Virtue Comparison

用自然物包括動植物的某些特性比附人的道德品格。引申到文學審美領域，一般是用美好的事物直接比喻高尚的人格精神，將自然現象看作是人的某些精神品質的表現和象征，體現出儒家將審美與文藝道德化的思維模式。人比德于自然，意味著對自然的欣賞其實就是對人自身特別是人所具有的倫理品格的欣賞。后成為修辭與詩歌創作的一種方式。

The term means likening certain characteristics of things in nature, including plants and animals, to human virtues. When extended to the domain of literary appreciation, it generally involves likening desirable objects to a noble personality. To perceive a natural phenomenon as a reflection or symbol of human characteristics is typical of the Confucian school, which takes aesthetic quality as a moral standard for people as well as literature and arts. Likening humans to nature implies that appreciation of nature is actually appreciation of humanity itself, particularly its moral character. It later became a technique employed in rhetoric and poetry.

引例 Citations：

◎昔者君子比德于玉焉，溫潤而澤，仁也。（《禮記·聘義》）

從前，君子的道德人格可以和美玉相比，溫潤而有光澤，體現出的就是仁。

In the past, the moral integrity of a man of virtue was likened to fine jade, which is smooth, mellow, and lustrous, an exact embodiment of benevolence. (The Book of Rites)

◎及三閭《橘頌》，情采芬芳，比類寓意，乃覃及細物矣。（劉勰《文心雕龍·頌贊》）

到了屈原《橘頌》，情志和文采都極為美好，它用相類的事物比擬并寄寓作者自己的情志，又將“頌”的內容推及細微之事物了。

In Qu Yuan's "Ode to the Orange Tree," both his sentiment and literary style were highly refined. The work used similar things to analogize and convey the author's own sentiment, and extended its content into subtle things. (Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons)

推薦：教育部 國家語委

供稿：北京外國語大學 外語教學與研究出版社

責任編輯：錢耐安