De Man's point is a question is both rhetorical and grammatical, and the one cannot be reduced to the other. Both readings are available.

德曼想指出的是，一个问句既是修辞型问句又是语法型问句，那么一个不能变成另一个，两种理解都有效。

耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选

We thought that the Taliban will be reduced to a minor irritating factor within 6 months to a year.

我们原以为,在六个月到一年之内塔利班分子会减少成为一个很小的势利。

普林斯顿公开课 - 国际座谈会课程节选

Human beings can be reduced to their movable parts much like a machine.

人类被浓缩到那些可运动的部分,就像一个机器。

耶鲁公开课 - 政治哲学导论课程节选

That seems to me to be some horrible penalty you've imposed on me, that you've reduced me from being a human being, able to engage in the full range of reflection, and simply turned me into something like a rat.

更像是,强加在我身上的酷刑，我本来是一个人，能进行各种反思，却被变成一种老鼠般的生物。

耶鲁公开课 - 死亡课程节选

What are we to make of these laws, ? as I've asked before? In one sense, there seems to be a genuine moral content to Hobbes' laws of nature which can : be reduced to a single formula: Seek peace above all other goods.

就像我曾经说过的那样，我们会怎样制定这些法则呢，从某种角度看，在霍布斯的自然法中,似乎有一个真正的道德内涵,可以简化成一个公式：,在一切物质层面之上寻求和平。

耶鲁公开课 - 政治哲学导论课程节选