Figures of speech (修辞)are ways of making our language figurative. When we use words in other than their ordinary or literal sense to lend force to an idea, to heighten effect, or to create suggestive imagery, we are said to be speaking or writing figuratively. Now we are going to talk about some common forms of figures of speech.
1) Simile：(明喻）It is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic (特性)in common. To make the comparison, words like as, as...as, as if and like are used to transfer the quality we associate with one to the other. For example, As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
2) Metaphor：(暗喻）It is like a simile, also makes a comparison between two unlike elements, but unlike a simile, this comparison is implied rather than stated. For example, the world is a stage.
3) Analogy: (类比）It is also a form of comparison, but unlike simile or metaphor which usually uses comparison on one point of resemblance, analogy draws a parallel between two unlike things that have several common qualities or points of resemblance.
4) Personification: (拟人）It gives human form of feelings to animals, or life and personal attributes(赋予) to inanimate(无生命的) objects, or to ideas and abstractions(抽象). For example, the wind whistled through the trees.
5) Hyperbole: (夸张） It is the deliberate use of overstatement or exaggeration to achieve emphasis. For instance, he almost died laughing.
6) Understatement: (含蓄陈述） It is the opposite of hyperbole, or overstatement. It achieves its effect of emphasizing a fact by deliberately(故意地) understating it, impressing the listener or the reader more by what is merely implied or left unsaid than by bare statement. For instance, It is no laughing matter.
7) Euphemism: (委婉） It is the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive(无冒犯) expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. For instance, we refer to "die" as " pass away".
8) Metonymy (转喻） It is a figure of speech that has to do with the substitution of the mane of one thing for that of another. For instance, the pen (words) is mightier than the sword (forces).
9) Synecdoche (提喻） It is involves the substitution of the part for the whole, or the whole for the part. For instance, they say there's bread and work for all. She was dressed in silks.
10) Antonomasia (换喻）It has also to do with substitution. It is not often mentioned now, though it is still in frequent use. For example, Solomon for a wise man. Daniel for a wise and fair judge. Judas for a traitor.
11) Pun: (双关语） It is a play on words, or rather a play on the form and meaning of words. For instance, a cannon-ball took off his legs, so he laid down his arms. (Here "arms" has two meanings: a person's body; weapons carried by a soldier.)
12) Syllepsis: (一语双叙） It has two connotations.
In the first case, it is a figure by which a word, or a particular form or inflection of a word, refers to two or more words in the same sentence, while properly applying to or agreeing with only on of them in grammar or syntax(句法). For example, He addressed you and me, and desired us to follow him. (Here us is used to refer to you and me.)
In the second case, it a word may refer to two or more words in the same sentence. For example, while he was fighting , and losing limb and mind, and dying, others stayed behind to pursue education and career. (Here to losing one's limbs in literal; to lose one's mind is figurative, and means to go mad.)
13) Zeugma: (轭式搭配） It is a single word which is made to modify or to govern two or more words in the same sentence, wither properly applying in sense to only one of them, or applying to them in different senses. For example, The sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night. (Here noon is not strong enough to burn)
14) Irony: (反语） It is a figure of speech that achieves emphasis by saying the opposite of what is meant, the intended meaning of the words being the opposite of their usual sense. For instance, we are lucky, what you said makes me feel real good.
15) Innuendo: (暗讽） It is a mild form of irony, hinting in a rather roundabout (曲折)way at something disparaging(不一致) or uncomplimentary(不赞美) to the person or subject mentioned. For example, the weatherman said it would be worm. He must take his readings in a bathroom.
16) Sarcasm: (讽刺） It Sarcasm is a strong form of irony. It attacks in a taunting and bitter manner, and its aim is to disparage, ridicule and wound the feelings of the subject attacked. For example, laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps break through.
17) Paradox: (似非而是的隽语） It is a figure of speech consisting of a statement or proposition which on the face of it seems self-contradictory, absurd or contrary to established fact or practice, but which on further thinking and study may prove to be true, well-founded, and even to contain a succinct point. For example more haste, less speed.
18) Oxymoron: (矛盾修饰） It is a compressed paradox, formed by the conjoining(结合) of two contrasting, contradictory or incongruous(不协调) terms as in bitter-sweet memories, orderly chaos(混乱) and proud humility(侮辱).
19) Antithesis: (对照） It is the deliberate arrangement of contrasting words or ideas in balanced structural forms to achieve emphasis. For example, speech is silver; silence is golden.
20) Epigram: (警句） It states a simple truth pithily(有利地) and pungently(强烈地). It is usually terse and arouses interest and surprise by its deep insight into certain aspects of human behavior or feeling. For instance, Few, save the poor, feel for the poor.
21) Climax: (渐进） It is derived from the Greek word for "ladder" and implies the progression of thought at a uniform or almost uniform rate of significance or intensity, like the steps of a ladder ascending evenly. For example, I came, I saw, I conquered.
22) Anti-climax or bathos: (突降）It is the opposite of Climax. It involves stating one's thoughts in a descending order of significance or intensity, from strong to weak, from weighty to light or frivolous. For instance, But thousands die, without or this or that, die, and endow(赋予) a college, or a cat.
23) Apostrophe： (顿呼） In this figure of speech, a thing, place, idea or person (dead or absent) is addressed as if present, listening and understanding what is being said. For instance, England! awake! awake! awake!
24) Transferred Epithet: (转类形容词） It is a figure of speech where an epithet (an adjective or descriptive phrase) is transferred from the noun it should rightly modify(修饰) to another to which it does not really apply or belong. For instance, I spent sleepless nights on my project.
25) Alliteration: (头韵） It has to do with the sound rather than the sense of words for effect. It is a device that repeats the same sound at frequent intervals(间隔) and since the sound repeated is usually the initial consonant sound, it is also called "front rhyme". For instance, the fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, the furrow followed free.
26) Onomatopoeia: (拟声） It is a device that uses words which imitate the sounds made by an object (animate or inanimate), or which are associated with or suggestive(提示的) of some action or movement.
Selected from Figures of Speech by Feng Cuihua
常见的英语用as...as表示的明喻形式
as absurd(荒唐) as putting together the pieces of vase
as bare as the back of one hand/a picked bone
as bald(秃) as a coot
as black as coal/ink/jet/midnight/pitch/soot/Styx/
as blind as a bat/beetle/mole
as bold as brass/a lion
as brave as a lion
as bright as a day/noonday/silver
as brittle as glass
as brown as berry
as busy as a bee
as changeable as weather/a clock/the moon
as cheerful as a lark
as clear as a bell/a day/crystal/ daylight/the nose on your face
as close as a clam/an oyster
as common as dirty
as cold as ice/marble/a stone/a cucumber/a key/charity/frog
as cool as a cucumber
as cross as a bear
as cunning(狡猾) as a fox
as dark as pitch
as dead as a door nail/mutton
as deaf as a post/a beetle/an adder
as deep as a wall
as different as chalk from cheese
as distinct as a day and night
as dry as dust/a stick/a bone/a biscuit
as drunk as a lord/a mouth/a sane
as dumb as a statue/an oyster/a fish
as dull as sawdust/cold dish water
as easy as ABC/lying/milking/shelling peas/my eye/an old shoe/going down the river/chasing a cow out of a meadow/pie/anything
as empty as a drum
as fair as a rose
as far as the eye could see
as fat as a pit/butter
as fierce as a tiger
as firm as rock
as fit as a flea/a fiddle
as flat as a pancake/a board
as free as a bird/air
as fleet (swift) as a deer
as fresh as a rose/a daisy
as gay as a lark
as gaudy(华丽) as a butterfly/a peacock
as gentle as a lamb
as good as gold/a play
as graceful as a swan
as grave as a judge
as greedy as a dog/a wolf/a pig
as green as grass
as gruff(粗暴) as a bear
as happy as a lark/the day is long/a king
as hard as flint/marble/a stone/iron/nails
as harmless as a dove
as heavy as a lead
as healthy as the fresh wind
as hoarse(嘶哑) as a crow
as hot as fire/pepper
as hungry as a wolf/a hunter
as innocent(天真) as a dove
as keen as mustard(芥母)
as large as life
as light as air/a butterfly/a feather/a cork/thistledown/
as like as two peas/two drops of water/two pees/chalk and cheese
as loose as a rope of sand
as loud as thunder
as mad as a March hare/a hatter（帽商）
as mean(卑鄙) as Scrooge
as merry as a cricket
as motionless as statue
as mute as a fish/mice
as nimble(灵巧) as a squirrel
as noise as a mynah
as obstinate as a mule
as old as the hills
as pale as death/wax/a ghost
as patient as an ox
as plain as the nose on one's face/a pikestaff
as pleased as Punch
as playful as a kitten
as plentiful as blackberries
as plump（胖）as a partridge(鹌鹑）
as poor as a church mouse/a beggar
as pretty as a picture
as proud as a peacock
as pure as the world of all
as quick as lightning/thought
as quiet as a lamb/a mouse
as rapid as lightning
as red as fire/a rose/a cheery/blood/beetroot
as regular as clockwork
as rich as Jesus/Croesus
as rigid as a stone
as ripe as a cherry
as round as an apple /a glob/a barrel
as salty as a herring
as sharp as a needle/razor
as silent as a dead/the stars/the grave/sphinx/a morgue
as silly as a goose/a sheep
as slender as a gossamer（蜘蛛）
as slippery as an eel
as sly as a fox
as slow as a tortoise
as smooth as butter/oil/glass/velvet
as sober(严肃) as a judge
as soft as butter/silk/wax/down(绒毛）
as sound as a bell
as sour as a crab/vinegar
as steady as a rock
as stiff as a poke/a post/death/ a grave
as tough as leather /nails
as straight as an arrow
as tricky（聪明） as a monkey
as strong as a horse/a lion
as true as steel
as stubborn(固执) as a mule
as stupid as a donkey
as sure as death
as surely as the night follows the day
as sweet as honey/sugar
as swift as an arrow/lightning/the wind
as tall as a maypole/a steeple/a poplar
as tame(驯服) as a cat
as tender as chicken
as thick as cable/hail/a stone/ porridge/a wall
as thin as rake/ water/shipping post/a bag of bones/a lath
as timid as a hare/a rabbit/mice
as tough as leather/bulls
as tricky as a monkey
as true as steel
as ugly as scare/a crow/a toad
as unstable as the very devil
as vain as water/a peacock
as warm as taost
as watchful as a hawk
as weak as baby/a cat/kitten
as wet as water/a drowned cat
as white as snow/sheet/wool/flour
as wise as Solomon/a serpent/an owl
as yielding(服从) as wax
常见的英语象声词
1)有关动物的象声词
apes: (猿）gibber叽哩咕噜
asses: (驴)bray, heehaw
babies: cry
bear: growl
bees: buzz, hum, murmur, drone
beetles(甲虫): drone
birds: chatter, chirp, chirrup, flap, peck, sing, squawk, twitter,
bulls: bellow, bow
camels: grunt
cats: miaow, mew, purr
cattle: low
chicken: cheep, peep, pip
chicks: cheep
child: chatter
cock: crow, cock-a-doodle-do
cows: boo, low, moo, moo,
crickets(蟋蟀): chirp
crows: caw, croak
deer: beat
dogs: bark, bay, bow-wow, grow, how, whine, yap, yelp
donkeys: bray, hee-haw
doves: coo, crood, croud, croodle
ducks: quack, screech
eagle: scream
elephants: trumpet
flies: buzz, hum, drone
foxes: yelp, bark
frogs: croak
geese: cackle, gabble, gaggle, hiss
goats: bleat, baa
hawks: scream,
hens: cackle, chuckle
horse: whiney, nicker, neigh, snort,
hounds: bay
insects: chirp
kittens(小猫): mew
larks(百灵): sing, warble
lions: roar
magpies（喜鹊）: chatter
man: giggle, hem(哼)，ouch, hush, mumble, chatter, bravo, murmur, whisper
mice: peep, squeak
monkeys: chatter, japer, screech, chatter
mosquitoes: buzz, hum, drom
night eagles: ner
owls: hoot, scream, screech, whop
owls: hoot, screech, scream
ox: bo, how, moo
parrots: talk, quack
pigeons: coo, crood, croodle
pigs crowd
puppies: yelp
rabbits: suqeak
seagulls(海鸥): scream
sheep: bleat, baa
snakes: hiss
sparrows: chatter, chirp, twitter
swallows: twitter
swans: cry
tigers: roar, groul, gaoll
turkeys: gobble
vultures(秃鹫): scream
whales: blow
wide goose(大雁): honk
wolves: howl growl
2)有关物体的象声词
abacus(算盘) balls: pit-a-pat, pita pat
arrows: whistle, whiz
artillery(大炮): booms
balls: bounce
bank notes: rustle
bayonets: clink and clash
beats: pit-a-pat, pita pat, thump, thud, patter
bellows(风箱): flip-flap
bells: clink, clang, jingle, jingle-jangles-jingle, ding dong.
bikes: jangle
boots(皮靴): crunch
bottles: crack, crick-crack, rattle
bow string: snap
bowels: rumble
brakes: screech
branches: snap
breeze: puffs
bullets: whistle, whiz, zip
buses: rattle, hoot, and thump
cameras: snick
candles: splutter
cars: crash, toot(horn)
carts: rumble, creak
cattle: low
chains: clank
clocks: ding dang, tick, ticktack, tic tak
clothes: rustle
coins: jingle
cooking pots: sizzle
cords: pop
curtains: flap
dishes: ding dang, jingle, clatter
doors: creak, rat-tat-tat, rat tattoo, rattle,
drums: rub-a-dub, rataplan
dry leaves: rustle
eating: slurp
engines: chug, chum, whistle
feet: chatter, tramp
fingers snap
fire crackers: bang, pup
fire snap
flags: flap flutter
floor: creak
glass: crash, clinks,
gongs: ding-dang
guns pup, boom, click
hands: clap, flick
high heal shoes: click
horns: toot
horse's hooves: dip-clop
jade: tickle
keys: clink
knife and fork: clack
leather shoes: click-clack
leaves: whisper, rustle,
locks: snap, click,
locomotive(火车头): puff
machines: buzz,
machines guns: rattle, chatter, tat-rat, tat-tat-tat
metal: ting, clash, clink, tinkle, jing dong, ticktack
mind: buzz
oil: sizzle
paper: rustle
planes: zoom, crash,
radios: squeak
rain: patters, pit-pat-pit-pat
rifle: crack, pop
ropes: crack, snap, pop
scissors: clip-clop
silk: rustle
snow: spatters
steam: hoop, hoos, hoot
stick: swish
stomach: rumble
stones: smack, flop
tears: plop
teeth: chatter
telephone: ring, jangle
thunder: clap, peal, rumble,
tongue: click
trains: rattle, clatter, whistle, murmur
trumps(号): toot
trucks: rumble, grunt
type writers: tap, clatter
watches: tick, ticktack
water: babbles, bubbles, drip-draps, splashes, sizzles, spish-splash, hiss,
wheels: rumble, crunch, whir
whips(鞭子): flick, smack, snap, swish
whistles: whack
wind: haot, toot, howl, rattle, sough
windows: rattle