名人教英文：联想式之词藻 figures by association of ideas
本人谨此 恭贺所有读者蛇年健康快乐﹗愿你看得更远，登得更高︰学业进步，前程锦绣﹗
a happy and healthy chinese new year of the snake to all my readers!
may you have vision and achieve advancement in life: in pursuit of academic excellence and a good future!
it will come as no surprise to anyone that chinese new year greetings are rich in figures of speech.
just as "the year of the snake" is itself a figure of speech, so i shall start this new year series of articles today by discussing figures of speech based on an association of ideas. specifically, there are two such figures of speech, namely: metonymy and synecdoche which are commonly used to enhance one's writing skills and to reduce verbosity (赘言).
metonymy 换喻
metonymy is a word derived from greek to mean a change of name. this figure of speech uses a vivid name for something less effective or interesting.
examples of metonymy abound:
a press conference - a meeting to talk to the media
eg the secretary held a press conference to announce his plans.
beijing - chinese government
eg it is now up to beijing to accept the offer.
the pen - a piece of writing or being a writer
eg the pen is mightier than the sword.
to take silk - to be a barrister-at-law
eg after he had taken silk, he represented the government in prosecution.
whitehall - british government
eg whitehall has decreed that no further claims will be met.
synecdoche 代喻
like metonymy, synecdoche is a word derived from greek to mean putting together. this figure of speech uses the abstract to represent the concrete, or the whole to represent the part and vice versa. there are many examples, some of which are shown below:
bread winner - the one who supports the family
eg jonathan is the bread winner in his family.
hands - workers
eg many hands make light work. (many workers make the job easy.)
king/queen of something - the best
eg richard is the best coach and is known as the king of coaching.
roof - to mean shelter or somewhere to live
eg william has to work hard in order to have a roof over his head.
soul - to mean people
eg i don't know a single soul in this country.
some good writers invent their own metonymy or synecdoche to enliven their writing.
passage of the week﹕the toast
(spot the metonymy / synecdoche in the passage. answers are given below.)
ladies,
i rise to propose a toast. for the first time, our sex, unlike women of yesteryear, are regarded as equal to men. if we now assert ourselves, it is because we have earned our laurels. yes, we modern women are here to stay. so thank you all for making this possible. please rise and drink with me the toast: to health! may we move from strength to strength.
the rest in the audience: hear! hear!