14.1 Paregmenon
14.1A Paregmenon的含義和形式
1) Paregmenon,漢譯“同源”格。1993年3月4日美國電視節(jié)目“You Bet Your Life”主持人講出“Don't you boast like a popcorn popper?”時,引出觀眾一陣大笑。句中pop和popper同源,把同源詞連用構成的修辭結構即稱為同源辭格。又如:
You shouldn't interrupt my interruptions: That's really worse than interrupting.
(T. S. Eliot)
2) 同源詞可以是不同詞性,也可以含義相反,只要搭配得當,都可以構成同源格。例如:
Home is home though never so homely.
(Proverb, 形式為N.+Adj.)
Aerial and light everything was, new as a morning, fresh and newly-begun. Like a dawn the newness and the bliss filled in.
(D. H. Lawrence, 形式為Adj.+Adv.+N.)
Money often unmakes the men who make it.
(Proverb,形式為反義詞)
14.1B Paregmenon的使用
1) 同源格是一種特殊的重復,即通過使用同一詞源的不同詞性或不同含義的幾個詞,取得重復強調或反襯對照的效果;它在英語的不同文體中都廣為使用。例如:
Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.
(Shakespeare)
Alas, good friend, what profit
can you see in hating such a
hateless thing as me?
(Shelly)
He looked down and met her eyes. They were darker than darkness, and gave deeper space.
(D. H. Lawrence)
Man must change in a changing world. — Proverb
Rejecting Rejection.
上述最后一例系Katina Z. Jones在1992年8月 Writer's Digest 上一篇文章的題目,內容談作家在未成名之前往往遭受退稿之苦,正確的態(tài)度是不要氣餒,堅持再寫。這個同源結構表現了作者不怕挫折的精神。
2) 同源格既能以簡練的反襯做到準確、鮮明,又能與矛盾修飾(11.2B)配合表示詼諧、辛辣。例如:
What's done can't be undone.
(Proverb)
句中undone一詞言簡意賅,不容更改,如要paraphrase成What hasn't been done之類的從句則令人難以接受。這樣的例子在諺語和經典作品中經??梢砸姷?。下面再舉幾例:
While pensive poets painful vigils keep, sleepless themselves, to give readers sleep.
(A. Pope)
She was in her own world, quiet, secure, unnoticed, unnoticing.
(D. H. Lawrence)
Teach the unforgetful to forget.
(D. G. Rossetti)
I was prepared to be persecuted for not persecuting ...
(G. Eliot)
... for what says Quinapalus?
Better's a witty fool than a foolish wit.
(W. Shakespeare)
句中fool和wit分別與foolish, witty同源,witty fool和foolish wit各自構成矛盾修飾。用詞簡潔,結構工整,話說得既俏皮,又深刻,自成千古名句。類似的例子還有:
The shackles of an old love straighten'd him. His honour in dishonour stood.
And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.
(A. Tennyson)