【必须的比喻，拟人，讽刺都属于小儿科的】
你还以为analogy 和metaphor属于相似概念，你落伍了。。。搞定这些才是王道。
A-Z SAT阅读常考概念总结
Accent（重音）: the stressed portion of a word
Allegory（寓言）: an extended narrative in prose or verse in which characters,
events, and settings represent abstract qualities and in which the
writer intends a second meaning to be read beneath the surface story;
the underlying meaning may be moral, religious, political, social, or
satiric
Alliteration（押头韵）: the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of
words that are close to one another; for example, “beautiful blossoms
blooming between the bushes”
Allusion (引用): a reference to another work or famous figure assumed to
be well known enough to be recognized by the reader
Anachronism（年代错误）: an event, object, custom, person, or thing that is out
of order in time; some anachronisms are unintentional, such as when
an actor performing Shakespeare forgets to take off his watch; others
are deliberately used to achieve a humorous or satiric effect, such as
the sustained anachronism of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in
King Arthur’s Court
Analogy（类比）: a comparison of two similar but different things, usually to
clarify an action or a relationship, such as comparing the work of a
heart to that of a pump
Anaphora（首语重复法）: specific type of repetition; word, phrase, or clause
repeated at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row
Anecdote（奇闻异事）: a short, simple narrative of an incident
Aphorism（格言警句）: a short, often witty statement of a principle or a truth
about life
Apostrophe（呼告）: usually in poetry (not grammar, but sometimes in
prose), the device of calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent
person or to a place, thing, or personified abstraction either to begin
a poem or to make a dramatic break in thought somewhere within
the poem
Argumentation（议论）: writing that attempts to prove the validity of a point
of view or an idea by presenting reasoned arguments; persuasive
writing is a form of argumentation
Aside（旁白）: a brief speech or comment that an actor makes to the audience,
supposedly without being heard by the other actors on stage;
often used for melodramatic or comedic effect
Assonance（谐音）: the repetition of vowel sounds between different
consonants, such as in neigh/fade
Authority（引用权威）: support for an argument that is based on recognized
experts in the field
Ballad（叙事歌谣）: a long narrative poem that presents a single dramatic episode,
which is often tragic or violent; the two types of ballads are:
Folk ballad（民谣）: one of the earliest forms of literature, a folk
ballad was usually sung and was passed down orally from
singer to singer; its author (if a single author) is generally
unknown, and its form and melody often changed according
to a singer’s preference
Literary ballad（文学歌谣）: also called an art ballad, this is a ballad that
imitates the form and spirit of the folk ballad but is more
polished and uses a higher level of poetic diction
Blank verse（无韵诗，即不押韵的五音部诗）: poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter, a favorite form of Shakespeare
Burlesque（讽刺剧）: broad parody; whereas a parody will imitate and exaggerate
a specific work, such as Romeo and Juliet, a burlesque will take
an entire style or form, such as pastoral poetry, and exaggerate it into
ridiculousness
Cacophony（噪音）: harsh, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately
in poetry or prose; the opposite of euphony
Caricature（漫画手法）: descriptive writing that greatly exaggerates a specific
feature of appearance or a facet of personality
Catharsis（悲剧洗礼）: the emotional release that an audience member experiences
as a result of watching a tragedy
Chorus（应合）: in Greek drama, a group of characters who comments on
the action taking place on stage
Classicism（古典主义）: the principles and styles admired in the classics of Greek
and Roman literature, such as objectivity, sensibility, restraint, and
formality
Colloquialism（方言）: a word or phrase used in everyday conversation and
informal writing, but that is sometimes inappropriate in formal writing
Conceit: an elaborate figure of speech in which two seemingly
dissimilar things or situations are compared
Connotation（暗示）: implied or suggested meaning of a word because of an
association in the reader’s mind
Consonance: the repetition of identical consonant sounds before and
after different vowel sounds, as in boost/best; can also be seen within
several compound words, such as fulfill and Ping-Pong
Conundrum（哑谜）: a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun; may also
be a paradox or difficult problem
Denotation（明示）: literal meaning of a word as defined
Description（描写）: the picturing in words of something or someone
through detailed observation of color, motion, sound, taste, smell,
and touch; one of the four modes of discourse
Diction（措词）: word choice
Discourse: spoken or written language, including literary works; the
four traditionally classified modes of discourse are description,
exposition, narration, and persuasion
Dissonance（不协和音）: the grating of sounds that are harsh or do not go
together
Elegy（哀婉）: a formal poem focusing on death or mortality, usually beginning
with the recent death of a particular person
End rhyme（尾韵）: a rhyme that comes at the end of lines of poetry; for
example:
Her voice, soft and lovely when she sings,
Came to me last night in a dream.
In my head her voice still rings,
How pleasant last night must seem.
Epic（叙事诗）: a long narrative poem about a serious or profound subject in a
dignified style; usually featuring heroic characters and deeds important
in legends, two famous examples include the Iliad and the
Odyssey, both written by the Greek poet Homer
Epigram（警句隽语）: a concise, witty saying in poetry or prose that either stands
alone or is part of a larger work; may also refer to a short poem of
this type
Euphony（颂词）: a succession of harmonious sounds used in poetry or
prose; the opposite of cacophony
Exemplum（例证）: a brief tale used in medieval times to illustrate a sermon
or teach a lesson
Exposition（说明）: the immediate revelation to the audience of the setting
and other background information necessary for understanding the
plot; also, explanation; one of the four modes of discourse
Expressive（描述）: another name for descriptive writing
Farce（滑稽剧）: a light, dramatic composition characterized by broad satirical
comedy and a highly improbable plot
Figurative language（比喻性的语言）: language that contains figures of speech such
as similes and metaphors in order to create associations that are
imaginative rather than literal; also figures of sound
Figures of sound（拟声）: expressions that create aural images
Figures of speech（修辞格）: expressions such as similes, metaphors, and
personifications that make imaginative, rather than literal, comparisons
or associations
Foil（衬托）: a character who, by contrast, highlights the characteristics of
another character
Folklore（民间传说）: traditional stories, songs, dances, and customs that are
preserved among a people; folklore usually precedes literature, being
passed down orally between generations until recorded by scholars
Foot（韵脚）: the combination of stressed and unstressed syllables that makes
up the basic rhythmic unit of a line of poetry; common poetic feet
include:
Anapest（抑抑扬格）: two unstressed followed by one stressed syllable, as
in in-ter-rupt
Dactyl（扬抑抑格）: one stressed followed by two unstressed syllables, as
in beau-ti-ful
Iamb(抑扬格): one unstressed followed by one stressed syllable, as in
dis-turb
Spondee（扬扬格）: two successive stressed syllables, as in hodge-podge
Trochee（扬抑格）: one stressed followed by one unstressed syllable, as
in in-jure and con-stant
Foreshadowing（铺垫）: the use of a hint or clue to suggest a larger event
that occurs later in the work
Free verse（自由诗体）: poetry that is written without a regular meter, usually
without rhyme
Genre（体裁）: a type of literary work, such as a novel or poem; there are
also subgenres, such as science fiction novel and sonnet, within the
larger genres
Gothic（哥特式）: referring to a type of novel that emerged in the eighteenth
century that uses mystery, suspense, and sensational and supernatural
occurrences to evoke terror
Hubris（悲剧性自大特征）: the excessive pride or ambition that leads a tragic hero to
disregard warnings of impending doom, eventually causing his or her
downfall
Humor（幽默诙谐）: anything that causes laughter or amusement; up until the
end of the Renaissance, humor meant a person’s temperament
Hyperbole（夸张）: deliberate exaggeration in order to create humor or
emphasis; overstatement
Idyll（田园诗）: a short descriptive narrative, usually a poem, about an idealized
country life; also called a pastoral
Imagery（意象）: words or phrases that use a collection of images to appeal
to one or more of the five senses in order to create a mental picture
Informative（告知性）: another name for expository writing
Interior monologue（内心独白）: writing that records the talking that occurs inside a character’s head
Internal rhyme（行内韵）: a rhyme occurring within a line of poetry, as in
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
Inversion（倒装）: reversing the customary order of elements in a sentence
or phrase; used effectively in many cases, such as posing a question:
“Are you going to the store?”; often used ineffectively in poetry,
making it look artificial and stilted: “To the hounds she rode, with her
flags behind her streaming”
Irony（反语）: a situation or statement in which the actual outcome or
meaning is opposite to what was expected
Loose sentence（松散句）: a sentence that is grammatically complete before its
end, such as “Thalia played the violin with an intensity never before
seen in a high school music class”; the sentence is grammatically
complete after the word violin
Lyric（抒情诗）: a type of melodious, imaginative, and subjective poetry that is
usually short and personal, expressing the thoughts and feelings of a
single speaker rather than telling a story
Maxim（格言，座右铭）: statement of a general truth
Metaphor（暗喻）: a figure of speech in which one thing is referred to as
another; for example, “my love is a fragile flower”
Meter（音格）: the repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry;
meters found in poetry include:
• Monometer（单音格）: one foot (rare)
• Dimeter（双音格）: two feet (rare)
• Trimeter（三音格）: three feet
• Tetrameter（四音格）: four feet
• Pentameter（五音格）: five feet
• Hexameter（六音格）: six feet
• heptameter（七音格）: seven feet (rare)
Metonymy（转喻）: a figure of speech that uses the name of an object,
person, or idea to represent something with which it is associated,
such as using “the crown” to refer to a monarch
Mode（风格）: the method or form of a literary work; a manner in which a
work of literature is written
Mood（语气）: similar to tone, mood is the primary emotional attitude of a
work
Motif（主题）: main theme or subject of a work that is elaborated on in the
development of the piece; a repeated pattern or idea
Myth（神话）: one story in a system of narratives set in a complete imaginary
world that once served to explain the origin of life, religious beliefs,
and the forces of nature as supernatural occurrences
Narration（记叙）: the telling of a story in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or
drama; one of the four modes of discourse
naturalism（自然主义）: a literary movement that grew out of realism in France,
the United States, and England in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries; it portrays humans as having no free will, being
driven by the natural forces of heredity, environment, and animalistic
urges over which they have no control
Objectivity（客观性）: an impersonal presentation of events and characters
Ode（颂歌）: a long lyric poem, usually serious and elevated in tone; often
written to praise someone or something
Onomatopoeia（拟声，声喻法）: the use of words that sound like what they mean,
such as hiss and boom
Order of development（论证展开方式）: the way in which ideas are organized in
writing an essay
Chronological order（时间顺序）: information arranged in time sequence
Spatial order（空间顺序）: information arranged according to space relationships
Order of importance（加重影响）: information arranged from least
important to most important, or vice versa
Compare and contrast（类比和对比）: information arranged according to
similarities and differences between two or more subjects
Developmental order: information arranged so that one
point leads logically to another
Deductive order（演绎）: information arranged from general to the specific
Inductive order（归纳）: information arranged from specific to
general
Overstatement（夸张）: exaggerated for humorous effect; hyperbole
Oxymoron（矛盾修辞法）: a figure of speech composed of contradictory words or
phrases, such as “wise fool”
Parable（寓言）: a short tale that teaches a moral; similar to but shorter than
an allegory
Paradox（自相矛盾）: a statement that seems to contradict itself but that turns
out to have a rational meaning, as in this quotation from Henry David
Thoreau: “I never found the companion that was so companionable
as solitude.”
Parallelism（平行结构）: the technique of arranging words, phrases, clauses, or
larger structures by placing them side by side and making them
similar in form
Parody（拙劣模仿）: a work that ridicules the style of another work by imitating
and exaggerating its elements
Pastoral（田园诗）: a poem about idealized rural life, or shepherds, or both;
also called an idyll
Periodic sentence（圆周句）: a sentence that is not grammatically complete
until its last phrase, such as, “Despite Glenn’s hatred of his sister’s
laziness and noisy eating habits, he still cared for her.”
Persona（人物角色）: a fictional voice that a writer adopts to tell a story, determined
by subject matter and audience; e.g., Mark Twain
Personification（拟人）: the attribution of human qualities to a nonhuman
or an inanimate object
Persuasion（议论）: one of the four modes of discourse; language intended
to convince through appeals to reason or emotion; also called
argument
Petrarchan sonnet（皮特拉克十四行诗）: one of the most important types of sonnets,
composed of an octave with an abba abba rhyme scheme, and
ending in a sestet with a cde cde rhyme scheme; also called an Italian
sonnet
Point of view（人称角度）: the perspective from which a story is presented;
common points of view include:
First person narrator（第一人称）: a narrator, referred to as “I,” who is a
character in the story and relates the actions through his or
her perspective, also revealing his or her own thoughts
Stream of consciousness narrator（意识流）: like a first person
narrator, but instead placing the reader inside the character’s
head, making the reader privy to the continuous, chaotic flow
of disconnected, half-formed thoughts and impressions as they
flow through the character’s consciousness
Omniscient narrator（全知叙述）: a third person narrator, referred to as
“he,” “she,” or “they,” who is able to see into each character’s
mind and understands all the action
Limited omniscient narrator（参与叙述）: a third person narrator who
only reports the thoughts of one character, and generally only
what that one character sees
Objective narrator（客观叙述）: a third person narrator who only reports
what would be visible to a camera; thoughts and feelings are
only revealed if a character speaks of them
Protagonist（主人公）: the main character of a literary work
Realism（现实主义）: a nineteenth-century literary movement in Europe and the
United States that stressed accuracy in the portrayal of life, focusing
on characters with whom middle-class readers could easily identify; in
direct contrast with romanticism
Refrain（副歌）: a line or group of lines that are periodically repeated
throughout a poem
Regionalism（地方主义）: an element in literature that conveys a realistic
portrayal of a specific geographical locale, using the locale and its
influences as a major part of the plot
Rhetoric（修辞学）: the art of using language effectively; involves (1) writer’s
purpose, (2) his or her consideration of the audience, (3) the
exploration of the subject, (4) arrangement and organization of the
ideas, (5) style and tone of expression, and (6) form
Rhetorical modes（修辞类型）: exposition, description, narration, argumentation（说明、描写、记叙和议论）
Rhyme（韵律）: a similarity of accented sounds between two words, such as
sad/mad; rhymes can be masculine or feminine:
Masculine: the rhyme sound is the last syllable of a line, i.e.
profound/bound
Feminine: the accented syllable is followed by an unaccented
syllable, i.e. banding/landing
Romanticism（浪漫主义）: a literary, artistic, and philosophical movement that
began in the eighteenth century as a reaction against neoclassicism;
the focal points of the movement are imagination, emotion, and
freedom, stressing subjectivity, individuality, the love and worship of
nature, and a fascination with the past
Sarcasm（讽刺挖苦）: harsh, caustic personal remarks to or about someone; less
subtle than irony
Satire（讽刺文学）: work that attacks or ridicules human follies, stupidities, and
abuses
Simile（明喻）: a figure of speech that uses like, as, or as if to make a
direct comparison between two essentially different objects, actions,
or qualities; for example, “the sky looked like an artist’s canvas”
Slant rhyme（不工整韵）: close but not exact correspondence between sounds,
such as unit and mode
Soliloquy（独白）: a speech spoken by a character alone on stage, giving the
impression that the audience is listening to the character’s thoughts;
perhaps the most famous example is Hamlet’s speech that begins “To
be, or not to be”
Sonnet（十四行诗）: a fourteen-line lyric poem in iambic pentameter
Speaker（叙述者）: the voice of a poem; an author may speak as himself or
herself or as a fictitious character
Sprung rhythm（跳跃韵）: based on normal rhythms of speech and using a
mixture of feet; each foot has either a single stressed syllable or a
stressed syllable followed by one or more unstressed syllables
Stanza（诗歌的一节）: a group of lines in the formal pattern of a poem; types of
stanzas include:
Couplet（两行诗）: the simplest stanza, consisting of two rhymed lines
Tercet（三行诗）: three lines, usually having the same rhyme
Quatrain（四行诗）: four lines
Cinquain（五行诗）: five lines
Sestet: six lines
Octave: eight lines
Stereotype（陈腔滥调）: a character who represents a trait that is usually attributed
to a particular social or racial group and lacks individuality
Stock character（固定角色）: a standard character who may be stereotyped,
such as the miser or the fool, or universally recognized, like the
hard-boiled private eye in detective stories
Style（风格）: an author’s characteristic manner of expression
Subjectivity（主观）: a personal presentation of events and characters,
influenced by the author’s feelings and opinions
Suspension of disbelief（虚拟场景演绎）: the demand made of a theater audience to
provide some details with their imagination and to accept the
limitations of reality and staging; also, the acceptance of the incidents
of the plot by a reader or audience
Symbolism（象征主义）: the use of symbols, or anything that is meant to be
taken both literally and as representative of a higher and more
complex significance
Synecdoche（提喻）: a figure of speech in which a part of something is
used to represent a whole, such as using “boards” to mean “a stage”
or “wheels” to mean “a car”
Syntax（语法）: arrangement of words, phrases, clauses; sentence structure
Theme（主题）: the central idea or “message” of a literary work
Tone（语气）: the characteristic emotion or attitude of an author toward the
characters, subject, and audience
Tragic flaw（悲剧性缺陷）: the one weakness that causes the downfall of the hero
in a tragedy
Understatement（含蓄陈述）: undervaluing of a thing or person
Unity（连贯）: quality of a piece of writing; see also coherence
Villanelle（十九行二韵体诗歌）: a lyric poem consisting of five tercets and a final quatrain
Voice（语气态度）: the way a written work conveys an author’s attitude
