修辞方法Rhetorical Devices (2) Personification

It is to treat a thing or an idea as if it were human or had human qualities.

1. Youth is hot and bold; Age is weak and cold. Youth is wild, and Age is tame. -----William Shakespeare

2. The match will soon be over and defeat is staring us in the face. 3. This time fate was smiling to him. 4. Thunder roared and a pouring rain started. 5. Dusk came stealthily. 6. The storm was raging and angry sea was continuously tossing their boat. 7. The sun kissed the green fields. 8. The thirsty desert drank up the water. 9. The youth were singing, laughing and playing the music instruments.

10. The trees and flowers around them danced heartily as if touched by merry mood. 11. The night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand at our fevered head. 12. Ill-gotten wealth is but an evil friend. 13. The leaves are trembling in the cold wind. 14. The storm was so angry that it wanted to destroy everything in the cold wind. 15. The thirsty soil drank in the rain.

1. The waves were dimpling in the sunshine. (泛起笑窝)

2. The green mountains were dancing, and the rivers and lakes smiling. 3. The rose blushes in the morning breeze. 4. Time will tell.

5. On the table lay some dog-eared books. 6. The wind sighed in the tree tops. 7. The moon is riding in the sky. 8. The lamb nodded as I came home. 9. Pride goes before a fall.

10. Success, health, and happiness are beckoning to you. 11. Poetry is the queen of arts. 12. Truth never grows old.

Zoosemy

Opposite to personification, it is to treat a human as an object, like an animal, a plant, an inanimate thing, or an abstract idea. 1. “A lucky dog you are!” exclaimed Jim.

2. Terribly hungry, the man wolfed down all the cakes. 3. Children are flowers of our country. 4. She found in him model and admiration.

5. His spoilt children are rotten goods that will never prosper. 6. Like a lion he rushed to meet his foe. 7. He slept like a dog. 8. The prostitutes are nothing but paper toys, played, ruined, torn, and thrown into the garbage can.

9. She is shedding crocodile tears.

10. Children are always eager to ape others. 11. He is a bookworm.

Euphemism

It is the substitution of a mild or vague expression for a harsh or unpleasant one, for example:

to die to pass away, to leave us, one’s heart has stopped beating, to fall

asleep

old people senior citizens, gray hair mad emotionally disturbed madhouse mental hospital

whore working girl/call girl/business girl/pavement princess dustman sanitation worker prostitutes entertainer

lavatory bathroom, men’s/women’s room, dressing room, restroom, water closet Invasion, raid military action

Driving inhabitants away or controlling them pacification concentration camps strategic hamlets

graveyard Memorial park; memory park First Class (飞机上的豪华舱) Deluxe class/ Premium Class Second Class The First Class

Third Class Business Class/Economic Class/Tourist Class

make love with/ have sex with go to bed with/sleep with to be pregnant to be expecting secondhand store resale store

garbage collector sanitation engineer

maid/housekeeper domestic help/day-help/live-in help

1. He is a bit slow for his age. (他反应较慢) 2. He/She is a stout/plump man/woman. 3. I have to pay a call./ I’d like to be excused./ I have to retire for a moment./ where is the restroom?/ may I wash hands?

4. His father passed away last week and is going to be laid to rest next Sunday. 5. “What do you think of the roast duck?” “Not bad.” 6. Your grammar is not particularly good. 7. They parted after two years of marriage.

8. Sometimes I think she sticks too much to her principles. 9. I am afraid he has misrepresented the facts. 10. He used poor judgment wherever he went.

11. He worked and worked until he breathed his last. 12. They laid down their lives for their country.

13. And, in being low water, he went out with the tide.

It is obvious that those euphemisms used by the ordinary people are meant to soften harsh reality, but those used by politicians may aim at deceiving the public.

Alliteration

with might and main 尽全力 neck and nothing 铤而走险地 rough and ready粗糙但尚能用的，卤莽但还有能力的 as blind as a bat 有眼无珠

as large as life 与原物一般大小；千真万确 bite the bullet 死撑硬挺，啃硬骨头 put into practice 实行，实施 1. His writing is clear and clean.

2. US trade policy is often viewed as inconsistent, incoherent and incomprehensible to other countries.

3. Time and tide wait for no man. 4. He proved to be a slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained sloth.

5. They got the work through with dash and daring regardless of the cost or consequences. 6. He is huge and humorous. 7. She is both small and stupid. 8. My father is always healthy and happy.

Overstatement and understatement In overstatement, the diction exaggerates the subject, and in understatement, the words play down the magnitude or value of the subject. Overstatement is also called hyperbole. Both overstatement and understatement aim at the same effect: to make the statement or description impressive or interesting.

1. She is dying to know what job has been assigned her.

2. On hearing that he had passed the CET 6, he whispered to himself, “I am the luckiest man in the world.”

3. The millionaire spent a few dollars to build this indoor pool. 4. The funny stories made all the audience laugh off their head. 5. His parents praised his performance to the skies. More about Hyperbole

Thank you Thanks a million They laughed heartily. They almost died laughing. I am hungry. I am starving. 1. From his mouth flowed speech sweeter than honey.

2. So great is he that the sun’s brilliance seemed dim by comparison. 3. The two sisters are different in a thousand and one ways. 4. In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six kinds of weather inside of four-and-twenty hours. (Mark Twain)

More about Understatement

1. That is no laughing matter. (That’s a serious matter.)