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1、4.3TheTropes/FiguresofSpeech4.3.1IntroductionByfiguresofspeechwereferheretothoserhetoricaldevicestermedtropesinclassicalrhetoric.Tropeshavetodowiththewaywordsaremadetomeanotherthanwhattheywouldnormallyimply,andthereforeinvolvedeviationfromtheordinaryandliteralmeaningofwords.Th
2、eyarewaysofmakingourlanguagefigurative.•Wearesaidtobespeakingorwritingfigurativelywhenweusewordsinnon-literalsensestolendforcetoanidea,toheighteneffect,ortocreateatmosphere.Forexample,itismorevividandcolorfultosaythatstars"twinklelikediamonds"inthesky,thantosaysimplythatthey"s
3、hinebrightly"inthesky.Similarly,"Imperialismisapapertiger"isanexpressionmoresuggestiveofoutwardferocityandinnerweaknessthantheliteralstatement"Imperialismappearstobestrongbutinwardlyitisweak."•Likeadiamondisasimile,andpapertigerisametaphor,andwithmetonymy,hyperbole,personifica
4、tion,paradoxtheymakeupascoreormoreoffiguresofspeechmostcommonlyusedtoday.Eachfigurehasitsownformandcharacteristics,anditsownwayofachievingeffect.Sometimestwoormorefigurescanbeusedtogetherforgreaterimpact.Aknowledgeofthesefigures,andofhowtheyarebestusedwill,therefore,beofhelpto
5、usnotonlyindeepeningourunderstandingofwhatweread,butalsoinappreciatingmorefullythefinerpointsofawriter'sstyle.Intheprocess,wemightevenlearntowritebetterourselves.Itisdifficulttobepreciseabouthowmanyfiguresexistedinclassicaltimes.Thenumbersrangefrom65to200ormore.Manyofthesefigu
6、res,however,wereover-subtledistinctionsofonetypeoranother,andsuchhair-splittingrefinementisnotessentialinourageoffasthigh-techcommunication.Inthischapteronlythosethatareofmostuniversalappeal,andofthegreatestpracticalvaluehavebeenchosenfordiscussion.4.3.2CommonTropes/FiguresofS
7、peech1.SimileAsimilemakesacomparison,butisdifferentfromanordinary,literalcomparison.Whenwesay"JimlookslikehisbrotherBilly",wearemakinganordinaryliteralcomparison,fora)wearecomparingtwolikeelements--JimandBillyarebothhumanbeings;andb) wemeanJimisliterallylikehisbrotherinappeara
8、nce.Butwhenwesay“JimandBillyareaslikeastwopeas’’weareusingasi