点击上方蓝字关注我们
比较和对比文章 (A comparison and contrast essay) 的定义
比较和对比文章 (A comparison and contrast essay) 通过比较两个相似的物体或对比不同的物体，让读者了解两个物体的优缺点。然后，读者能够权衡所比较和对比物体的优缺点，以选择更好的产品。然而，这并不意味着它只是产品的比较或对比，它可能是读者在权衡利弊后做出决定的情况。虽然比较对比文章旨在展示相似之处和不同之处，但有时它只显示相似之处，有时只显示不同之处。
分类分级文章 (Division/Classification Essay) VS 比较/对比文章 (Comparison/Contrast Essay)
分类和分级文章 (A division and classification essay) 与比较和对比文章 (comparison and contrast essay) 一样，都是分析性文章，目的是将一个事物、想法或文章分解成部分进行分析。然而，比较和对比文章旨在指出事物的优缺点，或解释问题的好坏方面。这通常是为了决策目的而进行的。
文学比较与对比论文范例
例子 #1: 《缓慢的树行走》(A Slow Walk of Trees) - 托妮·莫里森著 (Toni Morrison)
《缓慢的树行走》(A Slow Walk of Trees) - 托妮·莫里森著 (Toni Morrison) 的英文原文下载可在同期发布的【英文资料共享】的文章中找到下载链接
英文原文: “His name was John Solomon Willis, and when at age 5 he heard from the old folks that “the Emancipation Proclamation was coming,” he crawled under the bed. It was his earliest recollection of what was to be his habitual response to the promise of white people: horror and an instinctive yearning for safety. He was my grandfather, a musician who managed to hold on to his violin but not his land. He lost all 88 acres of his Indian mother’s inheritance to legal predators who built their fortunes on the likes of him. He was an unreconstructed black pessimist who, in spite of or because of emancipation, was convinced for 85 years that there was no hope whatever for black people in this country. His rancor was legitimate, for he, John Solomon, was not only an artist but a first-rate carpenter and farmer, reduced to sending home to his family money he had made playing the violin because he was not able to find work. And this during the years when almost half the black male population were skilled craftsmen who lost their jobs to white ex-convicts and immigrant farmers.”
中文译文: “他的名字叫约翰·所罗门·威利斯 (John Solomon Willis)，当他5岁时听到老一辈人说‘解放宣言即将来临’时，他爬到了床底下。这是他对白人承诺的最早记忆，也是他习惯性反应的开始：恐惧和本能的安全渴望。他是我的祖父，一个音乐家，虽然他设法保住了他的小提琴，但却失去了他的土地。他失去了母亲遗留的88英亩土地，这些土地被法律掠夺者夺走，这些掠夺者建立了他们的财富。他是一个没有被改造的黑人悲观主义者，不管是因为解放还是尽管解放，他在85年的时间里坚信黑人在这个国家没有任何希望。他的怨恨是有道理的，因为他，约翰·所罗门，不仅是一位艺术家，还是一位一流的木匠和农民，由于找不到工作，他不得不靠演奏小提琴寄钱回家养家糊口。而这发生在近一半黑人男性人口是熟练工人，却因白人前罪犯和移民农民而失业的年代。”
这段话比较了作者祖父的两种态度：一种是黑人的态度，另一种是白人对这种黑人的反应。
例子#2: 《真人秀：令人惊讶的怀旧？》(Reality TV: Surprising Throwback to The Past?) - - 帕特里夏·科恩 (Patricia Cohen)
英文原文：“To many critics, Cupid and other matchmaking shows that mix money and real-life marital machinations represent a cynical and tasteless newgenre that is yet another sign of America’s moral decline. But there’s something familiar about the fortune hunters, the status seekers, the thwarted loves, the meddling friends, the public displays, the comic manners, and the sharp competitiveness—all find their counterparts in Jane Austen and Edith Wharton. Only now, three-minute get-to-know-you tryouts in a TV studio substitute for three-minute waltzes at a ball. Traditional family values, it turns out, are back on television after all.”
中文译文：“对许多评论家来说，《丘比特》(Cupid) 和其他混合了金钱和现实婚姻操作的配对节目代表了一种愤世嫉俗 (cynical) 和没有品味 (tasteless) 的新类型，这是美国道德衰落的又一个标志。但这些追逐财富的人、追求地位的人、被阻碍的爱情、干涉的朋友、公开展示、喜剧般的举止以及激烈的竞争，似曾相识——这些都可以在简·奥斯汀 (Jane Austen) 和伊迪丝·沃顿(Edith Wharton) 的作品中找到对应之处。只不过现在，电视演播室里的三分钟速配代替了舞会上三分钟的华尔兹。结果是，传统的家庭价值观又回到了电视上。”
在这段话中，帕特里夏·科恩(Patricia Cohen) 比较了两种态度：一种是物质主义，另一种是道德观。她哀叹道德的衰落，但赞扬了文学品味。
例子 #3: 《欧洲邮件与美国邮件》(Euromail and Amerimail) - 埃里克·维纳 (Eric Weiner)
英文原文: “Euromail is stiff and cold, often beginning with a formal ‘Dear Mr. X,’ and ending with a brusque ‘Sincerely.’ You won’t find any mention of kids or the weather or jellyfish in Euromail. It’s all business. It’s also slow. Your correspondent might take days, even weeks, to answer a message. Euromail is also less confrontational in tone, rarely filled with the overt nastiness that characterizes American e-mail disagreements. In other words, Euromail is exactly like the Europeans themselves. (I am, of course, generalizing. German e-mail style is not exactly the same as Italian or Greek, but they have more in common with each other than they do with American mail.)”
中文译文：“欧洲邮件冷峻而生硬，通常以正式的 ‘尊敬的X先生’ 开头，以简短的 ‘此致’ 结尾。你不会在欧洲邮件中找到任何关于孩子、天气或水母的提及。全是业务。它也很慢。你的通信对象可能需要几天甚至几周才能回复信息。欧洲邮件的语气也不那么对抗，极少充满美国邮件争论中常见的明显恶意。换句话说，欧洲邮件就像欧洲人自己一样。（当然，我在概括。德国邮件风格与意大利或希腊不完全相同，但它们之间的共同点比与美国邮件的共同点更多。）”
在这段话中，埃里克·维纳 (Eric Weiner) 比较了欧洲邮件和美国邮件，指出了前者的缺点，突出了后者的优点。
比较和对比文章 (A comparison and contrast essay) 的作用
比较和对比文章 (A comparison and contrast essay) 帮助读者做出关键决策。它可以是对两种产品、两个物体、两件事或两个问题的比较和对比。读者阅读这些文章，权衡所有方面，然后决定是否购买某个产品，或选择支持某个事物。这类文章还使读者更加了解所讨论的情况或问题。
---------- END ----------
往期推荐
说明文 (Expository Essay)
英文资料共享
英语文学概念 | 动物形态拟人 (Zoomorphism)
英文资料共享 [附下载链接]
英语文学概念 | 短篇故事 (Short Story)
英语文学概念 | 角色 (Character)
英语文学手法 | 戏剧独白 (Dramatic Monologue)
翻译家的故事 | 苏格兰翻译家埃德温·摩根 (Edwin Morgan): 语言桥梁与文化使者
英语修辞 | EKPHRASIS: 解读艺术的语言
翻译家的故事 | 艾迪斯·格罗斯曼（Edith Grossman）
