修辞格(figures of speech)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。要翻译好英语修辞格,首先要弄清其特点、弄清英汉两种语言在这方面的异同,然后根据具体情况采用恰当的技巧进行翻译。英语修辞格种类很多,但粗略分来似可分为音韵修辞格、词义修辞格和句法修辞格。
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 的比喻词一般是 like, as(……as)等, 汉语明喻的比喻词通常是"好象"、"仿佛"等。例如:
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。
Metaphor兼有汉语隐喻、借喻及拟物的特点,即把甲事物当作乙事物来描写。如:
(1)Experience is the mother of wisdom. 经验为智慧之母。(隐喻)
(2)She is shedding crocodile tears. 她在掉鳄鱼眼泪。(借喻)
(3) Mark my words, the first woman who fishes for him, hooks him.
瞧着吧, 不管什么女人钓他,他就会上钩。(拟物)
比喻修辞手法主要涉及形象。人们生活在自然界,有许多共同的经历和感受。比较英汉两种语言中常用的比喻,就会发现有许多惊人的相似之处,比如都用狐狸比喻狡猾,用羊比喻温顺、用钢铁比喻坚硬,常见喻体相同的还有Footnote(脚注)、 Harelip(兔唇)等。当然,比喻形象往往打上各个民族独特文化的烙印,某些英语喻体形象会让中国读者不知所云,如英文 as wise as a man of Gotham( "象戈丹人一样明智")就让人费解。其实戈丹是英国的一个村庄,相传那里的人是最愚蠢的,所以这个比喻的意思是"蠢笨无比"。类似的例子还有:
She talked about great people as if she had the fee-simple of May Fair, and when the court went into mourning, she always wore black. 她一开口就是某某勋爵某某大人,那口气竟好象她生来就是贵族。宫里有了丧事,她没有一回不穿孝。
(1)I have written in bed and written out of it, written day and night.
我卧床写, 起床写; 白天写,晚上也写。(repetition)
(2)The gods, they say, give breath , and they take it away. But the same could be said-could it not? 人都说老天爷把气赐予生灵,又把气夺走。不过这话用在小小的逗号上,何尝不是如此?(rhetorical question)
(3)Man proposes, God disposes. 谋事在人,成事在天。(antithesis)