英汉句式差异及翻译中的语序调整
——定语及定语从句语序的调整
一.定语语序调整见课本P96
二.定语从句语序调整
(1 前置译法
限制性定语从句往往要译成‚……的‛这种句型的前置定语结构,因为限制性定语从句与所修饰的词关系密切,若分开译则会影响主句意思的完整。
也有一些非限制性定语从句,或因结构较短,或因与被修饰词关系较为密切,或因拆译后将会造成译文结构松散,在这种情况下也可以译成前置定语结构。
1.The pressure is also heavy on students who just want to graduate and get a job.
2.My brother’s laugh, which was very infectious, broke the silence.
3.There will come the day when people the world over will live a happy life under the sun of socialism.
4.A writer’s work is a constant struggle to get the ri ght word in the right place, to find that particular word that will convey his meaning exactly, that will persuade the reader or soothe him or amuse him.
5.An eminent American historian, Barbara Tuchman, who has been highly acclaimed for her narrative histories, gained her first significant recognition in 1958.
(2 后置译法
后置译法在非限制性定语从句中使用得比较普遍。
有些限制性定语从句结构相对复杂,译成汉语前置定语则显得过长,而且不符合汉语表达习惯,这种情况下往往也可以译成后置的并列分句,作进一步的连贯叙述。
1. They turned a deaf ear to our demands, which enraged all of us.
2.I have met children who not only are growing emotionally and intellectually but also are trying to make sense of the world morally.
3.World War Ⅱwas, however, more complex than World WarⅠ, which was a collision among the imperialist power over the spoil of markets, resources and territories.
4.If you reach Chicago by train and spend only an hour or two there you will feel the light wind off the lake which gives it the name “Windy City”.
5.In the spirit of frankness which I hope will characterize our talks this week, let us recognize at the outset these points: we have at times in the past been enemies. We have great differences today. What brings us together is that we have common interests which transcend these differences.
6. They are striving for the ideal which is close to the heart of every Chinese and for which, in the past, many Chinese have laid down their lives.
(3 合成译法
把原句中的被修饰词与定语从句合在一起译成一个独立的汉语句子的翻译方法。
英语中的‘there be’结构就可以采用这种译法来处理。
还有一些带有限制性定语从句的英语复合句,如果英语中的主句能够压缩成汉语词组并用做主
语,那么定语从句就可以译成谓语结构,从而构成一个独立句。
如果主句压缩成汉语词组后用作其它成分,那么定语从句可以译成一个句子。
关系代词可灵活处理。
1.There are many people who want to see the film.
2.There was a man who seemed to have the answers, and who was Mr. Robert.
3.“We are a nation that must beg to stay alive,” said a foreign economist.
4.We used a plane of which almost every part carried some indication of national identity.
5.There were the meetings that engineered Khrushchev’s “resignation” on the ground of “ advancing age and deteriorating heath.”
6.The kapok is in blossom that indicates the early spring.
7.You compare her with your English women who wolf down three to five meat meals
a day; naturally, you find her a sylph.
(3 译成状语从句
有些定语从句从形式上看是定语,但在意义上与主句有着逻辑状语关系,起着主句的原因,结果,目的,条件,让步等状语的作用,翻译时应该按照其语法功能,译成汉语各种相应的复句。
原因状语
1.The computer, which seems to play the role of a human brain, is often called an electronic brain.
由于计算机起着类似人脑的作用,所以常常被称作电脑。
2.We know that a cat, whose eyes can take in many more rays of light than our eyes, can see clearly in the night.
3.The ambassador was giving a dinner for a few people whom he wished especially to talk to or to hear from.
4.You would have to be careful not to offend the boss, who would give you the sack at any time.
5. There was something original, independent, and heroic about the plan that pleased all of them.
条件状语
1.There is no bad habit that may not be cured by a strong will-power.
只要有坚强的意志力,就没有什么坏习惯不能改掉。
2.Men become desperate for work, any work, which will help them to keep alive their families.
3.He would be a short-sighted commander who merely manned his fortress and did not look beyond.
目的状语
1.The newswoman wishes to write an article that will attract public attention to that shipwreck.
这位女记者想写篇文章,以便能够引起公众对那起沉船事件的注意。
2.The imperialist states maintain enormous armies and gigantic navies which are used for oppressing and exploiting the people in distant lands.
一主多从式定语从句
一主多从式定语从句是指一个先行词带有两个或两个以上定语从句的情况。
该结构中的定语从句一般都较规范,均修饰一个先行词,在翻译时,虽然也遵循一般定语从句的翻译技巧和方法,但同时也要注意其独特之处。
译成定语
1.The old ways of earning a living rivaled by new agricultural techniques, by commerce with hitherto unknown parts of the globe, and by new crafts with strange machines that saved labor and that ran without the traditional human or animal power.
这些古老的谋生之道正受到农业新技术、商业贸易(与世界上至今尚不知名的地区之间所进行的贸易以及各式奇特机器新工艺的挑战,这些奇特的机器可节省劳动力而无需传统的人力畜力驱动。
(并列的定语
2.And it helps explain why so many inventions that were of Chinese origin or that had been known to the Greco-Romans, were fully developed and exploited only by the Western Europeans.
它有助于说明,为什么源于中国的许多发明和希腊罗马人所知道的许多发明,只是在西欧人手中才得到全面发展和充分利用。
(分开的定语修饰重复的先行词
3.Consequently the manor was a self-sufficient village that was worked by serfs who were not free to leave, and who with their labor supported a hierarchy of lay and clerical lords.
因而,庄园是靠农奴经营的自给自足的村庄;农奴不能随便离开,并以其劳动养活封建教俗集团。
(一个并列句
After-class appreciation:
春节Chinese New Year's Day, Chinese Lunar New Year
除夕New Year's Eve
正月lunar January
初一the beginning of New Year
元宵节Lantern Festival
端午节Duan Wu Festival or Dragon Boat Festival(龙舟节清明节Ching Ming Festival
重阳节Chung Yeung Festival o2r Double-ninth Day
元宵节Lantern Festival
端午节Dragon-Boat Festival
中国情人节Double-Seventh Day
重阳节Double Ninth Festival。
