大学英语修辞学课件1

a sudden change, that is not always intended,
from a serious subject or feeling to something
that is silly or not important

(Re. http://www.google.com/dictionary )
Three versions of definition
Version 1: Arrangement of words, phrases, or
clauses in an order of ascending power. Often the last emphatic word in one phrase or clause is repeated as the first emphatic word of the next.
eat a food full of protein.
Without sweat, without bread.
3) Climax: (渐进)
It is derived from the Greek word for "ladder" and implies the progression of thought at a uniform or almost uniform rate of significance or intensity, like the steps of a ladder ascending evenly.
If the shrapnel doesn't get you, then the mustard gas will, and they say the mosquitoes are bad here in the summer.
* Shrapnel: bomb,mine, or shell fragments
the name of something is used to represent a more general by closelyrelated thing
(The Cassell Dictionary of Literary and Language Terms (Ruse et al., 1992:180))
English Rhetoric
Figures of Speech Unit 2 Hiroshima – the Liveliest City
in Japan
Figures of speech (修辞)are ways of making our language figurative. When we use words in other than their ordinary or literal sense to lend force to an idea, to heighten effect, or to create suggestive imagery, we are said to be speaking or writing figuratively.
4) Anti-climax or bathos/beɪθɒs/ :
(突降)
It is the opposite of Climax. It involves stating one's thoughts in a descending order of significance or intensity, from strong to weak, from weighty to light or frivolous.
“a question asked, as in oratory or writing, only for rhetorical effect, to emphasize a point, introduce a topic, etc., no answer being expected”
(Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language)
2) Metonymy (转喻/借代)
(Greek, a change of name)(迥然不同的两 个事物处于”同现关系”)
It is a figure of speech that has to do with the substitution of the name of one thing for that of another.

“a question asked solely for effect and not to elicit a reply, as ‘What is so rare as a day in June?’”
(Random House Webster’s College Dictionary)
Version 2:
A series of statements – usually three – in which each section is an intensification of the section before.
Version 3:
The placement of a number of items or ideas in ascending order with the most important being kept till the end.
* mustard gas: an irritant vesicant oily liquid used esp.

as a chemical weapon
* farcical: ridiculous and not worth taking seriously
“His hand stealthily approached the door. His gloved hand flexed as he fumbled for the key. Cautiously, he reached for the key, then slowly pushed open the door, wary of what lay in store. The room was empty.”
Climax as a literary term
The decisive moment in a drama, the climax is the turning point of the play to which the rising action leads.
This is the crucial part of the drama, the part which determines the outcome of the conflict.
The kettle is boiling. The Wall Street definitely has more say in
their policy making.
The pen (words) is mightier than the sword (forces).
To read a Shakespeare or a Mark Twain is to
E.g. ” I came, I saw, I conquered.“

Julius Caesar
ຫໍສະໝຸດ Baidu
Miss American was not so much interested in serving herself as she was eager to serve the family, her community and her nation.
O, Wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?
(P.B.Shelley: Ode to the West Wind)
Who wouldn’t have dreamed of becoming rich overnight?
Who does not love his country?
* wary: careful * lie in store: waiting to happen to sb.
Effects achieved by using anti-climax
contrast humor irony
1) Rhetorical Question
“a question that you ask as a way of making a statement, without expecting an answer, such as ‘who knows what might happen?’”
(Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)
This can either make fun of something by offering a farcical conclusion… or it can indicate the seriousness of earlier items by the use of contrast…