metaphor /ˈmɛtəfə/ CET6+ TEM4

• 1. 

  N-VAR A metaphor is an imaginative way of describing something by referring to something else which is the same in a particular way. For example, if you want to say that someone is very shy and frightened of things, you might say that they are a mouse. 隐喻

  例：

  ...the avoidance of violent expressions and metaphors like "kill two birds with one stone."

  …避免使用有暴力意味的表达和隐喻，如“一石二鸟。”

• 2. 

  N-VAR If one thing is a metaphor for another, it is intended or regarded as a symbol of it. 象征

  例：

  The divided family remains a powerful metaphor for a society that continued to tear itself apart.

  破裂的家庭仍然是一个持续分裂的社会的有力象征。

• 3. 

  PHRASE If you mix your metaphors, you use two conflicting metaphors. People do this accidentally, or sometimes deliberately as a joke. 把两个矛盾的隐喻混用在一起

  例：

  To mix yet more metaphors, you were trying to run before you could walk, and I've clipped your wings.

  再混用一些隐喻，你还不会走就想跑，而我又修短了你的翅膀。