明喻(simile)是最明显最直接的打比方。根据“直译”、“意译”两大分野的传统划分，可以将两位译者对明喻的翻译思路分述如下：

1.直译法 

对于句中显豁而形象的明喻，译者显然都带着欣赏的眼光，并将这些绘声、绘色、绘形、绘情的传神佳喻原汁原味地带到了译文读者面前。

1)他这一下去，就如同一盆才抽出嫩箭来的兰花送到猪窝里去一般。（第七十七回）

杨译：

...seriously ill as she is and with all that resentment bottled up inside her，is like throwing a delicate orchid just coming into bloom into a pigsty.

霍译：

Sending her to that place now is like taking a potted orchid that has just started putting out its first tender spears of growth and setting it down in a pigsty.

2)探春冷笑道：“……咱们倒是一家子亲骨肉呢，一个个不象乌眼鸡，恨不得你吃了我，我吃了你！”（第七十五回）

杨译：

Tanchun smiled mockingly. “…We're a happy family of kith and kin I must say，all like game-cocks fighting to finish each other off.”

霍译：

‘Well，why not?，said Tan-chun bitterly.‘Better be driven out now by me than by someone else later on. Kinsfolk are lucky. They don't have to stay here. Not like the members of this happy family — all glaring at each other like angry fighting-cocks，wondering which will be the first one to strike!'

例1是借宝玉之口形容晴雯被无端驱逐，含冤负屈所经受的悲惨命运。句中“一盆才抽出嫩箭来的兰花”和“送到猪窝里去”美丑相形，构成极强烈的对比。例2的本体是“咱们一家子亲骨肉”，喻体是“乌眼鸡”，探春话里的这个明喻十分深刻地揭示了贾府的矛盾和危机已渐趋表面化，以及她对贾府“哀其不幸，怒其不争”的明确态度。两个译本对以上两例都采取直译法，且喻词都选用了英语明喻中较常见的like。再举几例直译明喻的例子，并请特别注意两译本喻词选择的不同：

3)有几百株杏花，如喷火蒸霞一般。（第十七回）

杨译：

...hundreds of apricot-trees，their blossoms bright as spurting flames or sunlit clouds.

霍译：

Inside it were several hundred apricot trees，whose flowering tops resembled the billowing rosy clouds of some vegetable volcano.

4)出了院门，四顾一望，并无二色，远远的是青松翠竹，自己却如装在玻璃盒内一般。（第四十九回）

杨译：

Once outside of his own gate he gazed round. All was white except for some green pines and emerald bamboos in the distance，so that he had the sensation of being in a crystal bowl.

霍译：

Once outside tile courtyard gate, the Garden stretched out on every hand in uniform whiteness, uninterrupted except for the dark green of a pine-tree or the lighter green of some bamboos here and there in the distance. He felt as if he was standing in the middle of a great glittering crystal bowl.