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英语修辞与写作·13.2 四辞格的使用

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2021年10月21日

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13.2 四辞格的使用

13.2A 四辞格与谚语、名句的关系

1) 在上述四种辞格中,前两种都同人们熟知的谚语、成语密切相关:仿化是变换其中的词语,序换是变换其中的词序。试比较:

(a) Lib and let lib.

这是一句口号:自己解放,也让别人解放。它是由下面这个谚语仿化而来:Live and let live. 自己活,也让别人活。

(b) A dead ass is better than a living lion. 一头死驴胜过一头活狮。

这是Arthur Zeiger对谚语A living ass is better than a dead lion.的序换说法。

2) 回环实际上是一种重复结构,它虽然不是在人们熟知的语句上做文章,却是构成名言警句的常见手段,有很强的生命力。例如:

A place for everything, everything in its place.

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

(Charles Colton)

Better to know everything of something than something of everything.

(Bacon)

Flowers are lovely; lovely is flower like.

(Coleridge)

蝉联辞格这种重复形式带有正式、庄重的语气,在经典名著中屡见不鲜。例如:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of deep.

(Holy Bible, King James' Version: Genesis)

Hippolyta: Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;

Four nights will quickly dream away the time, ...

(Shakespeare)

A smile would come into Mr. Pickwick's face: a smile extended into a laugh; the laugh into a roar, and the roar became general.

(Dickens)

Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,

That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain.

Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,

Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain.

I sought fit words to pain the blackest face of woe.

(Sidney)

13.2B 四辞格的修辞特色

1) 这四种辞格都以文字技巧为特点,有时近乎文字游戏,使用得当时能妙趣横生,取得很好的幽默、讽刺效果。例如:

仿化:— You gallop with a loose rein.

   — Pace gives life, was the riposte.

   — I shall write it in my diary tonight.

   — What?

   — That a burnt child loves the fire.

(Oscar Wilde)

Children may cry wolf, and so do parents.

(CNN Program Forecast, March, 1993)

序换:Life has taught me to think, but thinking has not taught me to live.

(Alexander Herzen)

蝉联:For glances beget ogles, ogles sighs, sighs wishes, wishes words, and words a letter.

(Byron)

回环:How much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping.

(Shakespeare)

2)仿化和序换来自人们熟悉的语言形式而又有所变化,因而给人们“旧貌翻新”的感觉,既相识,又陌生,既亲切,又新颖,十分引人入胜,有利于引导听者/读者接受劝导、说理。这在前面的例句已有体现,现再举几例说明:

仿化:So will these unattractive and mysterious objects lead to a new world economic order, or will the game be played according to the unusual industrial rules: from each according to his ability, to each according to his investments?

(张汉熙:Advanced English, Book I)

In economics all roads lead to socialism.

(Bernard Shaw)

马克思主义创始人卡尔·马克思提出的社会主义和共产主义的分配原则分别为“各尽所能,按劳分配”(from each according to his ability, to each according to his work — the socialist principle of distribution)和“各尽所能,按需分配”(from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs — the communist principle of distribution),这里经过仿化,出现了“按资分配”,一字之改,道出了资本主义经济的私有制本质。

序换:A dead ass is better than a living lion.

上述序换由原来的谚语“A living ass is better than a dead lion.”而来,于是“一头活驴胜过一头死狮”变成“一头死驴胜过一头活狮”。表面看来不符合情理,甚至让人费解,但Arthur Zeiger正是利用这种形式讽刺了那种直到某人死后才肯承认其能力和成就的人和社会现象。

3) 前面7.4B讲到英语中的重复结构时,说明重复的两种基本修辞目的,或者说修辞作用:加强连贯或突出强调。本章讨论的蝉联和回环,称作“尾首反复”(或“链形反复”)和“逆序反复”,同样具有重复结构的两种基本修辞功能。例如:

Something hurried me through memory, too, but I can't pause to remember, for a guilt past memory or dreaming, much darker, impels me on. I pray but my prayer climbs up like a broken wisp of smoke ... Peyton, Me? Myself all shattered, this lovely shell?

(William Styron)

这段描写很有“意识流”的味道。通过一系列蝉联的使用,把小说主人Peyton受刺激后痛不欲生时的纷乱思绪贯连了起来。又如:

The same that off-time hath

Charm'd magic casement, opening on the foam

Of perilous seas, in fairy lands forlorn.

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell.

To toll me back from thee to my sole self.

(Keats)

诗中的“尾首重复”更加突出了perilous,sole等词语带来的孤独、凄凉气氛。

13.2C 四辞格使用中应注意的问题

1) 仿化、序换、蝉联和回环四辞格都具有开放性,被人们在不同场合灵活地加以使用。这一点在英语和汉语中情况相同。

例如,英语里萧伯纳首创superman一词之后,人们仿化出许多新词,如superwoman, super critic, supersecrecy, superpower,等。随着1972年尼克松的Watergate事件,出现了Billygate, Debategate, Irangate(或hostagegate)等许多仿化词语。

在电影《红高粱》唱出了“妹妹你大胆地往前走”之后,国家体改委陈主任号召“厂长们大胆地往前走”,《中国城市导报》载文呼吁“上海建筑业你大胆地往前走”,等。

又如,汉语里“要活必须吃饭,吃饭不是为了活着”的说法,同英语里的一句回环式名言相类似:

Other men live to eat while I eat to live.

(Socrates)

又如Lord Samuel把“A friend in need is a friend indeed.”加以仿化:A friend in need is a friend to be avoided,这样,“患难中的朋友是真正的朋友”成了“患难中的朋友是一个为众人所躲避的朋友”。寥寥数字,把人情冷淡,世态炎凉的社会现实刻画得淋漓尽致。

这些辞格在广告语言中十分常见。例如:

(a) Give a Timex to all, to all a good time.

这是一则手表广告,其中使用了蝉联。

(b) I Came Back

I came back to softness and comfort.

I came back to Dr. White's.

And I wonder why I ever went away.

Because only Dr. White's gives me two kinds of comfort. The super-comfort of their cotton-wool

content that makes them so much softer. And the comfort of a safer, more absorbent towel, with a

flush away design, too, for even more convenience.

I tried the rest, but I came back.

Isn't it time you came back to Dr. White's?

Dr. White's Two kinds of comfort.

(Women, April 1977)

在这则妇女卫生巾广告中,有不同形式的反复,特别是开头的“首语反复”(Anaphora)和末尾的“尾首反复”,当然还可以发现“拟人法”,“并列结构”,“修辞设问”(Rhetorical Question),等。

(c) Not all cars are created equal.

这是日本三菱汽车公司向美国开拓市场的广告。它可以看作是英语中一条著名谚语的仿拟。该谚语为:Not all that glitters is gold.

更可以看作是《美国独立宣告》第一句的仿拟。该句为:All men are created equal.

这种以家喻户晓的名言为基础仿拟出的广告语句特别惹人注意,能不胫而走,迅速产生巨大的影响力,实际上这句广告语对日本汽车打开美国市场的确发挥了很大作用。

2) 在文字表达中,为了生动起见,总要刻意求新,换个说法,常常通过一字的变化引出一个全新的意境。这一点在英语和汉语中相同。同样,也都要把握一条原则,即力求形式与内容的统一,不可脱离使用场合与上下文去片面求新求变。

例如,像“佛顶山顶佛,云扶石扶云”和“Woe to them who call evil good and good evil.”那样的形式固然工整,但实际使用中却需要像13.1D2讲到的那样灵活变化,否则会造成八股,妨碍意思的有效表达。

在Language Play中有“Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”的数种仿化形式:

Old burglars never die; they just steal away.

Old mailmen never die; they just lose their zip.

Old piano players never die; they just lose their tinkle.

Old teacher never die; they just lose their class.

显然,这些仿化形式虽不失幽默,但不宜随便套用,否则会成为对长者的一概否定。

近年来在汉语的广告语言中大量出现成语“换字术”,相当于英语中的“仿拟”或“飞白”(见14.2),如“饮以为荣”,“天尝地酒”,“一明惊人”,等等。这些固然会产生新颖、别致的效果,但若使用多了,也叫人感到腻烦,而且会在青少年中造成误解,影响到汉语的纯洁性。

从英、汉两种语言的特点看,在汉语中进行成语仿拟或在英语中使用重复,都须谨慎从事,务求得体或恰到好处。最近某培训公司在招生广告中把上海世博主题“Better city, better life”仿拟为“Better English, better life”虽然很讨巧,也有一定道理,但把庄重的主题实用化了,还是不宜提倡。

练习十三 (Exercise Thirteen)

I. Preview Questions:

1. Can we say that Parody is derived from proverbs, sayings, idioms, etc. that are already known to people?

2. Is Parody only associated with the change of a certain word?

3. Reverse is similar to as well as different from Parody, isn't it?

4. Regression is formed by repeating the former words in inverted order, isn't it?

5. What's the difference between Regression and Anadiplosis?

6. Can you cite examples to indicate how Parody, Reverse, Regression and Anadiplosis are used in our life today?

II. Tell which proverb, saying, idiom, quotation, etc. each of the following sentence or underlined parts is derived from:

1. A friend in need is a friend to be avoided.

2. Quality breeds success.

3. All roads lead to Holiday Inn.

4. Not all video recorders are created equal.

5. Give me Green World,

 Or give me yesterday.

6. Billi slimming cream — Using is believing.

7. They came, they saw, they bought out.

8. While visiting a friend who was in the hospital, I noticed several pretty nurses, each of whom was wearing a pin designed to look like an apple. I asked one nurse what the pin signified.

 “Nothing,” she said with a smile. “It's to keep the doctors away.”

9. Not so loud, you fool — remember — even people have ears.

10. So will these unattractive and mysterious objects lead to a new world economic order, or will the game be played according to the usual industrial rules: from each according to his ability, to each according to his investments?

III. Read the following passages and then do the multiple choices:

1. Parody as a figure of speech is to imitate any of the well-known sayings, idioms, proverbs, etc. in main structure while changing one or more words so as to achieve certain effects — humorous, sarcastic, more persuasive, etc.

2. A parody is a mocking imitation of a style of speaking or writing. As a weapon of persuasion, parody shifts the focus from matter to manner: it ridicules not so much what is said as how it is expressed.

3. Parodies of styles of prose fiction, such as Gothic novels, sea stories, and mysteries, have been popular for many years. James Joyce parodied just about every imaginable style in Ulysses. In 1981 Erica Jong, well known for her novels about contemporary women, wrote Fanny, using the style and heroine of the eighteenth century novel Fanny Hill.

4. Similar to Parody, the figure of speech “Reverse” is also derived from sayings, idioms, proverbs, etc. However, it is not formed by changing some wording but reversing certain word orders, though with more or less the same rhetorical effects.

5. Regression and Anadiplosis are both figures of speech formed by repeating one or more words of the previous phrase or clause at the beginning of the next. These two figures are not derived from sayings, idioms, or proverbs as Parody and Reverse, but many of them tend to become popular sayings themselves.

6. These four figures of speech are all open figures, i.e. new ones can be created when necessary. On the other hand, however, misuse or overuse should always be guarded against.

7. Young hen: How is it, Mum, that you're able to live so long?

Old hen: Well, my child. The secret is: an egg a day keeps the axe away.

Young hen: I see, Mum, If you don't lay eggs, you'll get the axe.

Old hen: What do you mean?

Young hen: Lose your job!

Multiple choices:

1. A parody is a figure of speech that refers to____________.

A) a well-known saying, idiom, proverb

B) any written or spoken text associated with a skillful change of expression similar to a famous saying, idiom, proverb, etc.

C) a mocking imitation of a style of speaking or writing which shifts the focus from what is said to how it is expressed.

D) prose fiction as Gothic novels using the style and heroine of the 18th century

2. The old hen's secret in life means that____________.

A) if the hen lays an egg every day, she won't lose her job

B) if a hen doesn't want to get the axe, she has to lay an egg each day

C) when a hen is unable to lay eggs, she'll be killed (and cooked).

D) When a hen doesn't like to have eggs, her life'll be in danger unless she changes her mind.

3. Identify from A, B, C, and D the statement which is INCORRECT.

A) Reverse is a figure of speech similar to parody in the fact that both are derived from sayings, idioms, proverbs, etc.

B) Regression and Anadiplosis are not derived from existing sayings, idioms, or proverbs, but they themselves tend to become new sayings.

C) As Parody, Reverse, Regression and Anadiplosis are all open figures of speech in English, any one can use them at will.

D) The old hen's secret is a parody of the proverb “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

参考答案

Ⅱ. 1. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

2. Familiarity breeds contempt.

3. All roads lead to Rome.

4. All men are created equal.

5. Give me liberty, / Or give me death. (Patrick Henry)

6. Seeing is believing.

7. I came, I saw, I conquered.

8. An apple a day keeps the doctors away.

9. Walls have ears.

10. ... from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

Ⅲ. 1. B 2. C 3. C


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