英文写作手册中文翻译(13)

3. 拟人

Personification is a figure of speech in which human beings are compared to inanimate things or vice versa. Being new, original and impressive, personification can make an abstract truth more vivid and expressive.

拟人是一种修辞方法，把人比喻为无生命的事物或正相反。因其新颖、独特、感人，拟人使抽象的事实更生动并富有表现力。

In the following sentences human attributes are given to abstract qualities, to objects or to animals:

下列句子中人的特征被描写成抽象的品质、物体或动物： Action speaks louder than words. 事实胜于雄辩。

Walls have ears. 隔墙有耳。

Failure is the mother of success. 失败是成功之母。

a walking dictionary(cf. a living dictionary; know-it-all) 活字典（比较a living dictionary：活字典; know-it-all：万事通）

an old stick-in-the mud(cf. old diehard; old fogey)

一个老顽固(比较old diehard老顽固；old fogey老顽固）

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A rolling stone gathers no moss. (cf. constant change of one’s profession accumulates no wealth.)

滚石不生苔（比较constant change of one’s profession accumulates no wealth.转业不聚财）

The autumn wind is sighing. 秋风在叹息。

Spring awakened, and all nature smiled. 春天苏醒了，万物笑逐颜开。 Clothes can make the man. 人要衣装。 Dusk came stealthily. 黄昏悄悄地来了。

This time fate was smiling to him. 这次命运朝他微笑了。

Thunder roared and a pouring rain started. 雷声轰鸣，下起倾盆大雨。

A lie goes halfway around the world before truth has time to get its trousers on.

真相还来不及穿上裤子，谎言已经传遍了半个世界。 The match will soon be over and defeat is staring us in the face.

比赛很快就要结束了，失败正盯着我们的脸。

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Money won’t buy time. 寸金难买寸光阴。

Fortune smiled on me; I got the scholarship. 命运之神对我微笑；我得到了奖学金。

Flu/SARS stalked about, touching one here and there with his evil finger.

流感/严重急性呼吸道综合症猖獗蔓延，用邪恶的手指到处伤人。

In poetry personification is very common: 诗歌中拟人很常见： Edelweiss, edelweiss, Every morning you greet me. Small and white, Clean and bright,

You look happy to meet me. 雪绒花，雪绒花， 每天清晨迎接我 小而白， 洁又亮，

见到我你面露喜色。 Youth is hot and bold, Age is weak and cold;

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Youth is wild, and Age is tame. 青春热烈鲁莽， 年老软弱冷漠； 青春狂野，年老温顺。

（cf. The old man is like the setting sun;

the young man, the morning sun.

The old man is like a lean ox;

the young man, a cub tiger.

The old man is like a monk; the young man, a knight. The old man is like a dictionary;

the young man, the text of a play.)

——William Shakespeare

（比较：老人如落日；

青年如晨光。 老人如瘦牛； 青年如幼虎。 老人如僧侣； 青年如骑士。 老人如字典； 青年如剧本。 ——威廉?莎士比亚）

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4. Metonymy 4. 转喻

Metonymy is a figure of speech in which the name of one thing is substituted for another associated with or suggested by it. The thing spoken of and the thing meant may be wholly unlike, but the relation between them is such that the mention of one suggests the other,

转喻是一件事物的名称被另一个相关事物代替或暗示的比喻形式。提到的事物和意味着的事物可能完全不像，但它们间的关联已到了提及一个暗示另一个的程度。

e.g. “The drunkard likes his bottle.” Here there is no resemblance, but very close relation.

例如“酒鬼爱杯中物。”这里的酒瓶和酒并无相似之处，但关系非常密切。

In writing when metonymy is well employed, brevity and vividness may be achieved:

恰当使用转喻，体现作品的简洁生动： The early bird catches the worm. 早起的鸟儿有虫吃。 Rats desert a sinking ship. 船沉鼠先逃（树倒猢狲散）

Any ox that can pull the plough is a good ox, whether it’s red

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