正说反译与反说正译

第三节　正说反译与反说正译

英语和汉语除了文化上的差异，在语言结构和表达形式上也存在很大的差别。这两种语言，用词造句的样式不同，表达思想所用的形式不同，表达思想的方法也不同。例如，英语和汉语在表达肯定与否定的方式上就大相径庭，甚至完全相反。在翻译过程中，我们必须依据两种语言的特点，决定采用哪一种翻译策略，以使翻译的结果符合中英文句式表达的习惯，更为了使译文读者得到与原文同样清晰一致的概念。

正说反译和反说正译的出现是英语和汉语两种不同文化背景在语言中体现的结果，在翻译过程中译者应根据原文内容和句法结构，当变则变，使译文与原文在表意上完全一致。

一、正说反译

正说反译是指英语中有些肯定形式的句子，译成汉语时需改变成否定的形式。例如：

（1）The first bombs missed the target.

第一批炸弹没有击中目标。

（2）The subversion attempts proved predictably futile.

不出所料，颠覆活动证明毫无效果。

（3）I hate to say good bye.

我真不想告辞。

（4）My father will kill me when he finds out.

我父亲要是知道了，准饶不了我。

（5）We may safely say so.

我们这样说万无一失。

（6）The explanation is pretty thin.

这个解释是相当不充分的。

（7）The newspaper accounts are far from being true.

报纸的报道远非事实。

（8）His mother is anything but angry.

他妈妈一点儿也没生气。

（9）Both sides thought that the peace proposal was one they could accept with dignity.

双方认为，那和平建议是一个他们可以接受而不失体面的建议。

（10）I will not go unless I hear from him.

如果他不通知我，我就不去。

（11）Excuse me!

对不起！

（12）Wet paint!

油漆未干！

（13）Keep quiet!

请勿大声喧哗！

（14）I am wiser than to believe that.

我不至于蠢到竟然相信这种事。

“比较级+ than to”：译为“不至于……竟然（连）”或“不至于+ 反义词+竟然（连）”。

（15）Two-thirds of the tigers’ exports go to other Asian economies（including Japan’s）so any growth is likely to be smaller than post-crisis Mexico’s.

四小龙三分之二的出口都是对其他亚洲经济体的（包括日本），所以它们的任何增长都不可能比得上危机后墨西哥的经济增长。

二、反说正译

反说正译，指英语中有些否定的句子，译成汉语时需要改变成肯定的形式。例如：

（1）The doubt was still unsolved after his repeated explanations.

虽然他一再解释，疑团仍然存在。

（2）He stood for a while motionless, and seemed equally at a loss what to say or where to direct his eyes.

他呆呆地立了好一会儿，似乎同样不晓得该说些什么，或是朝哪里望好。

（3）Many agreed that the Prime Minister had in effect resigned dishonorably.

许多人认为首相辞职实际上是很丢面子的。

（4）Students, with no exception, are to hand in their papers this afternoon.

今天下午学生统统要交书面作业。

（5）No one but a great philosopher could solve such a question.

只有大思想家才能解决这样的问题。

（6）The significance of these incidents wasn’t lost on us.

这些事件引起了我们的重视。

（7）You can’t be too careful.

你要格外小心。

（8）No smoking !

严禁吸烟！

（9）It is vital that they do not reduce the speed.

保持速度是至关重要的。

（10）一直到半夜，他还合不上眼。

At midnight, he was still wide-awake.

（11）什么响动也没有，只有天上的星伴着自己的心跳。

Everything was still, only the stars throbbing in time to his heart.

三、英语中含有否定意义的词、短语及结构

动词和动词短语：avoid, deny, exclude, fail, hate, ignore, lack, live u to, miss, neglect, overlook ,refrain from, refuse, stop doing, without 等等。例如：

（1）The East Asia economies lack a vigorous big brother to help them.

东亚各经济体却没有这么一个强有力的老大哥来帮助。

（2）他不给学生一个发言的机会。

He denied his students a chance to speak.

（3）Avoid operating the keys roughly.

使用按键，勿用力过猛。

（4）Stop talking nonsense!

别胡说八道！

名词：absence, exclusion, failure, ignorance, lack, neglect, refusal 等等。

（1）They try their best to overcome the lack of technical data.

他们尽力克服技术资料的不足。

（2）His colleagues kept him in ignorance of being fired from his job.

他的同事不让他知道他被开除一事。

形容词和形容词短语：absent-minded, absent from, little, safe from, slight, short of 等等。例如：

（1）He is often absent-minded in class.课堂里，他常常心不在焉。

（2）She was absent from her own country last year.

她去年不在自己的国家里。

（3）Our PLA is worthy of being called a great army of the people.

我们的人民解放军无愧于伟大的人民军队的称号。

（4）The world today is far from being peaceful.

今天的世界还很不安宁。

副词和副词短语：little, otherwise, too…to, away from 等等。例如：

（1）He reminded me of what I should otherwise have forgotten.

要不是他提醒，我可能会忘记那件事。

（2）We little thought that he would harm us.

我们一点也没有想到他会伤害我们。

（3）An iron case will keep the earth’s magnetic field away from the compass.

铁箱将使地球磁场影响不了指南针。

连词：before, or,（rather）than, unless, until 等等。例如：

（1）Metals do not melt until heated to a definite temperature.

金属要加热到一定温度才会熔化。

（2）The plane had taken off before we arrived at the airport.

我们还没到达机场，飞机就已经起飞了。

（3）我们愿尽一切努力，不让她受到伤害。

We would do anything rather than let her get hurt.

介词和介词短语：above, beyond, beside, but for, except, in place of, in the way, instead of, without 等等。例如：

（1）But for the workers’ help, we should not have succeeded in this experiment.

没有工人们的帮助，我们这个实验便不会成功。

（2）To do this is beyond my ability.

干这事我力不胜任。

（3）What you said is beside the question.

你所说的与本题无关。

（4）“Me! I should be quite in the way. But, perhaps — I may be equally in the way here. Miss Woodhouse looks as if she did not want me.”

“我！我会是十分不受欢迎。但是，也许我在这里也同样不受欢迎。伍德豪斯小姐的神气，好像并不欢迎我。”（《爱玛》刘重德译）

副词

（1）She said idly, “Well, what does it matter?”

她漫不经心地说：“哼，这有什么关系？”

（2）The soldiers blazed away until they had no ammunition left.

士兵们连续不断地射击，直到他们的弹药用尽。