附:
英語修辭
英語的修辭可以分為消極修辭和積極修辭兩大類。
壹、 消極修辭(Passive Rhetoric Techniques)
它主要指那些沒有相對固定格式的修辭性寫作技巧,它與語法、語言結構和詞匯的關系密切,只是為了修辭和立意新穎的緣故,對之做了壹些調整。舉壹種情況進行說明:為了增加文采,強化文章的表現力,常常避免重復使用同壹個詞匯,而另選他詞。這種無固定格式可循的消極修辭手段被稱為Elegant Variation(求雅換詞)。如在Elizabeth Razzi寫的題為10 Ways to Lose Pounds 的文章中,“減肥”的表達竟有8種,文筆活潑,文采燦然:1. Try to shed a few extra pounds? 2. Studies show these efforts may shave off the pounds quickly. 3. Here are ten simple strategies that can help melt away your fat forever. 4. …like a logical way to peel off a few pounds. 5. …roughly the amount needed to burn off one pound. 6. You must eat less to lose weight. 7. A key obstacle to dropping extra pounds is after-dinner snacking. 8. 10 Ways to Lose Pounds. 以上8句中的斜體字讓我們欣賞了英語詞匯的活力與風采。遺憾的是,大部分精彩的用詞不能直譯。
求雅換詞的手法之壹是大字小用,或小詞大用。如:Don’t take the low-fat label as a license to eat. 句子寫得精彩,最難忘的是其中license壹詞。它是用途很廣的大詞。用在這裏給人壹種“頭小帽大”的感覺,新穎別致。譯文很難挽留此韻。(不能因為食品標明低脂肪,而敞開食用。)再如:If the term sounds unscientific to 20th-century ears, let us remember there is a definite connection between marshy lands and malaria… (如果這個術語對生活在20世紀的人聽來不科學的話,那就讓我們記住在沼澤地和瘧疾之間有壹定的聯系……)。求雅換詞的手法之二是科技詞匯和日常用詞的“錯位”。如:Na?ve rats and frogs are said to have reacted wildly to such proposed experimented situation. Na?ve用於現代生物學時的含義為:not previously subjected to experimentation or a particular experimented situation.(據說,首次用來作實驗的鼠和蛙對這種設定的環境改變都有劇烈反應。)再如:However, there are plenty of people who like tennis. It is the megagame. Mega的含義是兆,百萬,是壹個科技英語的詞綴。使用在這裏新義溢出。(但是許許多多的人喜歡網球,這是壹項十分普及的運動。)
二、 積極修辭(Active Rhetoric Techniques)
它主要指那些有相對固定格式的修辭性寫作技巧。常見分類如下:
1. 詞義修辭格(Lexical Stylistic Devices)
metaphor(比喻), metonymy(借代), personification(擬人), irony(反語), hyper***(誇張), understatement(低調), euphemism(委婉語), contrast(對照), oxymoron(矛盾修辭法), transferred epithet(移就), pun(雙關), syllepsis(異敘), zeugma(粘連), parody(仿擬), paradox(雋語)
2. 結構修辭格(Syntactical Stylistic Devices)
repetition(反復), catchword repetition(聯珠), chiasmus(回文), parallelism(平行結構), antithesis(反對), rhetoric question(設問), anticlimax(突降)
3. 音韻修辭格(Phonetic Stylistic Devices)
alliteration(頭韻), onomatopoeia(擬聲)
三、 英語修辭的理解與翻譯
馬克?吐溫在其著名遊記A Tramp Abroad中,有這樣壹句:We had plenty of company in the way of wagon-loads and mule-loads of tourists------and dust. 句末的-----and dust看似尋常壹筆,其實是壹種不可多得的妙句,使用了英語中anticlimax的修辭格。如果不能識破,則讓對照閱讀原文者“飲恨”。如:同路的有許多旅客,有乘馬車的,也有騎騾子的——壹路塵土飛揚。/ 我們的旅伴真不少,有乘馬車的,有騎騾子的,還有滾滾塵土呢。
下面就幾種常見的修辭格進行講解:
1. Parody(仿擬)如果譯者功底不凡,能知作者之所“仿”,那麽,理解與翻譯也就“水到渠成”。如:Clearly, when it comes to marriage, practicing beforehand doesn’t make perfect. 可以譯成:顯然,在婚姻問題上,婚前同居並不能令婚姻生活趨於完美。再如:When flu hits below the belt, it can be a challenge to keep down anything more nourishing than tea and water. 詞典對成語hits below the belt的通常解釋是:用不正當手段打人(原指拳擊中打對方的下身)。若是照搬,譯文就會鬧笑話。對待“仿擬”修辭格的方法之壹是還原。所謂還原,即故意撇開成語的引申義,而“硬”用其字面義。如:若流感影響到了腸胃,那就只能飲用點茶水,要吃下其他東西就非常困難了。再如:Little John was born with a silver spoon in a mouth, which was rather curly and large. 英語成語to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth的含義是“出生在富貴之家”。這裏,作者不用此引申義,而用字面意思。試譯:小約翰嘴形彎曲,且大得出奇,好像生下來的時候嘴中含了壹把銀勺子似的。
2. Syllepsis(異敘)此修辭格的特點是用壹個詞(動詞、形容詞或介詞)同時與兩個詞或者更多相搭配,巧用壹詞多義的特點。如:He first put a club in my hand when I was about ten. I threw a lot of tantrums in the upland hills of North Carolina, and clubs too. I was in such a rush to be good that he would urge me to “relax and enjoy the round. The game ends far too soon.” I didn’t have a clue what he meant. 試譯:他第壹次把高爾夫球棒放在我手裏的時候,我大概十歲。在北卡羅來納州的山中,我壹次次發脾氣,壹次次把球棒扔掉。我急於求成,老爸總是勸我“放松點,慢慢打,比賽結束得太快了。”我壹點兒也不明白他的意思。再如:By day’s end, I had drilled 4216 holes to a depth of 18 inches, and I had lost mine pounds, my hearing, feeling in both hands and the ability to lift anything heavier than the evening paper. 試譯:壹天快結束的時候,我已經鉆了4216個深達18英寸的洞,為此,我失去了9磅體重,失去了聽力,失去了雙手的感覺,還失去了舉起比壹張晚報更重的東西的臂力。
3. metonymy(借代)借代壹般可以保留原文的修辭方式,不會引起誤會,同時讓譯文多了壹份詞趣。如:So, during any five-week shape-up, focus more on the tape measure than on the bathroom scale. 譯文A:因此,在此五周的減肥期內,要更多地註重自己的腰圍,而不是自己的體重。譯文B:因此,在此五周的減肥期內,把註意力放在量腰圍的卷尺上,而不是放在浴室的磅秤上。
4. pun(雙關)有許多看似無法在譯文中挽留的原文形式的神韻和風采在譯文中卻得以挽留。如:First gentleman: Thou art always figuring disease in me, but thou art full of error, I am sound. Lucio: Nay, not as one would say, healthy; but so sound as things that are hollow; impiety has made a feast of thee. (整個對話之諧趣盡系雙關詞匯sound。)試譯:紳士甲:妳總以為我有那種病,其實妳大錯特錯,我的身體響當當的。路奇奧:響當當的,可並不結實,就像空心的東西那樣響當當的,妳的骨頭都空了,好色的毛病把妳掏空了。
5. alliteration(頭韻)英語辭格押頭韻的手法歷來被認為是不可譯的,但是,面對alliteration,並不意味譯者就無所作為。如下的兩段譯文就做了成功的嘗試。如:Change is part of life and the making of character, hon. When the things happen that you do not like, you have two choices: You get bitter or better. 試譯:變化是生活的壹部分,而且也塑造了人的意誌品德,親愛的。當妳不喜歡的事情發生了,妳有兩種選擇:要麽痛苦不堪;要麽痛快達觀。再如:Predictably, the winter will be snowy, sleety, and slushy. 試譯:可以預言,今年冬天將多雪,多凍雨,多泥濘。(原句當中的snowy, sleety, slushy也是非常漂亮的押頭韻,譯者殫精竭慮,用心可嘉。)
6. metaphor(比喻)這個metaphor並非狹隘意義上的把A比作B的不使用比喻詞(如as, like, as if等)的暗喻,而是廣義上的英語詞匯的比喻義。換言之,也就是英語詞匯denotation(本義)之外的connotation(轉義)。Peter Newmark在A Textbook of Translation中把英語中的比喻分成四類,令人耳目壹新:I have suggested elsewhere that there are four types of metaphor: fossilized, stock, recently created and original. 第壹類:有學生在作文中寫出如下句子:In the middle of the picnic, it started to rain cats and dogs, and everybody got soaked. 該句子被改為:While we were busy eating a picnic, a storm cloud suddenly appeared and everybody got soaked. 在A Dictionary of American Idioms中,寫道:rain cats and dogs: To rain very hard; come down in torrents------A cliché. 美國朋友說: If you use this metaphor, I will doubt if you are my grandfather’s uncle! 第二類:stock(常用的)這是指已被收入詞典,但並不屬於cliché範疇的比喻。如:flood壹詞的用法。She was in a flood of tears. (她淚流如註。) The corridors were flooded with girls. (走廊裏擠滿了女孩子。) Strawberries flooded the market and prices dropped down. (草莓充斥市場,價格下跌。) 第三類的標準應該是:至少目前商未被收入詞典,同時又讓人接受,並感到新意撲面。如在壹篇名為Rescue of A Newborn 中有三個句子:A. I focused on a small blob in the mud amid the columns of legs and trunks. B. I suddenly came upon a wall of feeding elephants. C. …grabbed their lost baby and tugged her gently into a stockade of legs. 第四類:original這種比喻並非隨處可見,唾手可得。它是靈感思維的產物。這種比喻在詞典上無蹤影可覓,而且連參照物可能也沒有。如:Jeff Rennicke在A Promise of Spring 中開卷段是:Nothing. No tracks but my own are stitched into the dusting of fresh snow, white as birch bark, that fell during the night. No flittering shadows in the trees, not a sliver of bird song in the air. 試譯:白茫茫的壹片。沒有別的什麽蹤跡,只有我的腳印如細密的針腳印在積雪上。積雪白如樺樹皮,是昨夜落下的。在樹上沒有鳥兒輕捷的身影,在空中也聽不到鳥兒壹絲的啁啾。
對比喻的翻譯可以分為兩類:
壹是保留原文的形象,即: to find an equivalent image. 如:Ani began pounding and yelling to be let out as the car screeched from the parking lot. But rock music blaring from the radio speakers drowned him out. 試譯:當汽車從停車場急速駛過時,Ani開始猛烈敲打和大聲呼喊,但是從車內喇叭發出的搖滾音樂淹沒了他發出的聲音。再如:The policemen who patrolled the big city slum area that summer were sitting on a volcano. 那年夏天,在城市大貧民區巡邏的警察如同坐在火山口上。
二是實行翻譯的“補償原則”(compensation)。所謂以補償方法譯比喻,就是在尋找對等形象無門的情況下,使用變通的方法,盡可能地對譯文中比喻形象的流失作某些補償,以求得譯文與原文大致相等的可讀性。如:Cavorting and diving at breathtaking speeds, the beautiful birds (指鷹) mirrored each other in flight. A. 在空中翻飛嬉戲,時作閃電式俯沖,矯健的鷹雙雙攜遊於碧空。B. 在空中翻飛嬉戲,時作閃電式俯沖,矯健的鷹比翼齊飛,形影相隨。再如:But after six years of a stormy marriage, Cewe decided to end it. She didn’t want her son to grow up thinking that kind of relationship was normal. 試譯:六載婚姻生活,風雨交加,Cewe決定結束這種婚姻。她不願讓她兒子在這樣的環境裏長大成人,並誤以為這樣的關系是正常的。又如:Rudy knew they had severed the wrong rope and that it was the thick tow line that trapped him. “Try cutting the other rope!” said Rudy, his hopes, and his grip, eroding. 試譯:Rudy發現他們割錯了繩子,是那根粗的牽引繩纏住了他。“把另壹根繩子割斷!”Rudy說。此刻,他的希望,他的握力,似油將盡、燈將滅。再如:The following week was family conference, something I dreaded. This was the day the dirty laundry got hung out to air in a private session between parent, child and counselor. 試譯:下周將開家長會,這正是我害怕的。在這壹天,家長、孩子和輔導員將開私下的碰頭會,列數孩子做的壞事。再如:The operation may not succeed; it’s a gamble whether he lives or dies. 手術不壹定成功,能否保住他的生命沒有把握。
本文根據《大學英語》中出現的最常見的幾種修辭格加以分析,希望有助於大家在學習英語的過程中能夠恰當地選擇修辭手段來豐富自己的表達。
明喻(Simile)明喻是壹種最簡單、最常見的修辭方法,是以兩種具有***同特征的事物或現象進行對比,表明本體和喻體的關系,兩者都在對比中出現,其基本格式是“A像B”,常用的比喻詞有as, like, as if, as though等。例如:
●He jumped back as if he had been stung, and the blood rushedsintoshis wrinkled face.(他往後壹跳,好像被什麽東西叮了壹下似的,他那張布滿皺紋的臉頓時漲得通紅。)在《品嘗家》壹文中老人對“我”的慷慨施舍的反應如同被蜜蜂叮過壹樣,生動地刻畫出壹個處境淒涼內心卻極度敏感的可憐老人的形象。
●The cheque fluttered to the floor like a bird with a broken wing. (支票跌落到地上,像壹只斷了翅膀的小鳥。)《禮物》壹文中,老太太喜迎八十大壽,大女兒不來慶祝,只寄來壹張支票。作者把這張支票比作斷了翅膀的小鳥,形象地表達出此刻老太太希望破滅,極度傷心的心情。
暗喻(Metaphor)
暗喻也是壹種比喻,但不用比喻詞,因此被稱作縮減了的明喻(a compressed simile)。它直接把壹種事物名稱用在另壹事物上,從而更生動、更深刻地說明事理,增強語言的表現力。例如:
●What will parents do without the electronic baby-sitter? (如果沒有這位電子保姆,父母該怎麽辦呢?)形象地說明了電視機的保姆功用。
●... while most of us are only too ready to apply to others the cold wind of criticism, we are somehow reluctant to give our fellows the warm sunshine of praise.(……但是我們中的很多人太容易給別人批評的冷風,而不願意給自己的同伴贊揚的陽光。)作者把批評比作冷風,把贊揚比作溫暖的陽光,生動形象,寓意雋永。
轉喻(Metonymy)
轉喻(即借代)是通過相近的聯想,借喻體代替本體。例如:
●My 15 students read Emerson, Thoreau, and Huxley.(我的十五位學生讀了愛默生、梭羅和赫胥黎的作品。)這是典型的轉喻,以人名借代作品。
●Against the Oval Earth man, the first card I can play is the analogy of the sun and moon. (面對“地球卵形說”者,我能打的第壹張牌是,太陽和月亮的相似性。)文中作者用具體第壹張牌來借代抽象的“第壹個論據”,更加生動形象,淺顯易懂,也使語言新鮮活潑,富有表現力。
擬人(Personification)
擬人是把人類的特點、特性加於外界事物上,使之人格化的修辭格。例如:
●... four evergreen shrubs stood at each corner,swheresthey struggled to survive the dust and fumes from a busy main road.(……四叢常綠灌木分別位於每個角落,它們忍受著從繁忙的大街上吹來的塵煙,掙紮著活下去。)“掙紮”是有生命的物體的動作,作者給自然的花草賦予了生命,使它人格化。
●But the houses were cold, closed, unfriendly.(可是那些房子冷漠無情,門窗緊閉,壹點也不友好。)house本來是沒有感情的,作者通過擬人的手法,表現房子裏人的冷漠無情。
誇張(Hyper***)
誇張是壹種故意言過其實,或誇大或縮小事物的形象,借以突出事物的某種特征或品格,鮮明地表達思想情感的修辭方式。用於描寫可以使形象更生動突出,渲染氣氛,烘托意境,給讀者留下深刻、鮮明的印象。例如:
●Vingo sat stunned, looking at the oak tree. It was covered with yellow handkerchiefs—20 of them, 30 of them, maybe hundreds.(文戈坐在那兒望著橡樹驚呆了。樹上掛滿了黃手絹——二十條,三十條,或許幾百條。)此句中20 of them, 30 of them, maybe hundreds就是運用了誇張的手法,主觀地渲染了氣氛。
●She gave me the impression ofshavingsmore teeth, white and large and even, than were necessary for any practical purpose.(她給我的印象是:她有壹口潔白整齊的大牙,為數之多已超過任何實際需要。)在這裏作者通過誇張的描述,使壹個貪婪好吃的女性形象躍然紙上。
反語(Irony)
英語修辭格irony就是說反話,用反面的話來表達正面的意思。這種修辭格可用來進行諷刺,但多數是用來表達壹種善意的幽默或俏皮,故意說出與本意相反的話,例如:
●Slowly the old lady stooped to pick it (the cheque ) up. Her present, her lovely present. With trembling fingers she tore itsintoslittle bits. (老太太慢慢地彎下腰,把支票從地上撿起來,她的禮物,她的可愛的禮物!用顫抖的手指把它撕得粉碎。)老太太八十歲壽辰那天,急切地盼望女兒回家看望她,稍稍安慰她那顆孤寂的心,然而盼來的卻是女兒的壹張冷冰冰的支票,這當然不是老人心愛的禮物。故此處her lovely present是典型的irony,是句反話。
●She was not so young as I expected and in appearance imposing rather than attractive.(她並不如我想象的那麽年輕。她的外表與其說吸引人,不如說是令人難忘。)imposing意指因為外貌、形體而使人印象深刻,作者在此以諷刺挖苦的口吻來描述壹個貪吃而肥胖的女人。
仿擬(Parody)
根據家喻戶曉的成語或諺語,臨時更換其中的某個部分,造成新的成語或諺語;或者根據古今名言警句,在保持其原句不變的情況下,更換其中部分詞語,這種修辭方式叫仿擬。例如:
●To lie or not to lie-the doctor's dilemma(撒謊還是不撒謊——醫生的難題)看到這個標題,我們不禁想起莎翁戲劇Hamlet中那個永遠也解不透的句子“To be or not to be, that is the question”。顯然,文章的題目由此模仿而來,給人印象深刻。
●Lady hermits who are down but not out(窮困而不潦倒的女隱士們)文中的down but not out源於down and out,原是拳擊比賽的術語,後來喻指窮困潦倒的人。
矛盾修辭法(Oxymoron)
用兩種不相調和,甚至截然相反的特征來形容壹項事物,在矛盾中尋求哲理,以便收到奇警的修辭效果,這就是矛盾修辭法,用這種方法,語言精煉簡潔,富有哲理,並產生強大的邏輯力量,產生壹種出人意料,引人入勝的效果。例如:
●A miserable, merry Christmas(悲喜交加的聖誕節)。聖誕節那天,故事主人公小男孩經歷了從痛苦的邊緣到幸福的頂峰的過程。因此,父母精心安排的聖誕節既是最糟的,又是最好的。
頭韻(Alliteration)
與前面幾種修辭方式不同,頭韻是壹種語音修辭方式,它指壹組詞、壹句話或壹行詩中重復出現開頭字母相同的單詞,常用於文章的標題、詩歌及廣告語中,簡明生動,起到突出重點,加深印象,平衡節奏,宣泄感情的作用。例如:
●A miserable, merry Christmas
●Profits of praise