语态的隐含意义
精典范例
To be or not to be: that is the question.
--William Shakespear
Never before have we had so little time to do so much.
--美国前总统 Franklin D. Roosevelt
Plain: We sat on the cliffs by the sea, watching the sunset.
Interesting: On the cliffs by the sea we sat, watching the sunset.
Normal: The professor walked in.
Reversed: In walked the professor.
Normal: Jeremy scorned honest men.
Reversed: Honest men Jeremy scorned.
Normal: Although I am fond of my children, I hope they wont grow up spoilt.
Reversed: Fond as I am of my children, I hope they wont grow up spoilt
Normal: He never gave up certain habits of his youth, and one of them was that he liked to inspect his clothes thoroughly for wrinkles before he stepped out of the door.
Reversed: Certain habits of his youth he never gave up, and one of them was that he liked to inspect his clothes thoroughly for wrinkles before he stepped out of the door.
Normal: Stephen was a bungler then.
Reversed: A bungler Stephen was then.
Normal: We shall never feel secure.
Reversed/Interesting: Secure we shall never feel.
Normal: This is a lost generation.
Reversed: This is a generation lost.
Plain: The immense expanse of the Gobi Desert stretches before us.
Interesting: Before us stretched the immense expanse of the Gobi Desert.
Plain: He wasnt cut out to be a peacetime officer. He wanted glory, he wanted the excitement of war. No one, except possibly himself, has ever doubted his physical courage .
Interesting: He wasnt cut out to be a peacetime officer. He wanted glory, he wanted the excitement of war. His physical courage no one, except possibly himself, has ever doubted.
Normal: Nobody knows why lands sink under the sea and rise again.
Reversed: Why lands sink under the sea and rise again nobody knows.
Normal: I dare not trust her.
Emphatic: Trust her I dare not.
Normal: I never thought he would return alive.
Emphatic: Never did I think he would return alive.
Loose: History has proved amply that mere numbers may be defeated by smaller forces who are superior in arms, organization, and morale.
Better: That mere numbers may be defeated by smaller forces who are superior in arms, organization, and morale history has amply proved.
Plain: I hate taxes and tax collectors equally.
Interesting: Taxes and tax collectors, I hate equally.
Normal: This is more noticeable in Kaohsiung than anywhere else in Taiwan.
Emphatic: Nowhere in Taiwan is this so noticeable as in Kaohsiung.
Normal: Like most Irishmen, Samuel was quick-tempered.
Reversed: Samuel was quick-tempered, as are most Irishmen.
Normal: A man lay beside the road, waiting hopelessly for help.
Reversed: Waiting hopelessly for help, a man lay beside the road.
Plain: In the Presidents office, there was a pale, thin, sandy-haired man in his early thirties with the President. He was wearing a rumpled suit and looking completely out of place.
Better: In the office with the President was a pale, thin, sandy-haired man in his early thirties, wearing a rumpled suit and looking completely out of place.
倒装结构中的常见短语:
Strange as it may sound
Little did I know...
To your right...; and to your left ... as in To my right is a large a lake, partially hidden behind the hill.
Off we go...
Down with ... as in Down with the Gang of Four.
Happy will be the day...
Reverse the sequence for effect
妙用倒装
如果你行文平淡,那就枯燥无味。你需要不时地改变一下你的行文规则,把简单的东西紧缩,放在一起写,有时你得打破你叙述事情的惯用模式。达到语言变化自如的途径之一是颠倒句子的正常顺序。倒装使文章清新,出人意料,富于创造性。
打破词或句子的自然顺序可获得强调的效果,但注意:如果过分使用倒装会使文章矫揉造作,有明显的雕琢痕迹。同时句子次序的变化不应该造成歧义。
例 Wrong: Those who teach rarely get rich.
这个句子含义模糊,分辨不出是 teach rarely 还是 rarely get rich?
Reversed/ Correct:Rarely do those who teach get rich.
Reversed/Correct:Rarely do people get rich by teaching.
优秀作家一般在句子的一半处引出主语。可是很多学生几乎不用这种写法。应该变换这种主语开头的写法。
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