北木教育 > 出国考试 > 出国考试文章 > SAT写作修辞手法系列之暗喻
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发布时间:2018-11-15 杭州greenpath教育
本篇文章主要涉及修辞手法中的Metaphor(暗喻)
首先,带着大家先来看看英美主流对Metaphor(暗喻)的定义:
It is like a simile, also makes a comparison between two unlike elements, but unlike a simile, this comparison is implied rather than stated.
通过以上文字,我们整理一下。很多同学搞不清明喻和隐喻的区别,其实从词源学角度考察马上就可以理解。援引自美国权威词典网站merriam-webster.com:
Simile comes from the Latin word similis (meaning “similar, like”), which seems fitting, since the comparison indicated by a simile will typically contain the words as or like. Metaphor, on the other hand, comes from the Greek word metapherein (“to transfer”), which is also fitting, since a metaphor is used in place of something.
明喻(simile)来源于similar的意思,表示相似;暗喻(metaphor)来源于to transfer的意思,表示取代他物。
如果搞不清那么多,建议大家记住一点:暗喻只出现本体和喻体,不用比喻词语或用“ 是、变成、成为、等于” 等喻词。
英文的隐喻是明喻的进一步比喻。它不表露比喻的痕迹。目的和明喻一样,也是为了更加形象、更加深刻地说明事理、事物,增强语言的表现力和感染力。由于隐喻是隐含的,所以它本体和喻体的关系必然十分紧密,所以它的理解在很多情况下都需要认真解读上下文,这无形中增加了隐喻判断和分析的难度。
举几个简单的例子:
While my heart is a shield and I won't let it down.
当我把心灵当成盾牌而不愿卸下防备
While I am so afraid to fail so I won't even try.
当我如此恐惧失败以致于根本不敢去尝试
Well how can I say I'm alive.
那我怎么能说我是真的活着
这句话出自英国女歌手Dido的代表作之一:Life For Rent。“While my heart is a shield and I won't let it down”,这一句中运用了一个隐喻,把我的心(my heart)比作盾牌(shield)。考虑整首歌的主题,歌者追求不断尝试的心态,此处的暗喻表达了禁锢自封是不合宜的是妨碍自我的。
在新SAT官网写作样题Let There Be Dark(Adapted from Paul Bogard, “Let There Be Dark.” ©2012 by Los Angeles Times, Originally published December 21, 2012.) 这篇文章中,首段就出现了一个暗喻:
Computer images of the United States at night, based on NASA photographs, show that what was a very dark country as recently as the 1950s is now nearly covered with a blanket of light. Much of this light is wasted energy, which means wasted dollars.
运用上面我们的分析可以了解到此处第一句句尾开始运用暗喻手法。“a blanket of light”,表明了在NASA照片里,现在的城市被光覆盖,像毯子一样,面积很大很严实。本句通过这样的暗喻,非常形象地描述的光污染带来的影响,也从另一个层面助力作者的主题内容“irreplaceable value of darkness”。
暗喻在SAT写作、SAT阅读,甚至是托福阅读和雅思阅读中,也会经常出现,希望这一期的讲解对大家有所帮助!
那我们下期再见啦!