暗喻（metaphor)也叫“隐喻”，常用“是”、“为”、“成”、“叫”、“做”、 “等于”等充当喻词(也有不用喻词的，本体和喻体之间用逗号或破折号连接），在语言形式上最常见的格式是：本体、喻词、喻体依次充当句子的主、谓、宾。暗喻的本体和喻体的关系比明喻更接近，语气更肯定，结构也更紧凑。

我们首先从以下两个例句的译文比较谈起：

1)把个尤氏揉搓成一个面团，衣服上全是眼泪鼻涕，并无别语，只骂贾蓉......（第六十八回）

杨译：

Madam You, reduced to a squelch，her clothes covered with tears and snot, could only round on Jia Rong.

霍译：

You-shi，whom all this time she had not let go of, was so mauled and crumpled that she was beginning to take on some of the aspects of a piece of well-kneaded dough and various parts of her clothing had become damp and discoloured with the moisture from Xi-feng's eyes and nose. As there was nothing much she could say in answer to Xi-feng，she shouted at Jia Rong instead.

2)袭人等笑道：“他奶奶病了，他又成了香饽饽了，都抢不到手。”平儿去了不提。（第六十回）

杨译：

Xiren and the others commented jokingly，“With her mistress ill she's in such great demand, everyone's trying to grab her."

霍译：

Aroma and the others laughed, too.

‘She's grown as popular as hot cakes since her mistress's illness：everyone wants her at once! ’

上面两例都是用“成”作喻词的暗喻，分别用“面团”和“香饽饽”作喻体，十分通俗易懂，充满生活气息，且又契合特定场景和人物的特定身份。如此存质、显形的比喻将人与物合二为一，给读者带来了无穷的阅读乐趣。但是，杨译却放弃了对比喻的语际转化，没有保留喻体富含的表现力和感染力，与对应的霍译相比，表达效果逊色了许多。霍译对上述两例中暗喻的处理方式，不管是照样译成暗喻（例1)，还是译成明喻（例2)，都基本上保留了原作的风采。

由此可见，对原文喻义的视而不“译”是有悖于原文修辞效果的积极发挥的，因而应竭力避免。但是，综合杨霍两译本对《红楼梦》原著中大量暗喻的翻译，却发现这种情况不乏其例：

3)贾政也撑不住笑了。因说道：“那怕再念三十本《诗经》，也都是掩耳偷铃，哄人而已。……”（第九回）

杨译：

"Even if he studied another thirty volumes，it would just be fooling people,"he retorted.