英語修辭與寫作·8.1　Simile

8.1　Simile

8.1A　Simile的含義和形式

1） Simile一詞源自拉丁語的similis，意思是like（像），通常譯作“明喻”，亦稱“直喻”，它是就兩個不同類對象之間的相似點進(jìn)行比喻。例如：

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

（本體）（比喻詞）（喻體）

從結(jié)構(gòu)上看、明喻包括“本體”（subject或tenor），“喻體”（reference或vehicle）和“比喻詞”（indicator of resemblance或simile marker）。本體指被比喻的對象，喻體指用來作比喻的對象，比喻詞like用在本體和喻體之間起連接介紹作用。

2） 明喻中除用like作比喻詞以外，常用作比喻詞的還有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） 許多以as為比喻詞組成的明喻，如fresh as a rose, brave as a lion, cunning as a fox, proud as a peacock等等，已成為習(xí)語，雖然生動形象，但人們用得多了，已失去新鮮感。

4） 除上述明喻結(jié)構(gòu)外，有時比較級結(jié)構(gòu)、介詞短語及其他某些詞語搭配也可構(gòu)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

明喻具有豐富的修辭功能，尤其適用于描寫和說明。

1） 用于描寫時，明喻能形象、生動地勾畫出各種不同的形狀、動作或狀態(tài)等，如形容女孩清瘦，說她“長得像綠豆芽似的”，說某人的行動“慢得像蝸牛爬一樣”，說天氣“熱得如湯煮”，屋子里“冷得像冰窟窿”等等，十分形象生動，使人如同耳聞目睹或身臨其境一般。明喻能使人對熟悉的東西感到新意，對陌生的東西產(chǎn)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對黃鼠狼（weasel）的一段描寫：

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） 用于說明時，明喻能使深奧的哲理變得淺顯易懂，如把積累知識的艱難比作針尖取土，把開展批評與自我批評的必要性比作天天需要洗臉和掃地，把個人與祖國的親密關(guān)系比作孩子與母親，等等，生動、深刻，有很強的啟示和感染作用。下面一個例子是以細(xì)線結(jié)成粗繩索的過程說明人的習(xí)慣一旦形成就難以改變的道理：

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

科普文章中常常通過比喻把人們不易認(rèn)識的自然現(xiàn)象解釋成看得見摸得著的東西。如果要問激光和普通光束有何區(qū)別？只要想象一下軍訓(xùn)時正步前進(jìn)和人群涌向足球賽球時的混亂情景就有數(shù)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）