英語修辭與寫作·12.2　Understatement

12.2　Understatement

12.2A　Understatement的含義與形式

Understatement，漢語稱之為“低調(diào)陳述”，也叫“含蓄陳述”，是與夸張法對應的一種辭格。其表現(xiàn)形式主要有兩種：

1） 以反說代替正說，即通常以否定形式表示肯定的內(nèi)容。這種形式也叫“曲言法”（Litotes）。例如：

That's no laughing matter.

試比較：That's a serious matter.

She was not without ambition.

試比較：She was quite ambitious.

This boy was undoubtedly a difficult pupil, for he had a strong independent mind, and was impatient of accepted rules and conventions.

試比較：... mind, and hated / disliked ...

2） 以弱說代替強說，即用形容詞或副詞比較級或用程度副詞（如：almost, hardly, kind of, rather, scarcely, something of, sort of, 等）減弱語氣。這種形式也叫“弱陳法”（Meiosis）。以下兩例分別摘自電視臺記者同一位觀眾的對話和一篇體育述評：

（a） TV Reporter: Do you think all the programs are good?

One of the audience: Well, some are interesting, some could be better, and some are almost sort of rubbish.

（b） During last year's Central Park Bicycle Race, five of the racers were attacked and had their bikes stolen while the race was in progress. This is something of a handicap in bicycle race.

（Caskie Stinnett）

12.2B　Understatement的使用

1） 低調(diào)陳述不像夸張法那樣夸大其詞，而是正話反說，重話輕說，含蓄內(nèi)斂，形式上迂回，其目的同樣在于增強語言力度，提高表達效果。例如：

It's great being with my sister and my friend, Ann. I'm a real tourist now, and things here are the finest of the world: Food I've never tasted, scenery one could hardly tear themselves away, and music even Beethoven would admire ... It's by no means not a pity, however, that you're not with us!

（Laura's letter）

信中使用一連串夸張詞語之后，突然筆鋒一轉(zhuǎn)，來個低調(diào)陳述，其強調(diào)效果更為突出了。

2） 由于低調(diào)陳述的語氣婉轉(zhuǎn)，人們在表示態(tài)度、提出看法時顯得靈活和留有余地。例如：

Sorry, this is in fact more than I can promise.

若直說“I can't promise.”，雖然干脆利落，但會給對方造成不必要的刺激。又如：

This piece of work is nothing to be proud of.

若直說“It is disgraceful.”，就會顯得粗了些，不易被別人接受。又如：

If this regime is out of power, no tear is to be shed.

這是外交辭令，若直說“We expect this regime to be out of power.”，就有失風度了。

3） 低調(diào)陳述具有很強的諷刺和幽默功能。有時客觀事實駭人聽聞，其恐怖程度難以用文字表達，于是作家使用低調(diào)陳述法，盡量以簡明、直敘的筆法向讀者展現(xiàn)那觸目驚心的事件，或以“黑色幽默”形式進行揭露和控訴。這里的“低調(diào)陳述”和前面11.1B所講的“反語使用”是相通的。例如：

（a） They shot the cabinet ministers at half-past-six in the morning against the wall of the hospital. There were pools of water in the courtyard. There were wet dead leaves on the paving of the courtyard. It rained hard. All the shutters of the hospital were nailed shut. One of the ministers was sick with typhoid. Two soldiers carried him downstairs and out into the rain. They tried to hold him up against the wall but he sat down in a puddle of water. The other five stood very quietly against the wall. Finally the officer told the soldiers it was no good trying to make him stand up. When they fired the first volley he was sitting down in the water with his head on his knees.

（Ernest Hemingway）

（b） Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how it altered her appearance for the worse.

（Jonathan Swift）

值得一提的是，據(jù)說曾有人認為上述作者“殘酷”和“缺乏同情心”，實際上是由于粗淺的讀者只停留在文字表面，沒有讀進去，因而產(chǎn)生了誤會。然而，這也告訴我們，在使用低調(diào)陳述時，應把文章的內(nèi)容和對象考慮進去，力求使這種修辭技巧發(fā)揮預期的作用。