Diabetes is the sixth leading causes of death in the U.S. It’s a disease that causes diseases:heart attack,stroke,loss of limbs, blindness, and kidney failure.Today, pharmaceutical company researchers have discovered new medicines that help manage diabetes for the 15 million people who have it.So there are fewer and fewer cases of the diseases that come with diabetes.These medicines allow people with diabetes to lead more normal lives.Now,the challenge for researchers is to discover a cure.And we won’t stop thinking about a cure until we find it。 这是美国制药企业(American’s Pharmaceutical Companies）的一则公益广告，也使用了许多模糊词。作者没有用任何精确的数字，而只用了带有模糊性质的两个词来表示：“1 5 million”和“fewer and fewer”，但其中强烈的对比已跃然纸上。 第三，在一些情况下，只有使用模糊词语才能适合读者的阅读习惯。日常生活中，有时人们关于某些模糊概念就满足了。这是因为语言已完成了它的社会职能，传达了信息。请看一条美国运通卡（American Express Card）的广告： It’s amazing where a tank of gas will take you.When you use your American Express Card at gas stations or supermarkets, you’ll earn double Membership Rewards points,which means you can earn free merchandise or even airline tickets,twice as fast.Now the things you do every day can take you someplace far away。 这里，作者并没有把在这段时期内使用该卡的好处说得多么具体，而只用“double……points”以及“twice as fast”来表达，至于能得到多少点，能有多快都是没有必要告诉读者的。 参考文献： |
