9.1 Analogy和Allegory
9.1A Analogy和Allegory的含義與形式
1) Analogy譯作“類比”,Allegory譯作“諷喻”,兩者都是便于闡述事理的修辭格,即用人們熟悉的事例說明較深的道理,或通過具體形象闡明抽象的概念。
2) 類比是就兩種本質(zhì)上不同的事物之間的共同點加以比較。從結(jié)構(gòu)上看,它常常既有帶比喻的明喻(8.1A),又有直接把本體說成喻體的隱喻(8.2A);它是通過比喻手法的綜合運用來說明道理或情況。例如Alexander Pope曾用類比說明人們的想法、看法何以千差萬別:
It's with our judgments as with our watches; none go just alike, yet each believes his own.
上例表明,類比在形式上很像明喻(有比喻詞as),但區(qū)別在于:作者還進一步說明了產(chǎn)生差別的道理,而不像明喻或隱喻那樣把具體情況統(tǒng)統(tǒng)留給讀者去想象。
下面是Budora Weity在How I Write中所用的一個生動類比:
The inspiration for a story is like “a pull on the line ... the outside signal that has startled or moved the creative mind to complicity and brought the story to active being ...”
作者把小說創(chuàng)作靈感的產(chǎn)生同水中的魚拖動釣線相類比,說明具有創(chuàng)造性的頭腦受到外部信息的觸動、啟發(fā),產(chǎn)生共鳴,并把小說創(chuàng)作出來。
3) 諷喻也叫寓意,是一種比隱喻更為委婉的比喻,其基本形式是以具體形象說明抽象概念,通過具體形象或淺近事實,給人以啟發(fā),引導人們?nèi)フJ清事物的本質(zhì)或深邃的哲理。例如:
There's no rose without a thorn. 玫瑰都有刺——有快樂就有苦惱。
It's time to turn swords into ploughs. 是該把劍變成犁的時候了。(說明應以和平代替戰(zhàn)爭。)
9.1B Analogy的使用
1) 在闡述事理時,把抽象概念具體化,把深奧的哲理淺顯化。例如:
Judicious praise is to children what the sun is to flowers.
明智的贊揚對于孩子的作用,就像陽光對于花朵的作用一樣。
An individual human existence should be like a river — small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.
(Bertrand Russell)
人生應該像一條河——開始是涓涓細流,僅局限于兩岸之間,未免狹窄;然后奔放地沖過巨石,翻越瀑布,慢慢地河面變得開闊,兩岸后移,水面更趨平靜,于是最后毫不猶豫地與大海融為一體,毫無苦楚地喪失自己的存在。
2) 在進行勸說時,通過人們熟悉的事例和易于接受的常理啟發(fā)別人明白什么是應該做的,什么是不應該做的,以及怎樣做才能得到更好的結(jié)果等。
Before you reprehend another, take heed you are not culpable in what you go about to reprehend. He who cleanses a blot with blotted fingers makes a greater blur.
(Quarles)
在指責別人之前,必須注意自己不要犯所要指責的毛病。用臟手擦污跡,只會把污跡弄得更大。
Intellectual assimilation takes time. The mind is not to be enriched as a coal barge is loaded. Whatever is precious in a cargo is carefully on board and carefully placed. Whatever is delicate and fine must be received delicately, and its place in the mind thoughtfully assigned.
(Arlo Bates)
吸收知識要從從容容,不能像駁船裝煤那樣來填塞大腦。我們應小心地把珍貴的貨物搬上船,并謹慎地安放好。吸取精華時必須敏感,而且要在頭腦中加以周密安排。(借駁船裝貨從“反”設比,以反“托”正,喻吸收知識不應囫圇吞棗,而應鑒別精華,分門別類,存入大腦。)
In rivers the water that you touch is the last of that has passed and the first of that which comes: so with time present.
(Leonardo Da Vinci)
你在河流中感觸到的水,既是最后的逝者,又是最先的來者;眼前光陰亦是如此。
3) 在描述客觀情況和介紹事物發(fā)展過程時,能化平淡為生動,變紛繁為簡明。例如:
The cultivation of a hobby and new forms of interest is ... not a business that can be undertaken in a day or swiftly improved by a mere command of the will. The growth of alternative mental interests is a long process. The seeds must be carefully chosen; they must fall on good ground; they must be sedulously tended, if the vivifying fruits are to be at hand when needed.
(Winston Churchill)
培養(yǎng)業(yè)余愛好和新的興趣……不是一朝一夕之功,也不單憑意志便可奏效。培養(yǎng)第二精神愛好是個漫長的過程。如果要使那給人帶來活力的果實在需要之時能信手摘來,就必須細心選擇種子,且播于沃土之中,并予以辛勤照料。
9.1C Allegory的使用
1) Allegory一詞源于希臘語allegoria,意為speaking figuratively,往往利用象征性的虛構(gòu)人物和情節(jié)表示作者對某種人類行為、品性、感情等的看法,這種手法稱之為symbolism allegory,例如像班揚(Bunyan)在《天路歷程》(Pilgrim's Progress)和但?。―ante)在《神曲》(Divine Comedy)中那樣使用擬人化或象征手法引導人們?nèi)フJ識罪惡性的本質(zhì)和必然造成的精神后果?!短炻窔v程》中的主人公Christian “trudged through the Slough of Despond”,其實Christian并非真人,the Slough of Despond也非真正地點,只不過表示一名基督徒的靈魂在人世間的一次經(jīng)歷?!渡袂分械牡‰m是詩人自己,但領(lǐng)著他游覽地獄的卻是羅馬詩人Vergil的幽靈。
布萊克(Blake)的《先知書》(Prophetic Books),勃特勒(Butler)的《烏有鄉(xiāng)》(Erewhon),劉易斯(Lewis)的《朝圣的回歸》(The Pilgrim's Regress),奧威爾(O'well)的《獸園》(Animal Farm)等,和《天路歷程》及《神曲》一樣,都可看作是諷喻作品,或叫做諷喻的擴展形式。英語文學中的勸誡故事、勸世戲和醒世詩等,統(tǒng)稱為“訓教文學”(Didactic Literature),像Henry Brooke在Fool of Quality中強調(diào)道德訓練重于體能訓練,Thomas Day在Sanford and Merton中勸導青年人不僅應具備各項基本美德,還要學習天文、生物、地理、政治經(jīng)濟學等知識。還有詩人Ella Wheeler Wilcox的名句“Laugh and the world Laughs with you; weep and you weep alone.”等,都屬這類型的文學作品,其中許多為人處世之道至今仍不失其現(xiàn)實意義。
2) 諷喻作品中的許多情節(jié)來源于古典神話傳說,被作者用來借古喻今。斯威夫特(Swift)是著名的英國諷喻作家,他寫的《一只澡盆的故事》(The Tale of a Tub)和《格利佛游記》(Guliver's Travels)都是膾炙人口的諷喻名作?!陡窭鹩斡洝分械摹靶∪藝薄ⅰ按笕藝钡惹楣?jié)是影射當時英國社會的專制政治、陰謀詭計和宗教迫害,包括大端派和小端派的宗教斗爭。
3) 英語中許多諺語和格言都是諷喻的精彩范例,它們來自長短不等的故事。例如:“All that glisters is not gold.”這句諺語出自莎士比亞的《威尼斯商人》(The Merchant of Venice):富家女鮑西婭的父親在遺囑中規(guī)定女兒的求婚者必須在金、銀、鉛3只盒子中挑選一個,誰挑中了其中藏有鮑西婭的小像的盒子,誰就可娶他的女兒。求婚者摩洛哥親王打開他所挑到的盒子時,發(fā)現(xiàn)里面是一個死人的骷髏,空眼眶中有張紙條,上面寫著的話就是這條諺語,說明外表美麗的東西不一定都有價值,這和另一條諺語“Never trust appearances.”異曲同工。