Some Common Forms of Figures of Speech宋德文（讲义）Figures of speech 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. Now we are going to talk about some common forms of figures of speech.原文作者在文章中使用修辞手法，是为了使语言更加形象生动，鲜明突出；或者使语言更加整齐匀称，音调铿锵，以便更深入地阐明事件的意义或刻画人物的性格。
因此，译文中若不能正确表现原文的修辞格，就不能准确地表达作者的思想和文风，就不符合“忠实、通顺”的翻译标准。
修辞(figures of speech / rhetorical devices / rhetoric) 大体分为三类：音韵修辞格(phonological rhetorical devices)词义修辞格(semantic rhetorical devices)句法修辞格(syntactical rhetorical devices)（一）音韵修辞格(phonological rhetorical devices)1. Alliteration: (头韵) It has to do with the sound rather than the sense of words for effect. It is a device that repeats the same sound at frequent intervals(间隔) and since the sound repeated is usually the initial consonant sound, it is also called "front rhyme". For instance, the fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, the furrow followed free.头韵与拟声修辞方式能使语言具有音韵美，可增加口头或书面表达的实际音感，给人以声情并茂的美感。
Alliteration就是在一个词组或一个诗行中，有两个以上彼此靠近的词，其开头的音节（或其他重读音节）具有同样的字母或声音.Peter Piper picked a peck of picking pepper.（alliteration）Clear as crystal 水晶般的清莹Now or never 机不可失，时不再来Safe and sound 安然无恙To many parents, the three Gs--- gays, guns and gangs ---have replaced the three Rs as benchmarks of schools life.Spare the rod, and spoil the child.China 's cities, after decades of bolted doors and barred windows, are suddenly being opened to sweeping changes.No mill , no meal .No song , no supper .No cross , no crown .Sea , sun, sand, seclusion ---and Spain .海滨，阳光，沙滩，有静--- 更有西班牙风情。
book name or titlePride and Prejudice 傲慢与偏见Sense and sensibility 理智与情感2. Onomatopoeia: (拟声)It is a device that uses words which imitate the sounds made by an object (animate or inanimate), or which are associated with or suggestive (提示的) of some action or movement.Onomatopoeia是模仿事物发出的声响的修辞手法，与汉语的拟声辞格完全相同。
恰当地运用它可以使语言更加形象生动。
在英美文学终，拟声词的应用非常广泛：如：摹仿金属声的有：clash, clank, ting, tinkle, clang, jangle, ding-dong, tick-tack, etc.摹仿水等液体声的有：splash, bubble, sizz, sizzle, splish-splosh, drip-drop, etc.摹仿各种动物叫声有：neigh, baa, moo, miao, screech, hiss, cook-a-doodle-do, etc.摹仿人的各种声音有：giggle, chuckle, shriek, snort, sneeze, snigger, smack, whisper, grunt, grumble, mumble, sputter, murmur, chatter, gurgle, whoop, etc.3. Assonance (元韵) Assonance is the repetition of identical or similar vowel, especially in stressed syllables, in a sequence of nearby words, such as “child of silence”.是在一句话或在一个诗行中间，有两个或更多的词具有相同的元音。
沁园春－雪北国风光，千里冰封，万里雪飘。
望长城内外，维余茫茫；大河上下，顿失滔滔。
山舞银蛇，原驰蜡象，欲与天公试比高。
SnowTo the tune of Spring Beaming in GardenWhat a scene is in the north found!A thousand li of the earth is ice-clad aground,Ten thousand li of the sky is snow-bound.Behold! At both sides of the Great WallAn expense of whiteness conquers allIn the yellow river, up and down,The surging waves are gone!Like sliver snakes the mountains dance,Like wax elephants the highlands bounce,All try to be higher than heaven even once!（二）词义修辞格(semantic rhetorical devices)词义修辞格主要借助语义的联想和语言的变化等特点创造出来的修辞手法。
它们主要包括simile, metaphor, allusion, metonymy, transferred epithet, personification, hyperbole, irony, euphemism, pun, oxymoron, zeugma etc.1. Simile：(明喻) It is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common. To make the comparison, words like as, as...as, as if and like are used to transfer the quality we associate with one to the other.Simile与汉语的明喻基本相同，用某一事物或情境来比拟另一个事物或情境。
其本体和喻体均同时出现在句中，在形式上是相对应的。
英语simile 的比喻词一般是like, as （……as）等, 汉语明喻的比喻词通常是好象、仿佛等。
例如：as busy as bee 像蜜蜂一样忙碌as brave as lion 像狮子一样勇猛As timid as a rabbit 胆小如鼠as black as crow 像乌鸦一般黑Childhood is like a swiftly passing dream. 童年就像梦一样一闪而过。
as sharp as knife 像刀一样锋利He jumped back as if he had been stung, and the blood rushed into his wrinkled face.(他往后一跳，好像被什么东西叮了一下似的，他那张布满皱纹的脸顿时涨得通红。
)在《品尝家》一文中老人对“我”的慷慨施舍的反应如同被蜜蜂叮过一样，生动地刻画出一个处境凄凉内心却极度敏感的可怜老人的形象。
The cheque fluttered to the floor like a bird with a broken wing. (支票跌落到地上，像一只断了翅膀的小鸟。
)《礼物》一文中，老太太喜迎八十大寿，大女儿不来庆祝，只寄来一张支票。
作者把这张支票比作断了翅膀的小鸟，形象地表达出此刻老太太希望破灭，极度伤心的心情。
The oratorical storm that Clarence Darrow and Dudley Field Malone blew up in the little court in Dayton swept like a fresh wind through the schools and legislative offices of the United States, bringing in its wake a new climate of intellectual and academic freedom that has grown with the passing years.克拉伦斯•达罗和达德利·菲尔德·马隆在戴顿城小小的法庭上掀起的那场辩论的风暴犹如一股清风吹遍了美国的学校和立法机关。