在文学作品中，作者为了向读者传递作品中的经历和感受，常常使用到各种修辞手法。修辞手法的使用已经成为一些作者写作风格的标志。理解修辞手法，可以帮助我们更好地欣赏文学作品的内涵。

Read the passage.

Louisa and Aidan were sprawled on chairs in the attic, their hands behind their heads and their feet dangling, when all of a sudden, a storm started. Heavy rain pounded on the roof, and they heard the strong wind whistling outside. The only lamp in the room went out, and the children could barely see anything around them. Lightning after lightning struck the sky outside, and the children held each other's hands as a sharp roar of thunder shook the house. It sounded as though the storm was right in their own backyard. However, a few minutes later, the storm stopped suddenly. Everything around was deafeningly silent as Louisa and Aidan got up quietly and attempted to find the door in the dark. Fortunately, the lights came back on before they had gotten to the door, and they both breathed out in relief and smiled. 

(145 words)

Q: What is the phrase "deafeningly silent" used for in the paragraph?

A. to emphasize that silence is the solution to the problem

B. to create a dramatic effect

C. to explain that the storm was loud

D. to emphasize how confusing the situation was

今天我们要讲的一种修辞手法叫做Oxymoron [矛盾修辞法]。

先来看定义：

Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect.矛盾修辞法是一种将两个相互矛盾的词结合在一起，而产生一种效果的修辞手法。

常见的矛盾修辞法是由一个形容词和一个意思相反的名词组合而成，也可以由一个副词和形容词组合而成，比如：

cruel kindness  残忍的仁慈

open secret  公开的秘密

tragic comedy  悲惨的喜剧

foolish wisdom  愚蠢的智慧

a love-hate relationship  爱恨交加的关系

 文章结构

回到前面的文章，我们逐句解释思路：

S1：出现人物L和A，突然a storm started暴风雨来了。

S2-4：大篇幅地描述暴风雨的rain/wind/lighting/thunder和L/A的反应。

S5：出现转折词However，几分钟之后，暴风雨戛然而止。

S6：出现题干中的deafeningly silent，用于描述环境everything around。文章后面内容是描述L/A反应，可以不看了。

这篇文章中，deafeningly silent（震耳欲聋的沉默）就是一个矛盾修辞法。沉默不能震耳欲聋。

因此，这个用法不是字面上的，而是用于服务于一个目的。

在这一段中，一场大暴风雨发生，几分钟后，突然停止了。这是一个戏剧性的事件，deafeningly silent以一种戏剧性的方式展示了暴风雨和随之而来的沉默之间的对比。

因此，正确答案是B。