SAT“新奇”修辞手法之understatement
understatement(低调陈述) 讲解英语中低调陈述的用法

2)以反说代替正说
Understatement 常用的表现方法
2)以反说代替正说
可以减轻说话者的语气和对事物的评价, 避免绝对化。
这种方式,常使用no, not, never, none以及否 定词缀等否定词或否定表达方法来表述肯定 的内容,very good 可以用not bad 来代替,这 种表达方式在修辞学中叫做“曲言 法”Litotes
Paradox Hyperbole & Understatement
08英语教育一班 全金鑫 车顺花 李英 李有丽 金美娜
How would you describe them?
Please make a sentence.
It is not polite to say that they are
Please read P135 and P156 after class to find more examples.
Understatement 常用的表现方法
He is something of Hamlet in politics.
(政治上他有点像哈姆雷特) 借助something of 显示出讽刺的意味,言外之意是“他 优柔寡断、心慈手软,注定要成为哈姆雷特式的悲剧性 人物”
3)用弦外音委婉表达。
A more suitable man for the work could scarcely have been found.
What’s the meaning of this sentence? please explain it according to your own opinion. Please read P136 and P137 after class to find more examples
修辞手法-低调陈述

8. 低调陈述UNDERSTATEMENT1. 定义Understatement: It is a restrained statement in ironic contrast to what might be said, a studied avoidance of explicit emphasis or exaggeration (WED);A statement which fails below the truth or fact (OED). Understatement (低调陈述)是恰与Hyperbole (夸张)相对的一种修辞格。
其基本用法是,在陈述事物时有意采取低调,抑制措辞,轻描淡写,借含蓄与弱化的语言形式表示强调。
因为英国男人喜欢把话说得委婉一些,温和一些,故把Understatement称为男性语言(males speech),而把Hyperbole称为女性语言(female speech) 。
Understatement的表达形式有Litotes和Meiosis两类。
2.表达方式(1)Litotes(间接肯定法)或(曲言法)Litotes: A figure of speech in which an affirmative is expressed by the negation of its opposite (AHD); Understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary. (WED)Litotes就是以反说代替正说,即采用否定事物的反面这样一种结构,构成间接肯定。
更明确地说,就是在某些词前加一个否定词来达到强烈的间接肯定。
间接肯定给人的印象往往比直接肯定更深刻一些,因此,它能广泛地用于文学作品和政论文中。
As lean was his horse as is a rake,And he was not right fat.I undertake. ( G. Chaucer )他的马瘦得像钉钯,骨骼清晰,而他也不那么胖我敢担保,真的不胖。
新SAT写作修辞手法

新SAT写作修辞手法新SAT写作要求大家不仅要分析文章的论据和推理方式,而且对修辞手法的掌握也是一大考察点。
下面文都国际教育小编给大家讲解新SAT写作手法的具体内容,希望对大家有所帮助。
1. overstatement and understatement夸张和低调陈述In overstatement the diction exaggerates the subject, and in understatement the words play down the magnitude or value of the subject. Overstatement is also called hyperbole.Overstatement是故意“夸大其辞”,“化小为大”,是deliberately maximize the importance和play up;Understatement则是故意“夸大其辞”,“化大为小‘,是deliberately minimize the importance和play down;夸张是为了强调故意夸大事实,用来抒发作者的强烈情感,表达自己的深刻感受。
这是一种艺术手法,运用这种修辞格必须使人一听就知道是夸张,同时要有语言的感染力,能够引起人们的想象,却不能使人误以为真,它是英语中的常见修辞手法之一。
Understatement是故意使用有节制的措辞来陈述事实,故意轻描淡写,借低调与弱化语言形式来表示强调。
它是与overstatement相对的一种修辞格。
Both aim at the same effect: to make the statement or description impressiveor interesting.eg: She is dying to know what job has been assigned her.It took a few dollars to build this indoor swimming pool.2. Transfereed Epithet移情An epithet is an adjective or descriptive phrase that serves to characterize somebody or something. A transferred epithet is one that is shifted from the noun it logically modifies to a word associated with that noun. When one sats that the has had a busy day, one is using such a figure of speech. For it is the person, not the day, that is busy.移情就是把通常修饰甲类名词的形容词转而修饰乙类名词,从而达到生动的效果。
什么是低调陈述(understatement)

什么是低调陈述Understatementis a form of speech which contains an expression of less strength than would beexpected. This is not to be confused witheuphemism, where a polite phrase is usedin place of aharsher or more offensive expression.低调陈述英语解释为understatementUnderstatement is the opposite of overstatement in that it misrepresents the truth by deliberatelyunderstating it as opposed to exaggerating it.简单来说,低调陈述与夸张正好相反。
如:the face wasn't a bad one; it had what they called charm.这个句子中,the face wasn't a bad one就是采用了低调陈述的手法,实际意思就是:the face wasa very good one.就像中文中有人问起自己妻子的相貌,丈夫会谦虚的说:不丑。
而这个“不丑”也隐含了一层意思就是:很漂亮。
这就是低调陈述。
明抑暗扬的understatement(低调陈述)先看《大学英语·精读》第四册七单元课文中有这样一句话:We are none of us getting any younger.我们都不年轻啦。
这个句子通过对younger的否定来表示对该词的反义词older的肯定,其本意是:We are bothof us getting much old.这是英语中常见的一种修辞方法,称之为understatement(低调陈述)。
什么是低调陈述(understatement)

什么是低调陈述Understatement is a form of speech which contains an expression of less strength than would be expected. This is not to be confused with euphemism, where a polite phrase is used in place of a harsher or more offensive expression.低调陈述英语解释为understatementUnderstatement is the opposite of overstatement in that it misrepresents the truth by deliberately understating it as opposed to exaggerating it.简单来说,低调陈述与夸张正好相反。
如:the face wasn't a bad one; it had what they called charm.这个句子中,the face wasn't a bad one就是采用了低调陈述的手法,实际意思就是:the face was a very good one. 就像中文中有人问起自己妻子的相貌,丈夫会谦虚的说:不丑。
而这个“不丑”也隐含了一层意思就是:很漂亮。
这就是低调陈述。
明抑暗扬的understatement (低调陈述)先看《大学英语·精读》第四册七单元课文中有这样一句话:We are none of us getting any younger.我们都不年轻啦。
这个句子通过对younger 的否定来表示对该词的反义词older的肯定,其本意是:We are both of us getting much old. 这是英语中常见的一种修辞方法,称之为understatement(低调陈述)。
什么是低调陈述(understatement)

什么是低调陈述Understatementis a form of speech which contains an expression of less strength than would beexpected. This is not to be confused witheuphemism, where a polite phrase is usedin place of aharsher or more offensive expression.低调陈述英语解释为understatementUnderstatement is the opposite of overstatement in that it misrepresents the truth by deliberatelyunderstating it as opposed to exaggerating it.简单来说,低调陈述与夸张正好相反。
如:the face wasn't a bad one; it had what they called charm.这个句子中,the face was n't a bad one就是采用了低调陈述的手法,实际意思就是:the face wasa very good one就像中文中有人问起自己妻子的相貌,丈夫会谦虚的说:不丑。
而这个“不丑”也隐含了一层意思就是:很漂亮。
这就是低调陈述。
明抑暗扬的understatement (低调陈述)先看《大学英语精读》第四册七单元课文中有这样一句话:We are none of us getting any younger.我们都不年轻啦。
这个句子通过对younger的否定来表示对该词的反义词older的肯定,其本意是:We are bothof us getti ng much old.这是英语中常见的一种修辞方法,称之为understatement (低调陈述)。
understatement名词解释英美文学

understatement名词解释英美文学
摘要:
1.什么是understatement
2.Understatement 在英美文学中的应用
3.Understatement 的作用和效果
正文:
Understatement,中文译为“轻描淡写”,是一种在英美文学中常见的修辞手法。
它指的是在表达某个观点或情感时,使用淡漠、轻描淡写的语言,而不是直接、激烈地表达。
这种修辞手法常常能够达到意想不到的效果,使读者在阅读过程中产生更多的想象空间,增强文学作品的艺术魅力。
在英美文学中,understatement 的应用非常广泛。
许多著名的作家和诗人都善于使用这种修辞手法,如海明威、福克纳、艾略特等。
在他们的作品中,understatement 常常被用来描绘战争、死亡、爱情等主题,以达到一种深刻的、内敛的表达效果。
例如,海明威在《老人与海》中写到老人与大马林鱼的斗争,他用轻描淡写的笔调描绘了这场艰苦的斗争,却让读者深深感受到了老人坚韧不拔的精神。
Understatement 的作用和效果主要体现在以下几个方面。
首先,它可以使文学作品的表达更加含蓄、委婉,增加读者的阅读兴趣。
其次,它可以深化文学作品的主题,使读者在阅读过程中产生更多的思考。
最后,它可以提高文学作品的艺术价值,使其在审美上更具吸引力。
总的来说,understatement 是一种重要的修辞手法,它在英美文学中发
挥着重要的作用。
SAT--修辞手法总结

Allegory讽喻:The term loosely describes any writing in verse or prose that has a double meaning. This narrative acts as an extended metaphor in which persons, abstract ideas, or events represent not only themselves on the literal level, but they also stand for something else on the symbolic level.An allegorical reading usually involves moral or spiritual concepts that may be more significant than the actual, literal events described in a narrative. Typically, an allegory involves the interaction of multiple symbols, which together create a moral, spiritual, or even political meaning.Probably the most famous allegory in English literature is John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678), in which the hero named Christian flees the City of Destruction and travels through the V alley of the Shadow of Death, V anity Fair, DoubtingCastle, and finally arrives at the CelestialCity. The entire narrative is a representation of the human soul's pilgrimage through temptation and doubt to reach salvation in heaven.Alliteration头韵: Repeating a consonant sound in close proximity to others, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound. For instance, the phrase "buckets of big blue berries"alliterates with the consonant b.押头韵技巧在一般英美报刊也得到了普遍使用。
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SAT“新奇”修辞手法之understatement
在SAT常考的修辞方法中,除了metaphor,analogy,personification这些我们中国考生比较熟悉的修辞手法之外,还有一些很常见的但是却有些令大家摸不着头脑的修辞方法。
我们总结了若干这样“新奇”的修辞手法,推出SAT“新奇”修辞手法系列,帮助大家攻克写作手法的难关。
understatement低调陈述
首先我们要解释的问题是:什么叫understatement? understatement是指“a statement that is not strong enough to express facts or feelings with full force(语气不够强,不足以表达事实或感情的陈述)。
A Dictionary of Literary Terms所给的解释是:A figure of speech which contains an understatement of emphasis, and therefore the opposite of hyperbole,often used in everyday speech and usually with laconic or ironic intentions.也就是说,这种修辞格是故意使用有节制的措辞来陈述事实,故意轻描淡写,借低调与弱化语言形式来表示强调。
它是与hyperbole(夸张)相对的一种修辞格。
那么understatement想要达到怎样的效果?作者为什么要使用understatement呢?通过以上的定义我们也可以看出来作者使用understatement是想用一种低调与弱化的语言来表达一种强调的效果。
虽然是“化大为小”,但是作者要表达的还是强调的意思。
我们可以通过几个例子来理解:Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her person for the worse.上星期我看见一个女人被剥了皮,你几乎不会相信这把她变得多不好看。
作者用altered一词,轻描淡写地陈述了剥女人皮这一毛骨悚然的事件。
I know he is honest, and I wish I could add he were capable.
我知道他是诚实的,我还希望我能说他是能干的。
此句也是用虚拟语气来体现understatement,I could add he were capable其实是在说“但他不够能干”。
至今SAT阅读考试中共考了三次understatement,其中两次使用了“pretty decent”(还不错的、还可以的),可以说“pretty decent”是understatement 的标志。
比如其中一次使用“pretty decent”是在OG9section9讨论音乐免费下载好不好的一组双篇中,“I take further comfort in the fact that the human species managed to produce pretty decent creative work during the 5,000 years that preceded 1710, when the Statute of Anne, the world’s first
modem copyright law, passed the British parliament. Sophocles, Dante, da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Newton, Cervantes, Bach-- all found reasons to get out of bed in the morning without expecting to own the works they created.”
作者想要告诉读者:在世界上第一部知识产权法到来之前的几千年历史长
河中,人类也创造了“pretty decent(还不错的)”艺术作品。
很显然,文章结尾的那些伟大艺术家的名字使我们立刻了解到作者所谓的“还不错的”艺术作品并不是他字面的意思,他真实的意思是想表达历史上有很多非常伟大的艺术作品。
他运用了一种轻描淡写的方式来表达,而这种方式就是understatement.
除了“pretty decent”,还有一次是使用了“euphemistically”。
在2006年1月真题section8讲述理解文学作品需要“larger context”这一篇,“the Tanania live in an environment that could euphemistically be described as ‘difficult'”。
作者说“Tanania”这些人居住的环境委婉地说可以称作“艰难”。
一个“euphemistically(委婉地)”就表明作者其实想说的是他们居住的环境是十分恶劣的。
所以作者在这里还是使用了understatement低调陈述的手法。
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来源于:时代焦点。