词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Rhetoric of War

Broadcast on "Coast to Coast": March 27, 2003

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble. This week on Wordmaster 鈥?the rhetoric¹ of war.

RS: Professor Amos Kiewe is director of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University in New York State. He says research on the rhetoric of war shows that the language conforms to a pattern.

KIEWE: 鈥淭hat no matter who is the president or whatever the war may be, it is primarily the rhetoric of patriotism², it is the rhetoric of values -- in the sense that patriotism is a value -- and it is the rhetoric that often functions by creating a dichotomy between 'us' and 'them.'"

AA: "Now, interestingly, the one thing you don't tend to hear in American rhetoric is the sort of, I guess, the colorful or more graphic³ language that you hear, for example, in Saddam's speech on television [broadcast March 24] in which he talked about cutting the throats of the enemy."

KIEWE: "That is correct. And here you are talking about things that are not universal but are very cultural, and that may explain why it gets to be a bit more vicious, if you wish, whereas our is more measured."

RS: "You're talking about Western rhetoric."

KIEWE: "Yes, Western and American rhetoric of war. I think that that is out of character for us to talk about cutting other people's throats or seeing blood flow in the street. That clearly does not come from our historical experience."

AA: "Now I suppose some would argue that when you keep emotion out of what you're saying, when you refer to injuries to civilians⁴ as 'collateral⁵ damage' or terms like that, that you are ... "

RS: "Distancing yourself."

AA: " -- distancing yourself from it and putting a cold cover over what you are really talking about."

KIEWE: "It is indeed part of the motivation, because language is the perspective, is the window through which we see reality. So if you use the language that distances, then language is metaphorical⁶ and it allows you to be somewhat detached from the harshness, the reality, the brutality⁷ of war. But in another culture, that would be the opposite. They may use embellished⁸ language precisely⁹ to do the opposite, to generate hatred¹⁰ or to generate support that could not be possible with logical language."

AA: "Now let me ask you a question, as the images have been coming from Iraq of dead American soldiers and prisoners and so forth¹¹, have you detected any change in the political rhetoric coming from politicians or from military leaders? Has there been a different tone in reaction to public reaction to these images?"

KIEWE: "Not yet. I was thinking about this, and I was waiting to see. But I think that, at least Democrats¹² who oppose the war, are careful not to be quick to now criticize the President three, four, five days into the war, only because for the last three days we have seen prisoners of war. I think that they are cautious. Not that they are not seeing it or feeling it, but they are being cautious.

"I would say that the only place where I see this affecting is the media, the vehicle that actually carries the pictures. The time given by major networks to the story of the dead and the prisoners of war -- that tells me that there is a lot of sensitivity to any individual who has been killed or who has been imprisoned¹³. And this kind of sensitivity can change public opinion."

AA: "And if you could just describe the sort of language you're hearing in these interviews, how the families are responding to having members either killed or taken prisoner."

KIEWE: "It's fairly interesting and it's fairly consistent, and it is in a way a reflection of the rhetoric of war that we started focusing on earlier. The parents, in particular, are proud of their kids, whether they have been killed or been imprisoned. 'They were good kids,' is the statement. 'They are brave.' 'They're good Americans,' 'they believe in this country,' 'they're patriotic¹⁴.' The same language that you hear, on the one hand, from the President and the political elite¹⁵ is reflected in the language of the families."

RS: Amos Kiewe, director of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University, speaking to us earlier this week.

AA: Our e-mail address is [email protected], and our Web site is voanews.com/wordmaster. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

1 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

2 patriotism   

n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。

3 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

4 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

5 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

6 metaphorical   

a.隐喻的，比喻的

参考例句：

• Here, then, we have a metaphorical substitution on a metonymic axis. 这样，我们在换喻（者翻译为转喻，一种以部分代替整体的修辞方法）上就有了一个隐喻的替代。
• So, in a metaphorical sense, entropy is arrow of time. 所以说，我们可以这样作个比喻：熵像是时间之矢。

7 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

8 embellished   

v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色

参考例句：

• The door of the old church was embellished with decorations. 老教堂的门是用雕饰美化的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The stern was embellished with carvings in red and blue. 船尾饰有红色和蓝色的雕刻图案。 来自辞典例句

9 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

10 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

11 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

12 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

14 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

15 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。