Metaphor is an important means to make language vivid and vivid. Even Shelley said, "The basis of poetic language is metaphor." According to personal opinion, the reason why "The First Incense" can become Zhang Ailing's famous work, apart from other factors, the appropriate use of metaphors is also an indispensable reason.

Next, I will summarize and think about the representative metaphors that appear in this short story.

1. The title uses a metaphor.

When I first read it, I didn’t understand why the topic was chosen in this way, but after I read it, I discovered its beauty.

"Agarwood Chips: The First Incense" highly summarizes the main idea of ??the article, but this title is not a direct summary of the main idea of ??the article. She does this metaphorically.

Agarwood is a metaphor for Weilong, the protagonist of this article. The process of burning agarwood is the process of Weilong losing his youth. Therefore, the article begins with: "Please find the moldy green copper incense burner passed down from your family, light a burner of agarwood shavings, and listen to me tell a story about pre-war Hong Kong. Once you have finished lighting the burner of agarwood shavings, my The story should be over."

2. The garden at my aunt's house is just a rectangular lawn, surrounded by short white stone swastika fences, and beyond the fence is a barren hill. This garden seems to be a golden lacquer plate lifted out of thin air from the chaotic mountain.

The garden in the center of the barren mountain is compared to a plate, which is painted in gold, and together with the verb "qing", it embodies a strong sense of character. Does it also reflect the uniqueness of the garden and the wealth of the owner's family?

3. Her face is a plain but beautiful convex face. Now, this type of "powder puff face" is outdated. Her eyes were long and charming, and the deep marks on her double eyelids swept straight into her temples. Slender nose, fat and round mouth.

Long and charming, the so-called "eyes as charming as silk". Sweeping it straight into the temples, although it is an exaggeration, it also reflects the mood of the raised corners of the eyes.

4. Holding the iron door open and looking down, a petite young woman in a suit stepped out of the car. She was dressed in black and had a green mask hanging from the brim of a black straw hat. On the mask was an emerald the size of a fingernail. The spider, twinkling in the sunlight, was crawling on her cheek. It was bright and dark. When it was bright, it looked like a teardrop that was about to fall. When it was dark, it looked like a mole. The net was two or three yards long, slung around the shoulders like a scarf, floating in the air.

This is the author's description of Mrs. Liang, also known as Aunt Weilong, when she appears. Dressed in black, with a green web, and a green spider on the web. The combination of black and green shows aura, and emerald shows wealth. Spiders are generally representative of dangerous things. Is it a poisonous spider with a black belly? It seems that it was to show Mrs. Liang's insidiousness, and later she stuck Weilong into the web she had woven by herself.

5. Only then did Weilong see her face. After all, she was a few years old. She was white and slightly green, and there was a purple-black rouge on her lips, which was the new "mulberry red" in Paris this season. ".

Purple-black rouge, the focus is on the new design, this kind of rouge is called "mulberry red", the purple-black color of mulberries.

6. A cactus in the sapphire disk is about to bloom. The thick green leaves are poking around like a green snake; the red twist on the branch is like spitting out Snake letter son. The curtain behind Hua moved and Sui'er walked out with a smile. Weilong shivered unconsciously. ”

The overall description method uses the animalization of plants. The thick green leaves of the cactus can be appreciated. The thick leaves are anthropomorphized and the head is poked around, which shows that the cactus grows lushly.

Then he transformed the thick leaves into animals and compared them to a green snake, which instantly made him feel scary and gloomy. He also condensed the budding flowers into a twist of red, and compared it to the red spitted out by the green snake. Xinzi vividly brought out Weilong's fearful mood.

At this moment, Yue'er came out of the curtain behind the flower. It is easy to think that it was a green snake swimming towards Weilong. Weilong also "shuddered"

7. Her fan was tilted to one side, and a few strands of golden sunlight filtered through the fan, brushing against her mouth like a tiger. The beard is about to fly.

Comparing the sunlight filtering into the mouth through the fan to the beard of a tiger, it seems that Mrs. Liang is really a "miniature Empress Dowager Cixi"

8. Weilong walked along the road down the mountain. The sun had already set to the west. The mountains behind were bright red and purple, intertwined with gold threads, and very lively. They looked like the trademark paintings on the lids of cigar boxes, and the mountains were full of palms and plantains. The poisonous sun baked it into dry yellow pine curls, like cigar tobacco.

I have seen the trademarks of cigars, and they are indeed interlaced with gold threads; the withered palms and plantains are compared to cigar tobacco. The physical metaphor, real metaphor, and image transfer ability are too strong. The author is a thoughtful person in life.

9. Weilong walked eastward. The further he walked, the whiter and brighter the moon became. It was like a fat-breasted white phoenix, perched on the bend of the road, doing its job in the branches of the trees. nest.

The moon was favored by ancient literati, and there are many metaphors about the moon, such as Li Bai's "When I was young, the moon was called a white jade plate."

There are two metaphors for the moon in this novel, and this is the first one. The branches above the moon look like white phoenixes with fat breasts, reflecting the whiteness, fullness and roundness of the full moon. What a powerful metaphor gene. No wonder Aristotle said, "Metaphor is the mark of genius."

10. Weilong stopped and rested his feet for a while, feeling a little confused. Looking back at my aunt's house, I can vaguely see the window lattice with yellow ground and red edges, and the sea color reflected in the green glass window. The trembling white house, covered with green glazed tiles, looks a bit like Huangling in ancient times.

The combination of yellow, red, green, blue and white with strong saturation reflects that my aunt’s house resembles Huangling. In fact, it also alludes to the strong shadow of feudalism under the nature of semi-feudal society. This kind of The shadow is an important reason for Weilong's downfall.

11. The white house of the Liang family was sticky and melted into the white mist. Only the lights were shaking in the green glass windows, and the green was faint, square by square, like ice cubes in mint julep.

The swaying light in the green glass window of the body is a metaphor for the ice cubes in the mint julep. The obvious similarity in color and shape achieves a visual fit, which is a very subtle metaphor.

More importantly, this metaphor creates an eerie and terrifying atmosphere and projects a strong sense of tension. This reflects Weilong's uneasiness about moving into the Liang family, and it also reflects that she is about to enter a dangerous situation.

12. She wore pigtails like Mrs. Liang's Dian Di and Yu'er, but her pigtails were made murderous, like a nine-section steel whip in a martial arts novel.

When Weilong moved into Liang's house and moved things, Weilong's servant Chen Ma accompanied her. This is the author's description of Chen Ma. Comparing braids to a nine-section steel whip, she describes Mother Chen as stiff, dull, and unattractive. So before entering Liang's house and looking at Chen Ma's appearance, Weilong sent Chen Ma away.

This detail reflects Weilong’s inner nobility, pretentiousness, and vanity from the side. This is the reason why Weilong finally fell.

13. Weilong opened the pearl curtain and leaned against the window sill to look out. Outside was a narrow balcony, and the vast mist outside the iron railing was misty and milky white, making it very clear from the deck. The feeling of looking at the sea.

The balcony is likened to a deck. Under the mist, it seems like there is a sea outside the window.

The fog in Hong Kong is really thick. The fog at this time also adds a bit of confusion about the future. Weilong's mood is like this fog, which is so thick that he can't get rid of his thoughts.

14. Woolen fabrics, fluffy like provocative jazz dance; thick and heavy velvet, like the melancholic classical opera theme song; silky soft satin, like "The Blue Danube", cool and shady The Yin earth envelops people and flows throughout their bodies.

In the three metaphors, woolen fabrics are compared to jazz dance, velvet is compared to the opera theme song, and soft satin is compared to "The Blue Danube". Her desire to finish her studies in an ordinary way was aroused by these gorgeous clothes, and her heart was filled with ups and downs. The three words "provocation, melancholy, and coolness" exquisitely describe Weilong's ambivalence at this time.

She yearned for all the magnificence she saw. She wanted to step out and walk into it, but she was afraid of falling into the quagmire. So "I whispered to everything downstairs, 'It's okay to take a look.'" With Weilong's own experience and mental strength, she could not resist this materialistic lust and extravagance.

15. The whiteness of her skin is different from the whiteness of Chinese people. It is a heavy, opaque whiteness. On her snow-white face, she has large, sinister light green eyes, sparse black eyelashes, dark eyebrows, and thick, oily scarlet lips. She is so beautiful that she has a chilling air.

This person is Qiao Qi’s half-sister Zhou Jijie, who is one of the top socialites among the younger generation in Hong Kong.

A hybrid of seven or eight types of blood, green eye shadow, eyelashes and eyebrows of different blacks, plus "thick oily scarlet lips", what kind of beauty is this, a chilling beauty.

16. Weilong was wearing a porcelain blue thin silk cheongsam that day. Looking at his green eyes, she felt that her arms were like hot milk poured from a green pot. When it came out, I couldn't control it, and all of myself spilled out.

This is Weilong in the eyes of the hero Qiao Qiqiao when the hero and heroine first met. The overall description is that Weilong has a white complexion. Weilong was nervous, shy and unconsciously emotional when Qiao Qi looked at her. Her green pot was feeling warm inside at the moment.

Here, the author does not use any words to express fair skin, but compares the arms to hot milk poured from a cyan pot. It can be expressed by "bi" rather than by "innovation". of.

17. He is even bloodless than Zhou Jijie, even his lips are as pale as a plaster statue. Under the dark eyebrows and eyelashes, the eyes were like windswept rice fields, sometimes revealing the green light of the water under the rice, flashing, and then darkening again.

Qiao Qi in Weilong’s eyes. The eyes are compared to wind-blown Waseda fields, indicating the actor's long eyelashes and flickering eyes. The blue light of the water reflects the bright eyes.

18. The sky was already dark at that time, and the moon just came up. It was yellow, like jade-colored satin, and a little incense ash fell off during the embroidery, and a small piece was burnt.

Weilong was touched by Qiao Qi’s words for the first time. He didn’t listen to Qiao Qi’s words and covered his ears, “standing up and walking toward the person.” At this time, the moon came up.

When I was young, there was no hemming machine at home. When my mother made clothes for us, she would light candles to bake the edges of the fabric. If you accidentally light it, sparks will fly out and there will be a smell. The burnt area is yellow and prickled with hard thorns.

A small piece of the jade-colored satin was burnt, which was burnt by the incense ashes accidentally dropped, like a yellow crescent moon. "Blur" describes the halo of the moon. This is the second time the moon is described in this article.

19. On the dark hillside, the heavy wind blew the white rain in rapid bursts, squeezing the raindrops into balls as big as wheels. The lights on the front of the car In the shooting, it rolled like a white hydrangea. The fat trees all over the mountain are also bent and huddled together; like green hydrangea, rolling behind the white hydrangea.

When describing heavy rain, the words that come to mind are majestic, pouring, pouring, pouring, etc. It was the first time Bai LaLa saw Grandma Grandma who was different.

Oscar Wilde said: "The first person to use flowers to compare beauty is a genius, the second person to use flowers to compare beauty is a mediocre person, and the third person is a fool." Unconventional and original metaphor skills are needed Achieved with careful learning and appropriate innovation.

The rain truck was in a hurry, so the raindrops were squeezed into white hydrangeas by the lights, and the fat trees all over the mountain turned into green hydrangeas, "rolling behind the white hydrangeas." The aura of this rain is so powerful.

20. It was too late, but soon, Situ Xie had already reached out and put the same diamond bracelet on him. The process was as fast as a detective putting handcuffs on the prisoner by surprise. .

The author compares Situ Xie's speed of putting the bracelet on Weilong to a detective putting shackles on a prisoner. After reading the entire storyline, you will understand that this is a trigger that prompts Weilong to go to Qiao Qi, and it also metaphors that Weilong is put under heavy shackles.

21. Opposite her balcony was a protruding mountain cliff, as if the mountain stretched out its tongue and licked the balcony. In the yellow plum rain, the mountains are full of drunken trees, emitting the smell of green leaves; plantains, gardenias, magnolias, banana trees, camphor trees, calamus, ferns, ivory, palms, reeds, tamba The wild rice grows and reproduces so fast that it is a bit murderous, and the wind blowing in has a slight fishy smell.

Here are two metaphors. One compares the protruding cliff facing the balcony to a mountain extending its tongue and kissing the balcony, which is personified; the other compares the lush and lush plants to the murderous spirit of people. . Do all kinds of plants imply various adverse environments that are not conducive to Weilong? Does the murderous aura show that these external forces will engulf Weilong?

22. The moisture in the jungle has not yet subsided, it is humid and hot, insects are chirping, and coupled with the sound of frogs, the entire mountain depression is like a cauldron, and the moon is a The blue and gloomy fire slowly cooked it, and the water in the pot boiled with a gurgling sound.

Shanwazi is compared to a cauldron, the chirping of insects and frogs in the mountains are compared to the gurgling sound of water boiling in the cauldron, and the moon is slowly boiling the cauldron. The blue fire.

The three metaphors are closely integrated into each other, and the sound, shape and meaning are extremely consistent, vividly depicting Weilong's gradual assimilation into the dangerous environment.

23. It was already about four o'clock in the morning, and there were still many stars in the sky, but the sky was gradually fading, like a pair of cyan mud-gold paper.

The author compares the light blue sky at dawn to cyan lacquered paper, using art elements to make the comparison, which is beautiful and noble.

24. The sun shines brightly at noon, but the sky is a cold metallic white, which hurts the eyes like a knife. Autumn was deep, and a bird flew to the top of the mountain. The black bird flew high in the daytime, as if it was scratched on the edge of a knife, screamed miserably, and went over to the other side of the mountain.

Because of Qiao Qi's betrayal, Weilong wanted to return home to Shanghai, but she couldn't let go of everything in Hong Kong, including the clothes, food and entertainment. Inner demons are hard to get rid of, and heartache is hard to heal.

Here the sun is described as glowing with a cold white color, and the sunlight is compared to a knife, reflecting Weilong's painful state of mind.

25. The sea outside the bamboo and the sky outside the sea are already gray and yellow. Only the ivory mangroves, which are about ten feet high, are rising up and down in the twilight. There are red flowers as big as the mouth of a bowl. ...The sky is completely dark, and the whole world is like a gray Christmas card. Everything is shadowy. The only ones that really exist are the huge ivory-red flowers, simple, primitive, with the mouth of a bowl as big as the mouth of a bucket. .

The ivory red in the dark night reminds me of the female ghost with scattered black hair and red clothes in horror dramas. It is weird and more terrifying. Use the image of external things to create a sense of terror.

26. The house was filled with the strong smell of codan, which was similar to almond milk. Mrs. Liang was finishing wiping off the cocoa, raising her hands pointedly, waiting for it to dry. The two snow-white hands looked as if they had just been put on a scorpion. The fingertips were pinched and blood dripped on the ground.

Koudan is a nail polish, which is like the red nail color made of impatiens flowers when I was a child. It is a bright red. The beautiful colors in my impression are compared here to the bloody fingertips that have been stained with sticks, which makes people shudder.

27. As soon as the fire lit up, in that biting cold night, an orange-red flower seemed to bloom on his mouth. The flowers withered immediately, and it was cold and dark again...

In the dark night, the fire from the lighter was like an orange-red light, but it disappeared in an instant. Her instant smile is like the instantaneous flame of the lighter. After a little bit of joy, there is still endless cold and darkness.