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1、MetaphorInscience,metaphorisusedtoexplain,testorvisualizeone(novel)realityintermsofanother(lessnovel)one.Awell-knownexampleistheBohr-Rutherfordmodeloftheatomintermsofthesolarsystem:electronsorbitthenucleusasplanetsorbitthesun.Themetaphorsuperimposesonerealityuponanother,andthenas
2、ksalotofquestionstofindouthowwellthesuperimpositionactuallyworks.Ifenoughanswersarenegative,thenanewmodel,anewmetaphor,willbeneeded.Metaphorinliteratureisverydifferent.Itdescribesonereality–awoman,say,oralandscape–intermsofsomethingdifferent.Underlyingthedifferencemustbeaspecieso
3、fsimilarity,howeverexotic,orthemetaphordoesnotworkatall.Thecomparisonmustdefamiliarizeaknownperceptiontosomedegree,oritwillappearmerelytrite.Themetaphorbecomesexhaustedinliterature,unlikescience,notwhenityieldstoomanyinaccuracies,butwhenithasbecomesopredictablethatalltheoriginald
4、efamiliarizationhasvanished.Thenthemetaphorhasbecomeaclichéandsomethingnewisneededtoreplaceit.Aclichéisametaphorthathasbecomeundetectable;itsdistinctiveperceptionhasdegeneratedintotriteness.Forourpurposeshere,asimileissimplyaloosely-boundmetaphor,andnoseriousdistinctionwillbemade
5、betweenthem.Inherentinbothfiguresofspeech,themetaphorandthesimile,isaprocessofpatternrecognitionnotableforitsnovelty.Wenoticeasimilitude,separatedbydifference,andwethenfashionbothelementsintoasingleimageinwhichoursubjectanditscomparisonarecombined.AfamousexamplemightbeDonne’spair
6、ofcompasses.33©AlanWall,2009.FromMYTH,METAPHORANDSCIENCE,publishedbyChesterAcademicPress.Myth,MetaphorandScienceIftheybetwo,theyaretwosoAsstifftwincompassesaretwo;Thysoul,thefix’dfoot,makesnoshowTomove,butdoth,ifth’otherdo.Andthoughitinthecentresit,Yet,whentheotherfardothroam,Itl
7、eans,andhearkensafterit,Andgrowserect,asthatcomeshome.Thepatternrecognitionhereisradical.Thecomparisonappearsinitiallygrotesque:thesoulsoftwoloversarecomparedtoapairofcompasses.ButthenDonne,withcharacteristicbrioandpanache,makestheimagework.Thecompassesareendowedwithsomeofthechar
8、acteristicsofthelovers.Thephrase‘hearken
