Understatement(低调陈说)

　　Understatement的意义是：a statement that is not strong enough to express facts or feelings with full force(语气不够强，缺乏以表达事实或感情的陈说)。A Dictionary of Literary Terms 所给的解释是：A figure of speech which contains an understatement of emphasis， and therefore the opposite of hyperbole. Often used in everyday speech and usually with laconic or ironic intentions.也就说，这种修辞格式成心运用有节制的修辞来陈说事实，成心清描淡写，借低调与弱化言语方式来表示强调。所以Understatement成心采取“低调”，化大为小，是deliberately minimize the importance 和play down。普通说来，英语Understatement并无固定格式，通常能够经过词典和语法手腕表现。

　　1 用词汇手腕来表现

　　According to the newspaper， the driver， who was returning from a wedding， seemed puzzled. “I only had two bottle of beer and a cocktail.”

　　据报道，那位参与完一个婚礼后往回赶的司机一脸迷惑地说：“我只不过喝了两瓶啤酒，一杯鸡尾酒而已。”

　　此句话中的seemd puzzled 以及only 把酒后驾车司机的那种不担任任的态度描写的淋漓尽致，令人厌恶。

　　2 用语法手腕来表现

　　“ Don’t you figure out that I might have had something to do with it?” said Soapy， not without sarcasm， but friendly， as one greets good fortune.

　　(O.Henry： The Cop and the Anthem)

　　“难道你看不出我可能跟这件事有关吗?” 苏比说，口吻不是没有讥讽，但态度却友好，似乎一个要交好运的人。

　　此例是以双重否认表现understatement， not without sarcasm 就是with sarcasm(语带讥讽)。

　　简而言之，understatement(低调陈说)的要点就是清描淡写地陈说一种想法。

　　真题(2006年1月sec9)

　　Questions 7-19 are based on the following passage.

　　The following passage is from a 1979 essay by a Native American writer.

　　Before she had finished her sentence the beaver had flipped over in the water and dragged himself onto the bank， where he lay half dead. The porcupine woman managed to make the shore too. and climbed up onto a bear path. When she had caught her breath， she turned on the beaver and quilled him to death.“The Tanaina live in an environment that could euphe-mistically be described as “difficult.” Survival， especially in the wild， is always precarious. Further， they were， in the prccontact period， a nonlitcrate people.

　　11. The sentence in which “difficult” appears (lines 54-55) indicates that the author considers the word to be

　　(A) an exaggeration