常用英语修辞入门

摘选自 《英语常用修辞入门 》 李冀宏 著 世界图书出版公司

英语常用修辞入门

Simile明喻

My love is like a red red rose．

Tenor/subject comparative word Vehicle/reference

辨析

① John is as tall as his father．

② John is as tall as a hill．

1) like型

① spend money like water

② Marriage is like a beleaguered fortress：those who are without want to get in, and those

within want to get out.

婚姻像是一个被包围的堡垒：外边的人想要进去，里边的人想要出来。

③ The staff member folded like an accordion．

这个工作人员就像合拢起来的手风琴似地——不吭声了。

④ Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass． (John Ruskin)

生活没有目标犹如航行没有指南针。

5) He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen for him to crow． (George Eliot)

他这人就像一只骄傲的公鸡，以为太阳升起是为了它的啼叫。

6) A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid；it is only deferred，and we must come back and．settle the

account at last． (Joseph F．Newton)

逃避职责就像欠债，只不过将职责推迟履行，我们最终还是要回来清还债务。

2) as型

英语里有不少含有明喻的成语，其结构为as+形容词+as+名词(第一个as可省略)。例如：

(as)firm as a rock 坚如磐石

(as)light as a feather 轻如鸿毛

(as)close as an oyster 守口如瓶

(as)mute as a ________ 噤若寒蝉

(as)strong as a _______- 强壮如牛

(as)cool as a __________- 泰然自若

(as)sober as a ___________ 十分清醒

(as)sure as a ___________- 千真万确

fish / horse / cucumber / judge / gun

(1) He arose joint by joint, as a carpenter's ruler opens, and beat the dust from his clothes.

(O．Henry)

像打开一把木匠的曲尺似的，他一节一节地撑了起来，掸去衣服上的灰尘。

(2) Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature，so Marx discovered the

law of development of human history． (Friedrich Engels)

正如达尔文发现有机界的发展规律一样，马克思发现了人类历史的发展规律。

(3) As the lion is king of beasts，so is the eagle, king of birds． 鹰是鸟中之王，犹如狮是兽中之王。

(4)As cold waters (are ) to a thirsty soul，so is good news from a far country． (Holy Bible)

有好消息自远方来，犹如以凉水供口渴者痛饮。

(5) Love goes towards love，as schoolboys from their books；

but love from love，towards school with heavy looks．

(William Shakespeare)

赴情人的约会，像学童抛开书一样；

和情人分别，像学童板着脸上学堂。

**第二句中省略了一些成分，补充完整应如下所示：but love (goes) from love，(as

schoolboys go) towards school with heavy looks

(6) My brain was as powerful as a dynamo，as precise as a chemist's scales，as penetrating as a

scalpel. (Max Shulman马克思· 舒尔曼 代表作Love is a fallacy)

我的头脑像发电机那样强大有力，像药剂师的天平那样精确，像外科医师的手术刀那样锋利。

*该句连续用喻，形成排比句式，表达有力。英语里此类修辞现象并不罕见。再如：

(7) “I am as light as a feather，I am as happy as an angel，I am merry as a schoolboy．I am as

giddy as a drunken man． (Charles Dickens)

“我像羽毛一样轻，我像天使一样幸福，我像小学生一样快活，我像喝醉了酒的人一样飘飘然„„。

3) as if或as though虚拟句型

① My handwriting looks as if a swarm of ants, escaping from an ink bottle, had walked over

a sheet of paper without wiping their legs．(Sydney Smith)

我的笔迹，看来就像一大群蚂蚁从墨水瓶里逃出来，没把脚抹干净就在纸上四散奔跑过似的。

另外还有其他一些形式，如might as well

② He woke them both up getting to bed, but when they tried to wake him up afterward they might

as well have tried to wake the death. 倒不如说是。真可谓是

4) what型

常见句式有两种：A is to B what X is to Y；What X is to Y，A is to B。

① Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. (Sir Richard Steel)

阅读之于思想，如同锻炼之于身体。

②The mall who cannot be trusted to society what a bit of rotten timber is to a house．

一个没有信用的的人对于社会，正如朽木对于住宅一样。

(3) Judicious praise is to children what the sun is to flowers. (Bovee)

明智的表扬对于孩子的作用，就像阳光对于花朵的作用。

④What Sculpture is to a block of marble，education is to the soul．

教育之于心灵，犹雕刻之于大理石。

*what置于句首时，后面的主句—般须由that连接，见例⑤、例⑥，但也可省去。

⑤What blood vessel is to a man's body，that railway is to transportation．

铁路对于运输，好比血管对于人体一样。

6)What salt is to food，that wit and humor are to conversation and literature．

妙语与幽默对于会话与文学，恰似盐对于食物一样。

5) no more than 型 1) A home without love is no more than a body without a soul．

2) A fool can no more than see his own folly than he can see his ear.

1. 愚人不能自知其愚，犹如其不能自见其耳。

2. (William M. Thackeray萨克雷，代表作《名利场》Vanity Fair )

③He had no more idea of money than a cow．

他对金钱像牛对于金钱一样，一无所知。 (John Galsworthy)

(4) Man can not help the craving for expression any more than birds can help singing.

能舒其襟怀亦犹鸟之不能啭其歌喉。

5) We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it

我们不创造幸福便无权享受幸福，正如不创造财富也就无权享用财富一样。

⑥ A student can no more obtain knowledge without studying than a farmer can get harvest

without plowing. 学生不学习不能获得知识，正如农民不耕种不能得到收获一样。

6) and型

这是一种特殊的明喻句， 常见于英语谚语。其中and 的作用相当于like，不可理解为“和”、“与”等义。

①A word and a stone let go cannot be recalled．

说出的话犹如抛出的石，是收不回的。

②Love and cough cannot be hid．

恋爱如同咳嗽，难以掩避。

(3)Words and feathers are tossed by the wind．

言语如羽毛，风刮到处飘。

④Truth and roses have thorns about them．

真理如玫瑰，全身都带刺（难以摘获）。

(5) Kings and bears often worry their keepers．