Ⅴ. Figures of Speech (修辞格；修辞手段；比喻): a figure of speech is a word orexpression used with a figurative rather than a literalmeaning；a word or expression that gives variety or force,using words out of their literal meaning; a word or expressionused in a different way from the normal one, to give you apicture in your mind1. Simile: a comparison between two things, using the words like or as (as...as, asif/though included), as in He jumped as if he had been stung. (他像被蜇了似的跳了起来。

) or Childhood is like a swiftly passing dream. (童年就像一场疾逝的梦。

)2. Metaphor: the use of words to indicate sth. different from the literal meaning, asin ‘I’ll make him eat his words’ or ‘He has a heart of stone’ or Theworld is a stage.3. Personification: instance of regarding or representing sth. as a person, as inreferring to the sun and the moon by using ‘he’ and ‘she’, Myheart was singing我的心在歌唱。

This time fate was smilingto him这一次命运朝他微笑了。

The flowers nodded to herwhile she passed当她经过的时候花儿向她点头致意。

Thewind whistled through the trees风穿过树丛，树叶哗哗作响。

4. Metonymy (转喻；换喻): (change of name) the substitution of the name of onething for that of another with which it is closelyassociated, as in suit for business executive,the turffor horse racing, the crown for the monarch, No. 10Downing Street for the British government or thePrime Minister, the bottle for alcohol, the bar forthe legal profession, “The kettle boils” for “Thewater in the kettle boils,” His purse would not allowhim that luxury(他的经济条件不允许他享受那种奢华。

) or The mother did her best to take care ofthe cradle. (母亲尽最大努力照看孩子。

)5. Synecdoche (举隅法；提喻法) : a figure of speech in which a part is made torepresent the whole or vice versa, as inScotland lost by two to nothing (meaning theScottish team), bread for food or living, thearmy for a soldier, He earns his bread bywriting.(他靠写作挣钱谋生。

), The farmswere short of hands during the harvest season(收获季节里农场缺乏劳动力。

) Australiabeat Canada at cricket (澳大利亚队在板球比赛中击败了加拿大队。

) or He is the Newtonof this century (他是这个世纪的牛顿。

)6. Euphemism: use of mild, vague and indirect words or phrases in place of whatis required by truth or accuracy, as in using to fall asleep/to ceasethinking/to pass away/to go to heaven/ to leave us in place of theverb to die, senior citizens for old people, a slow learner or anunder achiever for a stupid pupil, weight watcher for fat people,mental institution for madhouse or asylum, mentally oremotionally disturbed for mad, washroom/men's / women's roomfor lavatory, handicapped for crippled, low incomebrackets/underprivileged/disadvantaged for the poor7. Irony (反语): the expression of one’s meaning by saying sth. which is the directopposite of one’s thoughts, in order to make one’s remarksforceful, as in ……(omitted)8. Overstatement and Understatement (omitted)9. Transferred Epithet (移位修饰)：A figure of speech in which anepithet/adjective grammatically qualifies a “wrong”noun other than the person or thing it is actually describing. Also known as hypallage (换置法).A transferred epithet often involves shifting a modifier from the animate to theinanimate, as in the phrases “cheerful money,” “sleepless night”, “suicidal sky”, “angry wind”, “a careless match”, “weary road/way”, and “wide-eyedamazement”The word whose modifier is thus displaced can either be actually present in the sentence, or it can be implied logically. The effect often stresses the emotionsor feelings of the individual by expanding them on to the environment.For example:•“On the idle hill of summer/Sleepy with th e flow of streams/Far I hear...” (A.E.Housman, A Shropshire Lad) —idle hill... sleepy is a hypallage: it is thenarrator, not the hill, who exhibits these features.•“The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, / And leaves the world to darkness and to me” (Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard)—weary way is a hypallage: it is the ploughman, not the way, that is weary.•“restless night”— The night was not restless, but the person who was awake through it was.•“happy morning”— Mornings have no feelings, but the people who are awake through them do.•“female prison”— Prisons do not have genders, but the people who are inside them do.•“condemned cell”— It is not the cell that is condemned, but the person who is inside it.•“careless error”— The error is not careless, but the person who commits it is.•“distracted driving”— The driving is not distracted, but the person doing it is.There was a short, thoughtful silence.出现了一阵短暂的、令人沉思的寂静。