Hyperbole是一種修辭手法，意思是“夸張”，是運(yùn)用豐富的想象力，在客觀現(xiàn)實(shí)的基礎(chǔ)上有目的地放大或縮小事物的形象特征，以增強(qiáng)表達(dá)效果的修辭手法。為了啟發(fā)讀者或聽者的想象力和加強(qiáng)所說的話的力量，用夸大的詞語來形容事物。

Hyperbole lies, but not so as to intend to deceive by lying. . . . It is in common use, as much among the unlearned as among the learned; because there is in all men a natural propensity to magnify or extenuate what comes before them, and no one is contented with the exact truth. But such departure from the truth is pardoned, because we do not affirm what is false. In a word, the hyperbole is a beauty, when the thing itself, of which we have to speak, is in its nature extraordinary; for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth; and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality.
夸張帶有欺騙性，但并非由目的的欺瞞?？鋸埖氖褂煤芷毡?，受過教育與沒受過教育的人都會夸大其詞，因?yàn)槿说谋拘匀绱?，會有意地夸大或減輕他們面對的情況，沒有人會滿意僅僅陳述事實(shí)。但是這樣偏離事實(shí)是可以被原諒的，因?yàn)槲覀儧]有規(guī)定怎樣就算錯。換言之，夸張是一種美，當(dāng)我們所述的內(nèi)容本身就與眾不同，我們就可以稍稍夸大其詞；而語言描述在稍微超過事實(shí)之后會顯得更加有力。

下面節(jié)選了Monty Python的Four Yorkshiremen一文中四個人爭相比慘的片段，一起來欣賞一下他們的夸張吧~

A:?You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for 14 hours a day week in, week out. When we got home, our Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!
“你算幸運(yùn)了。三個月來，我們一直住在化糞池里的牛皮紙袋里。凌晨六點(diǎn)就要起床，洗干凈紙袋，吃點(diǎn)酸腐的面包皮就得到磨坊連續(xù)上14個小時的班，日日如此。回家以后，老爸還會用皮帶趕我們?nèi)ニX。”

B:?Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were?lucky!
“土豪啊你！我們住在湖里，三點(diǎn)就要起床了，清理完湖，吃一把熱石頭就去磨坊上班了，每個月就掙兩便士，回家以后，老爸還會用碎玻璃瓶打我們，而且這還算是幸運(yùn)的呢！”

C:?Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at 12 o'clock at night, and?lick?the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked 24 hours a day at the mill for four pence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife.
“算了吧，我們才真是活得艱難。午夜12點(diǎn)就從鞋盒里起床，用舌頭把路面舔干凈。吃的是冷冰冰的石頭，還一把都裝不滿。在磨坊工作24小時，六年掙4便士?；氐郊?，老爸會用刀叉把我們劈成兩半?！?/div>
D:?I had to get up in the morning at 10 o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work 29 hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."
“我晚上10點(diǎn)就得起床，睡前半小時吃一小塊毒藥，在磨坊里每天工作29小時，為了這份工作還得向磨坊主交錢?；氐郊遥习謿⒘宋覀冞€在我們的墳頭上手舞足蹈，高唱‘哈利路亞’?！?/div>
A:?But you try and tell the young people today that, and they won't believe ya'.
“但是你跟現(xiàn)在的年輕人這樣說，他們不會信的。”

All:?Nope, nope.
“是啊?！?/div>

這樣的夸張你會不會信呢？