Entry 1
Item 1: Poem
Lonely Road[1]
I traveled down a lonely road,
It twisted and it turned.
The path was paved with fire and thorns,
And I was cut and burned.
It twisted and it turned.
The path was paved with fire and thorns,
And I was cut and burned.
I tasted love and found it cold,
Not warm and full of charm.
I learned that walls I built inside
Protected me from harm.
Not warm and full of charm.
I learned that walls I built inside
Protected me from harm.
And then one day two eyes met mine,
They saw my very soul.
The love they gave healed all my wounds,
And sought to make me whole.
They saw my very soul.
The love they gave healed all my wounds,
And sought to make me whole.
I walked that road again today,
But everything looked new,
Now roses bloom above the thorns,
And all because of you.
But everything looked new,
Now roses bloom above the thorns,
And all because of you.
Rhetorical devices:
Ø Rhyme: turned - burned; charm – harm; eyes – mine; soul – whole…
Ø Metonymy: two eyes (another person)
Ø Metaphor: path (one’s life); fire (hatred), thorns (hardships); wounds (failure, sorrows); roses (happiness, bliss)
Message:
Once a person is sympathized and supported by someone, any sadness in the past can be forgotten and the love at present can make up for his or her loneliness.
Item 2: Fable
The Buffoon and the Countryman[2]
At a country fair there was a Buffoon who made all the people laugh by imitating the cries of various animals. He finished off by squeaking so like a pig that the spectators thought that he had a porker concealed about him. But a Countryman who stood by said:
"Call that a pig's squeak! Nothing like it. You give me till tomorrow and I will show you what it's like."
The audience laughed, but next day, sure enough, the Countryman appeared on the
stage, and putting his head down squealed so hideously that the spectators hissed and threw stones at him to make him stop.
stage, and putting his head down squealed so hideously that the spectators hissed and threw stones at him to make him stop.
"You fools!" he cried, "see what you have been hissing," and held up a little pig whose ear he had been pinching to make him utter the squeals.
Rhetorical devices:
Ø Metaphor: the Buffoon (person whose job is to entertain other people/ convince people of their opinion); the Countryman (person who is honest, critical and truly experienced); the audience (normal people, the public, anyone of us); a pig’s squeak (the reality, esp. the negative facts)
Message:
Men often follow or feel convinced by pleasant imitations of the reality rather than reality itself, especially when what happens in reality is worse than or contrary to their expectations.
Item 3: Cartoon[3]
Rhetorical devices:
Ø Overstatement: the variety of items on the desktop.
Ø Metonymy: Computer – modern technology
People in time of modern technology is obviously distracted and become dependent on various functions of the computer and Internet. This causes the complication and disorganization in their working life.
[3] http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.weblogcartoons.com/cartoons/my-desk.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.weblogcartoons.com/&usg=__EnGa0RB9ZWnKYwaUm_hvYvHIo5Y=&h=405&w=399&sz=17&hl=en&start=20&tbnid=oTiLrw2lMZwXrM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=122&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcartoons%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D1
I disagree with you on the third item. In my opinion:
Trả lờiXóaMetonymy: the overcareful arrangement on the desk as if it was on a computer desktop - the mechanical way in which people treat real life as if it was the virtual one.
Message: Modern technology has made people live the real world as if it was the virtual one.