英语写作指导：常见的英语修辞

修辞手法(figure of speech)修辞手法是通过修饰、调整语句，运用特定的表达形式以提高语言表达作用的方式和方法。修辞不仅仅在中文里很常见，在英文里也是多种多样。这篇文章里，我们就来谈一谈英文中常见的修辞手法。

1.simile1明喻

A simile is a figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things

are explicitly3 compared, usually in a phrase introduced by like or as.

明喻是常用as或like等词将两种不同事物通过比较而连接起来的一种修辞手法。

让我们看几个例子：

Good coffee is like friendship: rich and warm and strong.

好的咖啡如同友谊，丰厚，温暖，热烈。

Life is rather like opening a tin of sardines4. We're all of us looking for the key.

人生就像一罐沙丁鱼，我们大家都在找开启的起子。

He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen from him to crow.

他这人就像一只骄傲的公鸡，以为太阳升起是为了它的啼叫。

2.metaphor5暗喻

A metaphor is a trope or figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common.

暗喻是将两种有共同点的不同事物进行隐晦比较的修辞手法。

明喻与暗喻的不同点就在于是否有出现like或者as(像)这一类比喻词，下面这几个句子都是暗喻：

Humor is the shock absorber of life; it helps us take action.

幽默是生活的减震器,它可以鼓舞人们付诸于行动。

Time, you thief.

时间，你这个小偷。

But my heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill.

可是我的心是孤独的猎手，在孤独的小山上狩猎。

3.personification拟人

Personifiation is a figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities.

拟人是一种为无生命或抽象物体赋予人类特质与能力的修辞手法。

Oreo: Milk’s fav orite cookie.

奥利奥：牛奶最喜爱的曲奇。

The wind stood up and gave a shout.

大风凛冽,发出怒吼。

The only monster here is the gambling6 monster that has enslaved your mother! I call him Gamblor, and it's time to snatch your mother from his neon claws!

这里唯一的怪物就是赌博怪物，它将你母亲沦为奴隶!我叫它赌棍，该把你母亲从他的霓虹灯魔爪下救出来的时候了!

4.euphemism7委婉语

Euphemism is the substitution of an inoffensive expression for one considered offensively explicit2

委婉语是使用较委婉含蓄的语言替换强烈冒犯的话语。

这种修辞可能听起来陌生，但在日常生活中的使用频率其实很高。比如，老人去世的时候我们会采用“过世”、“走了”这一类的话语，这其实就是委婉语。英文里也有类似的用法，了解委婉语背后真正的含义对阅读英语文章也是很有帮助的哦~下面我们就一起看几个例子：

elder citizen老年人(不用old people)

pass away逝世(不用die)

You've got a prime figure.你的体态丰腴。(不用fat)

5.pun双关语

A pun is a play on words, either on different senses of the same word or on the similar sense or sound of different words.

双关语是指利用同词不同义或是同音不同词来制造文字游戏的一种修辞方式。

部分电视剧的幽默效果就是通过双关语来实现的。

You earn your living and you urn8 your dead.

生前劳碌奔命，死后化灰入土。

(earn与urn(火化)同音异义，用在一起显得俏皮，别有趣味。)

Seven days without water makes one weak.

七天不进水，人就会虚弱。

weak和week是同音异义词。因此这句话听起来可以理解为：

Seven days without water makes one week.

6.alliteration9头韵

Alliteration is the repetition of an initial consonant10 sound.

押头韵是指重复单词第一个辅音的修辞方式。

头韵是英语语音修辞的一种，体现了语言的音乐美和整齐美。广为熟知的一本名著《傲慢与偏见》(Pride and Prejudice)的书名就体现了头韵。常见的例子还有：first and foremost首先

with might and main 尽全力地

saints and sinners 圣人与罪人

in weal and (or) woe11无论是福是祸

7.oxymoron矛盾修辞法

Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which incongruous

or contradictory12 terms appear side by side.

矛盾修辞法是一种修辞手段，它是用两种不相调和，甚至截然相反的词语来形容一件事物。

这个定义是不是听起来云里雾里的呢?让我们先用中文的例子来理解一下~

宝玉道：“我呢?你们也替我想一个。”

宝钗笑道：“你的号早有了，无事忙三字恰当得很!”

上文的“无事忙”就是矛盾修辞法，“无事”和“忙”不就是两种截然相反的状态吗?

再来看几个英文例子：

We have to believe in free will. We have no choice.

我们只能相信自由意志，除此之外我们别无选择。

His honour rooted in dishonour13 stood.

他那来源于不名誉的名誉依然如故。

8.hyperbole夸张