3。2 Hyperbole 

3。2。1 Definition

     In order to achieve a certain expression, expanding or shrinking with abundant imagination the image, features, role, degree and some other aspects of one thing is called hyperbole。 Hyperbole can be pided into two categories and three forms, that are “ordinary” and “advanced” class。 And the ordinary class also can be pided into two categories: expand and reduce, which means the author deliberately use “big, more, high, strong, deep”  or “small, low, low, weak, shallow” to describe the objective things。 And the advanced hyperbole means that in time horizon, the poet bring the things that would happen later forward。 The role of hyperbole is to use the way of exaggeration to highlight the essence of things, or to strengthen the author’s feelings, heighten the atmosphere, and to make reader’s full of imagination。 (Lan 319)

3。2。2 Its use in the poem来自优O尔P论R文T网WWw.YoueRw.com 加QQ7520`18766

The sentence “黄河之水天上来，奔流到海不复还。” is a kind of hyperbole in the scope of space, and the sentence “高堂明镜悲白发，朝如青丝暮成雪。” is the hyperbole in the scope of time。 Li Bai lamented life is short, and not bluntly said that。 He used the word “朝”, “暮” to depict the whole aging process of life from the youth to the old, which made the original short-term more short, and in the first two sentences the original magnificent scene more grand, that is a kind of “reverse” exaggeration。 In this poem, the poet used large numbers to exaggerate and express his heroic feelings, such as “千金”, “三百杯”, “十千”, “万古愁” and so on。 The word “千金” shows the poet’s character of paying more attention to the friendship than money。 The words “三百杯” and “十千” showed that the poet tried to exaggerate the number of drinking, used these numbers to render the situation of indulging in drinking in the feast。 

3。2。3 The different versions of translating it

     Most versions translated the words “天上来” to “ from the sky” 。 This hyperbole is aimed at emphasizing the greatness of the Yellow River and its magnificent momentum。 They all chose to be faithful to the original poem while in fact, it’s impossible for the Yellow River coming from the sky which is a kind of exaggeration the poet used。 The poet used the words “来, 还” to exaggerate in the scope of space。 Xu J translated that the water flows “down to sea, flushing and flowing”, while others translated “into sea”。 Apparently “down to sea” can be more powerful to depict the river rushing down from the high。 Stephen used “rush in their flow to the sea”, a local statement, to translated it which seems authentic and easily understood by foreigners。 The word “高堂” means the parents or the old people, while most translators translated it into “grand house, chambers high or mighty halls” which should be considered。 In ancient China, the room of the parents was generally known as the main room, which was in the middle position。 And the roof and the ground of the room were higher than other rooms, so to show respect on their parents, the ancient offspring called their parents “高堂” instead of “mom and dad”。 So the ancient Chinese use the word “高堂” to refer to parents。 The sentence “朝如青丝暮成雪” means the life is short and men are fragile。 The poet exaggerated the short of time and represented it by the change color of hair。 Gong used “hoary” to depict the gray hair which is brilliant while others used snow-white which is also be faithful to the poem。 But Stephen Owen translated it into “snow”, apparently, he misunderstood the meaning of “雪” for the lack of Chinese culture。