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一位聽眾想讓我們列舉一些包含 “oxymoron（矛盾修辭法）” 的例子。“Oxymoron” 是將兩個相互矛盾的詞語或短語組合到一起的修辭方法。比如：“an open secret”、“bittersweet” 和 “the living dead”。本期 “你問我答” 節(jié)目通過分析一段情景對話，講解這種修辭手法在英語中的運用。

歡迎你加入并和我們一起討論英語學習的方方面面。請通過微博 “BBC英語教學” 或郵件與我們取得聯(lián)系。我們的郵箱地址是 questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

文字稿

（關于臺詞的備注: 請注意這不是廣播節(jié)目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能沒有體現(xiàn)錄制、編輯過程中對節(jié)目做出的改變。）

Jiaying
大家好，歡迎收聽 “BBC英語教學” 的 “你問我答” 節(jié)目，I'm Jiaying.

Beth
And I'm Beth. Hello, everyone.

Jiaying
本期節(jié)目中我們要回答的問題是這樣的：

Question
Could you give me some examples of 'oxymoron' in English?

Beth
Thank you for this great question! An oxymoron is a word or phrase that is made up of two words or parts that contradict each other.

Jiaying
在英語中，“oxymoron” 指 “矛盾修辭法”，也就是 “將兩個相互矛盾甚至完全相反的詞語放在一起，來描述一件事情”，這種反差可以起到引人入勝的效果。

Beth
Indeed. So, to give you some examples and explanations, we're going to hear a dialogue.

Jiaying
請大家聽下面這段使用了 “oxymorons” 的對話。邊聽邊想兩人是什么關系。

Dialogue
A: Have you spoken to Lili? I don't know if anyone else knows…
你最近和麗麗交流過嗎？我不知道其他人知不知道這件事情……

B: She's pregnant! Yes, I thought it was an open secret! You know, a secret that everyone in the office knows.
她懷孕了！我以為這是個公開的秘密呢！就是大家都心照不宣。

A: Oh, well, I didn't know! It's bittersweet. I'm sad that she'll be leaving us for a while but it's really exciting for them.
哦，我還真是不知道！現(xiàn)在有點悲喜交加。她要離開我們一段時間了，不過這對他們一家人來說真是好 消息。

B: It won't be easy! I was walking round like the living dead when I had my son. I hardly got any sleep in his first few months.
生孩子可不容易！我兒子剛出生的時候，我就像行尸走肉一樣，累得不行。頭幾個月里，我基本上沒怎么睡過覺。

Beth
The conversation we just heard is between two work colleagues – they said 'everyone in the office knows' and talked about someone 'leaving' because she is pregnant. Let's look at our first oxymoron – 'open secret'.

Dialogue
A: She's pregnant! Yes, I thought it was an open secret! You know, a secret that everyone in the office knows.
她懷孕了！我以為這是個公開的秘密呢！就是大家都心照不宣。

Jiaying
音頻中的女士以為辦公室里的人都知道同事懷孕的秘密，所以使用了搭配 “an open secret”。

Beth
That's right. 'A secret' is something that other people don't know. But, 'open' means not hiding anything, or being easily available. The two parts are opposite. And that's why this is an oxymoron.

Jiaying
“Secret（秘密）” 和 “open（公開的）” 搭配使用，構成 “an open secret（人人皆知的秘密）”。大家都知道這件事情，只不過沒有公開地說出來而已。

Beth
In this oxymoron, 'open' is an adjective and 'secret' is a noun. It's written as two separate words, unlike our next example.

Jiaying
好了，我們接著來看音頻中第二個使用了 “oxymoron” 的地方，那就是形容詞 “bittersweet（苦樂參半的）”。

Beth
'Bittersweet' is an adjective made up of two parts, 'bitter' and 'sweet', but it's written as one word.

Dialogue
B: It's bittersweet. I'm sad that she'll be leaving us for a while, but it's really exciting for them.
現(xiàn)在有點悲喜交加。她要離開我們一段時間了，不過這對他們一家人來說真是好 消息。

Jiaying
“Bittersweet” 用來形容一件事情是 “苦樂參半的”。

Beth
Yes. And 'bitter' is the sad part, and 'sweet' is the happy part.

Jiaying
音頻中的男士因為同事要暫時離開大家而感到難過，卻又為同事一家喜迎新成員而感到高興，所以是 “bittersweet”。

下面，我們再來講講 “the living dead”，這里也用了 “oxymoron”。音頻中的女士是這樣說的：

Dialogue
A: I was walking round like the living dead when I had my son. I hardly got any sleep in his first few months.
我兒子剛出生的時候，我就像行尸走肉一樣，累得不行。頭幾個月里，我基本上沒怎么睡過覺。

Beth
'The living dead' describes a person or animal that can move and is alive, but looks or feels like they have died! It's very often used when someone isn't getting enough sleep, so they look tired and might have difficulty doing normal activities.

Jiaying
是的，音頻中的女士就像 “the living dead”，意思是 “因為睡眠不足而感覺很累、很難受”。在 “the living dead” 當中，形容詞 “l(fā)iving” 的意思是 “活著的”，“dead” 指 “逝者”，看似矛盾，卻形象地比喻了某人像行尸走肉一般的樣子。

好了，我們來總結一下前面講過的 “oxymorons”：“an open secret” 指 “一個公開的秘密”；形容詞 “bittersweet” 表示 “苦樂參半的”；搭配 “the living dead” 指 “雖然醒著卻感到筋疲力盡、無精打采的人”。

Beth
Remember, if you have a question about the English language you'd like to ask us, please send us an email. Our email address is: questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

Jiaying
你也可以通過微博向我們提問。我們的微博賬號是 “BBC英語教學”。Bye, everyone.

Beth
Bye!