摘要:據(jù)統(tǒng)計 ,廣告在英文報紙上占的版面多達百分之六十至百分之七十 ,在英文雜志上所占的版面就更大。廣告對社會各個方面的影響越來越大?！坝操u” 廣告是人們每天眼見耳聞的一種廣告。本文旨在介紹這一類廣告的風(fēng)格特點和功能。In our modern times , advertisement s have infilt rated into every part of our life , no mat ter you likethem or not . There are various kinds of advertisement s , including the apartment for rent , the house forsale , the employment , goods for sale , services and inst ructions , etc1The purposes of advertisement s are toinfluence and persuade their readers and listeners so as to promote the sales of goods or services. Advertisersbelieve that the functions of advertisement s are information ,persuasion , maintenance of demands , creatingmass market s and quality , as professor Liu Miqing point s out in his book S tyl ist ics and Translat ion .The language of advertising is quite different f rom that of news report . With the development of soci2ety , it has gradually formed it s special characteristics : simple grammatical st ructures , short sentences andrichly suggestive and descriptive words can be found here and there in advertisement s (mostly with pic2tures) . In classified advertisement s many abbreviations and sentences with elliptical st ructures are used forthe sake of saving space. Roughly speaking , we can divide advertisement s into two types according to theirforms of expression or techniques of expression : advertisement s of ” Hard - Sell”and advertisement s of”Sof t - Sell .” Advertisement s of ” Hard - Sell”appeal to people s reason and lay st ress on int roducing the distin2guishing features and merit s to people , t ruthfully telling them the production process and technology theyadopt , their special functions and utility , their cost performance , services , guaranteed conditions and time ,etc , . This type of advertisement s mostly applies to chemical , mechanical , elect ronic and medicinal product ssince it has to stick to objectivity , accuracy and earnest : let us look at the following drug advertisement :The N ational Osteoporosis Foundationrecommends a diet rich in calciumfrom broccol i , salmon , milk and TumsAmerica has a calcium def iciency. 80 %of American women don t get enough calcium. That s why , when we reach 50 half of us are likely to get osteoporosis. One out of two !Your bones are calcium. you need calcium. 1 ,000 mgs of it every day. From greens . From milk .From cheese . From Tums. (J ust 2 Tums Ult ra give you 800mgs of calcium. )You need calcium. Tums is calcium. Of all the wonderful sources of calcium , none is richer , none ispurer , none is easier and more human - being - useful than Tums.That s why doctors recommend Tums. Of all the brands of calcium , doctors recommend Tums most .And Tums is the first calcium supplement ever recommended by the National Osteoporosis Foundation.Do something. Talk to your doctor . About calcium. About risk factors. About exercise. And aboutTums. And remember , the bet ter you t reat you , the longer you last .From this ” Hard - sell”advertisement we can see :1. Language of this advertisement is comparatively colloquial with simple , short sentences and readilycomprehensible words : there are all together 25 sentences in this advertisement , only three of which arecomplex ones. The longest sentence consist s of 23 words (the third paragraph) and the shortest , 2 words(the second paragraph) . On an average there are 7 words in a sentence !2. Of all the 22 simple sentences , 10 have no verbs. Among the 22 sentences , 6 of which are made upof two words , 2 of which are made up of four words and another 2 of which are made up of three words re2spectively. From these figures we can draw a conclusion that the st ructure of this advertisement is well - ar2ranged and quite balanced !3. Simple words. Of all the 150 words in this advertisement , one word has 5 syllables , one has 4 sylla2bles , 8 have three syllables , and the rest have one or two syllables. And except the two technical terms ”O(jiān)steoporosis”and ” calcium”, the rest are everyday colloquial English words. This advertisement is so easyto understand with such a simple st ructure , such short sentences and everyday words that it presses it selfmost close to it s readers and leaves them a deep , indelible impression.4. Figure of speech.In this advertisement , quite a few rhetorical devices are used :1) Ell ipsesOf all the 25 sentences , nine are elliptical ones. Such as ” one out of two”, ” f rom greens , etc , . Thepurposes of using elliptical sentences are : a) to save space ; b) to make expressions more forceful , st riking ,at t racting and concise ; c) to avoid unnecessary , senseless repetitions so as to make sentences well - knit .2) MetonymyMetonymy is a figure of a speech that has to do with the substitution of the name of one thing for thatof another . This substituted name may be an at t ribute of that other thing or be closely associated with it .And the substituted name suggest s the thing meant . In this advertisement , the advertiser uses themetonymy : ” The N ational Osteoporosis Foundation recommends a diet rich in calcium from broccol i ,salmon , milk and Tums. ” I f we know what calcium means , we can also make out what Tums refers to. Inthe following content of the advertisement , by using a metaphor , it tells it s readers what ” Tums”is : ”Tums is calcium. ” So metonymy is a very useful and effective rhetorical device which compresses much intoa single word and enables readers to associate ” Tums”with calcium.3) Rhetorical repetitionCareless , unintentional repetition will weaken the effectiveness of a statement , for it focuses readersat tention on words rather than on ideas. But deliberate repetition can be a most effective means to achieveboth clarity and emphasis. For example :Democrat s cannot say no to social progress ; Republicans cannot say no to military spending. The resultis a t ripled national debt and high interest rates.In this advertisement , the advertiser also uses repetition :” Your bones are calcium. Your bones need calcium.” Of all the wonderful sources of calcium , noneis richer , none is purer , none is easier and none is more human - being - useful than Tums.”4) Cl imaxClimax is , as a figure of speech , derived f rom the Greek word for ” ladder”, and implies the progres2sion of thought at a uniform or almost uniform rate of significance or intensity , like the steps of a ladder as2cending evenly. Climax is widely employed by speakers and writers in persuasive speech , writing and adver2tisement s. It is ext remely effective in stirring up feelings and emotions , or in driving home a point . For ex2ample :” Some books are to be tasted , others to be swallowed , and some few to be chewed and digested.”Reading makes a full man ; conference a ready man , and writing an exact man.( Essays : Of Studies - - - Francis Bacon)In the advertisement we can see how the advertiser adopt s climax to stir up it s readersemotions :” Your bones are calcium. Your bones need calcium. 1 ,000 mgs of it every day. From greens. Frommilk. From cheese. From Tums.” Talk to your doctors. About calcium. About risk factors. About exercise. About Tums.5) End weightEnd weight , as the phrase it self implies , is a figure of speech used to end an article or a paragraph bymeans of succinct and imposing words or sentences in an unexpected way to state the topic. For example :” The rest of the world can work harmoniously and f ruitfully with Japan. The chances of doing so aregreatest if we are not af raid to debate the nature of Japan s system - - and our own.”(James Fallows , Chalmers Johnson : Beyond Japan - bashing)In this Tums advertisement , end weight is used at the first paragraph :” America has a calcium def iciency , 80 % of American women don t get enough calcium. That swhy , when we reach 50 ,half of us are likely to get osteoporosis. One out of two !”At the beginning , the advertisement says that Americans are short of calcium. Then it narrows therange of calcium deficiency by stating that eighty percent of American women are in want of calcium. Thenit further reduces the scope by indicating that half of us are likely to get osteoporosis . Finally it st resses thenumber of calcium deficiency by using a very simple and perfectly clear , yet quite shocking figure : ” One outof two !”In that case , are you sure you are not one of the two ?6) Parallel ismPerhaps not every one of us knows Caesar s pithy statement ” I came , I saw , I conquered. ” But Lin2coln s ” government of the people , by the people , for the people ,”which forms the best part of his famous” Get tysbury Address , ” is certainly known to most student s of English. And John Kennedy s” ask not whatyour count ry can do for you - - - ask what you can do for your count ry”has become a quotation familiar tothe Americans.What is so st riking about these statement s ? No doubt , the great ideas they embody. But not everygreat idea is well remembered. There must be something else that has helped to imprint them on people sminds. It is , no doubt , the parallel st ructure that has made these sayings particularly impressive and easy toremember .Parallelism , or parallel st ructure , is a rhetorical device writers use to give clarity and force to their sen2tences. It is a grammatical st ructure in which similar ideas are expressed in similar grammatical forms. Inthe above Tums advertisement , parallelism is applied to echo a powerful and imposing ending :” Talk to your doctors. About calcium. About risk factors. About exercise. And about Tums. And re2member , the bet ter you t reat you , the longer you last .”The most interesting part of this advertisement isthe boldfaced part , which forms a concent rated advertisement it self . I f you are a careful reader , it is unlike2ly that you will not notice it :” America has a calcium def iciency. Your bones are calcium. Your bones need calcium. You need cal2cium. Tums is calcium. That s why doctors recommend Tums. Do something.”As I have above mentioned and like the advertisement s you ve read , the ” Hard - Sell”advertisementpays great at tention to the information by showing it s readers comparative figures of great significance. Un2like some simple , rough advertisement with the mode ” Buy Brand X because it is cheapest and best”, it tellsreaders a simple t ruth - - ” America has a calcium def iciency.”It uses logic. It reinforces the reasoning byit s many a rhetorical device. And so far as it s style is concerned , the languages used in it are limpid , accu2rate , objective , and simple yet persuasive. Af ter reading the advertisement , even though you won t buyTums , you ve gained at least two things : one is the fact it tells you that everyone is in want of calcium andthe other is the appreciation of it s beautiful style. 參 考 文 獻 1 王佐良 ,丁往道.英語文體學(xué)引論M .北京:外語教學(xué)與研究出版社 ,1987.2 劉上扶.邏輯修辭縱橫談M .桂林:廣西師范大學(xué)出版社 ,1988.3 李中行.新聞英語M .天津:南開大學(xué)出版社 ,1993.4 李自強.報刊英語M .北京:外語教學(xué)與研究出版社 ,1992.5 劉宓慶.文體與翻譯(增訂版) M .北京:中國對外翻譯出版公司 ,1998.6 張 健.新聞英語文體與范文評析M .上海:上海外語教育出版社 ,1994.7 張 彰.廣告是怎么出現(xiàn)的J ,英語沙龍 ,2000 , (3) .8 楊霞華.英文寫作與修辭M .合肥:安徽教育出版社 ,1984.9 范家材.英語修辭賞析M .上海:上海交通大學(xué)出版社 ,1992.10 侯維瑞.英語語體(Varieties of English) M .上海:上海外語教育出版 ,1988.11 胡一.廣告英語的修辭魅力J 1英語學(xué)習(xí) ,1999 , (8) .12 胡曙中.英漢修辭比較研究. M 上海:上海外語教育出版社 ,1993.13 謝祖鈞.英語修辭漫談M .福州:福建人民出版社 ,1981.14 潘維洛.美英報刊的閱讀與理解M .北京:中國對外翻譯出版公司 ,1989.15 Reader s Digest , J une , Reader s Digest Association , Inc. (USA) 1997.16 Rental Guide , May/ J une 97 ,Great Cincinnati & N. Kentucky , Volume6 , Number3