英語修辭與寫作·16.2　Parallelism

16.2　Parallelism

16.2A　Parallelism的含義與形式

1） Parallelism漢譯“平行結構”，是以語法結構對稱（包括相同或相似的詞、短語或分句）來突出意義的一種修辭手段。例如：

In its energy, its lyrics, its advocacy of frustrated joys, rock in one long symphony of protest.

上例中有介詞in的3個平行賓語結構。

The Department of Justice began a vigorous campaign to break up the corporate empires, to restore the free and open market, and to plant the feet of industry firmly on the road to competition.

（Thurman Arnold）

上例句中campaign的3個修飾語為平行結構。

Here is where the hot wind blows and the old ways do not seem relevant, where the divorce rate is double the national average and where one person in every thirty-eight lives in a trailer.

（Joan Didion）

上例中用作主語的3個where分句構成平行結構。

2） 平行結構的各成分之間用并列連詞and，or，逗號，分號等連接，筆者在《分析英語語法》16.7節(jié)“平行并列”部分也講到這一點，下面再舉幾個例子說明：

Eskimos and native Americans, it is believed, came originally from Asia.

Immigrants to the United States have been compelled to leave their homelands because of religious, political, and economic constructions.

According to one woman, becoming drunkards, deserting their families, or committing suicide proved the only answers for some of their fellow immigrants.

（Parker）

3） 有一種特殊的平行結構，叫做“平衡句”（Balanced sentence），由兩個平行的分句構成，用詞對等或近似，且各分句中的字數(shù)相當；不過第二個分句中的某些詞語可能省去。例如：

Many Mexicans immigrated to the United States after the 1910—1920 revolution, and many Cubans （immigrated to the United States） after the 1959 revolution.

（ibid）

In good weather, the passage from England to America could take twenty days; but in bad weather, it could take more than two months.

（ibid）

平衡句中配上回環(huán)（亦稱逆序反復，參見13.1D），往往構成工整的回環(huán)句，例如：

Some people believe that too many people have been admitted to America lately — they want emigration of immigrants rather than immigration of emigrants.

（ibid）

16.2B　Parallelism的使用

1） 平行結構形式上精致、工整，聲調上富于韻律，因而能給讀者或聽話者深刻的印象；同時能以較經(jīng)濟的表達方式突出含義。例如：

We must somehow take a wider view, look at the whole landscape, really see it, and describe what's going on out there.

（Annie Dillard）

句中主語和助動詞后跟4個動詞短語組成平行結構，既經(jīng)濟，又緊湊。

According to the 1980 census, the largest number of immigrants that have come to the United States have been of German origin, and the second largest, of Italian origin.

（Parker）

例中第二個分句省略了“number of immigrants that have come to the United States have been”，而通過逗號，讀者很容易看出平行結構中省略的內容。這樣不但不會造成理解困難，而且由于用詞經(jīng)濟，使基本含義更為突出了。

2） 平行結構有重復強調的功能，往往通過一連串動詞短語的平行出現(xiàn)，表示說話者或寫作者的雄辯口才或特別情感，如 John F. Kennedy的這席話就頗具鼓動性：

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.

又如，在Thomas Jefferson對 George III的指控里，憤怒之情溢于言表：

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

平行結構中動詞短語的連續(xù)出現(xiàn)，如同畫家揮動手中的彩筆，或攝影師放出的鏡頭，由單個動作或畫面構成一幅幅活動的景象或情節(jié)，格外生動逼真。例如：

Hilland valley followed valley and hill; the little green and stony cattle-tracks wandered in and out of one another, split into three or four, died away in marshy hollows, and began again sporadically on hillsides or at the borders of a wood.

（Robert Louis Stevenson）

She laid two fingers on my shoulder, cast another look into my face under her candle, turned the key in the lock, gently thrust me beyond the door, shut it; and left me to my own devices.

（Walter de la Mare）

3） 避免不對稱平行結構（Faulty parallel structure），即應注意平行結構中各個成分形式上的一致。例如：

Glittering white horses lend romance and a nostalgic air to Cinderella's Golden Carrousel; it was originally built for a Detroit amusement park in 1917.

句中romance為名詞，nostalgic為形容詞，應將romance改為romantic，構成對稱的平行結構“... lend a romantic and a nostalgic air ...”。又如：

I am interested in the folklore of Howard Hughes, in the way people react to him and in what words and expressions they use when they talk about him.

這原是 Joan Didion的一個平行結構，斜體部分為被改動后的形式，并因而破壞了原平行結構的對稱，其原句是這樣的：

... in the way people react to him, in the terms they use ...