首页 -> 2007年第10期
英语教学中修辞学习方法新探
作者：郝险峰
一､英语修辞与段发展的写作方法
作为文章的基本组成部分——段落,在其写作过程中,我们务必要做到合理组织｡合理组织使段落中句子的安排符合逻辑顺序(Logical Order),做到句间上下衔接,意思前后连贯,以利于中心思想的明确表达｡逻辑顺序(Logical Order)在段发展中最主要的两种表现形式为:并列关系(Coordinate Relationships)和附属关系(Subordinate Relationships)｡我们在完成段落的第一个句子的写作后(通常往往是该段落的中心句),就必须考虑其后的每个句子与段落首句(即中心句)之间究竟是并列还是附属的关系｡试看下例:
1.Nowhere,at no time,have there been five and a half years so alternately wonderous,compelling,swift and cruel.
2.As the Sixties began,our aspirant astronauts had yet to enter space;now,they practice giant steps to the moon.
3.Then,jet travel was a conversation piece;now,we change the flight if we have seen the movie.
4.Then,we were about to be swamped by a recessionary wave;now,riding history＇s highest flood of prosperity,we are revising our assumptions about the inevitability of ebbs in our economic life.
5.Then,our Negroes were still marshaling their forces;now,they have marshaled the conscience of mankind.(Leonard Gross,Look,June 24,1965)
从以上作者对段落的描述可以发现,前面两个句子之间是附属关系,但是其他以“then......now”形式描述的句子又恰是以并列关系来展开段发展的,作者以多个层面,大范围地提供例证来证明自己在段落首句中提出的观点｡然而,有些作者可能会选择附属关系来进行段发展的,试再看下例:
1.The process of learning is essential to our lives.
2.All higher animals seek it deliberately.
3.They are inquisitive and they experiment.
4.An experiment is a sort of harmless trial run of some action which we shall have to make in the real world;and this,whether it is made in the lab by scientists or by fox-cubs outside their earth dun.(J.Bronowski,The Common Sense of Science)
从上面这个段落的描述来看,段落的后一句与前一句之间都是以附属的关系展开的,结构紧凑,环环相扣,逻辑性严密,具有很强的说服力｡
二､英语修辞与写作过程中单词的选择
单词的选择是写作过程中非常重要的一环｡一个无经验的作者往往会使用一些华丽的单词,却忽略了其他能引起读者共鸣的写作手法,结果只能是一败涂地｡关于单词的选择标准,人们说法不一,但准确､鲜明和生动三点则是公认的｡作为文章创作的最高境界——生动,也恰恰是以单词选择的准确和鲜明为基础的｡下面让我们比较两段文章:
A)For several days snow fell heavily in the south of England.It lay many inches thick on the ground.The roofs of houses were white;walking through the streets was difficult;driving was dangerous.
B)It was the coldest winter for forty-five years.Heavy snow blankets swallowed everything on earth: Villages in the English countryside were cut off and the Thames froze over.Cars crawled along white pedestrians trudged through the deep snow.Horns hoarsened;road accidents shot up.People told jokes about how it was more risky to drive by day than to go boating on the sea at night.
上述两段都是写大雪天的情景,相比之下A篇不及B篇生动,因为其中一般概念性的词较多,如heavily,difficult,dangerous等等,B篇之所以比较生动是因为:
1.选用含义准确､具体的词语｡如: trains,cars,pedestrians,cut off,freeze over,trudge,horns,以及具体的时间地点,给读者以明确具体的印象,而不是笼统地讲walking,driving如何危险｡
2.适当的修辞｡如blankets,swallowed,hoarsened,shot up 等｡带有比喻､夸张等修辞,增加了生动感｡
3.句式的多样性｡整段文章五句话,结构各不相同,更给人以生动感｡
但是有些作者在写作过程中对单词的选择却往往会走到另一个极端,再看下面这篇描写大自然的文章,由于作者使用了许多不恰当的比喻以及陈词滥调,致使文章散发出旧书堆的陈腐味:
A gray mist overhung nature like a pall.(象柩衣一样)The somber shroud(阴沉的尸衣)wrapped in oblivion lifeless forms which had been so beautiful in their summer splendor.The branches of the tree,shorn of their green raiment(raiment一词为古语,且只用于诗歌),appeared like spectral fingers reaching up to the somber,low-hanging clouds.Stunted shrubs,less bold,groveled to the ground.Closer still to the earth huddled withered blades of grass,corpses of the gallant,green-clad knights(绿色盔甲骑士的实体)of early May.The staunch little soldiers(小小勇士们)of spring and summer were no more;They had succumbed in the battle with wind and storm.Faded autumn leaves stirred restlessly with every puff of wind,but seemed unwilling to leave the protection of Mother Earth＇s embrace(大地母亲的怀抱).
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