Figures of speech (修辞)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. 修辞是提高语言表达效果的语言艺术。它能使语言生动形象、具体活泼，给人以美的享受。
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 (特性)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 的标志词常用 like, as, seem, as if, as though, similar to, such as等. 汉语明喻的比喻词通常是\好象\、\仿佛\等。例如： As busy as a bee
As happy as a clam (at hightide) Like a cat on hot bricks热锅上的蚂蚁 To spend money like water挥金如土 They are like streetcars running contentedly on their rails.
这些人犹如街上的有轨电车， 满足于在自己的轨道上运行。
2) Metaphor：(暗喻）It is like a simile, also makes a comparison between two unlike elements, but unlike a simile, this comparison is implied rather than stated. 隐喻是简缩了的明喻,是将某一事物的名称用于另一事物,通过比较形成.（no indicator of resemblance）
For example, the world is a stage. Speech is silver, silence is gold. Union is strength.
Experience is the mother of wisdom. 经验为智慧之母。
3) Analogy: (类比,借喻）It is also a form of comparison, but unlike simile or metaphor which usually uses comparison on one point of resemblance, analogy draws a parallel between two unlike things that have several common qualities or
points of resemblance. 根本不说出本体（tenor），或不在本句子中说出来，而把喻体(vehicle)直接用在本体应该出现的地方。
Make hay while the sun shines.趁热打铁
An empty sack cannot stand upright.空口袋立不直Prov. A poor or hungry person cannot function properly. Sit down and have something to eat before you go back to work. An empty sack can't stand upright.无钱寸步难行；肚子饿了会难受
4) Personification: (拟人）It gives
human form of feelings to animals, or life and personal attributes(赋予) to inanimate(无生命的) objects, or to ideas and abstractions(抽象).
personification 与汉语拟人完全相同，就是赋予物以人的言语属性。这种拟人化的修辞手法读起来使人感到特别形象生动、富有情趣。例如： Words pay no debts. 空话还不了债。 The wind whistled through the trees. Time and tide wait for no man. Justice has a long arm.
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being, /Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead, /Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing.啊，狂野的西风，汝秋神之呼吸/ 无影踪就把落叶一扫而空/好似巫师驱散了群鬼。
5) Hyperbole: (夸张）： It is the deliberate use of overstatement or understatement to achieve emphasis.