我们分析一篇演讲／辩论类文献／议论文一般会从三个角度去操作：修辞手段，结构布局和篇章风格。我们先从这三个方面学习一下演讲或者辩论中所使用的主流修辞手段和策略。
Hyperbole:
夸张，如果运用得当，是一种非常有力的修辞手法，但如果运用不当就会导致严重的误解。该手法通过夸大陈述中的某些方面以达到强调的目的。读者不能从字面上理解运用了夸张手法的文字，需要确保明确文字的意图所在。相较于将夸张错误地当作事实，损害夸张意图会对作者的可信度造成更大的影响。思考以下两个例子：“What is causing the biggest problem is that there are over threebillion people on the planet”和“The planet is getting socrowded we may have to take turns sitting down.”第一个例子或许看起来有些夸大，但实际上它陈述的是一个事实；而第二个例子是运用夸张手法的范例，通过有意识地夸大效果陈述了基本事实。
Example #1: “There are more reasons for NASA tofund a trip to Jupiter than there are miles in the journey.”
Example #2: “At thesewords, the people became so silent you could hear a beating heart from acrossthe room.”
Understatement:
低调陈述指的是描述语言的力度比人们通常认为的力度小。比如，形容一个五级台风的时候说它仅是“a bit of weather”。低调陈述既可以用来强调某事件的极端性，也可以用来达到讽刺的效果，如“Leonardo da Vinci had a good idea or two”。
Example #1: “Whatever his faults, Sir IsaacNewton did have a fairly good mind for science.”
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Example #3: “To the uninitiated, neurophysiologycan be a bit of a challenge.”
Litotes:
曲言法（曲意法），与低调陈述相似，通过使用与描述对象状况意义相反的词汇强调某一点。如，不说“The trip across the mountain was a hard journey”，而说“The trip was no easy journey”。由于意外性，后一个句子比前一个句子更加有力。如果使用低调陈述那么句子应该是“The journey was easy”。区别在于句子的组成形式和强调的侧重点。
Example #1: “A cup of coffee would not be unwelcome.”
Example #2: “It’s not the smartest idea I’ve ever heard.”
Antithesis:
对偶通过语言使用上的对比来表达意义上的对比，是演讲和写作中最吸引人和最有力的修辞手法。现代很多著名的文字都基于对偶的使用，如尼尔·阿姆斯特朗的“That’s one small step for [a] man, one giantleap for mankind”，马丁·路德金的“...not be judged by the colorof their skin but by the content of their character”。在听觉上，对偶有一种天然的美，因为人类倾向于对思路和想法进行组织和分类。对偶以一种能够唤起共鸣的方式有力地组织思想，是非常有效的写作手法。
Example:“Life can be kind and cruel, full of hope and heartache,”
Hypophora:
设问是指首先提出问题，继而回答该问题的修辞手法。尽管名字又长又拗口，在写文章来表达观点或者说服读者的时候，设问却是最有用的修辞手段之一。比如，许多政治家都会在记者招待会上大量使用设问，以至于常遭媒体嘲讽。市长可能会说“Why am I for putting more police officers on the streets? Theirpresence prevents crime”。然而，如果运用恰当，设问可以取得事半功倍的效果。
Example #1: “How do weknow this to be true? We have observed it in the lab.” Example #2: “What then of the future? Let come what may, and we shall meet itwithout fear.”
Rhetorical Question:
反问与设问是同一类修辞手法。设问提出问题并立刻回答，而反问的答案隐含在问题当中。以下JohnMilton的文字是有效使用该手法的例子：“For what can war but endless warbreed?” 反问可以帮助作者告诉读者所不了解的内容；也可以帮助作者强调读者已经了解的内容。
Example #1: “Inthis age of modernity, can we truly condone such horrific acts?” Example #2: “How can we expect a man to give more than we ourselves are willingto give?”
Procatalepsis:
设难是与反问相近的修辞手法。反问可以提出各种各样的问题，而设难只与反对相关，甚至有时不提出问题就直接表示反对，如“Many other experts want to classify Sanskrit as an extinct language,but I do not”。直接表示反对既可以使作者能够进一步论证，又可以说服读者。从技巧上讲，设难可以体现作者预料到了读者的忧虑，并经过了深思熟虑。在议论文中，这就使论证更加有效。
Example #1: “There are those who would say theAmerican people could never make such sacrifices. To them I say: have we forgottenWorld War II so soon? Let us remember the rationing of tin and milk, of copperand eggs. Let us remember the hours spent in prayer, at work, and in battle onthe front. Let us remember a people coming together for one noble purpose, andmaking whatever sacrifices were needed to achieve that common goal.”
Example #3: “It may bepointed out that the proposed tax plan adds a burden to a small number offamilies in the upper brackets. While this may be true, the benefits offered tothose who are most in need must surely outweigh a small bit of hardship tothose who are not.”
Distinctio:
定义是作者对某个单词的定义进行阐释以确保不会产生歧义的修辞手法。如“Before we can discuss immigration, we need to agree on the fact thatthere are huge differences between legal and illegal immigration”。词汇是富于变化的，尤其在英语当中，一个词会具有多重含义。通过下定义就可以确切地将要表达的意思传达给读者。是否阐明将带来差别：读者能够正确理解原文或者读者所理解的意思完全不同于作者本意。
Example #2: “Atthis point, we have a short time left—a short timebeing less than fifty years.”
Example #3: “Is thesoftware easy to use (can my ninety-year old grandmother learn it) or difficult(do I need a degree in computer science)?”
Simile:
明喻指的是将一个事物比作另一个事物，这两种事物具有某种程度上的联系。例如，如果描述太阳从山后升起来了，不说“The sun lit up the mountain”，而是用比喻“The sunpeered, like a curious child, over the top of the mountain”显得更好。明喻能够营造很强的画面感，这就为描述对象增添了更多的细节。它也是比较容易识别的修辞手法，将一个名词比作另一个名词并用“like”连接。基本形式是本体在前喻体在后。
Example #1: “Theshower room, steamy like a Louisiana summer, rang with the athletes’ jubilant laughter.”
Example #2: “Thenight is gentle and quiet; so, too, is my love for her.”
Metaphor:
暗喻与明喻相似，有时甚至很难将两者区分开。明喻通过指出两个事物之间的相似性将其中一个比作另一个，而暗喻直接说一事物是另一事物，就好像他们实际上就是同一个。就同一个话题，下面有两个句子，第一个使用了明喻，第二个暗喻，注意两个句子间的差别“The new boss swaggered into the office like a gunfighter in the OldWest, looking for a fight”；“The new boss was JesseJames in the office looking for a fight”。
Example #2: “The report was released yesterday,a beacon of hope in these troubled times.”
“She had the smile of a newborn babe,”
Example #1: “Depressionis a bottomless cup that can hold no liquid.”
Analogy:
类比是明喻更加接地气的形式。两种修辞手法都是出于某个具体目的将一个事物比作另一个，只是明喻通常出于文体风格，而类比常出于更加实用的原因。类比通过人们熟知的事物解释人们尚且不了解的事物。在教授和劝说当中类比可以说是最有效的手法之一，能够帮助读者快速而准确地理解意思。
Example : “The desirefor wealth, when unchecked, can lead only to great evil. For though a man maybegin with but a sip of wine, without restraint, the urge will grow until oneday he is a drunkard, blinded to all but his need, taking whatever steps are neededto find his fix.”
很多人分不清楚类比和明喻的区别，请参考：
类比、明喻和暗喻联系紧密，类比是通过将一个艰深的概念比作一个已为人理解的概念来为前者提供更多信息，这与明喻和暗喻不同，使用明喻和暗喻是为了在读者脑海中形成画面。
类比建立在两个概念相似处之上，通过对比阐明一个概念。作者将其运用在劝导和教化的文章当中将非常有效。
Eponym:
齐名与用典相近，引用某个名人，并将其特点与另一人联系起来。有效使用齐名需要进行权衡：如果引用的人不是很出名，读者就不会明白引用的用意；如果过于出名，又会被看作老生常谈。需要注意两者之间的区别。下面两个例子，第一个容易识别，而第二个只有具备印度医学专业知识的人才能理解：“Gary was an Abe Lincoln in yesterday’sdebate”；“Agnivesha would have been proud of the patient’s recovery”。运用得当，齐名能够使文章有一个完美的结尾。
Example #1: “A modernday Moses, he led his nation to a new beginning.” Example #3: “No oneexpected our second-rate team to win that game, but no one knew our secretweapon. He was our Prometheus, snatching fire from the gods that we mighttriumph.”
Sentenia:
格言是引用、箴言和至理名言的雅称。通常，格言包括对来自不同来源的大量箴言的使用，但也可以引证某人，尽管并不常见。
Example#1: “As is often said, a bird in the hand is worth twoin the bush.” Example #3: “As Epictetus wisely noted, ‘no great thingis created suddenly.’”
Exemplum:
劝谕是一种最常用的修辞手法，也是人们可能从不会意识到其特殊性的修辞手法。如其名称所示，劝谕指通过提供读者例子来证明观点：“The U.S. government gives its citizens freedom; one illustration ofthis is that we have the right to criticize our leaders”劝谕在任何文章中很关键，也应该是主要的写作技巧。
Example #1: “Anexample can be seen in the Seattle general strike of 1919, when for five daysmore than sixty-thousand workers ground the city to a halt.” Obviously, this exemplum relates to previous information.
Example #2: “To seethe truth in this we need look no further than the daily television news, inwhich a single segment lasting for more than five minutes is the rareexception.” This contains no reference to an actualexample, yet the example is apparent in the statement.
Climax:
层进法是一种组织思想的写作方法，从最不重要的思想出发，层层递进，最后到最重要的思想。它是基本结构原则之一——逐渐将读者情绪调动到最大程度，再表达最终主旨。
Example #1: “He beganhis career writing horoscopes for a local paper. By nineteen, he was writingfront-page stories. At twenty-two, he published his first collection of shortessays. And just nine days shy of his twenty-sixth birthday, he won thePulitzer for his work at The New York Times.”
Example #2: “Cautioncan be a useful human emotion. Fear tends to cloud our better judgment. Angerturns us away from what we know to be right. Hate overwhelms us and ultimatelydevours our humanity.”
Parallelism/Chiasmus:
对于作者或演讲者而言，平行结构是最重要的组织技巧之一，指的是在一个句子的多个部分或多个句子当中使用同一个结构，使这些句子部分或句子具有连贯性，如丘吉尔这段著名文字：“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing ofblessing; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries”。平行结构使文章整体上具有连贯性，并使平衡性和组织性贯穿全文。
Example #1: “The manor—designed for beauty and grace, built for durability and strength,and located for privacy and safety—was the ideal homefor those three children.”
Example #2: “Theburglar shinnied up the drainpipe, delicately opened the window that hadconveniently been left unlocked, stealthily forced his body through, andcrashed down loudly on the kitchen floor.”
Anadiplosis/Conduplicatio:
顶真和关键词连珠是两种重复形式，能够帮助建立文章结构。论文写作不提倡使用这种技巧——很多老师提醒学生不要使用，然而如果运用恰当，这是一种有效组织文章的技巧。与其他手法技巧一样，使用该手法的关键在于明确使用是什么技巧及为什么使用。
Example #1: “Ineducation we find the measure of our own ignorance; in ignorance we find thebeginning of wisdom.”
Example #2: “Thislaw destroys the fruits of thirty years of struggle, bringing us back to a lessenlightened time. Law should be evolutionary, building up rather than tearingdown.”
Metabasis:
转移是用来总结前面所讲内容的手法，这样作者就可以就新的内容展开讨论：“I havediscussed various reasons that show why we need to vote for a new president ofthis company: our present leader has run the organization for twelve years, shehas not had any profitable ideas in years, her salary has doubled since 2005,the company’s stock has not moved, and her daughter hasrecently been hired as a consultant. But last week, the final incident occurredthat has led me to recommend that she be replaced”。转移手法在长篇散文和论文中是非常重要的组织方法，而其功能在较短的论文中却是有限的。
转移手法形式通常比较固定，如下面这句：“I have discussed carsand factories, and how these relate to global warming, but we have still tolook at longterm atmospheric trends”。很多作者使用转移手法引出不与前面所述内容的主要要点直接相关的论点，也有一些作者通过该手法引出总结部分。转移手法还可以用于引出对比观点或者看待事物的不同方式。首先列出关于议题一方观点的各个要点，并有效地对它们有序分组。这就方便作者讨论相反观点，而同时使两个对立观点之间界限清楚。
Parenthesis:
插入语手法是指在写作过程中插入旁注或者附加信息的手法。使用该手法的一种形式是括号，常见的还有破折号和逗号。许多写作老师指导学生避免使用括号（标点符号），认为（）符号会削弱内容的重要性。注意前面一句中包含的两个该手法的例子。很多写作风格指导书都反复强调这点，有些甚至指出括号内的内容并不重要，可能并不需要出现在定稿当中。
Example #1: “Thiscontinued for many years—some would say far longer thanit should have— before a new brand of politician put anend to it.”
Example #2: “On Christmas Day, 1492, the ship, 70 feet long, with three masts anda crew of 28 men, ran aground on the coast of Haiti.”
Apostrophe:
呼语手法是指作者中断写作直接提到某人或人格化的某个对象。不要将其与同名的标点符号混淆，两者没有任何关系。
Example #1: “So the sun set over Paris—Paris, my firstlove, sultry and secretive, beguiling and shy, how I wanted to hold you foreveras the sun went down that summer day.”
Example #2: “So we near our conclusion, and I must ask you, my wise reader, tobear with me for one more small digression.”
Enumeratio:
列举是指提供一系列相关细节的手法。该手法在结构上用于阐释主旨，通过列举不同方面使主旨更具有说服力。人们在写作当中会自然而然地使用该手法，因为重要议题需要进行阐释。
Example #1: “I wentto the mall, the park, the river, the salon, and, finally, home.”
Example #2: “Thereare three main reasons we should pay attention to this: first, the impact onour home town could be substantial; second, as voting citizens, we have aresponsibility to keep abreast of changes in the political structure; andthird, if no one pays attention to these things, politicians will have carteblanche to do whatever they choose.”
Antanagoge:
反面承认是一种将反面观点轻描淡写的观点组织形式，这样可以减小反面观点对读者的影响，通过并列正反面观点的方式实现。这种陈述方式应该达到的效果是所讨论话题的益处明显大于代价。注意下面这个例子是怎么运用反面承认的：“While cutting automobile pollution may cause car makers to losemoney in the short run, the benefits of cleaner air and a decrease in deaths byrespiratory diseases are definitely worth the risk to businesses.”作者巧妙地将利润降低的消极影响和空气更加清洁及呼吸道疾病死亡率下降两个好处放在一个句子里。在句子最后通过短语definitely worth the risk再次陈述了消极影响和好处，从而强调了作者观点。以下是两个使用反面承认的例子：
Example #1: “Shecan be quick to anger, but when you’re in need, she’ll always be there.”
Example #2: “Thecar might cost a bit more than other models when it’snew, but it more than pays for itself by not breaking down nearly so often ascheaper ones.”
Epithet:
描述词手法是常见的修辞手法，尽管有时候被过度使用，指的是用一个描述性形容词修饰一个名词从而创造一个场景或者引发某个想法和唤起某种感受，如，“The clear-eyed pilot safely landed the plane.”简单的描述词手法使用与名词相关的形容词，如，“The tall boy towered above his peers”，而复杂的描述词手法往往使用一个词汇创造性地修饰另一个名词从而达到更强的修辞效果；如“The redemptive clouds hovered close to a parched horizon”，在这个句子里形容词创造性地修饰名词形成一个不常见的搭配，给了读者更大的理解自由度。
Example #1: “On the day of the historic battle,the ferocious sun rose early and looked bloody.”
Example #2: “Ahealing wind blew through the diseased hospital.”
Example #3: “It’s a mesmerizing argument, but if you keep your focus you’ll see it for what it really is.”
Asyndeton/Polysyndeton:
散珠格/连词叠用是两种通过连词的不规范使用增加写作力度的修辞手法。散珠格省略所列要素间或者句子间的连词 (“He was tall, dark, handsome”)，连词叠用则将连词用于每个要素之间 (“We have an army and soldiers and tanks and planes.”)。
Example #1: “Jockeyingfor room on the table were turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, pies, rolls, butter,cranberry sauce, a cornucopia of vegetables.”
Example #3: “His hairand face and eyes and mouth combined to form an image of absolute power.”
Zeugma:
轭式修饰法指在句中用一个单词连接两个或多个要素的修辞手法，而这些词汇组合是不常见的。具体说就是，轭式修饰法包括一个动词连接两个或多个主语，一个名词连接两个或多个代词，一个动词连接两个或多个宾语和一个动词连接两个或多个形容词性短语等形式。尽管用法很多，最常见和最实用的方法是省略重复的动词。如，不说“The runner lost the race. The school then cancelled his scholarship.”而说“The runner lost the race and his scholarship.”
Another stylistic use of zeugma is topostpone introducing the verb until the end, or near the end, of the sentence.
另一种方式是将动词放在句子最后或者接近句子最后的位置。如，
“The teenage sweethearts, the elderlycouple, and the flickering candles all danced late into the night.”
Synecdoche/Metonymy:
提喻和转喻是两种非常相近的修辞手法，指的是用事物的部分或与之联系密切的事物指代事物整体。有很多广泛使用的提喻和转喻形式都非常容易为读者识别。
Example #1: “Therancher boasted about how many head of cattle he owned.” [synecdoche]
Example #2: “Thecaptain shouted, ‘All hands on deck.’” [synecdoche]
Example #3: “The WhiteHouse answered its critics.” [metonymy]
Example #4: “The penis mightier than the sword.” [metonymy]
Hyperbaton:
倒装是指以非常规的方式组织句子词汇的修辞手法，可以打破句子正常顺序突出某个部分或者使整个句子在文中显得独具匠心。
倒装最常见的方式是将形容词放在其修饰的名词之后而不是之前。这种词汇顺序在某些语言，如法语，当中是正常语序，而在英语中却能赋予句子神秘感：“The forest burned with a fire unquenchable—unquenchable except by the helicopter that finally arrived”。
Example #1: “Youhave to admit it was a long year, but bearable.”
Example #2: “Intentionsprofit nothing, only promises kept matter.”
Example #3: “Thissort of family argument necessitates a long arbitration, courtroom style.”
