本来正忙着翻译关于纺织产品生产管理方面的文章，没有时间再写其他专栏文章了。鉴于同学们对于英文修辞手法的陌生，我就忙里抽空，从Google上找到一篇关于英文修辞的文章，与大家分享。文章的作者是Mr. Richard Nordquist, 我首先向这位热心的作者表达谢忱。
Top 20 Figures of Speech
by Richard Nordquist
A figure of speech is a rhetorical device that achieves a special effect by using words in a distinctive way. Though there are hundreds of figures of speech, here we'll focus on 20 top examples.
解说：在BC省教育厅的英语文学课教学大纲里，总共有近两百种文学术语和表现手法（English 12--- Terms and Devices, 查网址www.bced.gov.bc.ca)。这些文学术语和表现手法是学生应该掌握的，在BC省考中，都有可能考到。
You'll probably remember many of these terms from your English classes. Figurative language is often associated with literature and with poetry in particular. Whether we're conscious of it or not, we use figures of speech every day in our own writing and conversations.
解说：与 figurative language 相对的是 literal language, 前者是文学修辞性语言，后者是本义（字面意思）语言。文学修辞性语言一般会出现在诗歌和其他文学作品里，然而，我们日常会话和写作中也会包含文学修辞性语言的成分，比如，我们在街道和车站附近看到的警示招牌。据我平时观察，文学修辞性语言用得最广泛的恐怕是商业广告，因为商业广告是为了吸引和招揽顾客，所以广告词要有趣味，看起来赏心悦目，读起来朗朗上口，听起来悦耳欢心。大家有兴趣，留心一下大公司的广告词。我这里跟大家分享一下我在Sears Canada工作时记录下的广告词：
good price, great value (用了两种文学手法：对仗antithesis和辅音谐音consonance)
reveal a deal （用了内部押韵internal rhyme)
Buy what you want, get what you need. （ 用了排比手法paralellism)
You can buy everything you need at Sears ---- from toys to tools, from furniture to furnace, from treadmill to tractor, from shirts to sheets. (用了两种文学手法: 排比paralellism和辅音谐音consonance）
许多谚语和格言都包含文学修辞性语言，比如，法兰克林著名的格言：
Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
同学们试着找一下，包含哪几种文学修辞手法。
For example, common expressions such as "falling in love," "racking our brains," and "climbing the ladder of success" are all metaphors—the most pervasive figure of all. Likewise, we rely on similes when making explicit comparisons ("light as a feather") and hyperbole to emphasize a point ("I'm starving!").
解说：我们学过的一些惯用法，有些就属于文学修辞性语言，例如：
The robber beat him black and blue. 强盗把他打得遍体鳞伤。
Robert arrived home safe and sound. 罗伯特平安抵家。
The warranty does not cover normal wear and tear. 保修不包括正常磨损。
篇幅和时间有限，恕我不能一一解说。下面的内容请同学们自己阅读，如有疑问，请在楼下留言。
Top 20 Figures of Speech
Using original figures of speech in our writing is a way to convey meanings in fresh, unexpected ways. Figures can help our readers understand and stay interested in what we have to say.
1. Alliteration: The repetition of an initial consonant sound. Example: She sells seashells by the seashore.
2. Anaphora: The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses. Example: Unfortunately, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong day.
3. Antithesis: The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases. Example: As Abraham Lincoln said, "Folks who have no vices have very few virtues."
4. Apostrophe: Directly addressing a nonexistent person or an inanimate object as though it were a living being. Example: "Oh, you stupid car, you never work when I need you to," Bert sighed.
5. Assonance: Identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words. Example: How now, brown cow?
6. Chiasmus: A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed. Example: The famous chef said people should live to eat, not eat to live.
7. Euphemism: The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit. Example: "We're teaching our toddler how to go potty," Bob said.
8. Hyperbole: An extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect. Example: I have a ton of things to do when I get home.
9. Irony: The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. Also, a statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea. Example: "Oh, I love spending big bucks," said my dad, a notorious penny pincher.
10. Litotes: A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite. Example: A million dollars is no small chunk of change.
11. Metaphor: An implied comparison between two dissimilar things that have something in common. Example: "All the world's a stage."
12. Metonymy: A figure of speech in a word or phrase is substituted for another with which it's closely associated; also, the rhetorical strategy of describing something indirectly by referring to things around it.
Example: "That stuffed suit with the briefcase is a poor excuse for a salesman," the manager said angrily.
13. Onomatopoeia: The use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. Example: The clap of thunder went bang and scared my poor dog.
14. Oxymoron: A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side. Example: I am as graceful as a bull in a china shop when I dance.
15. Paradox: A statement that appears to contradict itself. Example: "This is the beginning of the end," said Eeyore, always the pessimist.
16. Personification: A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities. Example: That kitchen knife will take a bite out of your hand if you don't handle it safely.
17. Pun: A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words. Example: Jessie looked up from her breakfast and said, "A boiled egg every morning is hard to beat."
18. Simile: A stated comparison (usually formed with "like" or "as") between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common. Example: Roberto was white as a sheet after he walked out of the horror movie.
19. Synecdoche: A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole. Example: Tina is learning her ABC's in preschool.
20. Understatement: A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is. Example: "You could say Babe Ruth was a decent ballplayer," the reporter said with a wink.
