英语中长句的翻译

Chapter 13 英汉长句的翻译

Translation of English Long Sentences

1. 何谓长句

所谓长句，主要指语法结构复杂、修饰成分较多、内容层次在两个或两个以上的复合句，亦可指含义较多的简单句。

2、汉英长句比较

英、汉两种语言在句法上存在差异, 英语多为形合句, 汉语多为意合句。汉语句子多属于紧缩型, 英语的句子多属于扩展型. 英语修辞语位置相对灵活, 前置后置, 比较自如, 尤其倾向于后置, 十分有利于句子的扩展。英语句子较长, 且较多使用关联词和从句。多种从句(主语、状语、定语、表语从句) 并存的长句比比皆是。因为英语结构复杂, 层次变化多样, 容易产生误解, 所以英语长句翻译成为难点。

3、英语长句的分析

在分析长句时可以采用下面的方法:

(1) 找出全句的主语、谓语和宾语（主干/句）, 从整体上把握句子的结构。

(2) 找出句中所有的谓语结构、非谓语动词、介词短语和从句的引导词。

(3) 分析从句和短语的功能, 例如, 是否为主语从句, 宾语从句, 表语从句等, 若是状语, 它是表示时间、原因、结果、还是表示条件等等) 。

(4) 分析词、短语和从句之间的相互关系, 例如, 定语从句所修饰的先行词是哪一个等。

(5) 注意插入语等其他成分。

例：Behaviorists suggest that the child who is raised in an environment where there are many stimuli which develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will experience greater intellectual development.

Behaviorists suggest that the child who is raised in an environment where there are many stimuli which develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will experience greater intellectual development.

分析: (1) 该句的主语为behaviorists, 谓语为suggest, 宾语为一个从句, 因此整个句子为Behaviorist suggest that-clause 结构。

(2) 该句共有五个谓语结构, 它们的谓语动词分别为suggest, is raised, are, develop, experience 等。

译文：行为主义者认为, 如果儿童的成长环境里有许多刺激因素, 这些因素又有利于其适当反应能力的发展, 那么, 儿童的智力就会发展到较高的水平

4. 翻译方法

4 . 1 顺译法 Synchronizing

有些英语长句叙述的一连串动作按发生的时间先后安排，或按逻辑关系安排，与汉语的表达方式比较一致，可按原文顺序译出。

例（1）In international buying and selling of goods, there are a number of risks, which, if they occur, will involve traders in financial losses.

(在) 国际贸易货物的买卖(中) 存在着各种各样的风险，这些风险的发生将会给(有关的) 商人们带来经济损失。

例（2）

(1)In Africa I met a boy,(2) who was crying as if his heart would break and said,(3)when I spoke

to him,(4)that he was hungry ,(5) because he had had no food for two days.

(1)在非洲，我遇到一个小孩，(2)他哭得很伤心。(3)我问他为什么哭，(4)他说肚子饿，(5)两天没有吃东西了。

例（3）The world is undergoing profound changes: the integration of economy with science and technology is increasing, the restructuring of the world economy is speeding up, and economic prosperity depends not only on the total volume of resources and capital, but also directly on the accumulation and application of technological knowledge and information.

译文：世界正在发生深刻的变化：经济与科学技术的结合与日俱增；世界经济的重组加快步伐；经济繁荣不仅仅取决于资源和资本的总量，而且直接有赖于技术知识和信息的积累及其应用。

4.2 逆译法 Reversing

“逆译法”又称“倒置译法”，主要指句子的前后倒置问题。有些英语长句的表达次序与汉语习惯不同，甚至语序完全相反。因为：

表现在因果关系上，英语常常从果到因，强调果对主体的影响，而汉语则从因到果顺理推移，从解释到结论，从条件到结果。

在叙和议的关系上，英语一般先表态后叙事，而汉语一般先交代事情，后发表议论。 翻译时，我们必须从原文的后面译起，逆着原文的顺序翻译。

例（1）His delegation welcomed the fact that UNDP was prepared to respond to emergency needs as they rose, despite the basically long-term operations that characterized those programs.

尽管联合国开发计划署的特点是开展长期业务活动，但是该机构也作了应急准备，对此，他的代表团表示欢迎。

例(2)

This will remain true whether we are dealing with the application of psychology to advertising and political propaganda, or of engineering to the mass media of communication, or of medical science to the problem of overpopulation or old age.

无论我们说的是把心理学应用于广告宣传和政治宣传，还是把工程学应用于大众传播媒体，或是把医学运用于人口过剩问题和老年问题，这种情况总是如此。

例（3）

It should be the pressing task in international postal cooperation to actively help developing countries overcome difficulties in their development of postal services and to energetically narrow the gap between the developing and the developed countries in this field.

积极帮助发展中国家克服邮政建设中面临的困难，努力缩小发展中国家与发达国家在邮政领域的差距，应成为国际邮政合作的当务之急。

例(4)

It is probably easier for teachers than for students to appreciate the reasons why learning English seems to become increasingly difficult once the basic structures and patterns of the language have been understood.

一旦了解英语的基本结构和句型, 再往下学似乎就越来越难了, 这其中的原因, 也许教师比学生更容易理解。

例(5)

Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals.

假如没有那些以昆虫为食的动物保护我们, 昆虫将吞噬我们所有的庄稼, 害死我们的牛羊家畜, 使我们不能生存于世。

例(6)

Such is a human nature in the West that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becoming white collar workers.

许多人宁愿牺牲比较高的工资以换取成为白领工人的社会地位, 这在西方倒是人之常情。

4.3 拆离法 Splitting

The so-called splitting means taking certain elements ( clause , phrase , or word ) out of a sentence and treating them separately. This technique is usually adopted when both cutting and embedding fail to work in dealing with long and complex sentences.

有时英语长句中主语或主句与修饰词的关系并不十分密切, 翻译时可以按照汉语多用短句的习惯, 把长句的从句或短语化成句子, 分开来叙述, 为了使语意连贯, 有时需要适当增加词语。

Example （1）

The number of the young people in the United States who can't read is incredible about one in four.

原译：没有阅读能力的美国青年人的数目令人难以相信约为1/4。

改译：大约有1/4的美国青年人没有阅读能力, 这简直令人难以置信。

例（2） This year the estimated auto production is 40 million, and we can safely assume that even this tremendous number is likely to increase.

例（2） This year the estimated auto production is 40 million, and we can safely assume that even this tremendous number is likely to increase.

今年的汽车产量估计是四千万辆。这个数字虽然很大了，但可能还要增加。我们这么估计是有把握的。

例（3）Those Chinese scientists in Silicon Valley are understandably proud of their achievements. 例（3）Those Chinese scientists in Silicon Valley are understandably proud of their achievements.

可以理解的是那些在硅谷工作的中国科学家们对他们取得的成就感到很自豪。

The foreign visitors watched in a fascinated manner the tournament held in Beijing , which exhibited a superb performance in smash service, twist service, steady service, high drop and killing and ended in a draw.

外宾观看了在北京举行的这场锦标赛。这场比赛在发凶狠球、旋转球、低慢球、高抛球及扣杀方面技术都十分精湛, 最后打成平局。他们看得简直着迷了。 ( Splitting phrases )

4.4 切分法 Cutting

Sometimes, however, English modifiers are too long to be placed before the word being modified in the Chinese version. In this case, we have to resort to some other means---- most conveniently, cutting. By means of cutting, we may sever a long English sentence and rearrange the parts in sense groups, and then translate them separately into Chinese.

1). Human beings have distinguished themselves from other animals, and in doing so ensured their survival, by the ability to observe and understand their environment and then either to adapt to that environment or to control and adapt it to their own needs.

人类把自己和其他动物区别开来。与此同时, 人类还具有观察和了解周围环境的能力。他们要么适应环境, 要么控制环境, 或根据自身的需要改造环境。人类就这样一代代地生存下来。

例（2）The medical waste that has fouled beaches in the New York region at the peak of the

summer season has taken its toll on business all along the shore, driving vacationers away both from beaches that have been closed and from those that have remained open. ( cutting )

医疗用品生产商的废弃物污染了纽约地区的海滨。时值盛夏，一些海滨浴场关闭了, 赶走了大批度假者, 而仍然开放的一些海滨浴场也门可罗雀。这使海滨区的商业蒙受严重损失。 例（3）World Bank Managing Director Richard Frank said in a statement that the $52 billion international rescue package assembled by the Clinton administration-which includes $17 billion from the International Monetary Fund—would meet Mexico’s short-term financial crisis, which blew up after the government devalued the peso in December.

译文：世界银行行长理查德·弗兰克在一项声明中说，由美国克林顿政府组织筹集的520亿美元的国际援助贷款，其中包括国际货币基金组织提供的170 亿美元贷款，将用于解决墨西哥目前面临的短期金融危机；这次危机是由于墨西哥政府在12月将墨西哥比索贬值后而引发的。

4.4 综合法 Recasting

在翻译一个英语长句时, 并不只是单纯地使用一种翻译方法, 而是要求我们把各种方法综合使用, 这在我们上面所举的例子中也有所体现。尤其是在一些情况下, 一些英语长句单纯采用上述任何一种方法都不方便, 这就需要我们的仔细分析, 或按照时间的先后, 或按照逻辑顺序, 顺逆结合, 主次分明地对全句进行综合处理, 以便把英语原文翻译成通顺忠实的汉语句子。

例（1）Computer language may range from detailed low level close to that immediately understood by particular computer, to the sophisticated high level which can be rendered automatically acceptable to wide range of computers.

译文：计算机语言有低级也有高级的。前者比较繁琐，很接近于特定计算机直接能懂的语言；后者比较复杂，适应范围广，能自动为多种计算机所接受。

例（2）Up to the present time, throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this new tendency placed the home in the immediate suburbs, but concentrated manufacturing activity, business relations, government, and pleasure in the centers of the cities.

到目前为止, 经历了18和19两个世纪, 这种新的倾向是把住宅安排在城市的近郊, 而把生产活动、商业往来、政府部门以及娱乐场所都集中在城市的中心地区。

例（3）Modern scientific and technical books, especially textbooks, requires revision at short intervals if their authors wish to keep pace with new ideas, observations and discoveries.

对于现代书籍, 特别是教科书来说, 要是作者希望自己书中的内容能与新概念、新观察到的事实和新发现同步发展的话, 那么就应该每隔较短的时间, 将书中的内容重新修改。

例（4） Complaints of poverty of poets are as old as their art, but I never heard that they wrote the worse verses for it. It is enough, probably , to call forth their most vigorous efforts , that poetry is admired and honored by their countrymen.

例（5）Complaints of poverty of poets are as old as their art, but I never heard that they wrote the worse verses for it. It is enough, probably , to call forth their most vigorous efforts , that poetry is admired and honored by their countrymen.

自古以来，诗人即以贫困而怨诉不绝。但因贫而不功于艺者，于我则闻所未闻。盖天下爱诗而敬之，则诗人虽尽其才力仍因以自慰。这大概就是原因所在吧。