweat” is a proverb in which two kinds of figures can be found.

3. Why do we garnish our own traits but tarnish the other fellows?

4. With the election weeks away, both sides are claiming victory and crying foul.

（David Lawday）

5. The day is fresh and fair, and there is a smell of narcissus in the air.

（Amy Lowell）

6. Green field, and glowing rock, and glancing streamlet, all slope together in the sunshine towards the brows of ravines, where the pines take up their own dominion of saddened shade, and with everlasting roar in the twilight, the stronger torrents thunder down, pale from the glaciers, filling all their chasms with enchanted cold, beating themselves to pieces against the great rocks that they have themselves cast down, and forcing fierce way beneath their ghastly poise.

（John Ruskin）

7. Like as the tide that comes from th' Ocean main,

Flows up the Shenan with contrary force,

And overruling him in his own rayne,

Drives back the current of his kindly course,

...

（Edmund Spenser）

III. Further reading:

Rhyme is the repetition of sounds in positions close enough to be noticed. We associate this aspect of language with poetry, usually in the form of end rhyme — the closing of successive or alternate lines with the same sound:

The grave's a fine private place,

But none I think do there embrace.

（Andrew Marvell）

Poetry also has inner rhyme — the repetition of sounds within the line, as the a and i vowels and the p's of the first line of Marvell's couplet.

Despite its association with poetry, rhyme also occurs in prose, more often than people think. It is usually a kind of inner rhyme — prose writers rarely structure sentences or clauses by ending them with the same sound. Like rhythm, rhyme can affect the ear both pleasantly and unpleasantly, and it can enhance meaning, for by rhyming key words, a writer draws attention to them. In prose such rhyme often takes the form of alliteration, the repetition of initial sounds in successive or near-successive words. In the following sentence the writer emphasizes “wilderness”by repeating w and “decay” by repeating d:

Otherwise the place is bleakly uninteresting: a wilderness of windswept grasses and sinewy weeds waving away from a thin beach ever speckled with drift and decaying things, — worm-ridden timbers, dead porpoises.

（Lafcadio Hearn）

Alliteration can be risky. Hearn succeeds, but G. K. Chesterton rides alliteration too hard and too long in the k sounds of this sentence:

Thus a creed which set out to create conquerors would only corrupt soldiers; corrupt them with a craven and unsoldierly worship of success:and that which began as a philosophy of courage ends as a philosophy of cowardice.

Excesses like this have led some people to damn and blast all alliteration — and, in fact, all other varieties of rhyme — in prose. There is no doubt that in prose a little rhyme goes a long way. The trick is to keep the rhyme unobtrusive, subordinate to the sense. Composition suffers when rhyme comes to the surface, a fault to which poets are sometimes given when they write prose:

Her eyes were full of proud and passionless lust after gold and blood; her hair, close and curled, seems ready to shudder in sunder and divide into snakes.

（Algernon Charles Swinburne）

His boots are tight, the sun is hot, and he may be shot. ...

（Amy Lowell）

These contain too much rhyme for most tastes. Lowel's sentence, an example of what she called polyphonic prose, seems especially awkward, employing in “hot/shot” the kind of vowel-consonant end rhyme common in poetry. The unrelieved meter of the sentence also contributes to its awkwardness.

His boots are tight, the syn is hot, and he may be shot. ...

Yet despite such abuses, it is extreme to say that rhyme has no place in prose. It is more reasonable to acknowledge that the sounds of words play an inevitable part in their effect upon a reader. Negatively, certain things should be avoided: obvious and jingling rhyme or combinations of awkwardly dissimilar sounds. Positively, sounds can create a tonal harmony which pleases the ear and makes us more receptive to what the sentence says, as in this passage by John Donne （a seventeenth-century poet who also wrote great prose）:

One dieth at his full strength, bewing wholly at ease, and in quiet, and another dies in the bitterness of his soul, and never eats with pleasure; but they lie down alike in the dust, and the worm covers them.

Or sounds can enhance the effect of an image:

Dust swirls down the avenue, hisses sand hurries like erected cobras round the corners.

（Virginia Woolf）

Thus rhyme is — or can be — a positive element in composition. It is less significant than rhythm, but far from negligible. Too great a concern with sound, too much “tone painting,” is a fault in prose （and in poetry, too）. Controlled by a sensitive ear, however, the sounds of a sentence enrich and widen its meaning.

Points for Consideration:

1. How does rhyme differ from rhythm?

2. What is inner rhyme in poetry? Is inner rhyme associated with poetry only?

3. What effect（s） can rhyme produce when it is used properly?

4. What form does rhyme often take in prose?

5. How can alliteration be risky?

6. What principle（s） should one follow in the use of rhyme?

7. What should one guard against in the use of rhyme?

8. Can you cite any extreme view（s） concerning the use of sounds?

第十八章　句子的一致、连贯和强调

18.1　正确句和有效句

18.1A　正确句（Correct Sentence）

1） 正确句是一个语法概念，即要求一个句子的语法正确（参见7.1A）。

2） 正确性也包括语音和词汇正确，如口语中音发错了，书面语中词语错了（包括拼法），就不算正确句子。这在前面14.2中可以看到种种例子。

18.1B　有效句 （Effective Sentence）

1） 有效句指一个句子能有效地达到交际目的。显然，有效句必须是正确句。语法上不正确的句子，或者是有发音错误，有时也可以交际，即对方能够理会意思，但有效性很不可靠，往往会造成误解，14.2B讲到的那个旅行者把cough说成cow的发音，造成交际障碍，就是一例。

2） 要实现句子的有效性，当然还涉及是否适合语境和对象等问题。我们这里仅从修辞角度讨论句子本身结构上应具备的基本要求。第七章所讨论的句式多样化，即适当安排长句和短句，简单句和复合句以及使用一些具有修辞特色的句式，都是为增强句子的表达效果。下面再分别讨论对句子结构的3项修辞要求：句子的一致，句子的连贯和句子的强调。

18.2　句子的一致（Sentence Unity）

18.2A　句子一致的含义

1） 一致性是指句子所表示的思想是一个完整的统一体。例如：

Jane sat down, picked up her pen and started to write her composition:

“I got up early. Mom told me that there was always traffic jam and our car was a little bit too old and we need buy a new one.”

例中Jane的作文的开头两句话就不够一致：第一句意思欠完整，需补上动作发生的时间；第二句所表示的思想不统一，因为没有讲明两个分句之间的联系，也同第一句割裂，故它们没有形成一个完整的统一体。

2） 一致性是对句子结构的首要要求，全句使用的词语都要紧密地围绕一个中心思想，凡未达到这项要求的句子都应改写。例如对上面例子中那个学生的作文可作必要的增删：

“I got up early Monday morning. Mom told me that there was always heavy traffic, and as our car was a bit old and couldn't run fast, we'd better start earlier.”

18.2B　对缺乏一致性句子的两种处理方法

1） 为了取得句子的一致性，对句中与中心思想无关的内容应加删减。例如：

Parking space on the compass, which is one of the most beautiful in the state, has become completely inadequate, and recently the city council voted to increase bus fares again.

此句的中心内容是讲停车场已经非常紧张，市府决定再次提高公共汽车费，势必使更多的人用私人汽车，从而加剧停车场紧张的局面。由于which引导的从句同本句中心内容无关，故应删去。

2） 对于结构过于松散，未能明白地表示中心思想的句子应加以改写。例如：

I worry about whether I will get a job, and I am convinced that new opportunities will open up before the end of spring.

上例中的两个分句由逗号and连接，形式上是一个完整的句子，但实际上两个分句之间并未形成有机的连接，中心思想未得到明确的表述，为此应当改写。一种办法是把并列分句改为主从分句：

I worry about whether I will get a job, though I am convinced that new opportunities will open up before the end of spring.

也可以再增加一个分句，从而使全句的中心思想明白地表现出来：

I worry about whether I will get a job. Although I am convinced that new opportunities will open up before the end of spring, I still can't help being anxious about my prospects.

18.3　句子的连贯 （Sentence Coherence）

18.3A　句子连贯的含义

1） 句子连贯指句中的成分之间具有合乎逻辑的有机联系，全句所表述的思路清晰，使交际对方容易得到要领。例如：

It goes without saying that one cannot work logically with a statement which does not have a clear-cut, ascertainable meaning.

（John C. Sherwood）

这是一个以“it”作形式主语的句子，后面“that”从句为实际主语，在该从句中又以“not ... not”结构为主干，既紧凑，又清晰，确是一个有机整体。

2） 上节讲到的句子“一致”是指句中的成分都要围绕和服务于全句中心思想的表达，即与中心思想形成有机联系；这里讲到的“连贯”则是指句中的成分之间要形成有机的横向联系。“一致”和“连贯”，两者之间既有区别，又密切相关。例如：

All the players jumped from the bench and the referee made an unfair announcement of the results.

这是一个并列句，其两个分句之间表面上虽有and连接，但并未能表示出两个分句之间的逻辑联系，即未达到连贯要求，因而也未能实现句子的一致，结果整句的思想表达得不清楚。为此，应照下述方法加以改写：

The referee made an unfair announcement of the results and （so） all the players jumped from the bench.

As / When the referee made an unfair announcement of the results, all the players jumped from the bench.

All the players jumped from the bench because the referee made an unfair announcement of the results.

18.3B　影响句子连贯的若干因素

1） 从语法方面看，经常会影响到句子连贯的因素有并列结构安排失当，代词所指对象不明确，垂悬修饰或修饰语错位，时态、人称、数或语气不一致，句子结构混乱或不完全，等等。例如：

The report is chiefly about inflationary trends in the last decade and that the consumer has lost confidence in the quality of many products.

介词about的并列宾语一为短语，一为从句，属于并列结构安排失当，应当将that从句改为短语：

The report is chiefly about inflationary trends in the last decade and the consumer's loss of confidence in the quality of many products.

（James M. McCrimmon）

He rode that snowy night and slipped into a ditch, but it was not serious.

例中代词it所指不明确，故句子应加改写：

..., but luckily enough, he didn't get hurt.

又如：

Every member of our research team worked conscientiously, thus producing one of the best projects Professor Ames has ever received.

例中 -ing分词短语的修饰对象不明确，全句含义未能得到确切表达，故宜改为：

Because/As every member of our research team worked conscientiously, we produced one of the best projects Professor Ames has ever received.

又如：

Look at that ridiculous lady's hat!

修饰语位置不当会引起歧义或显得滑稽可笑，有时会造成误解。上例中的修饰语位置不当，应改为：

Look at that lady's ridiculous hat!

又如：

When we began our composition course, there was little knowledge about the importance of strategy in the writing of a paper. Correctness in spelling, punctuation, and grammatical usage was what had been drilled into us; but the effects of interrelationships among speaker, audience, and occasion were foreign to us ...

上例两个较长的句子讲的是作者，但由于用了4个不同的主语，影响了句子的连贯和一致，故应改为：

At the beginning of our composition course, we knew little about the importance of strategy in the writing of a paper. We knew the necessity for correctness in spelling, punctuation and grammatical usage but were unaware of the effects of interrelationships among speaker, audience, and occasion ...

2） 从修辞角度看，词语选用不当，辞格应用不当，重复、省略等其他修辞手法运用不当，都会影响到句子的连贯（同时也会损坏句子的一致）。例如：

On hearing that his father had kicked the bucket, I wrote him a letter to express my sorrows and sympathies.

句中“kick the bucket”是俚语，既粗俗，又轻浮，相当汉语中讲某人“翘辫子”。这里把俚语用到一个表示忧伤和同情的句子里，显然很不恰当，而应选用委婉语的形式，如“pass away”，“be no more”，“depart”，等。又如：

Flattens hills like flattens the floor.

这是一个广告稿，意在用夸张手法宣传使用该汽车爬山时高山变成了平地，但flattens重复使用时出现了败笔：既然是floor，就用不着再去flatten，为此应改为：

Flattens hills like driving on the floor.

又如：

The campaign was successful and costly, but the victory was sweet.

两个问题影响了句子的连贯：一是不应当用and连接两个含义上矛盾的并列成分，而应用表示转折、对照关系的but；二是用词不精练，successful和victory在含义上重复。该句可改写为：

The campaign was costly, but the victory was sweet.

18.4　句子的强调 （Sentence Emphasis）

18.4A　句子强调的含义

1） 句子的强调指把句中表示重要意义的成份或词语安排在句中较为显著的位置。一般说来，句首和句尾都是受强调的位置。请看下面两个例句：

Her hands were always moving, pushing her glasses back up her slim nose, patting her hair into place, tapping a non-existent ash off the end of her cigarette.

When my father had been wheeled into the recovery room, and the heart monitor and the glucose tubes had been disconnected, I finally relaxed.

（Francis L. Fennell）

上述例1为渐进句（参见7.3A），例2为掉尾句（参见7.2A），分别强调句首和句尾部分。

2） 对内容加以夸张，对某些词语加下横线，改粗体或斜体，以及使用感叹号，等等，都能起到强调作用。但这里所讲的强调主要指对句子结构的安排和调整，使作者想着重表达的思想得到突出，做到次要内容服务于主要内容，有轻有重，层次分明。

18.4B　句子强调的几种手段

1） 除上面18.4A2提到的以外，还可通过调整句中成分的位置的方式强调某个句子成份。例如：

The American girl drove her red car to school last semester.

若要强调句中的女孩是美国人，则可作如下调整：

The girl, an American, drove her red car to school last semester.

或

The girl, who was an American, drove her red car to school ...

又如：

She might never see him again if the plane came late.

若把条件状语从句提前，或者在主句与从句之间加上破折号，都可使原句的意思得到强调：

If the plane came late, she might never see him again.

或：

She might never see him again — if the plane came late.

2） 重复（参见7.4B）、省略（参见7.4A） 和平行对照结构 （参见16.3） 的使用，都是达到句子强调的有效方式。例如：

And this hell was, simply, that he had never in his life owned anything — not his wife, nor his house, nor his child — which could not, at any instant, be taken from him by the power of white people.

（James Baldwin）

We always called her old Maggie although she wasn't old really. About forty-seven, or forty-eight. No more.

又如：

Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice, ... Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

（Martin Luther King Jr.）

练习十八　（Exercise Eighteen）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Can you tell the difference between Correct Sentence and Effective Sentence?

2. “Unity means oneness, the combination of all elements to form a single unit.” What do you think of this statement?

3. What should be done when a sentence lacks unity?

4. Is it true that sentence coherence requires that all elements be arranged in a clear, logical order so that it is easy for the reader to follow the writer's train of thought?

5. Can you tell any factor in grammar that will affect sentence coherence?

6. Can you tell any rhetorical factor that will affect sentence coherence?

7. What positions in the sentence are regarded as most prominent?

8. Can you indicate with an example how emphasis can be achieved in the sentence?

II. Read and comment the following statements:

1. For a sentence that lacks unity, there are three possible remedies: a） Delete any phrase or clause that is unrelated to the central thought; b） Subordinate one statement to another to show the logical relationship; and c） Separate seemingly disconnected statements, making two sentences, and bring in material that will provide a logical link between them.

2. Coherence is an essential virtue in expository writing, in which everything is tied together clearly and logically so as to help your reader to follow your ideas. These four points are necessary to achieve coherence: a） Use some logical method of organization; b） Structure your sentences in such a way that the sequence in which they are arranged links them to each other; c） Use transitional devices to connect sentences and paragraphs; and d） Repeat a key word or phrase to remind your reader of the important points of your essay.

3. Emphasis is used to indicate the relative importance of the points you are making, so that your reader recognizes the most important as most important, the less important as less important, the incidental as incidental. A lack of emphasis means a failure in guidance; misplaced emphasis means serious confusion. There are various devices to achieve appropriate emphasis, which include a） Proportion — Give the point you want to emphasize the space and development its importance calls for; b） Position — Generally speaking, the most emphatic position in a sentence, a paragraph, or a full essay is the end （hence the danger of leaving the final point undeveloped）, and the second most important is the beginning, therefore any negligence of these two positions should be avoided; c） Separation — Use a comma, a colon, or a dash to set off part of a sentence and thereby emphasize it, lightly or heavily, or begin a separate sentence or a new paragraph to achieve the same purpose; d） Repetition — Appropriate repetition of certain significant words or ideas in different wording, or perhaps in figurative expressions, can gain emphasis; e） Economy — Pay special attention to the expression of the ideas that deserve major emphasis, while stripping the sentences of any verbiage that blurs their clarity and blunts their impact; f） Mechanical devices — Using underlinings, capitals, and exclamation marks for emphasis is necessary from time to time, though various other devices can be used instead, i. e.“It is interesting to note”，“It's John that has been chosen”，“What I'd advise you is ...”, etc.

III. Try and revise the following, wherever you find necessary:

1. For almost ten weeks in January, the coldest month in that area and much colder than many of their home towns, the POWs were kept in an unheated camp at night, the cold caused many deaths and diseases and in particular, the victims were women and children.

2. Such plants to operate successfully had to run at capacity. As they wanted to do this, they needed outlets for their output.

3. Raghaven N. Lyer, writing in The Center Magazine, states that, “There are two kinds of infuriating people. One is the moralist, the other is the legalist. The moralists are infuriating when they want to raise every single issue, however local and specific, to the status of eternal principle; the legalists are infuriating when they want to reduce an important matter of moral principle involving basic human rights and human dignity to mere formalism or sheer expediency.”

4. Coherence means sticking together. A paragraph is coherent and the sentences are woven together or flow into each other. The reader then moves easily from one sentence to the next and reads the paragraph as an integrated unit, which is not a collection of separate sentences.

5. College is very different from high school. The professors talk a great deal more and give longer homework assignments. This interferes with your social life. It may even cost you a girlfriend. Girls don't like to be told that you have to stay home to study when they want to go to a show or dancing. So they find some other boy who doesn't have to study all the time. Another way in which college is different is the examinations. ...

第十九章　文章段落的修辞要求

19.1　段落的含义和要求

19.1A　段落的产生和划分

1） 文章为什么要分段？据说中世纪时用羊皮纸书写，因价格昂贵，不仅不分段，句子和字之间也不空开，如写成：

Wecouldstillunderstandwhatwereadasthisshows ...

后来，为了便于阅读，不仅每个词分开，数字也带标点符号或适当留空，如：

＄12，034，600.00　　　＄12 034 600.00

电话号码也一样

011-86-21-531-9671　　011 86 21 531 9671

（616） 846-5551

看来，文章分段的目的有两个，首先是便于读者接受和把握作者的思路，同时对作者来说，也有利于自己一步步、一层层地把话题展开。

2） 段落有两种。上面讲到的分段是指文章的自然段落。自然段落的格式为：各段重新起行，并通常缩进四个字母，结尾通常是句号。有时也会出现问号，感叹号或省略号等完整句的符号。但不会是逗号、分号、冒号，因为它们不是完整的独立句子的符号，不能用来表示一个自然段的结尾。

文章的段落也可指语段。语段可以包括几个自然段，是文章中一个较大的话语单位。

3） 本章讨论的是文章的自然段。关于段落的长短，在书、杂志和报纸中很不相同，例如现代文章的自然段比古时短，报纸上文章的段落比书上的短，因为篇幅栏目所限，报纸通常是要求报道最基本的事件或信息。据统计，现代文章段落的平均长度是在50－150字，至少有3个完整的句子。

19.1B　段落的修辞要求

1） 词语组成句子，句子组成段落；写好句子是写好文章的基础，而写好段落则是写文章的关键。前面讲到的遣词造句的要求（参见第4－5章）也适用于组句成段。例如句中不应有不必要的词语，同样，段落也不应有不必要的句子。William Struck说：

A paragraph should contain no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

2） 一个好的段落必须从形式到内容紧扣一个中心思想或中心思想的某个方面，必须符合一致和连贯的要求（参见第18章）。有时写作课的教师在学生的作文中批下述字样：

Unity / Con （tinuity）/ Focus / Coh （erence）

笔者在美国进修时曾在Writing Center作tutor。有次一位学生把她所写的一个写作练习给我看：

Mom asked me to see my aunt last Sunday. She was unwell recently and had to go see her doctor 3 times. The doctor prescribed her some medicine and asked her to stay in bed for a couple of days.

Jane is the second daughter of my aunt, and both of us fancy for the guitar. We are on the school team and going to perform at the opening ceremony of our summer sports the coming week end.

The school sports meet is held once every year, and all students are encouraged to take part in it. I'm going to take 100-meter race and 400 relay race.

该学生对我讲，教师在她的练习旁边批上“Unity / Coh.”，她感到不可理解，她还把教科书的段落格式给我看，并争辩道：“这里形式上是一个自然段，但其中讲到3件事，而我写的段落里只也有3件事，为什么书上的段落一致而我写的却不一致？”又问道：“我是否要把这3个段落并在一起才算符合老师的要求？”

我对她解释说：书上的段落里虽然提到3件事，是举例说明前面的主题句（Topic sentence）。如同谚语All roads lead to Rome.一样，Rome就是主题，所有内容都必须紧扣主题，否则就违反了“一致”原则，而她的3个段落各讲各的事，没有共同的主题，因此不符合老师的要求。为此我建议她围绕“忙”这个主题做如下改写：

I find myself terribly busy these week ends. Last Sunday, Mom asked me to see my aunt. She was unwell and had to go and see her doctor 3 times. I stayed with her for quite some time taking care of her and comforting her, telling her she will be okay if she follows the doctor's advice and stays in bed for a couple of days.

Jane, the second child of my aunt, is one of my school mates. Both of us fancy for the guitar and are on the school team. When our sports meet is held the coming Saturday, we are going to play at the opening ceremony. Besides, I'm going to take part in two events on Sunday, 100-meter race and 400m. relay race.

19.2　写好段落的三个环节

19.2A　明确中心

1） 一篇文章必须具有明确的主题 （Topic），而作为文章的一个段落，则必须是该主题的某个要点或侧面（Focal point or aspect），即有明确的段落中心，试看下面一段文章：

The salesmen are all professionals who follow the country-fair circuit. The pen vendor, aged forty-three, has been a drummer ever since he was eighteen years old. His sales pitch, repeated verbatim every hour or so, seems to have a will of its own which has little or nothing to do with the stone-faced man who delivers it. It's just a job like any other job, although it demands that he have no home other than the camper in which he travels. Like the barkers and peddlers of years past, the people of the fair are creatures of the road who remain forever on the outskirts of the communities they serve. But the salesmen are not alone. The “carnies,” as the amusement-park folks call themselves, have transformed the country-fair circuit into a way of life. Traveling together in one continuous party, they wear “carny power” insignia on the back of their Levi's jackets and like to hang together when the local toughs start hankering for a fight. They are proud to belong to a select group of “gypsies, tramps, and thieves,” self-appointed outcasts from the small-town societies in which they set up shop. Like the salesmen who travel beside them, they live off the suckers ... who come to the fair to blow a few bucks and catch a passing glimpse of bright lights and fancy things.

读后你会发现，这段文章可以分成两个段落，即从第六句“But the salesmen are not alone”另起一段，实际情况正是如此。这个例子选自Ralph Raphael的Edges一书，原为两个段落。第一段主要讲salesmen at country fairs，举例说明。然后，转到“carnies”，从另一个角度谈country fairs，并形成另一个自然段。

2） 主题句（Topic sentence）是段落要点的标志，使用主题句是保持段落一致的有效手段。例如：

I enjoy listening to music no matter what I am doing. Music always makes me feel relaxed and brightens my mood. For example, ...

上例开头句点出了段落的主题。第二句对主题加以阐述，说明听音乐有什么好处。接着通过举例说明听音乐的时间、地点、所听的内容。最后一句同段首两句相呼应，也是全段的小结，整段结构清晰，紧扣主题。

关于段落主题句，举例见20.2C。

19.2B　合理的组织

1） 合理组织指段落中句子的安排要符合逻辑次序（Logical order），做到句间上下衔接，意思前后连贯，以利于中心思想的明确表达。为此，在写一个段落时，就要考虑到这个段落里要写什么，如讲一个故事或继续讲前面已开始讲到的故事，描写一个人、物或地方，叙述一件事，都要注意到怎样较为符合逻辑，便于读者接受。对一个段落进行修改时，要进一步从这个角度加以检查，并作出必要的调整。

2） 对一个讲故事的段落来说，很可能遵循时间或年代次序 （Temporal or Chronological order），即从最早发生的事开始讲到最后的事件。例如：Army Tan的小说 The Kitchen God's Wife 的故事梗概里就有这样一个段落：

Thus begins an unfolding of secrets that takes mother and daughter back to a small island outside Shanghai in the 1920s and throughout China during World War Two, and traces the happy and desperate events that led to Winnie's coming to America in 1949.

3） 在描写段落中主要根据空间次序（Spatial Order） 给读者以立体的概念。如要描写一个校园，你就首先把读者带到大门口，介绍进门后的第一座建筑物，花坛、喷水池、行政楼，然后依次参观教学区、图书馆、生活区，等等。当然次序可以不同，如先看教学楼，生活设施，最后再到行政楼，但不应一会儿介绍教室，一会儿又跳到办公室，因为那样就会给人以凌乱和支离破碎的印象。下面是Alfred Carl Hottes的Book of Trees中的一个段落：

The leaves are usually one-to three-lobed and turn orange-scarlet in the Autumn. The bark is a cinnamon-gray, and is deeply furrowed. The twigs are hairy when young, and yellowish-green, aromatic, and with very unequal internodes. The scanty fruits are bluish-black, with red stems, and surrounded at the base by thick, scarlet calyx.

这个段落从树叶、树皮到树枝层层描写，大小、颜色、形状，十分细致、逼真，像幅油画一样越来越清晰地展现在读者眼前。

下面选自Robert Penn Warren在Wilderness 中的一段人物描写：

Adam turned to look at him. It was, in a way, as though this were the first time he had laid eyes on him. He saw the strong, black shoulders under the red-check calico, the long arms lying loose, forward over the knees, the strong hands, seamed and calloused, holding the reins. He looked at the face. The thrust of the jawbone was strong, but the lips were heavy and low, with a piece of chewed straw hanging out one side of the mouth. The eyelids were pendulous, slightly swollen-looking, and the eyes bloodshot. Those eyes, Adam knew, could sharpen to a quick, penetrating, assessing glance. But now, looking at that slack, somnolent face, he could scarcely believe that.

上面这段描写塑造了一个人物半身像，丰满而又结实。读者首先看到的是那双强壮的黝黑的肩膀，又随着下垂的胳臂看到膝上的那双粗大的手。寥寥数笔，一个粗线条的人体已出现在读者面前。然后从“He looked at the face”开始，人体面部的各个部位和眼神得到了工笔画式的描绘，给读者以栩栩如生的印象。整个段落分两个层次，首先是一个总体框架，然后是重点素描，并着重表现了眼神。有两句俗语：一是“画人难画手，画兽难画走”，二是“画龙点睛”，上面这段人物描写能根据重点运用笔墨，层次分明，线条清晰，因而显得格外成功。

4） 在说明或议论段落中要重视逻辑次序，做到既不片面，又有重点。试比较两段分析因果关系的文章：

An unusual cluster of bad luck lost the game. Many blamed Fraser's failure to block the tackler who caused the fumble that produced the winning touchdown. But even here, bad weather and bad luck shared the blame. Both teams faced a slippery field, of course. But Fraser was standing in a virtual bog when he lunged for the block and slipped. Moreover, the storm had delayed the bus for hours, tiring and frustrating the team, leaving them short of sleep and with no chance to practice. Furthermore, Hunter's throwing arm was still not back in shape from his early injury. Finally, one must admit, the Acorns were simply heavier and stronger, which is the real luck of the game.

（Harold W. Stoke）

The masses, and therefore the gravity, of the sun and the earth are partly due to each other, partly to more distant objects such as the stars and galaxies. According to Hoyle, if the universe were to be cut in half, local solar-system gravitation would double, drawing the earth closer to the sun. The pressure in the sun's center would increase, thus raising its temperature, its generation of energy, and its brightness. Before being seared into a lump of charcoal, a man on earth would find his weight increasing from 150 to 300 1bs.

（Time's Report on Fred Hoyle）

在第一段中，已知结果（指球赛失利），然后分析原因。有的原因是公认的，或者是直接的原因（Fraser's failure），但却不是唯一的原因。作者虽然承认双方面临的同样困难（a slippery field），同时又强调Fraser更为不利的处境（But Fraser was standing ...），接着进一步从3个方面（Moreover, ... Furthermore, ... Finally, ...）分析了Fraser队的败因，层层紧扣，尤其最后一点指出了该队失败的必然因素。

第二段相反，是先说明原因，然后分析可能产生的结果。开头一句说明了一个客观的事实。然后笔锋一转，从Hoyle（英国天文学家、数学家）的假设进行推理，直到最后可能出现的情况。

19.2C　恰当的过渡

1） 过渡词语可大体分为以下数类：

表示对照（Contrast） 的有but, however, nevertheless, by contrast, in spite of this, on the other hand，等；

表示类似 （Similarity）的有and, also, another, besides, furthermore, in addition, in the same way, likewise, next, moreover, second, （or secondly, third, thirdly, etc.）, similarly，等；

表示时间或地点联系（Time or Place Relationship）的有earlier, later, at the same time, meanwhile; soon, here, there, farther on, nearby，等；

表示因果关系（Cause and Consequence）的有as a result, consequently, therefore, thus, 等；

表示举例的有as an illustration, for example, for instance, another example，等；

表示重复或总结的有as I have said, in other words, to repeat, in brief, in short, in summary, to sum up, 等；

表示先后次序的有first of all, first （or firstly, second, secondly, etc.）, then, at last, finally, 等；

有时还可用整个句子作为过渡，如：“How should we proceed?”“The （next — and also the） third case is curiously unlike the first two.” “Let us move on to the next issue.” 等。

2） 段落之间的过渡词语既可表示要点或侧重点的转移、变化，同时又表示它们之间的联系。例如：

So far I have been dealing with the vocabulary of sociologists, but their private language has a grammar too, and one that should be the subject of intensive research by the staff of a very well-endowed foundation. I have space to mention only a few of its more striking features.

The first of these is the preponderance of nouns over all the other parts of speech. Nouns are used in hyphenated pairs of dyads, and sometimes in triads, tetrads, and pentads. Nouns are used as adjectives without change of form, and they are often used as verbs, with or without the suffix “-ize”. The sociological language is gritty with nouns, like sanded sugar.

On the other hand, it is poor in pronouns. The singular pronoun of the first person has entirely disappeared, except in case histories, for the sociologists never comes forward as “I”. Sometimes he refers to himself as “the author” or “the investigator”,or as “many sociologists”, or even as “the best sociologists”, when he is advancing a debatable opinion. On are occasions he calls himself “we”,like Queen Elizabeth speaking from the throne, but he usually avoids any personal form and writes as if he were a force of nature.

The second-personal pronoun has also disappeared, ...

这是美国评论家和诗人Malcolm Cowley （1898年生）题为Sociological Habit Patterns in Linguistic Transmogrification的一篇评论中的几个段落。他在该文中批评一些社会学家写文章时满纸行话而不善于使用简明的词语。从“So far”引出的这个段落承上启下，后面的3个段落也都是由过渡语引导出来：“The first ...”，“On the other hand”，“... also ...”，等。我们读到表示对照的过渡词语时，马上意识到新段落里的话题会有变化，而读到表示类似的过渡词语时，知道新段落是从另一个角度继续前段的话题。有人把段落之间的过渡词语比作桥梁（bridges）和路标（signposts），是相当确切的。

3） 在段落内部的过渡词语，有人比作铆钉（rivets）和铁轨（rails），使段落构成一个完整的有机体，并引导读者了解作者所要表达的内容。下面是F. L. Lucas所写What Is Style?中的一个段落：

Why and how did I become interested in style? The main answer, I suppose, is that I was born that way. Then I was, till ten, and only child running loose in a house packed with books, and in a world （thank goodness） still undistracted by radio and television. So at three I groaned to my mother, “Oh, I wish I could read,” and at four I read. Now travel among books is the best travel of all, and the easiest, and the cheapest. （Not that I belittle ordinary travel — which I regard as one of the three main pleasures in life.） One learns to write by reading good books, as one learns to talk by hearing good talkers. And if I have learned anything of writing, it is largely from writers like Montaigne, Dorothy Osborne, Horace Walpole, Johnson, Goldsmith, Montesquieu, Volaire, Flaubert and Anatole France. Again, I was reared on Greek and Latin, and one can learn much from translating Homer or the Greek Anthology, Horace or Tacitus, if one is thrilled by the original, and tries, however vainly, to recapture some of that thrill in English.

作者首先修辞设问点出段落主题（Why and how ...?），然后利用过渡语一步步引导读者去了解答案（The main answer ... Then ... So ...）起承转合，逐步展开，既不平铺直叙，又始终紧扣主题，一气呵成，构成一个完整的紧凑段落。

练习十九　（Exercise Nineteen）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Do you think it necessary that all the points in a paragraph stick to a central idea?

2. Can you tell the difference between Temporal Order and Spatial Order?

3. How many types of transitional words and phrases have you learned?

4. Can you tell what functions can transitional words and phrases perform within a paragraph?

5. What functions can transitional words and phrases perform between paragraphs?

6. Have you learned any other transitional devices?

II. Reconstruct the paragraph by placing the following scrambled sentences in proper order.

Notes for reference: Both contextual meaning and levels of generality in establishing paragraph unity — the sense of cohesiveness are necessary to identify a unit of discourse as a paragraph. They center more on the meaning of the content than on the structure （although it is sometimes very difficult to separate the two）. However, there are other structural, or formal, devices of paragraph unity that readers respond to, sometimes without consciously realizing it; for instance, parallel structure is certainly one clue to paragraph unity.

1. This erosion removes precious topsoil, making the ground unfit for anything to grow — not rabbit's tobacco, not sassafras, not corn, not beans.

2. But now the pasture is filled with boulders from the strip mine up the hill, and never again will cattle graze nor meadow birds nest there.

3. I have seen creeping soil banks topple towering oak trees and cover the lush shrubs and vines carpeting the ground.

4. The land dies.

5. Finally, I know of a pasture where partridges once nested after the cattle were removed.

6. Not only the waterways but the land itself has been a victim of strip mining.

7. And because there is no ground cover, erosion occurs.

8. Rabbits also lived there as did many other ground creatures.

9. Erosion, in the form of monstrous landslides, resulting from locating strip mines close to highways, blocks the roads and makes it impossible for school children and workers to reach their destinations.

10. Because the trees are toppled, squirrels, birds, and possums can't nest there and the habitats of the wildlife are crowded; more squirrels must nest in fewer trees.

III. Go over the following and provide similar examples from your reading or writing:

Transitions link a paragraph to what has immediately preceded it. They occur at or near the beginning of a paragraph because the new paragraph represents a turn of thought, a minor new beginning which has to be linked to what has gone before. When readers have to change tracks, the transition acts like a switch, smoothing and easing the turn. Without a transition readers may be able to make the switch, but they have to bump along for themselves.

The simplest transition uses the repeated word — repetition of or reference to a key term or phrase occurring at the end of the preceding paragraph:

Despite my distrust of officers, I find myself sympathizing with Gen. Michael Dugan, who has just been fired as Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

Dugan got in trouble with the White House because he told reporters that if fighting broke out, we planned to run Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait by having the Air Force blow the hell out of Iraq.

He said we'd blast Baghdad and various military targets and maybe drop a bomb on Hussein himself. ...

A second method of linking paragraphs is to ask and answer a rhetorical question. Usually the question occurs at the end of the preceding paragraph and the answer at the beginning of the following one:

Some teachers of composition may assume that students are naturally eager to learn how to write. We don't. We are aware that writing can be one of the most upsetting, frustrating, and exasperating of all human activities. Seldom do the words pour out; seldom do they sound or look the way we want them to. And seldom do we or our students — or most people, for that matter — want to write. Then why learn to do so?

True, some people do find writing a release, an act of creation, ... If so, what's the point of learning to write?

The honest answer is that ...

The question-answer transition makes a very strong tie, but, as with the rhetorical question generally, it is too obvious a strategy to be called upon very often. In a short paper, one use is enough.

In the next type of transition you begin with a phrase or clause that sums up the point of the preceding paragraph and then move to the main clause, which introduces the main topic. If- and while- clauses frequently carry such transitions:

If I went through anguish in botany and economics — for different reasons gymnasium was even worse.

（James Thurber）

But while Bernard Shaw pleasantly surprised numerable cranks and revolutionists by finding quite rational arguments for them, he surprised them unpleasantly also by discovering something else.

（G. K. Chesterton）

In each case the opening clause refers back to the discussion in the paragraph before, while the main clause points forward to the new topic. On informal occasions, variations are possible as a prepositional phrase in this example:

Because of these differences in teaching methods, college throws more responsibility upon the student.

The summarizing transitions may take even briefer forms, using this, that, these, those, or such to sum up the preceding topic. These demonstratives as well as synonyms and pronouns are sometimes called Meaning Links.

Finally, you may link paragraphs by terms showing logical relationship, e. g. therefore, however, but, consequently, thus, and so, even so, on the other hand, for instance, etc.

Logical connectives seldom, if ever, provide the only link between paragraphs. Rather, they work in conjunction with word repetitions, summaries, pronouns, etc. In fact, all the various transitional strategies commonly occur in some combination. But whatever its form, an inter-paragraph transition should be clear and unobtrusive, shifting readers easily from one topic to the next without jolting them.

第二十章　段落的展开与文体类型（一）

20.1　段落展开的方式与文体类型

20.1A　段落展开的方式

1） 前面19.2A讲到，段落要有明确的中心。我们开始写一个段落时，脑子里想到的就是如何表达好这个段落中心。下面是假设的一个段落：

I enjoy listening to music. Music makes me feel relaxed and brightens my mood. So I listen to it every day.

这个段落展开得不够。老师看到学生这样的段落时可能会批上“dev（elopment）”，or “det（ail）” 这样的标记，还可能进一步写上这样的批语：“This idea needs more development.” 或“Don't just generalize, give some examples.”

2） 段落展开的方式很多，亦富于变化，但归结起来，有几种方式是基本的，常见的。

让我们再回到上面的那个例子。其中第三句显得有点重复，可以删去，然后根据所要表达的中心思想加以展开：

一种是增加具体例子（For example ...），如爱听哪些音乐，或者某日听了某个乐曲后得到的感受和效果。这样的段落就叫做“说明”（Exposition）。

另一种是笔锋一转：“... But some people don't think so. They say that listening to music makes one either too excited or rather depressed ...” 接着以自己的观点说服对方，同时介绍一下在不同情况下选听不同音乐的经验。这样的段落就属于“辩论”（Argumentation）或“劝说”（Persuasion）。

第三种是接下去叙述自己听音乐的经历，如：“... In fact, I began to be interested in music at the age of four when one day my parents took me to a concert ...”，然后逐步说明怎样随着年岁的增加越来越爱好音乐。这样一写，就成了我们所说的“记叙”（Narration）。

第四种是接下去写：“... Here is a piece of ...”详细描写某个乐曲的音韵、意境，等等，那就会成为一种“描写”（Description）段落了。

20.1B　四种基本文体类型

1） 前面讲到段落展开的4种基本方式，于是有“说明”、“辩论”、“记叙”和“描写”4种段落，这也就是文体的4种基本类型。

2） 文体（Types of writing）不同于文章风格（Styles of writing）。文体指文章的基本结构和写作特点，不同的文体表示不同的写作目的，故而有说明、描写、记叙和辩论等。文章风格指写作的风格、特色。各个作家都有自己的风格特点，每个人所写的东西也会有自己的风格特色，如有的华丽，有的庄重，有的通俗，有的隐晦，有的明快，有的呆板，有的生动，等等。文章风格也会有共性，因而有诸如维多利亚文风（the Victorian Style）、浪漫派的文风（Style of the Romantic School）等不同的名称。

不同的文章风格可以体现在各种文体之中，例如不同作家在描写同一个景物时就会出现不同的风格。

3） 虽然在一篇较长的文章中可能既有说明段落，又有记叙段落，以及描写、辩论段落等，但总有一种是主体性的。例如一篇说明文的基本特点是说明体，可以看作是说明段落的扩展，为此，我们把这4种段落的特点也作为4种文体的特点。

20.2　说明

20.2A　说明段落的结构特点

1） 说明可能是最基本、最常用的文体，用于说明事实、情况和传递信息等。人们进行说明时，通常都是通过例子使自己的说明具体化，因而可以概括出这样一个格式：

Generalization+Illustration（s）

下面是Eric Hoffer所写的一段说明文：

The undercurrent of admiration in hatred manifests itself in the inclination to imitate those we hate. Thus every mass movement shapes itself after its specific devil. Christianity at its height realized the image of the antichrist. The Jacobins practiced all the evils of the tyranny they had risen against ... Russia is realizing the purest and most colossal example of monopolistic capitalism. Hitler took the Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion for his guide and textbook; he followed them “down to the veriest detail.”

（The True Believer）

段中的前两句为Generalization部分，后面为Illustrations部分。在Generalization的两句中，还可以进一步划分Subject或Topic Sentence（主题句）加Restriction，即对主题句加以必要的说明、限定，也有时不加Restriction而只用主题（句）。在Illustration部分可以用几个例子，也可以只用一个例子，视具体情况而定。有的段落还可能再加上一个结尾（Conclusion），同开头的主题（句）相呼应。

2） 上面讲到的“Subject+Restriction+Illustration（s）”的格式，其中的次序也可倒过来，前者称为“演绎法”（Deductive Method），后者叫做“归纳法”（Inductive Method）。下面是一个“归纳法”的段落：

Under a canopy of hickory and oak trees file people of all ages and sizes, some neatly dressed in street clothes formal enough for lunch at the Tavern, others in sloppy jeans and fringed jackets, with huge, floppy, handcrafted leather hats on their heads, and here and there, some older women in the long gingham dresses and sunbonnets characteristic of the Appalachian farm wife. They file past booths topped with red, yellow, and blue-striped canvas and filled with the handicrafts traditional to this fair: thin, beautifully polished wooden trays, brightly colored enamelware, rainbows of cornstalk flowers, and macramé wall hangings sharing the limbs of trees with sandcastle candles. Near the gate the loud clatter of a corn-meal grinder can be heard, interspersed in the quiet pauses between customers with the plucking of dulcimer strings and the soft crooning of mountain singers. This Mardi Gras scene, greeting the newcomer to the Berea Arts and Crafts Fair, is an annual rite of spring. This gentle orgy, one of several in the area, is a reaffirmation that traditional craftsmanship is alive and well and still flourishes in Appalachia.

（Michael E. Adelstein & Jean G. Pival）

2） 除了举例说明外，还可以使用过程说明、比较对比说明、因果关系说明、分类说明、定义说明等。让我们在以下各节中分别加以讨论。

20.2B　过程分析

过程分析（Process analysis）是按事物进展的先后次序进行说明，包括时间顺序、位置指引、操作程序等。

1）按时间顺序（Temporal Order / Chronological Sequence） 说明。例如：

This time it happened to Sonny, and in the very first minutes of play. Leroy Malone managed to trip the gangly Paducah center and while the center was sprawled on the floor Sonny ran right along his back, in pursuit of the ball. Just as he was about to grab it somebody tripped him and he hit the wall head first. The next thing he knew he was stretched out beside the bench and one of the freshmen players was squeezing a wet washrag on his fore-head. Sonny tried to keep his eyes closed as long as he could — he new Coach Popper would send him back into the game as soon as he regained consciousness. He feigned deep coma for about five minutes, but unfortunately the coach was experienced in such matters. He came over and lifted one of Sonny's eyelids and saw that he was awake.

（Larry McMurtry）

关于因果关系说明，参见19.2B4。

2） 位置指引（Locational instructions），常见于对问路人的回答或告诉某人具体地点。以下面一段对话为例：

Locksmith: I'm Jack Jones from National Lock and Key Company. I'm supposed to change a lock on Ms. Grady's desk.

Receptionist: Yes, I've been expecting you. Ms. Grady's office is on the third floor, Office 301. You'll notice identifying numbers over the door. After you enter the office, go to the desk on the left. As you face the desk, the drawer on the right is the one that needs to have the lock replaced.

3） 操作程序说明（Operational instructions）中常用祈使句，其中第二人称作为主语往往省略。例如：

First, （you） unplug the appliance. Use the fingers to turn it counterclockwise until it can be removed. Then with a Phillips screwdriver carefully remove the back plate.

（N. A. Pickett & A. A. Laster）

对于比较复杂的操作程序，有时可分为“Step 1, Step 2, ...”逐步说明，最后还可视情况需要附上Precautions或Warnings等内容，以保证操作顺利进行。

20.2C　比较和对照

1） 比较和对照（Comparison and Contrast）是就两个对象之间的相同点和不同点 （Similarities and Differences） 进行说明。这里是评论家 Matthew Arnold针对Robert Burns和Geoffrey Chaucer两位诗人所写的一个段落，结尾为该段落的主题句：

Yet we may say of [Burns] as of Chaucer, that of life and the world, as they come before him, his view is large, free, shrewd, benignant-truly poetic, therefore; and his manner of rendering what he sees is to match. But we must note, at the same time, his great difference from Chaucer. The freedom of Chaucer is heightened, in Burns, by a fiery, reckless energy; the benignity of Chaucer deepens, in Burns, into an overwhelming sense of the pathos of things; — of the pathos of human nature, the pathos, also, of non-human nature. Instead of the fluidity of Chaucer's manner, the manner of Burns has spring, bounding swiftness. Burns is by far the greater force, though he has perhaps less charm.

2） 有时专门就两个对象之间的不同点加以对照，例如下面一个段落：其中第一句为该段的主题句，然后是从几个方面说明父亲和母亲之间的不同之处，最后两句为全段小结，同句首相呼应。

Opposites seem to attract. My father is tall, blond, and outgoing. My mother is small, and even her dark brown hair, which is naturally wavy, has a certain quiet repose about it. My dad does everything at a cheerful run, whether he is off to a sales conference or off to the golf course with his foursome on Saturday mornings. My mother never seems to hurry. She hums at her work, and the house seems to slip into order without effort. She plays bridge with a few friends, and belongs to a number of organizations, but she is just as happy with a book. When dad bursts in at the end of the day, her face lights up. They grin at each other. They obviously still find each other attractive.

（Sheridan Baker）

3） 在对两个对象的相同/相似点加以比较时，往往采用“类比”（Analogy）的形式 （参见9.1），或者说是一个扩展的“隐喻” （Metaphor, 参见8.2）。下面是E. B. White对Thoreau的Walden的一段分析：开头一句（主题句）就是一个类比，然后分两个层次加以扩展（... he rides into the subject at top speed ... and when the shooting dies down ...）。

Thoreau's assault on the Concord society of the mid-nineteenth century has the quality of a modern Western: he rides into the subject at top speed, shooting in all directions. Many of his shots ricochet and nick him on the rebound, and throughout the melee there is a horrendous cloud of inconsistencies and contradictions, and when the shooting dies down and the air clears, one is impressed chiefly by the courage of the rider and by how splendid it was that somebody should have ridden in there and raised all that ruckus.

（E. B. White: A Slight Sound at Evening）

20.2D　分类和定义

1） 客观事物常常可以按照人们的习惯加以分类（Classifications）, 如大学生分成freshman, sophomore, junior, senior; 法律界分为legislative, executive, judicial; 交通分land, air and water communications，等等，而且还可以进一步划分为subclasses。下面是一段以分类法说明巴拿马运河涉及的问题的文章：

Building the Panama Canal posed problems of politics, geology, and human survival from the beginning. A French company, organized in 1880 to dig the canal, repeatedly had to extend its treaties at higher and higher prices as the work dragged on. Uneasy about the French, the United States made treaties with Nicaragua and Costa Rica to dig along the other most feasible route. This political threat, together with the failure of the French and the revolt of Panama from Colombia, finally enabled the United States to buy the French rights and negotiate new treaties, which, nevertheless, continue to cause political trouble to this day. Geology also posed its ancient problems: how to manage torrential rivers and inland lakes; whether to build a longer but more enduring canal at sea level, or a shorter, cheaper, and safer canal with locks. Economy eventually won, but the problem of yellow fever and malaria, which had plagued the French, remained. By detecting and combating the fever-carrying mosquito, William Gorgas solved these ancient topical problems. Without him, the political and geological solutions would have come to nothing.

（Sheridan Baker）

2） 为了说明问题，常常需要对一些词语——尤其是那些抽象的、技术性的关键词语下定义。定义的方式主要有：

同义释义（Defining by Synonym），如：

Apathetic means “indifferent”. （Not “indifference”。）

Prevaricate means “lie.” （Not “lying”.）

举例释义（Defining by Example），如：

A planet is a heavenly sphere such as Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, or Earth.

词根释义（Defining by Etymology），如：

Intuition comes from the Latin words “in” （meaning “in” or “into”）and “tueri”, （meaning “look” or “gaze”）. Literally, therefore, it means a “looking inward”.

比较、对照或类比释义（Defining by Comparison, Contrast, or Analogy），如：

While burglary is the stealing of property from a place, robbery is the stealing of property from a person.

功能释义 （Defining by Function）, 如：

An orthopedist treats bone diseases.

An ombudsman defends an individual in a conflict with the government or an institution.

反义释义 （Defining by Negation）, 如：

A widow refers to a woman whose husband is not living and who has not married.

“反义释义”法可以扩展为段落，其方法可以归纳为四步推理法： a. what it is not like; b. what it is like; c. what it is not; d. what it is.例如：

Love may be many things to many people, but, all in all, we agree on its essentials. Love is not like a rummage sale, in which everyone tries to grab what he wants. It is more like a Christmas, in which gifts and thoughtfulness come just a little unexpectedly, even from routine directions. Love, in short, is not a matter of seeking self-satisfaction; it is first a matter of giving and then discovering, as an unexpected gift, the deepest satisfaction one can know.

上述4个步骤还可以扩展为4个段落。这4个步骤也可以反过来，以逆序形式构成释义段落。例如：

Black Power means, for example, that in Lowndes County, Alabama, a black sheriff can end police brutality. A black tax assessor and tax collector and county board of revenue can lay, collect, and channel tax monies for the building of better roads and schools serving black people. In such areas as Lowndes, where black people have a majority, they will attempt to use power to exercise control. This is what they seek: control. When black people lack a majority, Black Power means proper representation and sharing of control. It means the creation of power bases, of strength, from which black people can press to change local or nation-wide patterns of oppression — instead of from weakness.

It does not mean merely putting black faces into office. Black visibility is not Black Power. Most of the black politicians around the country today are not examples of Black Power. The power must be that of a community, and emanate from there. The black politicians must start from there. The black politicians must stop being representatives of “downtown”machines, whatever the cost might be in terms of patronage and holiday handouts.

（Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton: Black Power, the Politics of Liberation in America）

练习二十　（Exercise Twenty）

I. Preview Questions:

1. What do you think of the statement that each paragraph must have a clear center of thought?

2. What does one mean when he says that a certain paragraph needs further development?

3. What are the basic types of writing?

4. Which of the four basic types of writing is used most frequently in your life?

5. Do you think that Exposition usually follows the pattern of “Generalization plus Illustration”?

6. Do you always use a topic sentence when you write an expository paragraph?

7. What are the three basic approaches people may use in “Process Analysis”?

8. What do you usually try to indicate when you resort to “Comparison and Contrast”?

9. How many ways can you make definitions?

10. Have you ever used the principle of “Defining by Negation” in a paragraph development?

II. Read the following paragraphs and analyse them as indicated:

1. Point out the topic sentence and the steps concerning having fresh shrimp in the following paragraph：

When fresh shrimp can be had, have it. What size? Medium for reasons of economy and common sense. Huge shrimps are magnificently expensive while small ones come in such numbers per pound that shelling them becomes slave labor. Buy two pounds of fresh shrimp and shell them. First, with a thumbnail pinch the tail shell hard crosswise （so the tail segments will come out intact）, then handle the headless animals like so many pea pods; split them lengthwise, save the contents, and throw the husks away. Sauté the shrimp with three crushed garlic cloves in two-thirds of a stick of butter. When the shrimp turn pink, add a 12-ounce can of Italian tomatoes （which taste better than the fresh supermarket kind）,two bay leaves, a teaspoon of dried oregano, a half-cup of dry white wine, and the juice of a lemon. Simmer for ten minutes, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with rice.

（Philip Kopper）

2. Identify the sentences that state the cause and effect in this paragraph:

On December 1, 1955, an attractive Negro seamstress, Mrs. Rosa Parks, boarded the Cleveland Avenue Bus in downtown Montgomery. She was returning home after her regular day's work in the Montgomery Fair — a leading department store. Tired from long hours on her feet,Mrs. Parks sat down in the first seat behind the section reserved for whites. Not long after she took her seat, the bus operator ordered her, along with three other Negro passengers, to move back in order to accommodate boarding white passengers. By this time every seat in the bus was taken. This meant that if Mrs. Parks followed the driver's command she would have to stand while a white male passenger, who had just boarded the bus, would sit. The other three Negro passengers immediately complied with the driver's request. But Mrs. Parks quietly refused. The result was her arrest.

3. Classification and division are very common because they offer the writer a convenient way to separate a complex idea or group of facts into simpler, more manageable units. Now read the paragraph and tell how the writer classifies mothers of handicapped children according to categories marked by three attitudes:

Researchers note three frequent attitudes among mothers of handicapped children. The first attitude is reflected by those mothers who reject their child or are unable to accept the child as a handicapped person. Complex love-hate and acceptance-rejection relationships are found within this group. Rejected children not only have problems in adjusting to themselves and their disabilities, but they also have to contend with disturbed family relationships and emotional insecurity. Unfortunately, such children receive even less encouragement than the normal child and have to absorb more criticism of their behavior.

A second relationship involves mothers who overcompensate in their reactions to their child and the disorder. They tend to be unrealistic, rigid, and overprotective. Often, such parents try to compensate by being overzealous and giving continuous instruction and training in the hope of establishing superior ability.

The third group consists of mothers who accept their children along with their disorders. These mothers have gained the ability to provide for the special needs of their handicapped children while continuing to live a normal life and tending to family and home as well as civic and social obligations. The child's chances are best with parents who have accepted both their child and the defects.

（Janet W. Lerner）

4. Notice how the examples illustrate and clarify the topic sentences in the following paragraphs:

The American colonists used a variety of goods in place of money. These goods included beaver pelts, grain, musket balls, and nails. Some colonists, especially in the tobacco-growing colonies of Maryland and Virginia, circulated receipts for tobacco stored in warehouses. Indian wampum, which consisted of beads made from shells, was mainly used for keeping records.But Indians and colonists also accepted it as money.

The colonists also used any foreign coins they could get. English shillings, Spanish dollars, and French and Dutch coins all circulated in the colonies. Probably the most common coins were large silver Spanish dollars called pieces of eight. To make change, a person could chop the coin into eight pie-shaped pieces called bits. Two bits were worth a quarter of a dollar, four bits a half dollar, and so on. We still use the expression two bits to mean a quarter of a dollar.

（World Book Encyclopedia, 1982）

5. Read and tell how a formal definition is combined with classification, examples, and comparison and contrast:

A map is a conventional picture of an area of land, sea, or sky. Perhaps the maps most widely used are the road maps given away by the oil companies. They show the cultural features such as states, towns, parks, and roads, especially paved roads. They show also natural features, such as rivers and lakes, and sometimes mountains. As simple maps, most automobile drivers have on various occasions used sketches drawn by service station men, or by friends, to show the best automobile route from one town to another.

The distinction usually made between “maps” and “charts” is that a chart is a representation of an area consisting chiefly of water; a map represents an area that is predominantly land. It is easy to see how this distinction arose in the days when there was no navigation over land, but a truer distinction is that charts are specially designed for use in navigation, whether at sea or in the air.

Maps have been used since the earliest civilizations, and explorers find that they are used in rather simple civilizations at the present time by people who are accustomed to traveling. For example, Arctic explorers have obtained considerable help from maps of the coast lines showing settlements, drawn by Eskimo people. Occasionally maps show not only the roads, but pictures of other features. One of the earliest such maps dates from about 1400 B. C. It shows not only roads, but also lakes with fish, and a canal with crocodiles and a bridge over the canal. This is somewhat similar to the modern maps of a state which show for each large town some feature of interest or the chief products of that town.

（C. C. Wylie）

第二十一章　段落的展开与文体类型（二）

21.1　辩论

21.1A　辩论场合和论题选择

1） 有两种场合的辩论：非正式辩论和正式辩论。两个汽车司机狭路相逢，几乎相撞，于是双方下车争论谁是谁非；哥哥和妹妹吃完饭后都不想洗碗，并为之争执起来。像上述这类场合的争论都属于非正式辩论，往往越争论越离开正题，相互指责甚至谩骂。这样非正式的辩论不属本章所讨论的问题。我们这里讨论的辩论属于正式辩论（Formal Argumentation），它具有两个特点：

一是辩论双方可能会争得面红耳赤，但不失去控制，不作人身攻击；

二是坚持依靠推理和论证阐述自己的观点，力图在辩论中说服对方。

2） 在论题选择上要注意辩论的对象和范围。例如在论述本地区的建筑规划时，论题应集中在公共建筑上，而若论述学校建筑，则应集中谈教学区、生活区、办公区及文体设施上，不应论述范围过泛，更要避免脱离本题。此外，有的论题很容易得到答案（如“Swimming is a healthful and enjoyable activity”，“George Washington was six feet tall”），有的论题属于个人爱好 （如“Blue is a prettier color than green”，“Basketball game is more interesting than football game”），也不应进行辩论。

21.1B　两种辩论题旨与三种逻辑推理策略

1） 进行辩论的主旨有两种：

一种是为了说服对方接受自己的观点、信仰、主张等，这叫做“Proposition argument”：提出自己的主见后，接着陈述理由和加以论证，这和说明文体有相似之处，但重点是强调对方接受与否的利害关系。

另一种是提出问题和解决方案，这叫做“Problem-solution argument”，突出说明自己提出的为什么是最佳方案。例如：

I can sum up very briefly my position with regard to the question we are discussing. I am dissatisfied with the present Freshman English course in its typical form; but I am convinced that any radical amelioration must wait on, not precede, changes in the English curriculum in high school. Attempted coercion of high school English teachers would get us nowhere. They would like to do a better job of teaching writing quite as much as we would like to have them do it; but we must help them, working with them as equals on a problem neither they nor we have so far been able to solve properly. If our combined efforts lead to the results we want, the need for this present Freshman course would disappear — but not the need for a new Freshman course that would take advantage of and build upon the revised high school courses. I would argue that such a course ought to be at least as much value to the Freshman as any other course he might take in that year — valuable because it would concentrate on trying to raise the level of his writing skill from competence to distinction, and valuable also because it would contribute significantly to his liberal education through the continued study of literature and language. Both of these are rightful concerns of an English department.

Indeed, I think they are obligations.

（Albert R. Kitzhaber）

在1959年全美英语教师理事会上，Warner G. Rice教授提出取消现设的一年级英语课程，持相反观点的Albert R. Kitzhaber教授则主张加以改革。上面是他的发言的结尾段落，他扼要说明了为什么改革的方案比取消的方案更为实际和有效。

2） 虽然辩论的主旨可能有所不同，但都离不开逻辑推理（Logical reasoning）。在进行逻辑推理时，有3种基本策略：

一是激发读者/听话者的兴趣和感情；

二是引用公认的权威论点；

三是提出有力的证据。

例如：

The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but, which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with a sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in — to bind up the nation's wounds — to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

（Abraham Lincoln）

21.1C　两种推理方式与四种三段论结构

1） 前面20.2A介绍了说明体的两种格式，即“演绎”和“归纳”，这也是进行推理的两种基本方式，而且在具体场合往往是将两种方式综合应用。

所谓“演绎法”（Deduction）,是从一般情况推论到个别情况。

例如：

Determined 　　　People who live in huge homes, have servants, and drive expensive cars are wealthy.

Generalization 　　The Johnsons live in a huge house, have servants, and drive an expensive car.

Conclusion 　　　The Johnsons are wealthy.

而“归纳法”（Induction）正好相反，即从个别情况推论到一般。例如：

Individual 　　This supermarket-brand item is cheaper than its comparable name-brand item.

Instance 　　Each of these other seventeen supermarket-brand items is cheaper than its comparable name-brand item.

Conclusion 　Supermarket-brand items are cheaper than comparable name-brand items.

2） “三段论”（Syllogism）是建筑在演绎法上的推理方式，由主前提（Major Premise），次前提 （Minor Premise）和结论（Conclusion）3部分组成，这里介绍三段论的4种基本结构。

第一种结构为“ALL”式：

All freshmen are dorm residents.

（All A's are B's.）

All the members of the Green Team are freshmen.

（All C's are A's.）

Therefore, all the members of the Green Team are dorm residents.

（All C's are B's.）

第二种结构为“SOME”式

No graduate students are dorm residents.

（No A's are B's.）

Some older students are dorm residents.

（Some C's are B's.）

Therefore, some older students are not graduate students.

（Some C's are not A's.）

第三种结构为“IF”/THEN”式

If the stadium is finished, then the team will open its season there.

（The stadium is finished.

Therefore, the team will open its season there.）

第四种结构为“EITHER/OR”式：

Either the Common Market succeeds or Europe falls.

（The Common Market is succeeding.

Therefore, Europe will not fall.）

21.1D　推理中应注意的几个问题

1） 要注意前提本身的正确性、合理性，否则必然得出不恰当的结论。例如：

Abortion is a form of murder.

All forms of murder are wrong.

Therefore, abortion is wrong.

显然，笼统说“abortion is wrong”的结论是不正确的，而结论的毛病又来自前提。

2） 要注意主、次前提之间逻辑的严密性，防止话题转移并导致荒谬的结论。例如：

Major premise: All property owners favor reduced real estate taxes.

Minor premise: Janet favors reduced real estate taxes.

Conclusion: Therefore, Janet is a property owner.

3） 注意了解、研究应用三段论的范例。例如：

Our society has moved illogically in this direction by virtually institutionalizing adultery; a growing number of spouses permit each other complete sexual liberty on the conditions that there shall be no “involvement” and that the extracurricular relations are not brought to their attention. It is beginning to institutionalize ritual spouse exchange.

（Alex Comfort: Sexuality in a Zero-Growth Society）

上面这段话可以用“三段论”格式表示为：

A society that encourages ritual spouse exchange is a society that institutionalizes adultery.

Our society is a society that encourages ritual spouse exchange.

Our society is a society that institutionalizes adultery.

又如：

The cases of Adolf Beck, of Oscar Slater, of the unhappy Brooklyn bank teller who vaguely resembled a forger and spent eight years in Sing Sing only to “emerge” a broken, friendless, useless, “compensated” man — all these, if the dignity of the individual has any meaning, had better have been dead before the prison door ever opened for them. This is what counsel always says to the jury in the course of a murder trial and counsel is right: far better to hang this man than “give him life.”

（Jacques Barzun: In Favor of Capital Punishment）

上面这段话也可以用“三段论”格式加以表示：

An experience that takes away individual dignity is worse than death.

Long imprisonment is an experience that takes away individual dignity.

Therefore, long imprisonment is worse than death.

这里需要说明：上述逻辑推理固然符合三段论的要求，也有一定的道理，但存在着明显的片面性和表面性，因为“死刑”是在一定历史时期内解决特殊社会矛盾的一种极端的法律手段，是否采用它，应以维护社会安定和群众生命财产安全为准则，而不能只从个人尊严角度着眼；对于长期监禁，也要看到它们的必要性和积极方面，不宜一概否定。总之，如果能从不同方面分析问题，就会更有说服力。

21.2　记叙

21.2A　展开记叙的两条线索

1） 前面19.2B2讲到时间次序（Temporal Order），这正是开展记叙文的一个基本线索。在叙述文中，我们经常使用表示时间的词语，如when, once, at the same time, now, while, then, before, after, next, all the time, during, on such occasions, simultaneously, soon, suddenly, 等等。正是这些表示时间次序的词语把一系列的动作连接起来，形成一个完整的记叙。例如：

When we got the ham home, my mother immediately stripped off the white paper and the string in the middle of our chipped white-enamel kitchen table. There it lay, exuding heavenly perfumers — poud, arrogant, regal. It had a dark, smoked, leathery skin, which my mother carefully peeled off with her sharpened bread knife. Then the old man, the only one who could lift the ham without straining a gut, placed it in the big darkblue oval pot that was used only for hams. My mother then covered the ham with water, pushed it onto the big burner and turned up the gas until it boiled. It just sat there on the stove and bubbled away for maybe two hours, filling the house with a smell that was so luscious, so powerful as to have erotic overtones. The old man paced back and forth, occasionally lifting the lid and prodding the ham with a fork, inhaling deeply. The ham frenzy was upon him.

（Wanda Hickey）

2） 前面19.2B3讲到的空间次序（Spatial Order）是开展叙述文的另一条线索。通过一部分到另一部分的叙述（其中交织着描写），给读者一个立体的概念。这种记叙往往仍然以时间序列为线索。下面是记述几个人乘一叶小舟航行于正在溶化的南极冰山之间的一段动人经历：

They rose and fell on the heaving sea, drawing deceptively apart, then closing with a thud that would have smashed our boat like a gas-mantle between thumb and finger. Castles, towers, and churches swayed unsteadily around us. Small pieces gathered and rattled against the boat. Swans of weird shape pecked at our planks; a gondola steered by a giraffe ran foul of us, which much amused a duck sitting on a crocodile's head. Just then a bear, leaning over the top of a mosque, nearly clawed our sail. An elephant, about to spring from a Swiss chalet on to a battleship's deck, took no notice at all; but a hyena, pulling a lion's teeth, laughed so much that he fell into the sea, whereupon a sea-boot and three real penguins sailed lazily through a lovely archway to see what was to do, by the shores of a floe littered with the ruins of a beautiful white city and surrounded by huge mushrooms with thick stalks. All the strange, fantastic shapes rose and fell in stately cadence, with a rustling, whispering sound and hollow echoes to the thudding seas, clear green at the water-line, shading to a deep blue far below, all snowy purity and cool blue shadows above.

（F. A. Worsley）

21.2B　构成记叙的三个要素

1） 情节（Plot）、背景（Setting）和角色（Character）是叙述文体的3个要素。

“情节”是整个记叙的支柱和框架，由一系列精心安排的事件组成。在较长和较为复杂的记叙中可能有两个或更多的重要情节，它们相互配合或穿插，次要情节服务于主要情节，以形成故事的主线。

“背景”指故事发生的时间和地点，以及有关的周围情况。例如讲述一个足球明星的故事时，可能讲到他出身运动员世家，甚至其父年轻时就是足坛新秀；还可能讲到他的家乡，那里足球运动很普及，等等。背景有助于烘托故事情节，也为人物的出现交代了客观背景，从而使人物更为真实和可信。

“角色”包括人或物，大多数的故事都有几个角色，其中有主要角色和次要角色。角色必须有自己的个性和特征。

2）“背景”的叙述要简明扼要。对情节要善于剪裁和安排，避免繁琐和平铺直叙；一般事件一笔带过，以便有足够的篇幅容纳情节高潮。例如：

For two weeks we camped on the banks of the Truckee. During the days we went fishing for trout and perch; at night we cooked the day's catch, drank hot chocolate, and told stories around the campfire. Usually, before dinner we would gather at the campsite and mend each other's wounds — the various scratches, rashes, bruises, and contusions that camping out causes. Weary but content, we would then retire to our chores, followed by dinner, storytelling, and then sleep, in down bags laid out on the pine needle cushion of the forest.

在较快地交代了两个星期的活动情况以后，转向叙述最后一天所碰到的事，并使故事达到高潮：

On the final day of our trip, I decided to take a walk beside the Truckee and to follow a straggly path that burrowed into the undergrowth ...

3） 角色的成功与否是故事叙述是否成功的关键。背景和情节都是为塑造角色服务。在塑造角色时要抓住三个关键：一是形象描写，二是语言特色，三是想法和行动，而这三个方面都需与情节有机地结合起来。下面一个故事情节简单，人物只有三个，整篇故事四个段落，第一段为背景，后面三段分别叙述英国人、法国人和富兰克林的祝酒词，在故事高潮时表现了富兰克林的高度机智和胆识：

Franklin was dining with a small party of distinguished gentlemen, when one of them said: “Here are three nationalities represented. I am French, and my friend here is English, and Mr. Franklin is an American. Let each one propose a toast.”

It was agreed to, and the Englishman's turn came first. He arose, and, in the tone of a Briton bold, said, “Here's to Great Britain, the sun that gives light to all nations of the earth.”

The Frenchman was rather taken aback at this; but he proposed, “Here's to France, the moon whose magic rays move the tides of the world.”

Franklin then arose, with an air of quaint modesty, and said, “Here's to our beloved George Washington, the Joshua of America, who commanded the sun and moon to stand still — and they obeyed.”

21.3　描写

21.3A　描写体的特征和使用场合

1） 描写的目的是通过语言给读者或听者以生动、鲜明的形象。这些形象虽然是以文字描写出来的，但有时比具体色彩绘成的形象更有感染力，因为它们不但有人或物的形状，还会让读者或听者感到声响，思维变化以及颜料无法表达的一些韵味。

前面19.2B和21.2A都提到时空（Time & Space）概念，这在描写中更有集中体现；虽然同记叙相比，记叙更重时间，而描写更重空间，从而使被描写的对象形象鲜明和具有立体感。这里是法国女作家Francine du Plessix Gray笔下的一座小城堡：

The landscape out of Aunt Charlotte's window was as flat as any in my memory; there was not a hillock, not a rock, to disturb the monotonous platitude of its horizon. A serene, dead-straight alley of luxuriant chestnut trees stretched from the little castle to the country road. To the left, stood some dilapidated buildings that had once served as stables and servants' quarters. The old greenhouse to the right of the entrance had also been abandoned since the war, when the family fortune declined sharply. In the flower beds circling about the castle's entrance, only the simplest and most tenacious of flowers — hydrangeas, geraniums — fought their way nobly through tall clumps of weeds.

2） 描写文体常见于下述四种场合：

第一是在日常谈话或商业广告中对有关对象的某些主要特征加以简要描写，这种描写方法叫做 Popular method；

第二是在旅游胜地介绍和小说中对有关对象的多方面特征加以合理组织和富有技巧的描写，从而推出鲜明丰满的艺术形象，这种描写叫做Artistic method；

第三是在科技文章对有关对象的特性加以完整、准确的描写，如同摄影和复印一样，目的给人以真实的印象，这种描写叫做Scientific method;

第四是在诗歌和其他一些文艺作品中通过描写激发读者或听者的联想，并通过自己的想象得到艺术享受和启迪，这种描写叫做Suggestive method。

当然，这四种方法是指基本特征而言，不可将它们截然分开，因为在实际使用中也会相互渗透的。

21.3B　写好描写文的两个关键

1） 好的描写一定要抓住两个关键：突出的印象和丰实的细节。试比较下面两个描写主题句：

（a） The student lounge is a place where students congregate in a leisurely fashion and as a consequence it is not always attractive and neat.

（b） The student lounge is a messy room.

上述（a）句过于松散，主题被冲淡了，给读者的印象模糊，而（b）句简练有力，messy一词立刻抓住了读者的注意力：怎么样的一个messy room呢？

接下去就是要做好细节描写。如照上述（b）句进行描写，就要紧紧围绕messy着笔，不要写学生如何做功课，也不要写墙上有什么彩色画报，而要写诸如吐在地毯上的口香糖、肮脏的桌子上抛下的蛋壳、三明治包装纸、塞满烟灰和烟蒂的饮料盒，等等。

练习二十一　（Exercise Twenty-one）

I. Preview Questions:

1. What are the two types of argumentation?

2. Can you tell the difference between “proposition argument” and “problem-solution argument”?

3. How many basic tactics should you bear in mind in logical reasoning?

4. Which, between deduction and induction, is the approach of reasoning from a general idea or set of facts to a particular idea or facts?

5. Syllogism refers to a reasoned argument in which there are two statements leading to a third statement. Do you know how to call these statements?

6. What are the four basic structures in Syllogism?

7. Why is it important to make sure that the major premise must be correct?

8. What two basic orders can you follow in Narration?

9. How many basic elements does Narration consist of?

10. Are the four basic methods in Description separated from or integrated with each other?

11. Do you think it advisable to use as much details as possible in Description?

II. Read the following and discuss whether the principles are applicable to argument writing:

As in expository papers, argument papers consist of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The introduction gives background and stimulates the reader's interest in the problem or proposal. But in argument, you must also convince your readers that they can trust you and that they can benefit from your proposition, otherwise they are unlikely to be persuaded.

The body of the paper, too, must reflect your commitment to your readers. The ordering of your points, the kind of evidence you present, the appeals you make, all should reflect your concern for the needs of your readers. The organization of your paper should enhance your reasoning processes and your persuasive tactics. Supporting evidence can consist of statistics, authority, analogy, facts, case studies, historical or social background, or explanation of causes. These should be so presented that, along with the language you use and the way you order the material, they help you develop your argument as forcefully as possible.

The conclusion should summarize the argument and restate the proposition. In addition, to be most effective, it should make an appeal to the readers for whatever action may be appropriate. This appeal can be emotional, capitalizing on the sympathy or indignation that you have stirred in readers. Or you may appeal to the decency and fairness of your audience, or point out how your proposition can affect them.

III. Outline the following short argument.

Notes for reference: Your outline should focus on these points: What is the implicit proposition? The main arguments? Is the appeal emotional, logical, or a combination of the two? How is refutation handled? How effective is the conclusion? What kind of proofs does the writer rely on?

Once people are liberated from the confines of automobiles, there will be a greatly increased interest in hiking, exploring, and backcountry packtrips. Fortunately the parks, by the mere elimination of motor traffic, will come to seem far bigger than they are now — there will be more room for more persons, an astonishing expansion of space. This follows from the interesting fact that a motorized vehicle, when not at rest, requires a volume of space far out of proportion to its size. To illustrate: imagine a lake approximately ten miles long and on the average one mile wide. A single motorboat could easily circumnavigate the lake in an hour; ten motorboats would begin to crowd it; twenty or thirty, all in operation, would dominate the lake to the exclusion of any other form of activity; and fifty would create the hazards, confusion, and turmoil that make pleasure impossible. Suppose we banned motorboats and allowed only canoes and rowboats; we would see at once that the lake seemed ten or perhaps a hundred times bigger. The same thing holds true, to an even greater degree, for the automobile. Distance and space are functions of speed and time. Without expending a single dollar from the United States Treasury we could, if we wanted to, multiply the area of our national parks tenfold or a hundredfold — simply by banning the private automobile. The next generation, all 250 million of them, would be grateful to us.

IV. Identify the topic sentence, the incidents, and the conclusion in the following paragraph.

Notes for reference: Narration is frequently used to tell about personal experiences. You have a variety of personal experiences every day, but they will not necessarily make an effective narrative except they can attract the reader's interest. Most often, the writer may have a goal to describe an experience that has some unusual meaning or significance both for the writer and for the reader. In the following sample paragraph, the writer uses narration to give a factual account of an event — the discovery of Wheaties. Notice that the writer has chosen to explain the different incidents in a simple chronological order.

Like gravity and penicillin, Wheaties was discovered by accident. In 1921, a health clinician named Minnenrode, in Minneapolis, was mixing up a batch of bran gruel for his patients when he spilled some on a hot stove. He heard it crackle and sizzle, and had a taste. Delicious, he thought. He took his cooled gruel to the Washburn Crosby Company, which in 1928 would merge with three mills to become General Mills. Favorably impressed, Washburn Crosby gave Minnenrode use of a laboratory. Alas, his flakes crumbled too easily and turned to dust in a box. Exit Minnenrode, enter George Cormack, Washburn Crosby's head miller. Cormack tested 36 varieties of wheat. He cracked them, he steamed them, he mixed them with syrup, he cooked them, he dried them, he rolled them. Finally he found the perfect flakes.

（Steve Walf）

V. Read the following passages and point out rhetorical features you have noticed in item:

1. The chair was the one piece of furniture I wanted to take with me when I closed up my parents' house for the final time. To look at it, sitting in the same kitchen corner where it had been fifty years, you'd wonder how it could be my favorite chair, its seat scratched here and there from the soles of a small boy's shoes. The only thing unusual about it was the intricate design carved into its back. But the carving was what made the chair meaningful to me. ...

2. Erethizon dorsatus, an antisocial character of the northern U. S. and Canadian forest, commonly called a porcupine, looks like an uncombed head, has a grumpy personality, fights with his tail, hides his head when he's in trouble, floats like a cork, attacks backing up, retreats going ahead, and eats toilet seats as if they were Post Toasties. It's a sad commentary on his personality that people are always trying to do him in.

3. On the outskirts of a little town upon a rise of land that swept back from the railway there was a tidy little cottage of white boards, trimmed vividly with green blinds. To one side of the house there was a garden neatly patterned with plots of growing vegetables, and an arbor for the grapes which ripened late in August. Before the house there were three mighty oaks which sheltered it in their clean and massive shade in summer, and to the other side there was a border of gay flowers. The whole place had an air of tidiness, thrift, and modest comfort.

第二十二章　论文写作

22.1　论文的概念与写作要求

22.1A　什么是论文

1） 论文与一般写作练习不相同。一般的写作练习指书评、各种文体（描写、叙述、辩论、说明）的段落或篇章练习，各种应用文的练习，等等，通常是教师讲解了有关的范文以后布置给学生的课堂作业，时间紧、篇幅短、针对性强。这里所说的论文则是一种要求较高的综合作业，由写作者在教师指导下选题，学习研究后写出文章。

2） 写一篇论文通常要经过如下6个步骤：

a. 初步选题，并提出总体设想；

b. 初步查阅有关资料，考虑文章的对象，并将选题具体化；

c. 尽可能阅读和收集资料，作出笔记或卡片；

d. 对收集到的资料进行整理；

e. 写出论文提纲，并继续收集所需资料；

f. 起草和修改论文

22.1B　论文的写作要求

1） 论文应充分地占有资料。除了尽可能广泛地查阅可能得到的图书资料（包括报纸杂志文章），有时还需从调查、访问中收集第一手资料。

2） 论文应有明确的观点。论文作者必须在大量材料的基础上提出自己的看法，即文章的主题，并系统地加以论证或说明。总之，论文应有一种学术研究意味，甚至具有一定的学术水平。

3） 论文应有一定的格式，如：封面上除了论文题目，还应有论文作者姓名（Written by ...），指导教师姓名（Supervised by ...），写作时间、地点等。又如注释和参考书目须按一定的要求列出（参见22.3D）。

22.2　论文的写作过程

22.2A　论文的写作准备

1） 在论文的酝酿过程中，要抓住3个基本问题：

a. Who will be my readers?

b. What do I want to accomplish?

c. What shall I write about?

论文的对象、目的和主题是三个密切相关的方面。一个人的脑子里一旦有了这样几个问题，思维活动就会自动进行，并会及时迸发出思想火花，使思维活动向纵深发展。

2） 在考虑上述问题过程中，会使自己的写作目标逐渐明朗化，是要说明问题，分析情况，开展辩论，还是为了劝说？此刻，可从下述4个方面审题：

a. It should be narrow enough to be developed fully.

如果说，我若想在一篇论文里论述我国教育制度的历史、现状和改革设想，而篇幅只有5000字左右，时间一个星期，那显然是写不好的，为此，就宜集中论述自己的设想，只需在开头部分对现状加以简要描述，作为提出设想的依据。

b. It should be a topic that you can research and consider objectively.

有的题目范围过窄，如My Father's Hobbies，通常找不到文字资料去证实自己的观点，不宜去写；有的问题是人们争论的热门话题，如Is Tyson's Sentence Fair Enough？大家各执一词，难以说个清楚明白，弄不好囿于某种偏见，还易提出误论，为此，对这类论题也不应轻易去写。

c. It should be a topic that you are curious about but not thoroughly familiar with.

通过写一篇论文，你应能进入一个新的知识园地或研究领域，在查阅和收集资料的过程中，你应有一种新鲜感，为新的发现感到兴奋，对新发现的问题感到好奇，更有兴趣钻研下去。这个过程通常是苦乐相伴，先苦后甜。如果是图方便，把以前在某门课中写过的东西再写一遍，不是为了更进一步钻研，而是拿熟材料应付新作业，那是不会有什么收获的；如果是抄别人的东西，就更是大错特错了。

d. It should be within your scope.

一个论文题目是否太专或太难，取决于写作者的知识面和兴趣大小。例如对非理工科的学生来说，就不适宜写Free Electron Lasers，而缺少语言学知识的学生，就不宜论The Great Vowel Shift。这就是说，注意不要钻到与自己知识领域不相干的题目里去。

22.2B　收集和整理资料

1） 阅读。首先根据可得到的图书资料——包括馆际借阅和从私人处借阅的书籍、杂志、报纸等各种文字或有关资料，制订阅读书目和进度表。接着是分批浏览图书资料，确定重点和非重点阅读的书目，作出简要的浏览笔记。第三步是阅读重点书目，并做笔记或卡片。由于从图书馆借书的数目和时间有限，应有计划地分批借阅，能借到的尽量多借几本，抓紧时间快速阅读，尽快把不需要的书归还，对重点书则续借；如有别人急需和图书馆催还时，设法协商，争取把重点书再借到手，或最好在还之前抓紧读完或复印部分内容。

2） 写读书笔记或电脑储存。首先，对重点书目要记录好作者姓名、书的标题、出版时间、地点、版本等。可对重点书目加以编号，以后另外做内容卡或电脑储存时，则只需记上编号和页码。每张内容卡或软盘段落前面可加上几个字说明内容要点，以便归类整理。还应注意，电脑资料盘应备一式二份，以防坏了时失掉资料。

3） 安排好必要的调查访问。这项活动可穿插进行。Questionnaire和电话访谈的形式也可考虑，有时安排Research Project还需得到有关部门和人员的允许和帮助，更应尽早着手。从这类活动中常常可以获得书本上得不到的知识和启发，对写好论文大有好处。对所获的资料和心得体会，也要做好记录。

4） 整理资料和列出提纲。在整理资料过程中，一方面可以加深印象，使观点更明确、更系统，另一方面也可以看到哪些资料最重要，哪些不一定需要，哪些有待补充，并设法通过查阅或专访加以弥补。同时，在整理、分析的基础上可列出初步论文提纲，为起草做好准备。

22.2C　论文的起草与修改

1） 关于论文的提纲、起草、修改等全过程，都和第三章讨论的文章写作的基本步骤和要求一致。

2） 论文要求使用较为正式的文体，在择语和句式上应注意力求简练、直接、准确，例如：

a. 不要多余的字。既然有never, after, when, because, probably, despite, approximately, locally, before等单词，就不要去用表示同样意义的介词短语at no time, at the conclusion of, at the time that, due to the fact that （或for the reason that）, in all likelihood, in spite of, on or about, on the local level, prior to the time that等。

b. 避免用带歧视或偏见的词语。如用chairperson, representative, letter carrier, humanity, artificial, a demanding job, reporter, police officer, sales clerk （或salesperson）, forecaster （或meteorologist） 等代替chairman, congressman, mailman, mankind, manmade, a man-sized job, newsman, policeman, salesman, weatherman等。又如尽量在句中用she/he, all, each或复数形式代替第三人称代词单数：

A broker must keep all customers informed of investment opportunities. （用all, 不用his）

A kindergarten teacher must know each pupil by name. （用each，不用her）

A student pilot is always terrified on the first solo flight.

或：

A student pilot is always terrified when she/he solos for the first time. （避免用“... when he ...”句式）

Serious scholars should keep accurate records of their sources in case they need to consult them again. （避免用第三人称单数代词）

c. 避免使用行业性的术语，如charisma, continuum, optimize, ergonomic, interface, undelete，等。像下面这样一种专门术语和缩略语过于集中的句式也不适当：

Referring to his paper on T. E. F. L. presented at the 93 N. C. O. T. E. at Pitts., PA, USA, he ...

d. 被动结构能给人一种“客观”（叙述）的印象，但用词较多，而且有时显得转弯抹角，甚至影响句式连贯，故应尽量避免。例如下面的被动句都不及主动句，试比较：

（1a） It has been indicated by higher gold prices that inflation was imminent.

（1b） Higher gold prices indicated that inflation was imminent.

（2a） Innocents Abroad was written by Mark Twain after returning from an excursion to Europe and the Holy Land.

（2b） Mark Twain wrote Innocent Abroad after he returned from an excursion to Europe and the Holy Land.

22.3　有关论文格式的几个问题

22.3A　论文格式的几个主要方面

1） 前面3.2B所讲到的一般文章规范和本章22.1B提到的论文格式，都是基本要求。

2） 注释和参考书目是论文的两个重要组成部分，引文多是论文的一个特色，而这些也都有其规范要求。鉴于文科英语论文都遵循MLA （Modern Language Association of America） Style, 我们仅参照MLA的有关规定作些简要介绍，详细内容应查阅MLA Handbook。

22.3B　摘引

1） 摘引必须准确无误，对原文不可改动，但在不歪曲原意的前提之下可以省去一些词语或句子，例如：

“Various headings can be used for this listing — Bibliography, References ..., but Works Cited is recommended.”

2） 摘引内容达到或超过四行时则称之为Block Quotation. MLA Handbook要求这种摘引左边缩进4个字母，右边不缩，隔行排印，不加引号（原文有时则不变）。例如：

The dog has advantages in the way of uselessness as well as in special gifts of temperament. He is often spoken of ... as the friend of man, and his intelligence and fidelity are praised. The meaning of this is that the dog is man's servant and that he has the gift of an unquestioning subservience and a slave's quickness in guessing his master's mood ...”

（Veblen）

“Your tempers are by no means unlike. You are each of you so complying that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will always exceed your income.”

（ibid）

3） 引进引语的几种常见方式。冒号是引进引语的一种较为正式的形式，例如：

Emerson bluntly stated his faith in self-reliant individuals as follows:“An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.”

动词said, wrote等加上逗号，是引进引语的常见形式：

Emerson wrote, “An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.”

介词短语“according to ...”也可引进引语，并且该引导部分可置句首或插入句中，在句中时前后用逗号相隔。例如：

According to Emerson, “An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.”

“An institution,”according to Emerson,“is the lengthened shadow of one man.”

当引语是整个句子的一个成分（通常是主语、表语或宾语）或用that连接时，不用逗号。例如：

“All the Way with MLA” was their slogan.

They followed the principle of “All the way with MLA.”

They maintained that “All the way with MLA is our principle.”

22.3C　注释

1） 注释的功能主要有两种，一种是对论文中的某个要点或词语加以说明，称为Explanation note，另一种是引导读者参阅论文的其他某个部分或其他某个文件，这种叫做Reference note；有的注释兼有上述两种功能。

2） 从注释所处的位置看，主要有脚注（Footnote）和尾注（Endnote）两种。

如果使用脚注，在文中需在注释部位的右上方加上编号，并须把某页的注释安排在该页的下方，为此，脚注对读者方便，但会给排印者带来一定的麻烦。下面的例子是文章某页的最后几行，该页有两条脚注：

... At their first meeting Elizabeth and Darcy are both guilty of the faults expressed in the title of the novel[1]. He is proud of his social position, and she is proud of her “fallible perceptions”[2] — her faith is her ability to judge.

尾注较好安排，只需对论文的注释按先后次序编号，在文章的最后（可另起一页）排印上所有的注释。

还有一种题注（Title note），可按脚注办法处理，或在文章标题和正文之间，这是一种较突出的题注，并通常用“*”代替数码标号。

3） 同一个文件在一篇论文中再次提到时，第一次注释（Primary note）必须明确和完整，便于读者查对，而再次提及（Secondary note）时则可简略。试比较下面的1号注释和7号注释，前者全，后者略：

1. I. F. Stone, The Trial of Socrates （Boston: Little, 1988） 102.

...

7. Stone, Trial 118.

22.3D　参考文献

1） MLA Handbook关于参考文献的格式规定得相当详尽，共计40多项，这里仅就几个最常见方面加以简略介绍。MLA认为，论文参考文献的英文表示方法可以有好几种，如Bibliography, Literature Cited, References, Sources,等，但以Works Cited为最好，因为论文的参考材料除书之外，还有其他材料在内。

2） 书的标准排列：

Stone, I. F. 　The Trial of Socrates. 　Boston: Little, 1988.

说明：

a. 首行缩进5个字母，第二行再缩进5个，第三行与第二行齐。

b. 作者姓名应同标题页一致，不同作者均以其姓的字母先后为序，姓后加逗号，后空一个字母；名后加句号，后空两字母。

c. 书名同标题页一致（不同封面一致），加下横线（斜体），书名后加句号，各空两个字母。若有副标题，则以逗号同正标题相隔，亦须加下横线（斜体），后同样空两个字母。

d. 若有几个出版地名，只需标出第一个，后加冒号，接出版商。

e. 出版商名用简化式，如用Little代表Little, Brown & Co.,用Macmillan代表Macmillan Publishing Company, 用Norton代表W. W. Norton and Co. Inc., 用Penguin代表Penguin Books, Inc.,等，MLA Handbook有详载。出版商后加逗号，空一字母，后接出版年份，最后句号。

3） 期刊的标准排列：

Kekes, John. “Understanding Evil.” American Philosophical Quarterly 25 （1988）: 13－24.

说明：

a. 期刊有季刊、月刊、周刊等不同类别，但标准排列的基本次序相同：作者，标题，出版年份，页码。

b. 作者的标法与书同。

c. 标题部分先是作者的文章题目，用引号，内有句号，然后是期刊标题，下横线（斜体），后空一个字母，接期刊号，再空一个字母，加括号于出版年份，再加冒号，空一字母，接着是文章所在页码，最后句号。

4） 如有两个作者（或编者）时，应按标题页的次序排列，其中首位作者姓在前，名在后，加逗号，再加and，后接另一位作者，其署名方式（名+姓）照标题上的次序不变；若有3个作者，则在第三位作者前加and。例如：

Abramson, Jill, and Barbara Franklin. Where They Are Now: The Story of the Women of Harvard Law 1974. Garden City: Doubleday, 1986.

McMahon, Elizabeth, Robert Funk, and Susan Day. The Elements of Writing about Literature and Film. New York: Macmillan, 1988.

若超过3名作者，只标首位，后以et al.表示之：

Elliot, Emory, et al., eds. Columbia Literary History of the United States. New York: Columbia UP, 1988.

5） 同一个作家的几部作品，只需在第一部作品前面署作者姓名，第二部前面则以3个连字号代替。例如：

Irving, John, The Cider House Rules. New York: Morrow, 1985.

... The Hotel New Hampshire. New York: Dutton, 1981.

6） 对于翻译作品，通常是将译者姓名放到书名之后。例如：

Machado, Antonio. Trans Selected Poems. Alan S. Trueblood. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1988.

练习二十二　（Exercise Twenty-Two）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Can you call thesis writing just an ordinary written exercise?

2. Do you think the three basic requirements cited in 22.1B are all important in writing a thesis?

3. Which three questions you'd bear in mind when you are preparing a thesis?

4. Do you think it necessary to make an outline for the thesis you are writing?

5. Why is it important to revise one's draft?

6. Do you know what MLA stands for?

7. Can you tell one of the ways to introduce a quotation?

8. How many kinds of notes do you usually use in the thesis?

9. Do you know how to cite a reference book by two authors according to MLA system?

II. Revise the following according to the rhetorical principles you have learned:

When you come right down to it, there is no law that says you have got to make use of big words when you write or talk.

There are large numbers of small words, and good ones, that can be made to say all the things you want to say, which can function quite as well as the big ones. A bit more time may be taken to find them at first. But it can be well worth it, for everyone of us knows what he means. Some small words, more than you might conceive, are lavish with just the right feel, the right taste, as if made to assist you say a thing the way it should be said.

Small words can be crisp, brief, laconic — go to the point, like a knife. They have a charm all their own. They dance, twist, turn, sing. Like sparks in the night they light the way for the eyes of those who read. They are the grace notes of prose. You know what they say the way you know a day is bright and fair at first sight. And you find, in the process of your reading, that you like the way they say it. Small words are gay. And they can catch large thoughts and hold them up for all to see, like rare stones in rings of gold, or joy in the eyes of someone in his childhood.

III. Read the following and then mark whether each of the statements is true （T） or false （F）.

When you learn to drive a car, you study dozens of separate skills, from turning the ignition key to applying the brakes. Yet driving a car is not merely the sum of those skills, like adding up shifting+steering+acceleration + braking. Although you learn all of these skills independently, you still must be able to combine them into one over-riding skill: the ability to pilot a 3,000-pound machine even when it is hurtling down an expressway at 55 miles per hour. Furthermore, when you are on that expressway and some idiot outs right in front of you, there is no time to say to yourself, “Now I must push hard on my brake and then I must check the mirror to see if I can change lanes and then I must steer to the left.” People become accident statistics that way. Instead, you must be able to use your skills instinctively and simultaneously.

So, too, with the complex skill of writing. We have talked about many separate skills in this book. But good writing is not just the sum of those skills, it's not a matter of good words+good sentences+good paragraphs+appropriate forms. Instead you need to combine, to integrate those skills. This means learning to use them instinctively and simultaneously, as you confront the challenges every writer must meet in paper writing.

When you are writing a short paper, usually five pages or so, the process can be divided into four stages:finding a topic, planning the paper, writing the paper, and revising it. Of course, you should not think of this division into four stages as you would a recipe. This composing process should be regarded as a series of continuous actions that bring about a certain result. In fact, many of these actions go on simultaneously.

Writing long papers, however, involves a lot more work. For instance, after you have chosen your topic, you might draw up a sketchy outline and start finding sources, taking notes;then convert your rough outline into a final outline before you start writing, or drafting. When the draft is finished, you have to revise, or rewrite it until you are satisfied. There the final manuscript will be ready and now you should turn your attention to proofreading.

Statements:

1. The four stage process can be applied to any paper writing, which includes finding a topic, planning the paper, writing the paper and revising it. Although a short paper covers usually five pages or so while a long paper covers many more pages and it goes without saying that it takes much more time and efforts.

2. Driving a car requires that the driver acquire not only the knowledge of the separate skills but also the ability to combine them into one overriding skill and use separate skills instinctively, simultaneously and appropriately under different circumstances.

3. Writing a long paper is different from writing short ones in that besides topic finding, paper planning, drafting and revising, the writer has to do a lot more work, i. e. the writer has to find sources, take notes, drawing up an outline before he/she starts writing or drafting.

4. As driving includes the whole set of skills ranging from turning the ignition key, shifting, steering, accelerating to braking and stopping, writing can be viewed as good words + good sentences + good paragraphs + appropriate forms. Both writing and driving are necessary to the society, though one can be more complicated and needs more time to learn.

IV. Arrange the following materials according to MLA style:

1. The title of the book is The Norton Guide to Writing, published in 1992 by W. W. Norton & Company, in New York. The author is Thomas Cooley.

2. Origins of the English Language by Joseph M. Williams was printed in 1986 by Collier Macmillan publishers, London.

3. The book entitled Readings for Composition, A Writer's Anthology edited by Adrienne Robins and Steven Robins, was published in 1992 by St. Martin's Press, Inc., New York.

4. John Kekes's article “Understanding Evil”was published in 1988 in the 25th issue of the periodical American Philosophical Quarterly from page 13 to page 24.

5. Alan S. Trueblood translated Selected Poems which were written by Antonio Machado. The book was published in 1988 by Harvard UP, Cambridge.

6. Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik collaborated on A Grammar of Contemporary English, printed in 1972 by Longman Group Ltd, London.

7. The three works cited here are all by Noam Chomsky. The first is Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, published in 1970 by MIT Press at Cambridge, Mass. The second is Barriers, published in 1986 by the MIT Press at Cambridge, Mass. The third is a paper entitled “Some Notes on Economy of Derivation and Representation”,which is included in Principles and Parameters in Comparative Grammar （pp.417－454） edited by R. Freidin and published in 1991 by the MIT Press at Cambridge, Mass.

1. Mary Lascelles, Jane Austen and Her Art （Oxford: Clarendon, 1963） 160.

2. Marilyn Butler, Jane Austen and the War of Ideas （Oxford:Clarendon, 1975） 207.

第二十三章　应用文写作

23.1　应用文的使用场合与写作特点

23.1A　使用场合

1） 有人预言，不久将出现无纸张文件的工厂、企业和公司，因为那时所有的内部和外部的文字联络都由电脑承担，一切信息均由电脑加以储存并供阅读。然而，在工业和贸易行业工作的人们仍将继续拟制和使用各类文件，涉及生产、销售、运送、劳动就业、设备与维修、试验和检测、法律诉讼等等。

2） 本章讨论的是常用专门性写作的几种具体类型，包括备忘录、书信和个人简历等普通应用文和较为专门的建议及可行性报告。

23.1B　写作特点

1） 应用文的写作有3个特点：清楚（clear），准确（accurate）和简练（brief），即意思必须表达清楚，事实（包括数据）必须准确，文字必须简洁。这些同工业生产和贸易活动中信息量大，时间性强和误差后果严重的特点直接相关。

2） 应用文要求格式准确，一些固定的套语不可随意变动，不论称呼、客套、提请求、说理由、承诺或拒绝，都须在词语选择上注意分寸，不可信手写来。

23.2　几种普通应用文

23.2A　备忘录

1）备忘录亦称便笺、便条，英文单数memorandum，复数memoranda，简称memo，是单位内部通报信息的一种简便形式，内容通常是发笺人和收笺人都熟悉的。

2） 备忘录有特殊的格式，常用单位统一印制成表格并分发到各部门使用。表格形式为：MEMORANDUM

MEMORANDUM

TO:　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　DISTRIBUTION:

FROM 　　 　　(optional)

SUBJECT:

DATE

(message written in this space)

3） 有关备忘录的几点说明：

a. 需要使用备忘录时，必须应用标准格式，手头无现成表格时可根据标准自制。

b. 可用手写，但应尽可能打字，并把内容安排在一张表格内，非用两张不可时，应在第二张说明事由（Subject），日期（Date）和页码（Page Number）诸项。

c. 只要显示出不同段落，顶行或缩进均可，但需保持形式统一。

d. 结尾不用客气语，不必签名，但可在FROM项的名字旁签上姓名的首字母。

e. 文字简明扼要，让收笺人一目了然。

23.2B　书信

1） 随着电话的普及，人们的书信来往减少了，然而，业务书信仍然是一个重要的联络手段。去年，有个青年联系去美某大学深造，开头进展相当顺利，可是在一封给校方快件的回信中因赶时间寄出而未来得及检查，把来信收到的“received”一字拼错和结尾的“truly”多了一个字母“e”，引起校方不满，复信要他再考GRE。可见写信虽然不难，但要写好并达到交际目的，仍然需要遵循写作的要领；倘若语言底子不够扎实，草率从事，是要闹笑话，惹麻烦的。

2） 写信有一定的格式，根据信纸上内容的排列（见黑体字），一般分为3种格式：一是“板块式”（Block Letter），日期、收信人和写信人的地址都排在左上方；二是“半板块式”（Semiblock Letter），写信日期和写信人的地址排到右上角；三是“板块替代式”（Alternative Block Letter），主要是把写信人的地址置左下方。现在第三种格式比较常见，其中写信人的姓名、单位、职务等也可置右下方。下面是3种单页书信的例子：

a. Block letter

6333 8th Avenue North

Heading

Evansville, IN 47715

Date

February 24, 2010

Mr. Charles P. Sims

Inside Address

Executive Vice President

Medical Products Co.

1234 Woodlawn Road

St. Petersburg, FL 33710

Subject: Requested price for product 329

Subject Line(s)

Dear Mr. Sims:

Salutation

Opening of the letter_________________________________

Body of the letter requiring as_________________________________

many paragraphs as needed_________________________________

Close of the letter_________________________________

Sincerely,

Complimentary Close

Space for Signature

(Mrs.) Laura H. Hatchett

Typed Signature

Enclosures (2)

Identification

LHH: ld

Enclosure

C: Mr. John Smith

Copy Line

Ms. Jane Adams

b. Semiblock Letter

Heading

7200 Greenwood Drive

Atlanta, GA 30301

Date

10 March 2010

Mr. Lee L. Billingsly

Inside Address

Chief Executive Officer

Acme Tooling Company

534 Winding Street

St. Louis, MO 63121

Dear Mr. Billingsly:

Salutation

Opening of letter_________________________________

________________________________________

Body of letter requiring as_________________________________

many paragraphs as needed_________________________________

Close of letter_________________________________

________________________________________

Complimentary Close

Cordially,

Space for Signature

Typed Signature

Lee O. Campbell

Executive Vice President

LOC: bw

Identification

Enclosure

Enclosure

C: Dr. L Watson

Copy Line

c. A ltemative Block Letter

Heading

January 15, 2008

Date

Dr. Virginia R. Grimm

Inside Address

Senior Chemist

Clayton Biological Laboratory

15 Westbury Road

New Orleans, LA 70123

Subject: Your Letter of December 29, 2008

Subject Line

Dear Virginia:

Salutation

Opening of letter_________________________________

________________________________

Body of letter________________________________

________________________________

Close of letter_________________________________

Sincerely yours,

Complimentary Close

Space for Signature

Jack T. Riley

Typed Signature

8345 Redwing Drive

Address

Frankfort, KY 40601

Enclosures (3)

Enclosure

C: Dr. Kay Carson

Copy Line

3） 关于书信格式的几点说明：

a. Heading包括写信人的地址和写信日期，单位印刷的信上也都印有地址和单位名称。

b. Inside Address要求把收信人的姓名、职务、单位和地址都写清楚。若职务只有一个字，如Supervisor, Manager或Director等，可写在姓名后面的同一行，中间逗号相隔。

c. Subject line可有可无，目的是便于归类和查询，但注意不要写得空洞或繁琐。信纸上的这个项目可略为Subject: 或Re:

试比较：

Subject: With reference to your phone call of Tuesday, April 12, 2008 concerning the gear breakage in Order No. 879, shipped March 18.

（评注：冗长。）

Re: Order problems

（评注：空泛，未说明问题。）

Re: Gear breakage in Order 879; shipped 0318.

（评注：恰到好处。）

d. 关于Salutation, 以往不知道姓名时用Gentlemen或Dear Sir，因涉及性别，现在有的直接写某部门，如：Dear Admission Office或 Personnel Department。

e. 若信的Body部分短，则注意调整空白，不要弄得上半张纸挤着而下半张空着；反之，若内容多，可分成几段，甚至分页。

f. 在Complimentary Close部分的常见形式有“Sincerely”, “Cordially”, “Very truly yours”, “Yours”等；特别表示尊敬时用“Respectfully yours”,突出亲切时用“Fondly yours”, 亲人间用“Affectionately yours”, “Lovingly yours”等。

g. 在Complimentary Close下面空行，用于写信人签字，然后打写信人的姓名；如打上Ph D, Senator, Manager等称谓，省略式Ph D, “MD”等可打在姓名后边同一行，中间逗号相隔，其余分行打。为便于收信人明了自己的身份，妇女可在姓名后边打上下述字样： （Mrs.）, （Miss）, （Ms.）等。

h. 若信由其他人（如秘书）而不是由签署人自己执笔时，签署人签字前应仔细阅读全信，因签字则表示同意和承担责任，同时Identification部分也注明签信人和打信人，前者姓名的为首字母大写，后者的小写，如：LHH: jme。

i. 在业务往来中，如果在一封信内附有两份其他内容的文件，则应在Enclosure部分注明，例如：

Enclosures（2）（收信人知道有两份附件。）

Enclosures: Woolrey Abstract, Drilling Permit #19876. （收信人知道有什么内容的两份附件）

j. 如某信件抄送有关人员，则应在Copy Line处注明。

23.2C　简历

1） 简历（Résumé）是以最恰当的语言和形式简述个人的经历、特长、志愿等等，作为申请工作和取得面试机会的材料。

2） 简历中的常见项目和格式为：

RESUME

NAME:

PRESENT ADDRESS & TELEPHONE NUMBER

Date of Birth:

Place of Birth:

Nationality:

Sex:

Marital Status:

Objective:

Education Background:

Work Experiences:

Speciality:

Employment:

References:

Signature:

几点说明和注意事项：

a. Present Address and Telephone Number项可分别注出School Address和Home Address, 并附电话号，以便联系。

b. Sex或Sexual Distinction均表示性别，注Male或Female。个人情况方面还可补进Height, Weight, Health等资料。

c. Marital Status项注Single, Married, Divorced, Separated, 或Unmarried等，有时还需注明Spouse姓名等。

d. Objective亦作Career Objective, 注明本人对工作的愿望，要求，如mechanical engineering design position, preferably with a variety of projects, Professor of American Studies, making use of my good family background and with personal experiences in the states, 等。

e. Education项应写明某时期在某学校攻读什么专业，获何学位等，先后次序通常是由近及远（写到中学即可）。例如：

1988—1992 University of Evansville, Indiana

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

此项下面还可补一项College Activities或Student Activities, 例如：

Four-year member of Society of Automotive Engineers, and secretary in sophomore and senior years.

f. Employment亦作Work Experience，若大学毕业生无此经历者，可略去不填。有此经历者应注明年份、单位、职务，还可提及突出成就及获奖等情况。学生干部、社团负责人或其他兼职也好注明。

g. Speciality亦可复数Specialities，若有同所申请工作有关的特长更要注明。此项亦可作Hobbies & Interests。

h. References一般说明 Available upon request即可。若注明证明或担保人的姓名和联系地址，须先征得他们的同意。

i. 在基本信息一致的前提下，可根据目标单位的特点和要求适当调某些材料，以便使自己的简历更具针对性，还可附一两张照片，但不宜多，且要端庄得体。

23.3　建议与可行性报告

23.3A　建议报告

1） 一项建议（Proposal）是针对某个（方面的）问题提出的解决方案，并请有关方面批准实施。建议有口头的，有书面的；有属于工作任务的，也有属于以出售为目的的。我们这里讨论的是书面建议的写作。

2） 在建议的准备过程中，应制订写作计划，首先要对问题对象加以分析，抓住如何提出问题，如何解决及实施计划等关键环节进行必要的调查研究，结合评估的方式及要求，使用明确、适度和富于说服力的语言去写。

3） 建议有严格的格式要求，通常由Transmittal Letter, Title Page, Table of Contents把读者引入建议的具体内容。

4） Transmittal Letter向读者非常礼貌地介绍建议的主题，有时简述要点，并向有关人士和方面致意。

5） Title Page的基本格式如下：（TITLE）

(TITLE)
A PROPOSAL
for
Company or Person's Name
Address
by
Writer or Company's Name
Address
Date

Abstract:

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Approved by_______________　　Date_______________

说明：若篇幅不够，可将Abstract另打一页，放在Title Page之后。

6） 篇幅在5页以上的建议，须有“目录”（Table of Contents），基本格式如下：

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract....................................................................i

List of Illustrations.......................................................ii

Introduction................................................................1

Problem Statement...............................................1

Proposed Solution................................................4

Project Scope.............................................................5

Schedule....................................................................6

Budget.......................................................................7

Hardware............................................................7

Personnel...........................................................8

Appendices.........................................................

Appendix A:.........................................................9

Appendix B:.........................................................10

几点说明：

a. 若封面上已有摘要，则这里的Abstract一项删去，List of Illustrations亦可从略。另外，例中的页码仅作示范，并非固定不变。

b. 在Introduction部分一方面要突出建议的价值和可行性，另一方面要实事求是，既不否认可能存在消极因素，又不靠哗众取宠的言词来推销自己的主张，而是力求靠逻辑和事实说话，如对Problem不要言过其实，对Solution要留有余地。这里还可分析一下以前的一些解决办法，恰如其分地肯定成绩和指出不足之处，并突出现在建议办法的科学依据。

c. 在Project Scope部分应首先说明这是对未来情况的设想，同时陈述设想的依据。

d. 在Schedule部分应较具体地列出工作任务，谁去承担，完成该项工作任务的意义、困难、可能性及大体时间表。

e. Budget要建立在科学预测及反复测算的基础之上。其中Personnel项既要说明工作量，又要事先考察清楚劳动力的来源，工具及配套设施的安排，骨干力量的素质和数量，是否需要培训，需要时怎样安排，培训人员的来源、报酬、工作环境，等等。

f. Appendices可能一个或数个，也可能一个也不需要。

7） 读者对象（audience或readers）是任何写作中都应研究的问题，写建议报告这类劝导式文章时尤其要注意。以下几点可供研究时参考：

a. 列出所有的读者对象，分析哪些是最主要的读者，哪些人次之，建议报告同哪些人关系最直接、最重要，从而确定主要的读者群。

b. 分析主要读者群的状况，如他们的年龄、文化程度、工作任务、性别、国籍、籍贯，对建议数的需要和发言权等。

c. 考虑建议报告作者同读者之间的诸种关系，如本业务圈里有多少人？圈外人多少？这样，作者就容易判断出多少人会有共同语言，多少人会难以接受，还应对比作者同读者在年龄、文化程度、价值观和生活及工作经验等方面的情况，然后确定从什么角度去写、采用哪些资料、使用什么样的表达方式能产生最好的劝说效果。

23.3B　可行性报告

1） 在进行一项重大工程建设、改革或实验项目之前都需要开展可行性研究（Feasibility Study）, 并提出可行性报告（Feasibility Report），内容为研究的结果和一系列看法和建议。同前面23.3A讨论的Proposal比较，两者的共同点是都涉及工作量、经费、成果预测等，区别在于：Feasibility Study是由某部门或个人根据形势需要而安排的一项专题研究，其报告作为决策的参考，而Proposal可能是某个人或组织根据现实存在的难题提出的分析解决方法，提请有关部门批准并可作为商品出售，还有时几个不同的Proposals投标，彼此竞争，力求有关部门或个人采纳。

2） 可行性报告一般包括下述几项内容：

Cover Letter

Title page

Abstract

Table of contents

List of illustrations

Introduction

Discussion

Criteria

Possible solutions

Conclusion / Recommendation

Appendix

3） 可行性报告写作中应注意的几个问题：

a. 从Cover Letter到Introduction的各项以及Appendix都和Proposal中的相应项目的写法一致。

b. 由于可行性报告往往涉及几种选择方案，作者必须通过踏实的调查研究深入了解每种选择，收集每项选择的有关资料，并使用一致的参照标准去分析和比较各种方案，包括使用图表和数据。例如在一份有关购置一套文字处理设备的可行性报告中，作者首先把5种可供考虑的设想归纳成两种较佳方案，接着从Advantages, Disadvantages和Summary等3个方面加以对照说明，然后提出作者的Recommendation，层次分明，瓜熟蒂落。

c. 一般说来，作者不必直接提出自己的结论和建议，但同时又要有自己的见解，即通过调查研究得出的必然结论，只是在写作方法上主要是依靠资料对比和逻辑分析表达作者的看法，让读者作出判断；如果作者提出建议，注意文字上既要明白晓畅，又要准确适度，不夸张，不含糊，具有说服力（而非诱惑力）。

4） 可行性报告有一定的格式，下面是从一份可行性报告中摘出的几个部分：

a. Cover Letter

1209 Parrett Street

Richmond, VA 23201

February 14, 2009

Mr. William Philpot, Headmaster

Third High School

921 Third Avenue

Richmond, VA 23201

Dear Mr. Philpot:

Enclosed is the study I discussed for computerizing certain of the Third High School's office procedures. My recommendation is included.

I will call on Monday to answer questions or arrange a meeting to discuss anything in the report.

Thank you for the opportunity to evaluate the need for a computerized system. It helped me in my school work. I hope it helps you and your committee decide how to make certain office functions easier and more efficient for the staff.

Sincerely
（Signature）
Phyllis Rabb

b. Title page

STUDY TO COMPUTERIZE OFFICE PROCEDURES

PRESENTED TO

THIRD HIGH SCHOOL

728 THIRD AVENUE

RICHMOND，VA 23201

SUBMITTED BY

PHYLLIS RABB

COMPUTER SCIENCE SENIOR

1209 Parrets Street

Richmond, VA23201

February 14, 2009

c. Abstracts from the text: PP.209－213

STUDY: TO DECIDE IF THIRD HIGH SCHOOL

SHOULD COMPUTERIZE CERTAIN OFFICE OPERATIONS〖ZK）〗

INTRODUCTION

...

DISCUSSION

...

练习二十三　（Exercise Twenty-Three）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Can you tell the three characteristics of technical writing?

2. Can you tell some of the common technical writings?

3. What are the basic contents in a résumé?

4. How do you address the receiver of your letter if you don't know the person's sexual distinction?

5. What does a Proposal refer to in technical writing?

6. Can you tell the difference between Feasibility Study and Feasibility Report?

7. What advantages and troubles have you come across in writing with a computer?

II. Read the following and comment the points stated:

A decade ago it was popular to talk about writing as a linear activity. The writer was seen as someone who first prewrote an outline and some ideas, then wrote a first draft of the whole work, and later rewrote, correcting mistakes and polishing style. People who wrote about composition saw the writer as someone who performed these steps independently and in an orderly manner.

Today the trend is to talk about writing as a process. The writer is still seen engaging in a series of actions to bring about the finished document, but no longer is it thought that the series is sequential or neatly separated and orderly. Instead, writing is perceived as a volatile activity.

Those of you majoring in scientific or technical fields are familiar with processes and thus should find it easy to think of writing in the same way. In doing so, you lower your expectations of learning to write quickly and definitely and accept the idea of writing as a progression — an ongoing series of actions that bring about the end result of writing effectively.

Technical writing is not written for the writer's exclusive pleasure or as a forum for one's private thoughts. Instead, technical writing presents a specific subject to an understood audience that is reading for a particular purpose. The interwoven dependency of subject and audience is one of technical writing's distinguishing characteristics and one reason technical writers must prepare before writing. Rarely is the wholeness of a good technical document achieved by accident, for although no set of rules or formulas guarantees good writing, writing is by no means so mysterious that little can be said about it or learned. Constant reading and conscientious practice will help you make progress and achieve success in this field.

III. Write a memorandum with the following data:

1. The date is December 4, 2000.

2. The memo is from Linda Prater, R. N., Director of Surgery/Emergency Nursing.

3. The memo is to inform Department Heads, Directors of Nursing and Head Nurses that Susan Kern, R. N., is now Head Nurse over Emergency and FlightHelp, and that Janet Sims, R. N., has been appointed as Chief Flight Nurse （Assistant Head Nurse） of FlightHelp and will report to Susan.

4. The memo is signed by Linda Prater and typed by Florak Manson.

IV. Revise the draft of the following résumé of a student:

RESUME

CATHI ANN CRABTREE

300 S. Frederick Street

Evansville, Indiana 47714

Phone: （812） 477－5941

Objective

Mechanical engineering design position, preferably with a variety of projects.

Education

UNIVERSITY OF EVANSVILLE EVANSVILLE, INDIANA

1992—1998

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in May 1986. GPA of 3.14 on 4.0 scale.
President's Scholarship recipient.

Employment

1992—Present

FINE & HATFIELD EVANSVILLE, INDIANA Word Processor Operator

1988—1990

REIS MOBILE CATERING SERVICE, INDIANA Waitress, earned 75% of college expenses.

College

Activities

Four-year member of Society of Automotive Engineers. Secretary sophomore year. Four-year member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Participant in Society of Automotive Engineers' Mini Baja competition in sophomore and senior years.

References

Personal references available upon request.

V. Revise the draft of the following application letter.

1264 Washington Street, Apt. A

Evansville, IN 47715

November 9, 2006

Mr. John Burdette

Personnel Superintendent

SHW Industries Inc., Midwest Division

Denver, CO 80201

Dear Mr. Burdette:

Thank you for interviewing with me at Southwestern University on Tuesday, November 4. I enjoyed talking with you and watching the SHW video presentation. I am impressed with the company and would like to see one of the plants or the corporate headquarters.

During the interview, I mentioned that RD at corporate would be my initial preference. However, I am very flexible and I wanted to add that the small plant setting sounds appealing as well. This is because I enjoy developing good working relationships with plant people I've found I can gain the respect of these folks because I care about their opinions and will listen to their ideas verses just blowing them off because they don't have a “formal” education.

In any case, SHW sounds like a company that works with its people so they are both productive and happy. So I'm confident that if and when I have a opportunity to be employed by SHW, the initial job direction will not make or break my career.

Thanks again for coming to Southwestern and I hope to see you again.

Sincerely,
（signature）
Alan Wolfinger

练习参考答案

（Keys to the Exercises）

*Note: To be precise, these keys here are suggested answers and sometimes different ones are acceptable. Keys to some of the exercises （Questions & Answers, Reading and Discussion or Comment） are omitted, for they can be found in the corresponding sections or passages.

EXERCISE ONE

Ⅱ. 1. d　2. b　3. a

Ⅲ. 1. concerned with / associated with　2. meaning　3. rhetoric　4. understood as / known as　5. to regard　6. than

EXERCISE TWO

Ⅱ. 1. T　2. F　3. T　4. T　5. F　6. T

Ⅲ. 1. thinking　2. related　3. taken　4. misleading　5. taught　6. aimed

EXERCISE THREE

Ⅱ. 1. such　2. “revising”　3. write　4. subject　5. too　6. business　7. third　8. to

Ⅲ. 1. F　2. T

EXERCISE FOUR

Ⅱ. 1. T　2. T　3. F　4. T　5. F　6. F　7. F　8. T

Ⅲ. 1. believes

2. encourage, needs/need

3. by/through

4. Enclosed

5. conflicts

6. close

7. by, by/with, with

8. unable, help

9. object

10. creaking

Ⅳ. 1. pretty, handsome；　2. second；　3. justification；　4. bean, been；　5. other flats/rooms/houses；　6. make a successful start

V. run, move, spin, turn, whirl, roll.

EXERCISE FIVE

Ⅱ. 1. groan-making （Not groan-made）

2. signature （Not signing）

3. predicability （Not predicableness）

4. poorly （Not poor）, that movie / the movies （Not that movies）

5. argument （Not arguement）, pronunciation （Not pronunciations）

Ⅲ. 1. Use “... because he suddenly fell ill” or “... as a result of his having become seriously ill” for “... as a result of his having suddenly gotten sicker than a dog”.

2. Change “lamentations”into“low spirits”.

3. Replace “notoriety”with“fame”or“respect”.

4. Use“long-standing”,“venerable”or“time-honored”for“old-fashioned”,and use “keep up”,“maintain”or“uphold”in stead of“stick to”.

5. Delete “alas” and replace “really lousy” with “not as good as expected”.

Ⅳ. 1. crowd　2. residence　3. strongly-willed　4. cheap / miserly / stingy / hard-fisted　5. feast　6. talk　7. skinny　8. that dear old soul

EXERCISE SIX

Ⅱ. 1. mowing　2. working　3. working　4. mowing

Ⅲ. Passage One: Need you open the window?

Passage Two: Don't open the window.

EXERCISE SEVEN

Ⅱ. 1. T　2. F　3. T　4. T　5. F　6. F　7. T　8. F

Ⅲ. 1. other　2. more　3. to　4. where　5. way　6. writing

Ⅳ. 1. It is rumoured that Mr. Sampson has been involved in a bribe scandal.

2. I believe that he is innocent.

3. According to newspaper reports, after winning two gold medals in swimming at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, he was offered a professional contract.

4. The road requires maintaining regularly.

5. One cannot accomplish anything without taking pains.

EXERCISE EIGHT

Ⅱ. brief, like, as, brief, like, here and there

Ⅲ. 1. T　2. T　3. T　4. T　5. F　6. T

Ⅳ. 1. He is like a wolf in sheep's skin.

2. The parks of our city are like human lungs.

3. His voice thundered in the hall.

4. Money is like a lens in a camera.

5. （Not possible to change.）

6. （Not possible to change.）

7. The machine-gun was mowing down the enemy.

8. Slim green canals snaked beside the road.

9. Applications for jobs came into the Employment Agency like a flood.

10. Hitler made a lightning attack on Poland in 1939.

V. 1. Life was like a journey full of pitfalls.

2. Not all slim girls are paper flowers.

3. A real friend is like a mirror that can help you see any dirt on your face.

4. Examinations are harvest seasons of students.

5. ...“your insurance claim will be processing quickly / fast / soon.”

Ⅵ. 1. 他们的数据处理慢得像蜗牛一般。

2. 人人都有糊涂的时候。

3. 有智不在年高。

4. 一人智短，两人智长。

5. 例外能检验规律。

6. 一分实践抵得上十分理论。

7. 多样化是快乐的灵魂。

8. 注意：伪善朋友有害健康。

EXERCISE NINE

Ⅱ. 1. analogy;　2. metaphor;　3. allegory;　4. metonymy;

5. synecdoche;　6. metonymy;　7. metonymy;　8. analogy;

9. simile, metaphor;　10. simile;　11. metaphor;　12. metonymy

Ⅲ. 1. synecdoche （Naming a part when the whole is meant, or naming a whole when a part is meant.）;

2. metonymy （Substitution of an associated word for what is actually meant）;

3. analogy （The explanation of a particular subject by pointing out its similarities to another subject which is usually better known or more easily understood.）;

4. analogy;　5. metaphor;　6. metonymy, simile

EXERCISE TEN

Ⅱ. 1. zoosemy;　2. personification;　3. onomatopoeia;　4. personification;　5. personification;　6. zoosemy;　7. onomatopoeia;　8. personification

Ⅲ. 1. T　2. T　3. F　4. T　5. F　6. T　7. T　8. F

Ⅳ. 1. This is from The Grape of Wrath by Steinbeck, in which the author describes the bony man's neck as a celery stalk — a figure of zoosemy.

2. This is an example of mixed metaphor cited by the author. In the first clause, the problem is treated like a lock; in the second, like a human being.

3. Here is a vivid description by William Faulkner, in which small but colorful verbs are used, though no figure of speech can be recognized as have been treated in the present book of English Rhetoric & Writing.

4. In this passage by Shakespeare, figures like synecdoche and zoosemy can be found.

5. Figures of speech like personification and the figures discussed in Chapter 17 are used in this passage by Tristan Jones, in which cumulative sentence pattern can be found as well. 6. While personification can be found in this passage by J. Steinbeck, transitional words （See 19.2C） used here are also prominent.

7. In this passage of T. Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, the author uses zoosemy as in the phrase “like the sigh of a pine plantation”.

8. Cobbett uses Westminster to refer to the British Council situated in that district of London； therefore, metonymy is recognized as referring to an institution by its location.

9. Onomatopoeia is used here by Jack London, where the four words can be divided into two types which indicate striking contrast.

EXERCISE ELEVEN

Ⅱ. 1. Oxymoron;　2. Irony;　3. Innuendo;　4. Oxymoron;　5. Sarcasm;　6. Paradox

Ⅲ. 1. F　2. T　3. T　4. T　5. T　6. F　7. T

EXERCISE TWELVE

Ⅱ. 1. We produce the best shoes of the world for all marathon runners.

2. The two brothers are different in a thousand and one ways.

3. I haven't seen you for ages.

4. The cost mounted to astronomical figures.

5. The professor has an extensive/encyclopedic knowledge of the ancient Greek culture.

6. I will never do such a thing.

7. He was the last man I'd like to see.

8. I used to think that things in the upper society were all fine.

Ⅲ. 1. I don't think she will come, because she's about five months gone.

2. They were not a little surprised at the outcome.

3. It's no easy matter to restore peace in that area.

4. ... One is a letter carrier, another firefighter and the third police officer.

5. Sorry, that's more than I can promise.

6. His father passed away last week and is going to be laid to rest next Sunday.

7. Could you tell me which bus will take me to the natural museum?

8. The lunar calendar in 1995 is symbolized by the boar.

Ⅳ. 1.T　2. F　3. T　4. T　5. T　6. F

EXERCISE THIRTEEN

Ⅱ. 1. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

2. Familiarity breeds contempt.

3. All roads lead to Rome.

4. All men are created equal.

5. Give me liberty, / Or give me death. （Patrick Henry）

6. Seeing is believing.

7. I came, I saw, I conquered.

8. An apple a day keeps the doctors away.

9. Walls have ears.

10. ... from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

Ⅲ. 1. B　2. C　3. C

EXERCISE FOURTEEN

Ⅱ. Individual work: 1.T　2. F　3. T

Ⅲ. 1. Change “sensibilizing” into “sensibility”； Paregmenon.

2. Use “squander” for “ponder”.

3. Use “planet” for “land” and “What” for “How”.

4. Use “blameless” for “blameful”； Alliteration, Assonance, Correction.

5. Turn “unrealizable” into “unpredictable”.

6. Use “ground” for “floor” and change “open space” into “wasteland”, “emptiness”, “barren ground”, or “deserts”.

7. Delete “them” and replace “preferring” with “preferences”； Paregmenon, Anadiplosis.

EXERCISE FIFTEEN

Ⅱ. 1. Note the two meanings expressed by “hang”: First one: To remain united and support each other; Second one: to be hanged/be put to death....

2. The “pounds” used by the doctor refers to the weight of the child, but the father mistook it for money.

3. The word “disposition” used in the report means how the passengers were settled after the accident, but the driver misunderstood it and thought it means how they felt and behaved after it.

4. The customer used the phrase “in the window” to modify “the trousers” while the salesman took it to be an adverbial phrase used to modify “try on”.

5. The coat here is used as “a coat of paint” （=a covering of paint spread over a surface）, not a kind of outer garment for a human being.

6. Both “multiply” and “adders” here have double meanings: What Noah wanted the animals to do was to breed, but the serpents, as they didn't like to obey the order, deliberately explained it in another meaning, which refers to one of the four fundamental operations of arithmetic （addition, subtraction, multiplication and division）; in the meantime, the cunning serpents made use of the fact that “adders” are that kind of serpents they belong to and, therefore, what they could do was only to add, not to multiply.

Ⅲ. 1. 水缓慢地流进那干涸的田地。

2. 尽管年纪轻轻，她已能写出精彩的诗句。

3. 小溪不远处立着一块令人望而生畏的岩石。

4. 国际商业机器公司今年的生产率得到很大增长。

5. 他坚持认为我们的设想都站不住脚。

6. 该谋杀犯被打入死囚牢房。

7. 他情急之下竟忘了记下地址。

8. 苹果公司有时和全国的用户进行电子对话。

Ⅳ. 1. “Put on ornaments” is used in the literal meaning and “put on airs” in a figurative sense.

2. The word “short” is in its literal meaning when it is used to modify one's coattail；and it expresses a figurative meaning when used to modify one's temper as in “a short tempered fellow” — someone who is likely to get angry.

3.“To arrive at the town hall” is in a literal sense while “to arrive at an agreement” is in a figurative sense.

4. “Lighted streets” is in the literal sense, meaning “having light”, “bright”, whereas “light” in the other combinations,the word “light（est）” is used figuratively: untroubled, pleasant； not serious, unimportant； graceful, cheerful, etc.

5. This sentence is from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, in which the words “low”, “brown” and “little” should all be taken figuratively. For instance, “too low” here does not mean “not tall enough” but means “not worthy （to be praised）”.

6. The Zeugma occurs with “throwing”, which is used in both a literal sense （with “dish”） and a metaphorical one（with “maxim”）.

EXERCISE SIXTEEN

Ⅱ. 1. Simile （as a beacon light）; Metaphor （the flame）; Contrast （light of hope, flame of injustice）

2. Parallelism （if... if, that dignity ... that composure ... that complacency）; Antithesis （her form ... her merit ...）

3. Parallelism （four infinitive phrases in parallel）

4. Parallelism

5. Antithesis; Oxymoron; Repetition

6. Parallelism

Ⅲ. 1. These books are not primarily for reading but for reference. （Delete the wordy elements in the original sentence.）

2. Gary is not a good track man, nor is he a good swimmer. （There is faulty parallelism in the original because of the use of different grammatical structures to express coordinate ideas.）

3. ... books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre. （When the phrase “the cavalry's winning” has turned into a clause beginning with “when”, the two “when” clauses become parallel.）

4. ... and when you do not know it, to admit that you do not — this is true knowledge. （Change “admit” into “to admit”, so that “to hold that ...” and “to admit that ...” form appropriate parallelism.）

5. To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know.... （Insert “that” between “and” and “we” so as to make the two “that” clauses parallel.）

6. ... now the Tudor buildings resemble a small village.

EXERCISE SEVENTEEN

Ⅱ. 1. Assonance, Alliteration, Consonance

2. Alliteration, Allegory

3. Assonance

4. Alliteration

5. Alliteration, Assonance

6. Alliteration, Consonance

7. Assonance, Consonance

EXERCISE EIGHTEEN

Ⅲ. 1. For almost ten weeks in January, the coldest month in that area, the POWs were kept in an unheated camp at night, which caused many deaths and diseases. Most of the victims were women and children.

2. Such plants to operate successfully had to run at capacity. To run at capacity they needed outlets for their whole output. （Thurman Arnold）

3. Note: Both “the legalist” and “the moralist” should be kept singular in the whole paragraph.

4. Coherence means sticking together. A paragraph is coherent when the sentences are woven together or flow into each other. The reader then moves easily from one sentence to the next and reads the paragraph as an integrated unit, not a collection of separate sentences.

5. Note: The paragraph starts with a good topic sentence, supported by the second. Then, however, the writer begins to slide away from his subject. Sentences 3 and 4 might be allowed if they were subordinated, but 5 and 6 lose contact. In sentence 7 the writer tacitly acknowledges that he has wandered, throwing out a long transitional lifeline to haul the reader back to the subject. It is advisable to get rid of irrelevance and revise the paragraph like this:

College is very different from high school. The professors talk a great deal more and give longer homework assignments,which interfere with your social life. College examinations, too, are different. ...

EXERCISE NINETEEN

Ⅱ. The sentences can be arranged in the following order: 6-3-10-7-1-4-9-5-8-2

EXERCISE TWENTY

Ⅱ.

1. Topic sentence

When fresh shrimp can be had, have it.

Step 1: choose size

What size? Medium for reasons of economy and common sense. Huge shrimps are magnificently expensive while small ones come in such numbers per pound that shelling them becomes slave labor.

Step 2: choose quantity

Buy two pounds of fresh shrimp and shell them.

Step 3: shell shrimp

First, with a thumbnail pinch the tail shell hard crosswise （so the tail segments will come out intact）, then handle the headless animals like so many pea pods; split them lengthwise,save the contents, and throw the husks away.

Step 4:cooking directions

Sauté the shrimp with three crushed garlic cloves in two-thirds of a stick of butter. When the shrimp turn pink, add a 12-ounce can of Italian tomatoes （which taste better than the fresh supermarket kind）, two bay leaves, a teaspoon of dried oregano, a half-cup of dry white wine, and the juice of a lemon. Simmer for ten minutes, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with rice.

2.

On December 1, 1955, an attractive Negro seamstress, Mrs. Rosa Parks, boarded the Cleveland Avenue Bus in downtown Montgomery. She was returning home after her regular day's work in the Montgomery Fair — a leading department store.

Incident 1
Incident 2
Incident 3

Tired from long hours on her feet, Mrs. Parks sat down in the first seat behind the section reserved for whites. Not long after she took her seat, the bus operator ordered her, along with three other Negro passengers, to move back in order to accommodate boarding white passengers. By this time every seat in the bus was taken. This meant that if Mrs. Parks followed the driver's command she would have to stand while a white male passenger, who had just boarded the bus, would sit.The other three Negro passengers immediately complied with the driver's request. But Mrs. Parks quietly refused. The result was her arrest.

3. Classification

Researchers note three frequent attitudes among mother of handicapped children.

Category 1: rejection

The first attitude is reflected by those mothers who reject their child or are unable to accept the child as a handicapped person. Complex love-hate and acceptance-rejection relationships are found within this group. Rejected children not only have problems in adjusting to themselves and their disabilities, but they also have to contend with disturbed family relationships and emotional insecurity. Unfortunately, such children receive even less encouragement than the normal child and have to absorb more criticism of their behavior.

Category 2: overcompensation

A second relationship involves mothers who overcompensate in their reactions to their child and the disorder. They tend to be unrealistic, rigid, and overprotective. Often, such parents try to compensate by being overzealous and giving continuous instruction and training in the hope of establishing superior ability.

Category 3: acceptance

The third group consists of mothers who accept their children along with their disorders. These mothers have gained the ability to provide for the special needs of their handicapped children while continuing to live a normal life and tending to family and home as well as civic and social obligations. The child's chances are best with parents who have accepted both their child and the defects.

4. Topic sentence
Examples
Example

The American colonists used a variety of goods in place of money. These goods included beaver pelts, grain, musket balls, and nails. Some colonists, especially in the tobacco-growing colonies of Maryland and Virginia, circulated receipts for tobacco stored in warehouses. Indian wampum, which consisted of beads made from shells, was mainly used for keeping records. But Indians and colonists also accepted it as money.

Topic sentence
Examples
Example of Spanish dollars

The colonists also used any foreign coins they could get. English shillings, Spanish dollars, and French and Dutch coins all circulated in the colonies. Probably the most common coins were large silver Spanish dollars called pieces of eight. To make change, a person could chop the coin into eight pie-shaped pieces called bits. Two bits were worth a quarter of a dollar, four bits a half dollar, and so on. We still use the expression two bits to mean a quarter of a dollar.

5. Formal definition
Classification:
area of land, sea, or sky

A map is a conventional picture of an area of land, sea, or sky.

Example: road map

Perhaps the maps most widely used are the road maps given away by the oil companies. They show the cultural features such as states, towns, parks, and roads, especially paved roads. They show also natural features, such as rivers and lakes, and sometimes mountains.

Example: simple maps

As simple maps, most automobile drivers have on various occasions used sketches drawn by service station men, or by friends, to show the best automobile route from one town to another.

Contrast: Chart — represents water； map — represents land
Contrast:chart — for navigation

The distinction usually made between “maps” and “charts” is that a chart is a representation of an area consisting chiefly of water； a map represents an area that is predominantly land. It is easy to see how this distinction arose in the days when there was no navigation over land, but a truer distinction is that charts are specially designed for use in navigation, whether at sea or in the air.

Example: use of maps
Example: features of some maps
Comparison: features of early maps with modem maps

Maps have been used since the earliest civilizations, and explorers find that they are used in rather simple civilizations at the present time by people who are accustomed to traveling. For example, Arctic explorers have obtained considerable help from maps of the coast lines showing settlements, drawn by Eskimo people. Occasionally maps show not only the roads, but pictures of other features. One of the earliest such maps dates from about 1400 B.C. It shows not only roads, but also lakes with fish, and a canal with crocodiles and a bridge over the canal. This is somewhat similar to the modern maps of a state which show for each large town some feature of interest or the chief products of that town.

EXERCISE TWENTY-ONE

Ⅳ.　Topic sentence

Like gravity and penicillin, Wheaties was discovered by accident.

Incident 1

In 1921, a health clinician named Minnenrode, in Minneapolis, was mixing up a batch of bran gruel for his patients when he spilled some on a hot stove. He heard it crackle and sizzle, and had a taste. Delicious, he thought.

Incident 2

He took his cooled gruel to the Washburn Crosby Company, which in 1928 would merge with three mills to become General Mills.

Incident 3

Favorably impressed, Washburn Grosby gave Minnenrode use of a laboratory. Alas, his flakes crumbled too easily and turned to dust in a box.

Incident 4

Exit Minnenrode, enter George Cormack, Washburn Crosby's head miller.

Incident 5

Cormack tested 36 varieties of wheat. He cracked them, he steamed them, he mixed them with syrup, he cooked them, he dried them, he rolled them.

Conclusion

Finally he found the perfect flakes.

V. 1. This paragraph is a description consisting of details of location and appearance.

2. In this paragraph of description, simile and irony are used.

3. This paragraph by the novelist Thomas Wolfe draws a picture of idealized attractiveness in describing a modest home. The last sentence sums up the scene and constitutes a kind of direct statement of feeling, as do such modifiers as “neatly”, “clean”, “gay.” But on the whole it is the images that create the sense of middle-class fulfilment.

EXERCISE TWENTY-TWO

Ⅱ.　When you come right down to it, there is no law that says you have to use big words when you write or talk.

There are lots of small words, and good ones, that can be made to say all the things you want to say, quite as well as the big ones. It may take a bit more time to find them at first. But it can be well worth it, for all of us know what they mean. Some small words, more than you might think, are rich with just the right feel, the right taste, as if made to help you say a thing the way it should be said.

Small words can be crisp, brief, terse — go to the point, like a knife. They have a charm all their own. They dance, twist, turn, sing. Like sparks in the night they light the way for the eyes of those who read. They are the grace notes of prose. You know what they say the way you know a day is bright and fair — at first sight. And you find, as you read, that you like the way they say it. Small words are gay. And they can catch large thoughts and hold them up for all to see, like rare stones in rings of gold, or joy in the eyes of a child.

Ⅲ. 1. F　2. T　3. T　4. F

Ⅳ. 1. Cooley, Thomas, The Norton Guide to Writing. New York: Norton, 1992.

2. Williams, J. M. Origin of the English Language: London: Macmillan, 1986.

3. Robins, A. and Steven Robins. Readings for Composition: A Writer's Anthology. Ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1992.

4. Kekes, John. “Understanding Evil.” American Philosophical Quarterly 25 （1988）: 13－24.

5. Machado, Antonio. Selected Poems. Trans. Alan S. Trueblood. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1988.

6. Quirk, Randolph, et al., eds. A Grammar of Contemporary English. London: Longman, 1972.

7. Chomsky, N. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1970.

--- Barriers. Cambridge, Mass: MIT, 1986.

--- “Some Notes on Economy of Derivation and Representation.” Principles and Parameters in Comparative Grammar. R. Freidin. Ed. Cambridge, Mass: MIT, 1991, 417－454.

EXERCISE TWENTY-THREE

Ⅲ.

MEMORANDUM

TO: Department Heads

Directors of Nursing

Head Nurses

FROM: Linda Prater, R.N.

Director of Surgery/Emergency Nursing

DATE: December 4,2000

Susan Kern, R. N., is now Head Nurse over Emergency and Flight Help.

Janet Sims, R. N., has been appointed as Chief Flight Nurse （Assistant Head Nurse） of FlightHelp and will report to Susan.

Please join with me in congratulating Susan and Janet in their new positions.

LP: fm

Ⅳ.

RESUME

CATHI ANN CRABTREE

300 S. Frederick Street

Evansville, Indiana 47714

Phone: （812）477-5941

Objective

Working as a mechanical engineer.

Education

University of Evansville　　Evansville, Indiana

1992—1998

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in May 1998.
Senior design project with Naval Weapons Support Center, Crane, Indiana;nominated for Most Outstanding 1998 Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Project Award; President's Scholarship recipient.

Employment

Fine & Hatfield, Attorneys 　　Evansville, Indiana

1992-Present

Word Processor Operator: Lanier One-Step Word Processor； handled confidential information； assisted in training new word processor operators； trusted with securing of entire office building on a weekly basis （consists of possession of keys to main entrance and security alarm system）.

College

Mini Baja competition participant;

Activities

Society of Automotive Engineers, four-year member, Secretary sophomore year.
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, four-year member.

References

Personal references available upon request.

Contact: Cathi Ann Crabtree at above address.

V.

1264 Washington Street, Apt.A

Evansville, IN 47715

November 9, 2006

Mr. John Burdette

Personnel Superintendent

SHW Industries Inc., Midwest Division

Denver, CO 80201

Dear Mr. Burdette:

Thank you for interviewing me at Southwestern University on Tuesday, November 4. I enjoyed talking with you and was impressed by the SHW video presentation.

During the interview, I mentioned that Research and Development at corporate headquarters would be my initial preference. However, I am very flexible and want to add that the small plant setting sounds appealing as well because I enjoy developing good working relationships with plant people. I have found through my co-op experience that because I care about their opinions and will listen to their ideas, I gain their respect.

In any case, SHW sounds like a company that works with its people so they are both productive and happy. I am confident that if and when employed by SHW, whether placed in a headquarters or plant setting, I will learn and be a productive, useful employee.

Thank you for interviewing me at the university. I hope to see you again.

Sincerely,
Alan Wolfinger

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从莱庭　《英语修辞学新论》，济南出版社，1999年。

——《英语婉语详解词典》，湖北教育出版社，2000年。

从莱庭、徐鲁亚　《西方修辞学》，上海外语教育出版社，2007年

陈望道　《修辞学发凡》，上海大江书铺，1932年。

成伟钧、唐仲扬、向宏业　《修辞通鉴》，中国青年出版社，1991年。

丁往道（等）　《英语写作手册》，外语教学与研究出版社，1983年。

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谭永祥　《修辞新格》，福建教育出版社，1983年。

王德春　《修辞学探索》，北京出版社，1982年。

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王德春 [主编]　《外国现代修辞学概况》，福建人民出版社，1986年。

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谢祖钧　《英语修辞漫谈》，福建人民出版社，1981年。

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徐　鹏　《英语词格》，商务印书馆，1996年。

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亚里士多德　《修辞学》，生活·读书·新知三联书店，1991年。

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余立三　《英汉修辞比较与翻译》，商务印书馆，1983年。

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张培弛　《怎样提高说话水平》，中国致公出版社，2004年。

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附录　上海市高等教育自学考试修辞学样卷

答案链接

××××年上海市高等教育自学考试

英语修辞学试卷

（英语语言文学专业）

（考试时间150分钟）

I. Fill in each blank with an appropriate word or phrase. （10%, one point for each）

1. With the quickened tempo of life today, to be effective in verbal communication is of primary importance. As American linguists Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren write in their Modern Rhetoric: （1）____________“ is the art of using language （2）____________.”

2. Historically, rhetoric used to be applied only to （1）____________ expression, constituting mainly the speech craft in court arguments. This oral nature of rhetoric could be traced back to the 4th century BC, during the time of Aristotle in Greece, and （2）____________ remained so all of the Middle Ages.

3. The denotation, or denotative meaning, of a word is what the word refers to. An error in denotation means that you have used or you have understood a word （1）____________ : the term simply does not mean what you think it （2）____________ .

4. Since different cultural backgrounds and social customs and habits affect one's use of rhetorical operations, it is necessary to be aware of the differences of （1）____________ in English and Chinese and this will help guard against the influence of our （2）____________ tongue.

5. Propriety in rhetoric refers to the use of suitable language forms to express one's ideas on the subject matter to the target reader（s） in （1）____________ a skillful way that the best results can be achieved （2）____________.

II. Determine whether the following statements are correct or not by marking in each bracket with T （True） or F （False） （10%, 1 point for each）

1. Syllogism represents deductive reasoning in a pattern consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. For example, you are reasoning deductively when you notice a ring around the moon and say, “We're in for some bad weather,” because a ring around the moon forecasts bad weather. （　）

2. Before you say that almost all the schools in that area have very poor facilities, you'd better make certain from some reliable source whether more than 40 percent schools actually do; otherwise you are not really justified in saying it. （　）

3. In many cases, words may fail to communicate clearly for reasons other than that they are difficult or specialized. Sometimes we fail to use words accurately, select not the proper one or one somewhat like it. The trick in avoiding errors of this sort is not to submit a paper until you have checked every word whose meaning you have doubt about. （　）

4. To be effective in verbal communication is of primary importance. As American linguists Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren write in their book Modern Rhetoric: “Rhetoric is the art of using language effectively.”

5. With the quickened tempo of life nowadays, the increased stress on efficiency and efficacy, and the ascendance of the idea that languages are means of communication, fewer and fewer people have come to regard rhetoric as the art of effective communication.

6. Whatever your purpose in writing, you should express your ideas in language that seems natural to you and the writing should be an honest expression of your own character. As language alone is what presents you to your reader, the most fitting language for you is the language that gives you and your ideas fullest expression.

7. Paragraph writing is built on word choice and sentence variety, which is basic to the writing of a whole composition, a complete essay or even a whole book. In this sense, a good writer is like a good chess player, who moves every chessman skillfully, but he must constantly keep the whole chessboard in mind.

8. A rhetorical question is a question to which no real answer is expected because only one obvious reply can be made — and that reply will either support or restate the writer's point. Rhetorical questions are therefore fairly uncommon in persuasive writing and in argumentation because they offer a way for writers to emphasize the correctness of their viewpoint.

9. The central idea is the writer's focal point or principal theme of information. The central idea of a sentence, a paragraph, or an essay may be compared to be the foundation of a building. It is the main idea upon which some other ideas and details are based; it holds the entire piece of writing together, just as a foundation keeps the whole building standing.

10. Courage is an extension of a person's values, and it demonstrates his or her views in this respect in practice. It should be emphasized, however, that a person's views on values have to be in conformity with the progress of society and his or her courageous actions should abide by the nation's legal and moral standards. （　）

III. Multiple Choice. 　（20%, 2 points for each）

1. Seeking sentence variety refers to____________.

A） the use of long and complicated sentence patterns
B） using simple and short sentence structures
C） the proper arrangement of different sentence patterns and varied sentence lengths
D） the combination of the declarative sentence, the interrogative sentence, the imperative sentence and the exclamatory sentence

2. Simile and metaphor are two figures of speech____________.

A） that are mainly used in written English
B） used for comparison, and their difference is that a simile compares things implicitly while a metaphor compare things explicitly
C） usually found in spoken language, because they help people explain complicated ideas more clearly and more easily
D） and they are valuable in clarifying unfamiliar concepts and in translating abstractions into images that readers can intuit directly and understand easily

3. The phrase “environmentally damaging waste” should be interpreted as____________.

A） “the waste that damages the environment”
B） “the environment that damages the waste”
C） “the noun ‘waste’ is an entity and ‘damaging’ an activity”
D） “the noun ‘waste’ is an entity, the -ing participle ‘damaging’ is an activity, and the adverb ‘environmentally’ is also an entity that refers to the environment and is used to modify ‘waste'”

4. Identify the denotation of the word “rose”.

A） Healthy-looking, e.g. A brisk walk will put the roses （back） into your cheeks.
B） Full of fun, funny, e.g. Being an actress is not all roses, you know.
C） A garden plant with pleasant-smelling flowers and thorns on its stems
D） Optimistic, e.g. She has always looked at life through rose-tinted spectacles.

5. Which of the following principles do you find applicable in your own writing?

A） The first principle is “appreciation before criticism”, i.e. to place negative aspects before positive aspects.
B） Principle two is “rules before exceptions,” which is to advise a writer to place ideas or examples that constitute or support what is generally or typically the case before looking at those that deviate.
C） Keep your reader in mind so that when you revise, you'll try to make every point clear to yourself instead of others.
D） Use figures of speech as often as you like so as to make your writing vivid and interesting.

6. Point out in which one of the following sentences, the word “land” is used to denote a figurative sense somewhat different from the other three.

A） On the 20th of July, the lunar module of Apollo 11, landed on the moon.
B） I always feel nervous when the plane's landing.
C） The general's plan involved landing undercover troops behind enemy lines.
D） Elaine has just landed an editorial job with a top fashion magazine.

7. Identify the sentence from A,B,C and D which is comparatively satisfactory in both grammar and rhetoric.

A） The middle-class American growing up in the United States feels he has a right to have his own room, or at least part of the room.
B） The middle-class American growing up in the United States feels he has a right to have his own room, or at least part of a room.
C） The middle-class American growing up in the United States feels he has a right to have his own room, or at least he has a right to have part of a room.
D） The middle-class American growing up in the United States feels it is his right to have his own room, or at least using part of he room.

8. Point out which of the following examples is NOT a sound syllogism.

A） Most men are mortal creatures. Socrates is a man, and so Socrates is a mortal creature.
B） A ring around the moon forecasts bad weather. As there is a ring round the moon now, we are in for some bad weather.
C） If the lines of a poem do not rhyme, the poem may be called blank verse; as this poem is rhymeless, you may call it blank verse.
D） We could have driven there or taken a taxi. Unfortunately our car broke down that day, and so we went there by taxi.

9. Identify the figure of Personification used in one of the following sentences.

A） He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow ....
B） The Wall Street definitely has more say in their policy making.
C） The youth were singing, laughing and playing the music instruments. The trees and flowers around them danced heartily as if touched by merry mood.
D） What I like best are the stern cliffs, with ranges of mountains soaring behind them, full of possibilities, peaks to be scaled only by the most daring.

10. The governing principle of our age is accumulation, and that what is profited is used to gain more profit. Even in the pursuit of knowledge this is so; for knowledge is sought for its own sake and employed for____________.

A） the benefit of the majority
B） its own destruction which tends to lead to construction
C） improvement of conditions of the broad masses
D） its own increase

IV. Rewrite each of the following statements as required.　（20%, 4 points for each）

1. Learning may be likened to climbing up a mountain. Note: Use the figure of Metaphor. （隐喻）

_______________________________________________________________

2. His voice thundered in the hall. Note: Use the figure of Simile. （明喻）

_______________________________________________________________

3. I hear your daughter has got pregnant, hasn't she? Note: Use Euphemism. （委婉语）

_______________________________________________________________

4. A dead ass is better than a living lion. Note: Write out the original saying from which this form of Reverse （序换） comes.

_______________________________________________________________

5. There was an amazed silence. Note: Explain the figure of Transferred Epithet （移就）in your own words.

_______________________________________________________________

V. Improve each of the following passages by making any changes you think necessary.　（20%, 5 points for each）

1. I got up very early the other day. I caught the first bus, but I still arrived late due to the reason of the heavy traffic jam.

2. Here we come across a traffic sign on which there are school children, and so there must be a school ahead.

3. The applicant opened his letter with “Your letter has been received,” and ended it with “Truly yours,” and two weeks later, a letter came asking him whether he could present some more documents which will prove his English level.

4. Owing to the fact that both their houses are in close proximity to a post office, there is possibility for them to make communications with each other by express mails.

VI. Answer the following questions.　（20%, 5 points for each）

1. What do you think of the sentence “The unavailability of imported foods was simply beyond their expectations”? How will you interpret the sentence in plain English?

2. Interpret either in English or in Chinese the following labels.

esp —

i.e. —

Hollywood —

the White House —

the press —

3. What do you think of the following statement?

Some elected officials are bribe takers, and as Smith is an elected official, he must be a bribe taker.

4. What have you learned about vagueness in contrast to accuracy? Can you cite an example of using vague expressions in communication?

“英语修辞学”样卷参考答案及评分标准

I. 每空格1分，共10分

1. （1） Rhetoric　（2） effectively

2. （1） oral　　　（2） it

3. （1） wrong　　（2） does

4. （1） meaning　（2） mother

5. （1） such　　（2） in communication / in speaking or writing

II. 每小题1分，共10分

1. T　2. F　3. F　4. T　5. F　6. T　7. T　8. F　9. F　10. T

III. 每小题2分，共20分

1. C　2. D　3. A　4. C　5. B　6. D　7. B　8. A　9. C　10. D

IV. 每小题4分，共20分；以符合改写要求为主（2.5分），其他语言与语法为次（1.5分）。

1. Learning is climbing up a mountain.

2. His voice sounded like a thunder in the hall.

3. I hear your daughter is expecting, isn't she?

4. A living ass is better than a dead lion.

5. People there were all amazed and they kept silent.

V. 每小题5分，共20分；改写符合有关修辞原则与技巧（3分），同时适当考虑语法（2分）。

1. The other day, I got up early and caught the first bus, but I still arrived late because of the heavy traffic jam.

2. The traffic sign on which there are school children indicates that there is a school ahead. Here we come across such a traffic sign, and so there must be a school ahead.

3. The applicant started his letter with “Dear Sir: Your letter has been received,” and closed his letter with “Truly yours, George.” Two weeks later, a letter came asking him to present more documents to prove his English level.

4. As their houses are both near a post office, they can communicate by express mails.

VI. 每小题5分，共20分；每题包含两个问题时一般各占2.5分，包含5个小项的每项占1分。

1. The sentence is heavy and uneasy to be understood, and I'd rewrite it as the following: They never thought that they were unable to get imported foods.

2. esp. — especially; 特别是

i.e. — that is to say; namely; 也就是说

Hollywood — American film-making industry; 好莱坞

the White House — the U.S. president / administration; 白宫

the press — news reporters / journalists / newspapers, etc. 新闻媒体，记者等

3. The statement is not a sound deduction pattern. If the word “must” is changed into “may”, or “might”, then the statement will be alright.

4. In contrast to accuracy, vagueness is another important aspect of language. On the one hand, vagueness always exists in many terms, e.g. the difference between “long” and “short” are only comparatively true. In daily life, people sometimes deliberately use vague expressions when they are unable or find it unwise to be exact.

索引

abbreviation （略语，缩写）　7.4A3

accuracy of word choice （择语的准确性）　4.2A

allegory （讽喻）　9.1A，9.1C

alliteration （头韵）　16.3B2, 17.1A, 17.2A, 17.2C

anadiplosis （蝉联）　13.1C, 13.2

analogy （类比）　9.1A, 9.1B, 20.2C3, 20.2D2

anticlimax （突降）　7.3B

antithesis （平行对照）　16.3, 18.4B2

appropriateness and creativeness / appropriaty and creativity （得体与创新）　5.1

argumentation （辩论）　1.1C, 20.1A2, 21.1

Aristotle （亚里士多德）　1.1C1, 2.2C3

artistic method [艺术（描写）法]　21.3A2

artistic proof （艺术性）　2.2A

assonance （母韵；元音韵；半谐音）　17.1B, 17.2A

asyndeton （省去并列句中连词的省略句）　7.4A2

balance sentence （平衡句）　16.2A3

bibliography （参考文献）　22.3D

block quotation [大块（指4行以上的）摘引]　22.3B2

BRIC （金砖四国）　6.2B

Campbell, George （乔治·坎贝尔）　2.2A

cause and effect （因果关系）　19.2B4, 19.2C1

central thought （中心思想）　2.1C1, 18.2A2, 20.1A1

character （角色）　21.2B3

choice of words and expressions （词语选用）　2.1A, 4, 18.3B2

chronological order （年代次序）　19.2B2, 20.2B1

circumstantial irony / irony of fate （情节型反语）　11.1A2

clarity of word choice （择语的鲜明度）　4.2B

classical rhetoric （古典修辞学）　2.2C

classification （分类）　20.2D1

Climax （层进法）　7.3B2

coherence of the sentence / sentence coherence （句子连贯）　18.3, 19.1B2

coinage （生造词语）　5.2B

coordinators in parallelism （平行结构中的并列连词）　16.2A2

comparison （比较）　16.1B1, 20.2C1, 20.2D2

conclusion （结尾，结论）　20.2A1, 21.1C2

condensed simile （压缩了的明喻）　8.2A1

connotation （引申意义，隐含意义）　4.2A3，6.2B

consonance （尾韵）　17.1C, 17.2

contrast （对照，对比）　16.1A, 16.1B, 17.2B, 17.2C, 20.2C1, 20.2D2

correction （换语）　14.3

correct sentence （正确句）　7.1A,　18.1A

creativeness / creativity （创新）　5.1

cumulative sentence （渐进句）　7.3A, 18.4A1

deduction （演绎法）　2.2C3, 20.2A2, 21.1C1

defining by comparison, contrast or analogy （比较，对照或类比释义）　20.2D2

defining by etymology （词根释义）　20.2D2

defining by example （举例释义）　20.2D2

defining by function （功能释义）　20.2D2

defining by negation （反义释义）　20.2D2

defining by synonym （同义释义）　20.2D2

definition （定义）　20.2D2

denotation （基本意义，指示意义）　4.2A3，6.2A

description （描写）　20.1A2, 21.3

development of the paragraph （段落展开）　20.1A1, 20.2C3

dividing （a word）with a hyphen at the end of a line （移行）　3.2B2

division of paragraphs （分段）　19.1A

double rhyme （双韵，长短二音韵）　17.1D2

dramatic irony （戏剧性反语）　11.1A

effective （有效的）　1.1A, 18.1B

effective sentence （有效句）　18.1B

elliptical sentence （省略句）　7.4A,　18.3B2, 18.4B2

emotional meaning （情感意义）　6.2A

emphasis （强调）　18.4

endnote （尾注）　22.3C2

end weight （尾重）　7.3B3

ethos （人格）　2.2A3

euphemism （委婉语）　12.3

exemplification （例证）　3.1A1

exposition （说明）　20.1A2, 20.2

faulty parallel structure （不对称平行结构）　16.2B3

favorable meaning （褒义）　5.3C2,　6.4A, 10.2B1

feasibility study report （可行性研究报告）　23.3B

figurative meaning （比喻意义）　6.5A

figures of speech （辞格）　2.1B2, 8.1－17.2, 18.3B2

flowery （华丽）　4.2C

footnote （脚注）　22.3C2

formal argumentation （正式辩论）　21.1A

formal outline （正式提纲）　3.1A1

format of paper writing （论文写作格式）　22.1B3, 22.3

four basic types of writing （四种基本文体）　20.1B

Frost, Robert （罗伯特·弗罗斯特）　9.2C1

generalization （概述）　20.2A

gracefulness （优美感）　4.2C

Hartwell, Patrick （帕特里克·哈特威尔）　1.2B2

homonymic pun （语音双关）　15.1A2

hyperbole （夸张）　12.1, 18.3B2

illustration （例释，详述）　20.2A

inartistic proofs （非艺术性）　2.2A

indicator of resemblance / simile marker （比喻词）　8.1A1

induction （归纳法）　2.2C3, 20.2A2, 21.1C1

innuendo （暗讽）　11.2C, 11.2D1

irony （反语）　11.1, 11.2D2

irony of fate （情节型反语）　11.1A1

John Locke （约翰·洛克）　1.1C1

Johnson, Samuel （塞缪尔·约翰逊）　7.1B1

letter writing （书信）　23.2B

levels of rhetorical activities （修辞活动层次）　2.1

literal meaning （字面意义）　6.5A

locational instructions （位置指引）　20.2B2

logical order （逻辑次序）　19.2B1,　19.2B4

logical reasoning （逻辑推理）　2.2C3, 21.1B2, 21.1D

logos （逻辑）　2.2A3

loose sentence （松散句）　7.2B

major premise （主前提）　21.1C2

malapropism （飞白，荒唐可笑的词语误用）　14.2

masculine rhyme （阳韵）　17.1D1

memo（randum）　（备忘录）　23.2A

metaphor （隐喻）　8.2, 8.3, 9.1A2, 16.3B2, 20.2C3

metonymy （换喻）　9.2A, 9.2B

minor premise （次前提）　21.1C2

MLA Handbook （MLA （美国现代语言学会）写作指南）　22.3A2, 22.3D

modern rhetoric （现代修辞学）　1.1A, 2.2C

narration （记叙）　20.1A2, 21.2

negative meaning （消极意义，否定意义）　6.3B

neologism （创新词语）　5.2A

neutral meaning （中义/中性意义）　5.3C2, 6.4A, 6.4C

nonce compounds （特殊合成词语）　5.2A

notes （in a paper）　[（论文）注释]　22.3A2, 22.3C

onomatopoeic, onomatopoeia （拟声的，拟声）　5.2A, 10.3, 17.2B

operational instructions （操作程序说明）　20.2B3

organization of paragraphs and a whole piece of writing （段篇安排，组段谋篇）　2.1C

oxymoron （矛盾修饰法）　11.2B,　16.3B2

paradox （反论，逆论）　11.2A

paragraph （段落）　19.1A, 20.1,　20.2D2

paragraph development （段落展开）　20.1A1, 20.2D2

paragraph division （分段）　19.1A

parallelism （平行结构）　16.2, 17.2B

paregmenon （同源）　14.1

parody （仿拟，仿化）　13.1A, 13.2

pathos （情感）　2.2A3, 2.2C3

periodic sentence （掉尾句）　7.2A, 18.4A1

personification （拟人）　10.1

persuasion （劝说）　20.1A2

place relationship （地点联系）　19.2C1

plot （情节）　21.2B1

popular method [普通（描写）法]　21.3A2

positive meaning （积极意义，肯定意义）　6.3A

postpositioned transferred epithet （后置移就修饰）　15.2A2

pre-positioned transferred epithet （前置移就修饰）　15.2A2

primary note （首次注）　22.3C3

problem-solution argument （问题加方案式辩论）　21.1B1

process analysis （过程分析）　20.2B

procedures of paper writing （论文写作过程）　22.2

proposal report （建议报告）　23.3A

proposition argument （陈述式辩论）　21.1B1

pun （双关）　15.1

Quintilian （昆廷利安）　7.4B2

quotations in a paper （论文中的摘引）　22.3B

reduplication （相同词语的重复）　7.4B2

reference / vehicle （喻体）　8.1A1

references （参考文献）　22.3D

register （语域）　2.1B1

regression （回环，逆序反复）　13.1D, 13.2, 16.2A3

relativity （相对性）　6.3C

repetition （重复）　7.4B, 17.2B,　18.3B2, 18.4B2

restriction （限定）　20.2A1

résumé （简历）　23.2C

reverse （序换）　13.1B, 13.2

rhetorical questions （修辞疑问句）　7.1B2

rhetorical traditions （修辞传统）　2.2A

sarcasm （讥讽，挖苦）　11.2D

satire （讽刺）　11.2D2

science of oratory （演说术）　1.1C1

scientific method [科学（描写）法]　21.3A2

scratch outline （草纲）　3.1A1

secondary note （二次注）　22.3C3

semantic pun （语义双关）　15.1A3

sentence varieties （句式变化）　2.1B, 7.1B

setting （背景）　20.2B2

Shakespeare （莎士比亚）　2.1B2,　9.1C3

simile （明喻）　8.1, 8.3, 9.1A2

single rhyme （单韵）　17.1D1

spatial order （空间次序）　19.2B3,　21.2A2, 21.3A1

steps of paper writing （论文写作步骤）　22.1A2

style （风格）　3.2C

styles of writing （文章风格）　20.1B2

subject / tenor （本体）　8.1A1

suggestive method [联想（描写）法]　21.3A2

syllepsis （一语双叙）　15.3

syllogism （三段论）　21.1C2, 21.1D

synecdoche （提喻）　9.2A, 9.2C

synonymy （重复含义相同的词语）　7.4B2

temporal / chronological order （时间/年代次序）　19.2B2, 21.2A1, 21.3A1

tenor / subject （本体）　8.1A1

three standards of word choice （择语的三项标准）　4.2

title note （题注）　22.3C2

topic （主题）　19.2A1

topic sentence （主题句）　19.1B2,　19.2A2, 20.2A1, 20.2C3, 21.3B1

transferred epithet （移就修饰，转移修饰）　15.2

transition （过渡）　19.2C

transitional words and phrases （过渡词语）　19.2C1

types of writing （文体类型）　20.1B2

understatement （低调陈述，含蓄表达）　12.2

unfavorable meaning （贬义）　5.3C2, 6.4A, 10.2B1, 10.2B2

unit of thought （意群）　2.1C2

unity （of the sentence）, sentence unity （句子的一致）　18.2, 18.3A2

use of figures （设格）　2.1B2

vehicle / reference （喻体）　8.1A1

verbal irony （词汇型反语）　11.1A2

vividness of word choice （择语的生动感）　4.2C

works cited （参考文献）　22.3D

zeugma （轭式搭配）　15.3A1

zoosemy （拟物）　10.2