評論
打印
When we talk, sometimes we say things directly.
我們說話時，有時候會直接說。
"I'm going to the store.""I'll be back in 5 minutes."
“我要去商店?！薄拔?分鐘內回來?！?/div>
Other times though, we talk in a way that conjures up a small scene.
有時，我們會換一種方式讓人想象一個場景。
"It's raining cats and dogs out," we say, or "I was waiting for the other shoe to drop."
我們會說“外面正在下貓下狗，”(傾盆大雨)或“我在等另一只鞋扔下來。”(提心吊膽地等待最后結果)
Metaphors are a way to talk about one thing by describing something else.
隱喻就是通過描述別的東西來談論一個事物。
That may seem roundabout, but it's not.
聽起來像是繞圈子，但實際上不是。
Seeing and hearing and tasting are how we know anything first.
最初，我們通過看、聽、嘗來了解事物。
The philosopher William James described the world of newborn infants as a "buzzing and blooming confusion."
哲學家威廉·詹姆斯把新生兒的世界描述為：“嗡嗡作響的盛開的困惑”。
Abstract ideas are pale things compared to those first bees and blossoms.
抽象概念同最初的蜜蜂和花相比十分蒼白。
Metaphors think with the imagination and the senses.
隱喻同想象和感覺相聯系。
The hot chile peppers in them explode in the mouth and the mind.
隱喻像辣椒點燃了嘴巴和思想。
They're also precise.
它們還十分精確。
We don't really stop to think about a raindrop the size of an actual cat or dog, but as soon as I do,
我們不會停下來思考貓狗大小的雨滴，但是一旦思考的話，
I realize that I'm quite certain the dog has to be a small one, a cocker spaniel, or a dachshund,
自己就會明確知道狗一定很小——也許是可卡犬或者臘腸，
and not a golden lab or Newfoundland. I think a beagle might be about right.
一定不會是拉布拉多或者紐芬蘭犬，大概是小獵犬那么大。
A metaphor isn't true or untrue in any ordinary sense.
比喻并不分真假。
Metaphors are art, not science, but they can still feel right or wrong.
比喻是藝術，不是科學，但仍能分出對錯。
A metaphor that isn't good leaves you confused.
不好的隱喻讓你困惑。
You know what it means to feel like a square wheel, but not what it's like to be tired as a whale.
你知道“覺得自己像一個方形輪”是什么意思，但不會明白“像藍鯨一樣累”。
There's a paradox to metaphors. They almost always say things that aren't true.
隱喻有一個悖論。他們總是用一些不真實的例子。
If you say, "there's an elephant in the room," there isn't an actual one, looking for the peanut dish on the table.
如果你說：“屋里有頭大象。”(顯而易見而又被忽略的事實)實際當然沒有，看看桌上的花生就知道了。
Metaphors get under your skin by ghosting right past the logical mind.
隱喻從你的皮膚下直接連接邏輯思維。
Plus, we're used to thinking in images.
另外，我們習慣了形象思維。
Every night we dream impossible things. And when we wake up, that way of thinking's still in us.
每天晚上都夢到不可能發(fā)生的事。當我們醒來時，這種思維模式仍然存在。
We take off our dream shoes, and button ourselves into our lives.
我們離開夢境，一鍵進入現實生活。
Some metaphors include the words "like" or "as." "Sweet as honey," "strong as a tree." Those are called similes.
有些比喻里有“像”、“同”這樣的字，“像蜂蜜一樣甜”，“同樹一樣健壯”。這些是明喻。
A simile is a metaphor that admits it's making a comparison. Similes tend to make you think.
明喻運用了比較。明喻讓你思考。
Metaphors let you feel things directly.
隱喻讓你直接感受事物。
Take Shakespeare's famous metaphor,
拿莎士比亞最著名的比喻來舉例：
"All the world's a stage." "The world is like a stage" just seems thinner, and more boring.
“世界是一個舞臺。”“世界像一個舞臺?！?，看起來空洞，而且無趣。
Metaphors can also live in verbs.
動詞中也存在隱喻。
Emily Dickinson begins a poem, "I saw no way, the heavens were stitched,"
艾米莉·狄金森的詩以“我看不到路，天空已被縫合，”
and we know instantly what it would feel like if the sky were a fabric sewn shut.
開頭，我們馬上就能明白天空變成一塊織物是什么感覺。
They can live in adjectives too.
隱喻也可以用在形容詞上。
"Still waters run deep," we say of someone quiet and thoughtful.
“靜水流深”用來指表面不聲不響的人卻蘊藏著大的智慧。
And the deep matters as much as the stillness and the water do.
像水流一樣，深度和平靜都十分重要。
