矛盾修饰法矛盾修饰法(Oxymoron)矛盾修饰法矛盾修饰法(Oxymoron)是将两个互相矛盾，互不调和，的词放在同一个短语中，产生特殊的深刻含义的一种修辞手段。用它来状物写景，能突出事物的实质；用它来描绘人物，能使其更加鲜明；用它来表达复杂的思想感情或意味深长的哲理，能使其更强烈，更深刻。它是一种紧缩隽语。矛盾修饰法是将两个意思截然不同的词放在一起，结合成一个词组，而对语是通过平行结构引起两个概念的对比。矛盾修饰法：从哲学上讲，是对立的统一；从艺术上讲，更能体现出描写主体的个性化，更具渲染力。例如：1.a clever fool 聪明的傻瓜2.a victorious defeat 胜利的失败3.cruel kindness 残酷的仁慈4.expressionless expression 毫无表情的表情5.sick health 憔悴的健康6.a living death 行尸走肉7.with careful carelessness 小心翼翼又漫不经心地8.bright and dark 既光彩夺目，又朦胧黑暗9.dove-featherd raven 披着白鸽羽毛的乌鸦10.with her disagreeably pleasant laugh（她）自鸣得意却令人讨厌地笑起来11.an honorable villain 体面的恶棍12.There was an audible stillness, in which the common voice sounded strange.(from Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser)这时是一片听得见的寂静，连人声听起来都是异样的。(选自美国作家西奥多德莱塞的长篇小说嘉莉妹妹)(作者用 audible 来修饰 stillness，匠心独具地从反面烘托环境，使人耳目一新，过目难忘。矛盾的对立面取得了高度的一致，形成了完美的统一。)How you shot the goat and frightened the tiger to death, said Miss Mebbin,with her disagreeably pleasant laugh.Saki: Mrs. Packletides Tiger该句中的 disagreeably pleasant 就是矛盾修饰法，把 disagreeably 和 pleasant 两个意义截然相反的词放在一起，揭示了 Miss Mebbin 企图抓住 Mrs. Packletide 的虚荣心进行敲诈时那种既讨厌又得意的神态。再如：The Major again pressed to his blue lips the tips of the fingers that were disposed on the ledge of the wheeled chair with careful carelessness.句中的 careful carelessness 这两个词似乎是矛盾的，既然是 carelessness 为什么又careful 呢？但若推敲一下，我们不难发现作者把 careful 和 carelessness 用在一起是有其用意的，他所要表达的正是少校那种既小心翼翼又漫不经心的矛盾心理。矛盾修饰法的特点决定了它的构成，一般有以下几种：形容词名词如：tearful joy, proud humility, beautiful tyrant, orderly chaos 等等。副词V-ing 如：deliciously aching, changelessly changing 等等。副词形容词如：dully bright, mildly magnificent, conspicuously absent, mercifully fatal等等。动词副词如：hasten slowly, groan loudly, shine darkly 等等。形容词形容词如：bitter sweet memories, bad good news, poor rich guys, cold pleasant manners 等等。动词分词名词如：a living death, wolfish-ravening lamb, loving hate, a dammed saint 等等。英语矛盾修饰法有以下几种修辞作用：1.形成鲜明生动的对比，给人以深刻的印象。Juliet: O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!Dove-featherd raven! wolvish ravening lamb!Despised substance of divinest show!Just opposite to what thou justly seemist.A dammed saint, an honorable villain!Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet这是 Juliet 听到她的表哥 Tybalt 已被 Romeo 杀死后说的一段话，作者用了一系列的词意矛盾的词语：用 beautiful(美丽的 )修饰 tyrant(暴君) ，用 angelical(天使般的)修饰 fiend(魔鬼),用 dove-featherd(披着白鸽羽毛的 )修饰 raven(乌鸦) ，用 wolvish-ravening(豺狼一样残忍的)修饰 lamb(羊羔)，用 dammed(万恶的) 修饰 saint(圣人)，用 honorable 修饰 villain(奸徒)，对比鲜明生动，充分表现了 Juliet 极其复杂的矛盾心情，给人留下深刻的印象。再如：He sat in the square and watched them, so changelessly changing, so bright and dark, so grave and gay.changelessly 与 change 是意思相反的两个词，表面上看来好像风马牛不相及，但经推敲后，我们不但不觉得矛盾，反而觉得入情入理，作者需要描写的正是这种既始终如一，又变化多端的景色。生动自然，形象具体。2.加强语势，起强调作用。构成矛盾关系的两个词一般属于修饰和被修饰的关系，所以往往强调了被修饰词。例如：An atmosphere of dangerous calm could be felt throughout the mining region.为了渲染气氛，加强语势，作者用 dangerous 来修饰 calm，给人以一种很不平静的感觉，从而使这种平静 得到了强调，给人以一种亲临其境的强烈感受。再如：Here is much to do with hate, but more with love;Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!O anything, of nothing first create!O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet这里 brawling 修饰 love, loving 修饰 hate, heavy 修饰 lightness, serious 修饰 vanity 都是互相矛盾的关系。吵吵闹闹和相爱，亲亲热热和怨恨，沉重和轻浮，严肃和轻浮，词义都是彼此矛盾的，用在一起更加衬托出爱恨、轻浮和狂妄的程度。3.言简意赅，起概括作用。矛盾修饰法对复杂的概念起概括作用，常常语言精练出奇，意思含蓄深刻。例如：So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler. He cant even get to the office without undergoing the agonies of the dammed, but give him a metal, a few chemicals, some wire and twenty or thirty billion dollars and there he is up on a rock a quarter of a million miles up in the sky.Russell Baker: New York Times这是美国专栏作家 Baker 为纽约时报写的一篇专栏文章中的一段，作者用 The poor magnificent bungler 的矛盾修饰法，非常简洁生动地概括讽刺了美国政府花费几百亿美元用于航天事业，从而使人登上了月球，但却忽视了美国最基本的社会问题改善生活质量的问题。含义深刻，寓意明确。再如：Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.PUN一、 “pun”与“双关”的定义比较(一)“pun”的定义及其对应例证1、 牛津英语词典(The Oxford English Dictionary. 1989. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Vo1.xII.P832)给“pun”下的定义：“The use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations, or the use of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect.”(用一个词去暗示两种或两种以上的意义或引起不同的联想，或者用两个或两个以上发音相同或相近而意义不同的词，以产生一种幽默效果。)例(1) Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.明天你来找我，你就将发现我已经是个坟墓中的人了。句中 grave 有两义，可作“坟墓”或“严肃的” 、 “重大的 ”解。例(2) Learn some craft when young, that when old you may live without craft.趁年轻时学一点手艺，以便在年老时可不靠行骗为生。句中前一个 craft 是“手艺”的意思，后一个 craft 是“ 骗术”的意思，形同义不同，两种意义相互关联，趣味很浓。 2、 韦氏三版新国际英语词典(Websters Third New International Dictionary. 1981. Springfield, Massachusetts, USA: Merriam-Webster Inc. P. 1842)给“pun”下的定义：“ The humorous of a word in such a way as to suggest different meanings or applications or of words having the same or nearly the same sound but different meanings: a play on words. (词汇的幽默用法，用一个词去暗示不同的意义或引起不同的联想，或者用发音相同或相近但意义不同的(两个或