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明喻在形式上只是相类的关系，隐喻在形式上却是相和的关系，本体和喻体两个成分之间一般要用“是”、“也”等比喻词，如“儿童是祖国的花朵”。（《辞海》(1980)） From the illustration from Chinese dictionary, obviously is only a kind of figures of speech in Chinese rhetoric. However, English metaphor covers much more fields than Chinese metaphor. The following shows the comparison between them. Metaphor 暗喻 1.a characteristic of human thinking and language 1. * * * 2.dead metaphor: 表面不是,实际是 2. * * * 3.active metaphor:一种修辞格 3. 一种修辞格 [10]P124 3.2 The structure and classification of Chinese metaphor The structure of ‘隐喻’ is said to be a mode “X” 是 “Y”. Moreover, it has not yet been classified into categories in its narrow sense in Chinese, which support the view of unequal relationship between English metaphor and隐喻. However, it doesn’t mean that Chinese is not a metaphorical language. Eventually, Chinese people use metaphors excellently as English people do, for examples ‘闲时不烧香，临时抱佛脚’, ‘狗嘴里吐不出象牙’. The difference is that various kinds of figures of speech in Chinese are absorbed to achieve the metaphorical effect, such as 借喻,缩喻 ect.. There are examples in Chinese metaphor, (38) 敌人夹着自己的尾巴逃跑了。（拟喻） (39) 我骑着思想的野马奔驰到很远很远的地方，然后，才收住了缰绳，缓步回到眼前灿烂的现实中。（缩喻） (40) 天下乌鸦一般黑。（借喻） 3.3 Similarities between English and Chinese metaphor The most important similarity that English metaphor and Chinese metaphor bare with each other is to achieve the effective function of metaphor or author’s intention. From rhetoric angle, both English and Chinese metaphors have three main features: descriptive, illuminative and illustrative,[11]P168 as can be seen from the following examples. 3.3.1Descriptive (41) The hallway was zebra—striped with darkness and moonlight. (A description of the alternated bands of light and shade in the hall, like a zebra’s stripes) (42)荷叶成了一把把撑开的小伞。 3.3.2 Illuminative Example (7)—English and (4)—Chinese are the typical examples and here are another two (43) The a solider, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. ( Shakespear: As you like it) (Bubble here implies that the pursuit of reputation is visionary and a sing of vanity) (44)人生必需的知识就是引人向光明方向的明灯. (李大钊) 3.3.3Illustrative (45) Learning is climbing up a mountain. The question ‘How to construct an effective metaphor’ leads to some properties required in both English and Chinese metaphors. Firstly, refressness and originality. metaphors like ‘he was a lion in the battle’, ‘儿童是祖国的花朵’are trite and stale. Those out-of-date expressions sometimes would spoil the speech or writing. Secondly, aptness. A metaphor is apt and appropriate if the comparison implied heightens effect or enhances the subject. In the sentence ‘her beautiful long hair was pitch-black’, the association of the blackness of the beautiful hair with pitch is inappropriate. Thirdly, consistency becomes relevant and important when we are using two or more metaphors to illustrate the same subject. The metaphors are consistent if they produce images related to and supporting each other and are not mixed and discordant. Mixed metaphors, which can produce very amusing and illogical imagery, should be strictly avoided, such as ‘I skin over the book to taste the tone of it’ (tone cannot be tasted). On the other hand, a metaphor both in English and Chinese, to be effective, should be terse in words and profound in implication, abu