小试牛刀

What are metaphors?

参考答案：

(1) The classical view sees metaphor as a kind of decorative in addition to ordinary language, a rhetorical device that makes language use colorful.

(2) Another view of metaphor, which has become more influential in the past two decades, holds that metaphors are a cognitive device. Metaphor is an essential element in our categorization of the world and our thinking process.

(3) Cognitive linguistics has shown that metaphor is not an unusual or deviant way of using language. The use of metaphor is not confined to literature, rhetoric and art. It is actually ubiquitous in everyday communication.