以 A 喻 B
to use A as an image for B; to liken B to A
Structure
以 具体事物 喻 人／品德／道理 · 以花喻人 · 以 A 比喻 B
What it means
Classical ‘use A as an image for B’: it reports what a writer or a tradition uses as a picture for a person, virtue or idea that is harder to see.
How it is built
以 + concrete image + 喻 + person/virtue/idea; with longer phrases use 比喻: 这首诗以秋叶喻人生 (the poem likens life to autumn leaves); 以种树比喻教育.
When to use it
Literary and critical writing about how someone compares (以花喻人, 以古喻今). 好比 (6-6) and A 如 B make the comparison themselves (人生好比秋叶). In speech say 用…来比….
Watch out
Keep the order: the visible image after 以, the idea after 喻. ✗以君子喻梅花 ✓以梅花喻君子. The first makes the gentleman the picture for the plum.
Examples
古人常以松柏喻坚贞，以流水喻时光。
People in the past often used the pine and cypress as images of constancy, and flowing water as an image of time.
这首诗以秋叶喻人生，读来令人感慨。
The poem likens life to autumn leaves, and it is moving to read.
他在演讲中以种树比喻教育：急不得，也停不得。
In his speech he compared education to growing trees: you cannot hurry it, and you cannot stop.
Learn this in Lesson 169 · HSK 7–9: 市花与市树 (City flowers and city trees)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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