英语中有关“人”的表达法可谓林林总总，千姿百态。除常规的表达法之外，还有一些常用来指人的特殊表达法。恰当运用这些表达法，能收到出人意外的修辞效果，具有常规表达所无法比拟的语言魅力。现择要归纳如下：

一、可用人体部位指人

1/ He is a valiant heart.

他是个勇敢的人。

2/ Don’t be too hard on him, after all, he is a green hand.

不要对他太苛刻了，他毕竟是个生手（没有经验的人）。

3/ Tickets averaged 2 a / per head.

票价平均每人两镑。

4/ He’s been a leg of the law for two years.

他当律师已经两年了。

5/ He has become a familiar face in Washington, D.C.

他在华盛顿已成为大家熟悉的人物。

二、可用动物指人

1/ The early birds went for a walk along the seashore before breakfast. 

早起的人在早饭前沿着海岸散步。

2/ My brother is a lawyer and my sister is a doctor. They say I’m the black sheep of the family because I decided to be an actor.

我哥哥是律师。我姐姐是医生。他们都说我是家庭中的不肖子，因为我决定当演员。

3/ Mr. John Peyton, Shadow Leader of the Lower House is sometimes whispered of as a dark horse in the Tory leadership stakes.

约翰•佩顿先生是下议院影子内阁的首脑。他有时被人们悄悄地称为保守党党魁角逐中可能爆冷门的人。

4/ He went to college at the age of 13. What a lucky dog!

他十三岁就上大学了，真是个幸运儿。

5/ What have you done, you young monkey! 

你干了些什么，你这个小捣蛋！

三、可用植物指人

1/ She is a blushing violet.

她是位脸红羞怯的人。

2/ I thought he was a good friend but when I really needed his help he was shown to be a broken reed. 

我本以为他是个好朋友，但当我真正需要他的帮助时，才知道他是个靠不住的人。

3/ He says that he dislikes going anywhere with her because she is such a clinging vine. 

他说他不喜欢同她一起出去，因为她是个太依赖男人的女人。

4/ Peter is the apple of his mother’s eye.

彼得是他母亲的心肝宝贵。

四、可用食物指人

1/ He had long known subconsciously that his father was not the clean potato. 

他很久以来就隐约意识到他的父亲不是个正派人。

2/ I can do nothing. I am just a small potato here.

我毫无办法，我在这儿不过是个小人物而已。

3/ There were 25 people on the trip with us, and only Bill never paid for his share of anything or helped with small jobs—he always was a bad egg.

和我们一起旅行的有二十五人，只有比尔从不付帐，也不肯帮一点忙——他一直是个令人讨厌的家伙。

4/ I know that journalists have a bad reputation. A while back on television I was asked what I thought about them, and I said they are the salt of the earth.

我知道当记者的名声不好，不久前在电视上，有人问我对他们看法如何，我说他们是社会的中坚分子。

5/ I heard when I was working on the site that that woman was easy meat. She was in bed and I suppose I kissed her.

我在那儿工作时就听说那女人很容易到手（容易到手的女人）。当时她在睡觉，我大概吻了她一下。

五、可用工具指人

1/ Pens with more time and fluency at their disposal than mine must essay that task.

比我空闲又比我会写的几根笔杆子一定要试试这件差使。

2/ Wherever we have questions, we ask him for help, for he is a walking dictionary. 

每当我们有问题就找他帮忙，因为他是部活字典（知识渊博的人）。

3/ He’s a terrible screw at a bargain.

他在讨价还价上是个心狠手辣的吝啬鬼。

4/ He’s a poor tool at looking after himself.

他是个无用的人，连自己也照顾不了。

六、可用穿戴物品指人

1/ I am not interested in meeting him—I’ve heard that he is a bad hat.

我不想见他——听说他不是个好东西（坏蛋）。

2/ She is a veritable blue stocking , her nose always stuck in a book and her interest devoid of womanly pursuits.

她总是埋头书本，对女人的事一点也不感兴趣，真是个不折不扣的女学究。

3/ She is really a shoe.

她的确是个穿着时髦的人。

七、可用数字指人

1/ I’d like you and your better half to come to our house for a meal one night.

我想请你和你夫人哪一天晚上来我家吃顿便饭。

2/ Compared with the city mayor, he is nothing but a social zero.

与这位市长相比，他只不过是个全无社会地位的无名小卒。

3/ The prime minister is the four hundred of the country. 

总理是该国家的头面人物。