如果说“貌不符实”(Appearanceversus Reality)是当代美国文学中经常出现的一个主题,那么,这种现象在英语语言中则存在已久了。我们知道,语言的形式同它的意义之间有时存在矛盾的情况,尤其在文学语言中,作家为了追求奇特的艺术效果,往往有意制造和扩大这种矛盾。反语的使用便是一例。不过更为常见的还是:一种 If Appearanceversus Reality is a recurring theme in contemporary American literature, then this phenomenon has existed in English for a long time. We know that there are sometimes contradictions between the form of language and its meaning. Especially in literary language, writers tend to create and expand such contradictions in pursuit of peculiar artistic effects. The use of irony is one example. But more common still: one