類比和對比

類比和對比是寫作中常用的方法。

嚴格地說，類比用于指出同一范疇的事物之間或者幾個人之間的相似之處，而對比則用于指出他(它)們之間的不同之處。但實際上，類比和對比常常同時使用，原因是人們在議論兩個人或事物時，往往既提出二者的相同之處，又注意到他(它)們之間的差異所在。

可通過兩種不同的做法，用類比和對比的方法展開段落。第一種稱為整體類比或整體對比法，即在闡述完一件事物的特點之后，再擺出與之相比的另一件事物的全部特點。需要注意的是，進行類比或對比的兩件事物的方法應一致，順序應相同，否則就會相互脫離不成對比。第二種作法稱為交替類比或交替對比法，即逐條比較或對比兩個人或兩種事物的特點。

比較法中有一種比較特殊的形式被稱為比擬。即把屬于兩個不同范疇的事物的相似之處加以比較。請看下例：

Electricity is transferred from one place to another in much the same manner as water. A water pipe performs the same function as a length of wire. The pipe carries water to its point of use in the same manner as wire carries electricity to its point of use. A blown fuse results from the same thing as a burst water pipe. Both give out due to extreme pressure applied to the walls of the carrier. A switch is to electricity what a faucet is to water. Both of them control the flow of the substance. Since electricity and water have some common properties, understanding the job of the plumber will help understanding the work of the electrician.

--John Brower

A is to B what C is to D是一個很典型的比較句型，意思是A對于B來說就如同C對于D一樣.大家可以揣摩一下這個經典句型的用法。

Todays Recommend：

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of deathThe best way to overcome it-so at least it seems to me-is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river-small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue

--Bertrand Russell

從上面的段落中我們可以看到，作者用河流比喻人生十分精辟。人生與河流是兩個完全不同的概念，而作者通過用這個比擬把一些深奧難懂的道理明明白白地闡述出來，從而給人留下了難忘的印象。

7. 原因和結果

分析原因和結果，要力求理由充足，邏輯性強。事件發生的原因往往不止一個，在進行分析時，要盡量做到討論全面和選材縝密。

主要可通過兩種方法，以原因和結果展開段落。第一種是先寫出結果，再占用主要篇幅一一寫出原因。例如，中心句子是：在過去幾年里，高等教育對于年輕人來說不再象從前那樣受到重視了。這里說的是一種后果，接下來應該逐條討論產生這種后果的原因，如競爭過于激烈，就業相對容易，高等院校所授課程偏于陳舊等等。

第二種方法是先敘述原因，再寫出或預測其后果。例如，某一段落的中心句是：占良田蓋樓房的現象在中國越來越嚴重。在下面的篇幅里應該寫出這一現象引出的種種后果，如農業減產，環境污染加劇，農民大量涌入城市等等。請看下例：

One might wonder why, after the Norman Conquest, French did not become the national language, replacing English entirely. The reason is that the Conquest was not a national migration, as the earlier Anglo-Saxon invasion has been. Great numbers of Normans came into England, but they came as rulers and landlords. French became the language of the court, the language of the nobility, the language of the public society, the language of literature. But it did not replace English as the language of the people. There must always have been hundreds if towns and villages in which French was never heard except when visitors of high station passed through.

--Paul Roberts

上面這段話的首句(即中心句)提出了一個問題，即諾爾曼人對英國的征服為什么沒有象預想的那樣把英國變成一個講法語的國家?這一問題點出了諾爾曼人征服英國的一種后果，接下來各句則解釋其原因，就中心句子展開討論。

8.分類

分類就是根據事物的特點分別歸類。我們對各種人或事物進行分類，如樹木，河流，城市，公司，大學生等等。我們根據他(它)們的共性和差別分類，比如我們給河流的分類可按它們的寬度、長度和深度的相近和差別來進行。

使用分類方法展開段落的關鍵在于把握好類別的對應性。例如，我們可以把各種體育活動分成田徑、游泳、球類、體操等幾大類。但是如果把它們分成跳高、球類、跑步、體操和自由泳等幾類，我們就破壞了事物類別的平行性。因為，在這個例子里，球類和體操本身是兩大類別，而跳高、跑步、自由泳是別的大類里的具體項目，彼此不能混為一談。因此，在分類時，要注意事物類別對應，不能把不同類別的事物交錯在一起。

在下面的段落里，作者把藏書分為三類，然后逐一加以描述：

There are three kinds of book owners. The first has all the standard sets and best-sellers-unread, untouched. (This deluded individual owns woodpulp and ink, not books.) The second has a great many books-a few of them read through, most of them dipped into, but all of them as clean and shiny as the day they were bought. (This person would probably like to make books his own, but is restrained by a false respect for their physical appearance.) The third has a few books or many - every one of them dog-eared and dilapidated, shaken and loosened by continual use, marked and scribbled in from front to back. (This man owns books.)

--Mortimer J. Adler

9. 定義

有時，為了避免對一個不熟悉的、多義的詞、術語或概念產生疑問或誤解，需要闡明它的定義。

給一個詞或一個術語下定義的基本方式有三種：用一個同義詞;或用一句話;或寫一個段落，甚至寫一篇論文。例如：修長即是細長，這是用一個同義詞下定義。糧棧是儲存糧食的地方，這是用一句話下定義。但是，我們常常會遇到含義復雜、意思抽象的詞語或概念這時不得不用一個段落甚至一篇論文來闡明它的定義。還需運用舉例、比較、比擬、分類和原因和結果等方法才能使讀者對其定義有一個明晰完整的了解。

給一個詞語或概念下定義時要注意以下幾點：

(1)要避免循環定義。例如：天文學家是指研究天文學的學者就是屬于循環定義。循環定義僅是一種簡單的重復，達不到闡明內涵的目的。

(2)在給意思抽象的詞語或概念下定義時，要避免僅列出一系列同義詞的做法。例如，有一個段落是這樣開頭的：什么是想象力呢?我認為它是大腦對事物形成印象的能力，是產生新思想的能力，是在寫作中運用形象的能力，是在知覺材料的基礎上經過新的配合而創造出新形象的能力，。明眼人一看就知道，作者從詞典里找出了一組定義并把它們羅列在一起，期望其中的某一個定義能被讀者所接受。這種下定義的方法不但枯燥死板，而且沒有把想象力這一含義復雜的詞語的內涵充分發掘出來，因而是不可取的。

(3)要避免帶有個人成見的定義。定義應該是客觀的，貼近實際情況的，不應含有感情色彩。例如，國有企業即高消耗低效率企業是帶有明顯貶義的定義，而國有企業是工人當家做主的樣板則是帶有偏愛色彩的定義。這兩類定義可以作為辯論中的論點提出，但作為定義是不恰當的。

什么樣的定義才識好的和客觀的呢?請看下例：

A kachina doll is a small, carved, wooden, human like representation of the supernatural beings worshiped by the Hopi Indians. Kachinas are not gods: as their name denotes, ka for respect and china for spirit, they are respected spirits of the dead, of mineral, plant, bird, animal, and human entities. Kachinas are not gods, but rather they are intermediaries or messengers to the gods. In the polytheistic Hopi society, all plants and animals, as well as some inanimate things, have spirits which the Hopi visualize in human form. When a Hopi goes to gather yucca roots to use as shampoo, he prays to the spirit of the first plant he finds and passes it by gathering the second one. When he goes hunting, he prays to the spirit of the game and apologizes for having to take its life. Thus the spirits of men, animals, and plants are the kachinas most often carved into kachina dolls.

--Dean McConahay

10. 幾種方法的綜合

前幾期我們介紹了展開段落的多種方法。有時在一個段落中使用一種方法就夠了。但是，有的作者為了進一步闡明觀點并給讀者留下深刻的印象，也常常在一個段落中同時使用幾種方法，使內容更加豐富有趣。請看下例：

Kin-tay often told Kizzy stories about himself. He said that he had been near his village in Africa, chopping wood to make a drum, when he had been set upon by four men, overwhelmed, and kidnapped into slavery. When Kizzy grew up and became a mother, she told her son these stories, and he in turn would tell his children. His granddaughter became my grandmother, and she pumped that saga into me as if it were plasma, until I knew by rote the story of the African, and the subsequent generational wending of our family through cotton and tobacco plantations into the Civil War and then freedom.

--Alex Haley

我們可以明顯看到：作者在上一段里使用了兩種寫作方法，即按時間展開法與按原因和結果展開法。下面再看一個例子：

The Eastern religious movements [in the United States] are made up almost exclusively of white, educated, middle- and upper-middle-class young people. Most have at least begun college, although some have dropped out after one year or two. Men and women seem to participate in fairly equal numbers, but men control the leadership groups. There is no predominance of any particular regional background, although more of the devotees seem to come from urban than from rural areas, probably because the movements are generally based in cities.

--Harvey Cox

上面的段落用了不少細節來描述第一句的內容，同時也使用了分類法。例如指出宗教積極分子有大學生也有輟學者，有男也有女，有來自城市的也有來自農村的等等。

Todays Recommend：

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so weve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nations capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

類比和對比

類比和對比是寫作中常用的方法。

嚴格地說，類比用于指出同一范疇的事物之間或者幾個人之間的相似之處，而對比則用于指出他(它)們之間的不同之處。但實際上，類比和對比常常同時使用，原因是人們在議論兩個人或事物時，往往既提出二者的相同之處，又注意到他(它)們之間的差異所在。

可通過兩種不同的做法，用類比和對比的方法展開段落。第一種稱為整體類比或整體對比法，即在闡述完一件事物的特點之后，再擺出與之相比的另一件事物的全部特點。需要注意的是，進行類比或對比的兩件事物的方法應一致，順序應相同，否則就會相互脫離不成對比。第二種作法稱為交替類比或交替對比法，即逐條比較或對比兩個人或兩種事物的特點。

比較法中有一種比較特殊的形式被稱為比擬。即把屬于兩個不同范疇的事物的相似之處加以比較。請看下例：

Electricity is transferred from one place to another in much the same manner as water. A water pipe performs the same function as a length of wire. The pipe carries water to its point of use in the same manner as wire carries electricity to its point of use. A blown fuse results from the same thing as a burst water pipe. Both give out due to extreme pressure applied to the walls of the carrier. A switch is to electricity what a faucet is to water. Both of them control the flow of the substance. Since electricity and water have some common properties, understanding the job of the plumber will help understanding the work of the electrician.

--John Brower

A is to B what C is to D是一個很典型的比較句型，意思是A對于B來說就如同C對于D一樣.大家可以揣摩一下這個經典句型的用法。

Todays Recommend：

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of deathThe best way to overcome it-so at least it seems to me-is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river-small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue

--Bertrand Russell

從上面的段落中我們可以看到，作者用河流比喻人生十分精辟。人生與河流是兩個完全不同的概念，而作者通過用這個比擬把一些深奧難懂的道理明明白白地闡述出來，從而給人留下了難忘的印象。

7. 原因和結果

分析原因和結果，要力求理由充足，邏輯性強。事件發生的原因往往不止一個，在進行分析時，要盡量做到討論全面和選材縝密。

主要可通過兩種方法，以原因和結果展開段落。第一種是先寫出結果，再占用主要篇幅一一寫出原因。例如，中心句子是：在過去幾年里，高等教育對于年輕人來說不再象從前那樣受到重視了。這里說的是一種后果，接下來應該逐條討論產生這種后果的原因，如競爭過于激烈，就業相對容易，高等院校所授課程偏于陳舊等等。

第二種方法是先敘述原因，再寫出或預測其后果。例如，某一段落的中心句是：占良田蓋樓房的現象在中國越來越嚴重。在下面的篇幅里應該寫出這一現象引出的種種后果，如農業減產，環境污染加劇，農民大量涌入城市等等。請看下例：

One might wonder why, after the Norman Conquest, French did not become the national language, replacing English entirely. The reason is that the Conquest was not a national migration, as the earlier Anglo-Saxon invasion has been. Great numbers of Normans came into England, but they came as rulers and landlords. French became the language of the court, the language of the nobility, the language of the public society, the language of literature. But it did not replace English as the language of the people. There must always have been hundreds if towns and villages in which French was never heard except when visitors of high station passed through.

--Paul Roberts

上面這段話的首句(即中心句)提出了一個問題，即諾爾曼人對英國的征服為什么沒有象預想的那樣把英國變成一個講法語的國家?這一問題點出了諾爾曼人征服英國的一種后果，接下來各句則解釋其原因，就中心句子展開討論。

8.分類

分類就是根據事物的特點分別歸類。我們對各種人或事物進行分類，如樹木，河流，城市，公司，大學生等等。我們根據他(它)們的共性和差別分類，比如我們給河流的分類可按它們的寬度、長度和深度的相近和差別來進行。

使用分類方法展開段落的關鍵在于把握好類別的對應性。例如，我們可以把各種體育活動分成田徑、游泳、球類、體操等幾大類。但是如果把它們分成跳高、球類、跑步、體操和自由泳等幾類，我們就破壞了事物類別的平行性。因為，在這個例子里，球類和體操本身是兩大類別，而跳高、跑步、自由泳是別的大類里的具體項目，彼此不能混為一談。因此，在分類時，要注意事物類別對應，不能把不同類別的事物交錯在一起。

在下面的段落里，作者把藏書分為三類，然后逐一加以描述：

There are three kinds of book owners. The first has all the standard sets and best-sellers-unread, untouched. (This deluded individual owns woodpulp and ink, not books.) The second has a great many books-a few of them read through, most of them dipped into, but all of them as clean and shiny as the day they were bought. (This person would probably like to make books his own, but is restrained by a false respect for their physical appearance.) The third has a few books or many - every one of them dog-eared and dilapidated, shaken and loosened by continual use, marked and scribbled in from front to back. (This man owns books.)

--Mortimer J. Adler

9. 定義

有時，為了避免對一個不熟悉的、多義的詞、術語或概念產生疑問或誤解，需要闡明它的定義。

給一個詞或一個術語下定義的基本方式有三種：用一個同義詞;或用一句話;或寫一個段落，甚至寫一篇論文。例如：修長即是細長，這是用一個同義詞下定義。糧棧是儲存糧食的地方，這是用一句話下定義。但是，我們常常會遇到含義復雜、意思抽象的詞語或概念這時不得不用一個段落甚至一篇論文來闡明它的定義。還需運用舉例、比較、比擬、分類和原因和結果等方法才能使讀者對其定義有一個明晰完整的了解。

給一個詞語或概念下定義時要注意以下幾點：

(1)要避免循環定義。例如：天文學家是指研究天文學的學者就是屬于循環定義。循環定義僅是一種簡單的重復，達不到闡明內涵的目的。

(2)在給意思抽象的詞語或概念下定義時，要避免僅列出一系列同義詞的做法。例如，有一個段落是這樣開頭的：什么是想象力呢?我認為它是大腦對事物形成印象的能力，是產生新思想的能力，是在寫作中運用形象的能力，是在知覺材料的基礎上經過新的配合而創造出新形象的能力，。明眼人一看就知道，作者從詞典里找出了一組定義并把它們羅列在一起，期望其中的某一個定義能被讀者所接受。這種下定義的方法不但枯燥死板，而且沒有把想象力這一含義復雜的詞語的內涵充分發掘出來，因而是不可取的。

(3)要避免帶有個人成見的定義。定義應該是客觀的，貼近實際情況的，不應含有感情色彩。例如，國有企業即高消耗低效率企業是帶有明顯貶義的定義，而國有企業是工人當家做主的樣板則是帶有偏愛色彩的定義。這兩類定義可以作為辯論中的論點提出，但作為定義是不恰當的。

什么樣的定義才識好的和客觀的呢?請看下例：

A kachina doll is a small, carved, wooden, human like representation of the supernatural beings worshiped by the Hopi Indians. Kachinas are not gods: as their name denotes, ka for respect and china for spirit, they are respected spirits of the dead, of mineral, plant, bird, animal, and human entities. Kachinas are not gods, but rather they are intermediaries or messengers to the gods. In the polytheistic Hopi society, all plants and animals, as well as some inanimate things, have spirits which the Hopi visualize in human form. When a Hopi goes to gather yucca roots to use as shampoo, he prays to the spirit of the first plant he finds and passes it by gathering the second one. When he goes hunting, he prays to the spirit of the game and apologizes for having to take its life. Thus the spirits of men, animals, and plants are the kachinas most often carved into kachina dolls.

--Dean McConahay

10. 幾種方法的綜合

前幾期我們介紹了展開段落的多種方法。有時在一個段落中使用一種方法就夠了。但是，有的作者為了進一步闡明觀點并給讀者留下深刻的印象，也常常在一個段落中同時使用幾種方法，使內容更加豐富有趣。請看下例：

Kin-tay often told Kizzy stories about himself. He said that he had been near his village in Africa, chopping wood to make a drum, when he had been set upon by four men, overwhelmed, and kidnapped into slavery. When Kizzy grew up and became a mother, she told her son these stories, and he in turn would tell his children. His granddaughter became my grandmother, and she pumped that saga into me as if it were plasma, until I knew by rote the story of the African, and the subsequent generational wending of our family through cotton and tobacco plantations into the Civil War and then freedom.

--Alex Haley

我們可以明顯看到：作者在上一段里使用了兩種寫作方法，即按時間展開法與按原因和結果展開法。下面再看一個例子：

The Eastern religious movements [in the United States] are made up almost exclusively of white, educated, middle- and upper-middle-class young people. Most have at least begun college, although some have dropped out after one year or two. Men and women seem to participate in fairly equal numbers, but men control the leadership groups. There is no predominance of any particular regional background, although more of the devotees seem to come from urban than from rural areas, probably because the movements are generally based in cities.

--Harvey Cox

上面的段落用了不少細節來描述第一句的內容，同時也使用了分類法。例如指出宗教積極分子有大學生也有輟學者，有男也有女，有來自城市的也有來自農村的等等。

Todays Recommend：

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so weve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nations capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.