一、明喻【Simile】

1、 用like表示

The Great Wall of China, the longest wall in the world, runs across north China like a huge dragon.   

Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass.  【John Ruskin】
He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen for him to crow.  【George

Eliot】

Marriage is like a beleaguered fortress: those who are without want to get

in,and those within want to get out.  【P. M. Quitard】

They will never be able to save money to buy a new house---they both spend

money like water.

2、 用as表示

Every tree and every branch was encrusted with bright and delicate hoarfrost,

white and pure, as snow, delicate and defined as carved ivory.   

His face was as grey as ashes.

As the lion is king of beasts, so is the eagle king of birds.
3、 用what表示
What light is to the eye, knowledge is to the mind.  

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.  

Judicious praise is to the children what the sun is to flowers.
4、 用the way表示   

I should smell it the way a cat smells a mouse.
5、 用might (may) as well…(as)表示
You might as well expect the sun to rise in the west as hope to move me.
You might as well teach a cat to swim as teach him to learn English.
6、 用 (no) more…than / not…any more than表示
A home without love is no more than a body without a soul.
Nations are not to be judged by their size any more than individuals.
7、 用of短语表示
Who might he be, that black pillar of a man? 

Her son is shy of persons;

he is a girl of a boy.
8、 用as if (though)表示
The first time I read an excellent book, it was to me as if I had gained a new friend.
9、 用and表示  

Truth and rose have thorns about them. 

Love and a cough cannot be hid.
二、暗喻【Metaphor】
1、 S＋be＋R
Life is a journey. 

Experience is the mother of wisdom. 

The boy is only skin and bone.
2、 S＋be＋not＋R
Praise is not pudding. 

Knowledge is not always a water that washes away vice.
3、 S---R  

America---the Melting Pot? 

Proverbs in conversation---torches in darkness.
4、 S＋R; /,/  /and/ S＋R
Politeness is required in man; scent is required in a flower.
A mirror is of no use to a blind man, nor knowledge to a man without discernment.
A bird is known by its note and a man by his talk.
5、 No S, no R   

No bees, no honey; no work, no money.  No pains, no gains.
6、 只出现R，不出现S
A silver plate is rising up in the sky. 

The backbone of the team is over there.
7、 名词1＋of＋名词2  

Poor Joe lives in that match-box of a house.
He is young, broad of back, full of vigor, ---really a giant of man.
8、 用动词表示   

Waves thundered against the rocks.  水浪猛烈地拍击着岩岸。
三、拟人法【Personification】
1、 把适应于“人”的动词、形容词来叙述、描写“物”
And the sun looked over the mountain’s rim.  

Life has cheated her. 
Inflation has robbed him of his savings.
2、 把抽象的概念当作“人”写   

He is the flavored child of Fortune. 
Rest, Good Cheer, and Moderate Diet are the three best doctors.
The clock on the wall ticked loudly and lazily, as if it had time to spare.

Outside the rattling windows there was a restless whispering wind.

The room grew light and dark, and wondrous light again, as the moon played hide-and seek through the clouds.
3、 把无形的“物”当作“人”写
One day the sun and the wind had a quarrel. 

The wind sighed in the treetops.
Laziness travels so slowly, that poverty soon overtakes him.  【B. Franklin】
Liquor talks mighty loud when it gets loose from the jug.
A lie can travel half away around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. 【Twain】
The twentieth century is only the nineteenth speaking with a slightly American accent.
4、 把有生“物”当作“人”写
The bear said, “Don’t trust those who leave their friends the moment they get into difficulty.”
5、 把适用于“人”的称谓用于“物”，并用人称代词来指代它
China will always do what she has promised to do.
The “Victory” is due in tomorrow, isn’t she?
四、夸张【Hyperbole】
1、 使用数词
She is sitting here, but her mind is a hundred miles away.  

I beg you a thousand pardons.
Today’s life is one thousand times better than that of pre-liberation days.
He will leave a bad name for ten thousand years. 

We enjoy every minute of the play.
2、 使用形容词和副词的最高级形式
“I’m the happiest man in the world,” he whispered to himself. 

It is a most touching story.
3、 使用表示否定意义的词
The confusion was indescribable. 

Guilin’s beauty is beyond praise. 
That’s an unlimited expanse of ocean. 

We will never parley; we will never negotiate.
4、 使用名词或名词重复
He was confronted with a difficulty of difficulties.  

He committed the sin of sins.
5、 使用形容词
The cost mounted to astronomical figures. a. 庞大的, 天文学的, 天文数字的

He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of China.   a. 百科全书的(各种学科的)
6、 使用动词  

Blood streams down from his forehead.  

Tanks thundered down the road.
7、 使用短语
She shed a flood of tears. 

There is a world of differences between these two cities.
8、 借助其他修辞方式的夸张   

The news came like a bolt from the blue.
五、曲言【Litotes or Understatement】
1、 轻描淡写 ( 用rather, quite, pretty, almost, a bit代替very )
She’s rather good-looking.  He has written quite a number of novels.  My friend was a bit upset by his son’s death.  She was a little annoyed when she found her valuable vase broken.
2、 用反说代替正说 ( 常用含蓄的否定的方式，常使用no, not, never, none, little, hardly等)
The man is no fool.  He has no small chance of success.  I couldn’t be happier.
His teacher said he wasn’t very bright and that he wasn’t worth teaching.
He conducted the experiment with no little enthusiasm.  Similar mistakes are not uncommon.
3、 弦外之音 ( 婉转说法，用于代替直言不讳)
The beauty of Guilin is more than I can describe. 

You should have been here earlier.
六、委婉语【Euphemism】
使用对方比较容易接受的词语或语句，来表达作者或说者真实的认识、态度和感情。
    He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes, and when we came back we found him in an armchair, peacefully gone to sleep---but forever.  

The girl is hard of hearing. 
She is in the family way.  She is expecting. 

Thank you for not picking the flowers.
    And, it being low water, he went out with the tide.  【Charles Dickens】
    If you will allow me, I will call your marriage for you.  【Oscar Wilde】
    The boy used to take things without permission [偷窃] and has just been out of the rehabilitation home [康复中心 (教养所)] in the country.
    I’m afraid she can’t act that part--- she is a little on the plump side. [有些发福]
    He was both out of pocket and out of spirits by that catastrophe, failed in his health and prophesied the speedy ruin of the empire.  【Thackeray: Vanity Fair】
    We have come here to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who have gave their lives that that nation might live. 【Lincoln:  Gettysburg Address】
    ** disabled; handicapped; inconvenienced; auditory-impaired; sight-deprived; feel one’s age.
七、借代【Metonymy】
1、 可以突出事物的特征，增强语言的形象性 
The river is crowded with masts. 河中帆樯林立。   船桅，旗杆
2、 可以使文章简洁明快
Then the surgeon cut me open and took out the appendix.  

He is meeting the press now.
3、 可以使语言生动有变化，不死板
Wall Street  华尔街(位于纽约市,为美国金融中心)

the White House  白宫，美国政府的代表

Downing Street  1. 唐宁街(伦敦街名)2. 英国政府(内阁)

the Pentagon   五角大楼，即美国国防部总部
4、 可以充分抒发作者的感情，鲜明表现作者的立场
Please drink a cup or two. 

There is a mixture of the tiger and the ape in the character of a Frenchman.  

The kettle is boiling. 

The pen is mightier than the sword. 

Have you read Dickens and Scott?  

Were it not for your help, I should have met my Waterloo.
八、双关【Pun】[谐音双关、语义双关]
1、 利用一词多义现象
--- Why may carpenters reasonably believe there is no such thing as stone?
--- Because they never saw one.
--- Why is a river always rich? 

--- Because it always has two banks.
2、 借助成语
--- Why is crow the bravest bird in the world?  --- Because it never shows the white feather.
--- What weather do mice most dislike?  --- When it’s raining cats and dogs.
3、 借助上下文，进行各种联想
A little boy came to his mother. “Ma,” he said, “I have something to tell you. My teacher kissed me.”   “Well, were you a good boy and did you kiss her back?”
“Of course not!” he denied indignantly. “I kissed her face.”
九、轭式搭配法【Zeugma】
是用一个词 (通常V, Adj, Prep) 同时支配或修饰两个或两个以上的名词，但其中只有一个搭配是合乎逻辑的，而另一个搭配是牵强附会，不合逻辑的。
1、 一个动词支配两个名词
At noon Mrs. Turpin got out of bed and humor, put on Kimono, airs, and the water to boil for coffee.  …起床了,也不太高兴；穿上和服，装出气派，放上水壶烧水冲咖啡。
Mr. Pickwick took his hat and his leave. She possessed two false teeth and a sympathetic heart.
2、 一个形容词修饰两个名词
It is better to have a patched jacket than to have a patched character.
Yesterday he had a blue heart and coat.  They have gone with weeping eyes and hearts.
3、 一个介词与两个名词连用
Miss Bolo rose from the table considerably agitated, and went straight home, in a flood of tears and a sedan chair.  She was dressed in a maid’s cap, a pinafore, and a bright smile.
十、反语【Irony】
用一种相反的话来表达自己的意思。常含讥讽、厌恶、不满、责难、威胁等感情色彩
1、 注意整个语言环境的烘托和上下文呼应
“You’re telling stories! But what’s the central point?” said he ironically.
---Daniel said, “I told Tom not to do such a silly thing, but he turned a deaf ear to my advice.”
---“Humph! Let him do it!”
2、 所说明的事物必须是大家所熟悉的
Robbing a widow of her savings was certainly a noble act.
“I don’t care about it,” said Tom. “But much I care!” Mary sneered.
The public is wonderfully tolerant--- it forgives everything except genius. 【Wilde】
His designs were strictly honorable; that is to rob a lady of her fortune by way of marriage.
Chivalry is going about releasing beautiful maidens from other men’s castle, and taking them to your own castle.  

He was such a marvelous teacher that whenever he recognized a spark of genius you could be sure he’d water it. 
3、 可用反诘【rhetorical question】来表示反语
Who can care for her?  Why are you driving so fast? Don’t you know the traffic regulations?
4、 口头上常用特殊的语调表示反语，书面上常用斜体字，黑体字或词语下面加横线表明。
“Do I love him? Who wouldn’t love a cheat, a liar, and a scoundrel?”
十一、递升法【Climax】
运用这种修辞手法，能够使要表达的思想加深，感情逐步强化，因而能够增强语言的说服力和感染力
1、 以程度的深浅，语意的轻重的顺序来排列语句
I am sorry, I am so very sorry, I am so extremely sorry.  

I admire her, I love her, I need her.
When we heard the good news, we clapped their hands, sang and danced and jumped for joy.
2、 以范围的大小顺序来排列语句
He wanted to educate his children, serve this country, and satisfy his God.
He gazed upon the pretty houses, green hills and the broad Pacific.
3、 以时间的先后顺序来排列语句  

They came, they played, they conquered. 
The prisoner was first questioned, then tortured, and finally shot.
【递降法 Anticlimax】
He lost his empire, his family and his fountain pen.
A woman who could face the very devil…or a mouse--- lose his grip and goes all to piece in front of flash of lightning.  [Mark Twain]