英語修辭與寫作·8.3　Simile和Metaphor用法中的兩個問題

8.3　Simile和Metaphor用法中的兩個問題

關于明喻和隱喻的使用，除上一節(jié)提到的以外，再著重說明兩點，即注意本體和喻體的合理性和比喻的民族特色。

8.3A　本體和喻體的合理性

明喻說本體“像”喻體，隱喻說本體“是”喻體，但要注意它們都是指不同類對象之間的相似點，既有別于語法上同類對象（如兩個人、兩部汽車）之間的比較，又要把握本體和喻體間“相似點”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句指同類對象之間的比較，B句是帶強調(diào)含義的系表結(jié)構(gòu)，C句中的car和train都是機動交通工具，也算同類對象，所以這3句都不是修辭上的比喻。D句摘自Richard Armour的文章Grandmother and My Grandfather，其中斜體部分原來是“... looks like a spider spinning a web ... are captive flies ...” 其中包含一個明喻和一個隱喻，但被改之后，明喻缺少合理性，隱喻也成了一般的系表結(jié)構(gòu)。

下面幾個句子原是改進后（劃線部分）的學生習作（括號內(nèi)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

比喻是一種常見的修辭方法，其心理基礎是對世間萬物某些共同特點的聯(lián)想。若以英語和漢語相比，我們會發(fā)現(xiàn)許多驚人的相似之處，如都以綿羊比喻溫順，以鋼鐵比喻堅強，用狐貍比喻狡猾等，還有不少成語和習語中的比喻簡直不謀而合，如“火上加油”（add fuel to the flames），“晴天霹靂”（a bolt from the blue），“空中樓閣”（castles in the air），“滴水穿石”（constant dropping wears the stone），“輕如鴻毛”（as light as a feather），“堅如磐石”（as hard as a stone），“像狐貍一樣狡猾”（as cunning as a fox）等；有些意思相符，但措辭稍有差別，如“壽比南山”（as old as the hills），“歡欣雀躍”（as cheerful as a lark），“船到橋頭自會直”（you will cross the bridge when you get to it）等。

但是由于各個民族的自然環(huán)境、社會文化背景和風俗習慣不同，比喻各有特色。例如我們用“四面楚歌”來比喻處境孤立，而英國人沒有這個歷史故事，也沒有這個比喻；反之，英語里卻有meet one's Waterloo來形容遭到慘敗，這樣的比喻也不可能出現(xiàn)在漢語里。英語里說carry coals to Newcastle（比喻多此一舉），漢語里講“洛陽紙貴”（比喻著作風行一時），分別與各自的地名有關。英語里的have a Christian concern for others，漢語里的“立地成佛”，各與自己的宗教信仰相聯(lián)系。凡此種種，都是比喻中不同民族特色的反映，需要我們在學習和使用中留意。

練習八?。‥xercise 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.

參考答案

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. 他們的數(shù)據(jù)處理慢得像蝸牛一般。

2. 人人都有糊涂的時候。

3. 有智不在年高。

4. 一人智短，兩人智長。

5. 例外能檢驗規(guī)律。

6. 一分實踐抵得上十分理論。

7. 多樣化是快樂的靈魂。

8. 注意：偽善朋友有害健康。