Rhetoric is the art and study of the use of language with persuasive effect. In Aristotle's systematization of rhetoric, one important aspect of rhetoric to study and theorize was the three persuasive audience appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos, as well as the five canons of rhetoric: invention or discovery, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Along with grammar and logic or dialectic, rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. From ancient Greece to the late 19th Century, it was a central part of Western education, filling the need to train public speakers and writers to move audiences to action with arguments.[1]
英語中將借代通稱為metonymy(換喻、轉喻)。它是由某一事物名稱來代替與該事物有關聯的另一事物的名稱,簡而言之,就是借用甲來表示乙,但前提條件是甲必須與乙關係密切和本質上有相似之處。比如:「The pen is mightier than the sword」,句中用pen 表power of literature,用sword代force。
反語(Irony )就是說反話,英語來自希臘語eironeia,意思是dissimulation (掩飾),是一種通過正話反說或反話正說來取得諷刺、幽默效果的修辭手法。比如:1) Better luck than I did!(希望你小子更「走運」!) 2) You are a big help!(你可真夠「幫忙」啊!) 3) Only every spare minute!(「只不過」每一分鐘的自由時間而已。) 4) You are telling stories!(你講的「真動聽」啊!) 雙關語(pun)是英語中一種常見的修辭手法。該修辭格巧妙地利用詞的諧音、詞的多義或歧義等,在同一句話裡同時表達不同的意義,以形成語言生動活潑、幽默詼諧或嘲弄譏諷的修辭效果,使人讀來忍俊不禁。比如: 1)He is not a grave man until he is a grave man. 2)They pray for you today and prey on you tomorrow. 第一句話,其中的grave有兩個含義,一個是「嚴肅的」(形容詞),一個是「墳墓」(名詞),因此這句話的意思是:他不是一個嚴肅的人,除非他躺到墳墓裡,才能嚴肅起來。再比如下面第二句話,其中的 pray(祈禱)和prey(捕食),發音相同,外形相似,因此這句話的意思是:他們今天為你祈禱,明天就會加害於你。
本文摘自新東方範亞飛的博客,博文連結地址:http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_56b24c020100s62x.html
(編輯:趙穎茹)