英语长句翻译方法

11.3　英语长句翻译方法

英语长句的翻译关键在于适当断句，长句化分句。语言组织上主要采用以下几种方法：顺序法、逆序法和综合法。

11.3.1　顺序法

尽管英汉语句式的表达结构存在很大差异，但是也存在一定的共同点。 有些句子在描述一连串动作时，或按时间顺序安排，或按逻辑关系安排，与汉语的表达方式相似，翻译时可采取顺序法。所谓顺序法，即顺着原文词序或句序翻译，当然不是逐字翻译，也不排斥个别词或词组的倒置。

例10.Scientists still need to answer four crucial questions: how swiftly the disease is evolving among animals， how easily it can be transmitted from animals to people， how readily it might develop the ability to jump quickly from person to person and how effectively it can be treated when people are infected.

本句虽然长，但并不复杂，主句之后有四个how引导出四个从句作questions的同位语。翻译时可以用一个总领的表达然后再分述。

译文　还有四个关键问题尚待科学家解答：这种疾病在动物间演化的速度有多快；是否容易由动物传染给人类；是否容易发展出人传人的能力；以及，当人们受到感染时，医药的疗效如何。

例11.A very important world problem， in fact， I am inclined to say it is the most important of all the great world problems which faces us at the present time， is the rapid increasing pressure of population on land and on land resources.

这个句子结构若只取主干是很简单的。但主谓之间插入一个相当长的句子，就造成整个句子结构两头小、中间大。原句这样安排具有修饰效果，中间部分进行铺垫和渲染，最后再说明问题所在使人印象深刻。本句除了这一结构特点之外再无其他典型特征需要处理，汉译不妨保留其结构特色，依据原句表达的顺序，在靠近首尾处均用破折号断开，并略加词语，使语气贯通。

译文　一个十分重要的世界性问题——事实上，我想说明一下，这乃是我们目前所面临的所有世界性重大问题中至关重大的一个——那便是由于人口剧增对土地和土地资源所造成的日甚一日的压力。

例12.If parents were prepared for this adolescent reaction， and realized that it was a sign that the child was growing up and developing valuable powers of observation and independence judgment， they would not be so hurt， and therefore would not drive the child into opposition by resenting and resisting it.

该句由一个条件状语从句和一个主句构成。在从句中有两个并列谓语，第二个谓语的宾语从句中又有一个同位语从句。主句中也有两个并列谓语，句尾是一个表示“方式”的介词短语。根据句意，可用顺译法翻译此句。

译文　如果父母对孩子青春期的行为有充分的心理准备，并意识到这恰恰表明孩子正在长大且逐渐具备了观察问题和独立判断的能力，他们就不会如此痛心，也就不会因为对此有怨恨和反对情绪而把孩子推向自己的对立面。

11.3.2　逆序法

英汉语在表达顺序上有很大不同，汉语一般是先发生的事情先说，后发生的后说；先原因，后结果；先次要，后主要；而英语有许多时候与汉语相反，是把主句放在句首，分析或说明部分置后；有时把某些部分放在句首或反常的位置以示强调。因此，当英语长句的叙述层次与汉语逻辑相反时，必须按照汉语的习惯从原文的后面译起；有时甚至还要重新组合译文，以达到突出主题的目的。

例13.Food manufacturers are flooding the UK with new products in response to rising demand from a population hungry for “something different”.

英语先说现状和结果，后说缘由。根据逻辑，此句需要用“后浪推前浪”的方式，从后面开始译起：a population hungry for “something different”→in response to rising demand→food manufacturers are flooding the UK with new products.

译文　英国人极想“尝鲜”，对新产品的需求与日俱增，针对这种情况，食品生产商们正一个劲儿地向英国市场投放各种新产品。

例14.This will remain true whether we are dealing with the application of psychology to advertising and political propaganda， or engineering to the mass media of communication， or of medical science to the problems of population or old age.

本句包含一个很长的条件状语从句，但主句却非常短小。其顺序是主句在前，从句在后，这是英语句子正常的顺序。而在汉语当中，习惯于将状语从句放在主句之前。因此本句的译文顺序和原文顺序是相反的。

译文　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和老龄化问题，这种情况总是如此。

例15.He flew just the day before from Georgia where he had spent his vacation basking in Caucasian sun after the completion of the construction job he had been engaged on in the south.

本句中几个不同时间发生的事情，分别用不同的动词时态来体现：谓语动词是过去式flew，时间状语从句中是过去完成时had spent，从句中又含有一个定语从句，用的也是过去完成时had been engaged on，两个从句中两件事情的先后顺序从介词after的使用上也能清楚看出。由于汉语不能通过动词形态变化体现事件发生的先后顺序，因此要对原句顺序进行调整，按照中文惯常的叙述事件的方式——时间顺序——来翻译。

译文　他本来在南方从事一项建筑工程；任务完成后他就去格鲁吉亚度假，享受高加索的阳光，昨天才坐飞机回来。

11.3.3　综合法

上面讲述了英语长句的顺序法和逆序法。事实上，在翻译英语长句时并不只是单纯地使用一种翻译方法，而是要把各种方法综合使用。有些英语长句结构复杂，内容丰富，应仔细推敲，反复琢磨，或按时间先后，或按逻辑顺序，有顺有逆、有主有次、颇为灵活地对全句进行综合处理。

例16.Incorporating the Food service， Manufacturing， Retail， Wholesale＆； Export sectors， Food ＆； Drink Expo 2009 will play host to over 600 exhibiting companies from the UK， Europe and worldwide—bringing visitors the newest and best products available on the world market.

这个句子整体上可以采用顺译法，但是分词短语Incorporating the Food service， Manufacturing， Retail， Wholesale ＆； Export sectors的逻辑主语 Food ＆； Drink Expo 2009按照汉语习惯提前到句首翻译。

译文　2009年食品饮料展将食品服务、制造、零售、批发及出口业务融于一体，热忱接待来自英国、欧洲乃至世界范围的六百余家参展公司代表，并将给参展商带来世界上最新最好的产品。

例17.What should doctors say， for example， to a 46-year-old man coming in for a routine physical checkup just before going on vocation with his family who， he feels in perfect health， is found to have a form of cancer that will cause him to die within six months?

这是一个长疑问句，主句很简单。man后修饰成分比较复杂：有分词短语coming in for a routine physical checkup，有时间状语before going on vocation with his family，有定语从句who… is found to have a form of cancer，这个定语从句中又包含插入成分he feels in perfect health和一个定语从句that will cause him to die within six months来修饰cancer。汉语和英语在定语位置和状语位置上的不同，要求这个句子在翻译时要调整分句顺序，有顺有逆。

译文　举例说吧，一个46岁的男子，在与家人外出度假之前进行常规体格检查；虽然他自我感觉良好，但医生发现他患了某种癌症，六个月内就会死去，这时医生该怎么对他说呢?

例18.The nine-year-old girl’s death occurred shortly after health officials documented what may be the first case in which the virus was passed from one person to another—a mother in Thailand who fell sick and died after cradling her bird-flu-ridden 11-year-old daughter in her arms for 10 hours.

本句主句并不复杂，是The nine-year-old girl’s death occurred。复杂之处在于主句后面after引导的时间状语从句中又包含what引导的宾语从句，而这个宾语从句中又套一个in which引导的定语从句。破折号后部分进一步说明the virus was passed from one person to another的情况的，中心词是a mother，后面还带一个定语从句。名词性从句和定语从句都构成了这个句子的翻译难点。

译文　那个九岁的女童病故之前不久，卫生官员才记录了首宗怀疑人传人的病例。泰国的一位母亲把她患了禽流感的11岁的女儿抱在怀中十个小时之后病发身亡。

练习

一、用顺序法翻译下列句子：

1.Her first impulse was to go round all the rooms looking for the thieves， but then she decided that at her age it might be more prudent to have someone with her， so she went to fetch the porter from his basement.

2.Shanghai， which served as the industrial， trading， financial and commercial center of the country in the first half of the 20th century， attracted many foreign investors as a mysterious Oriental metropolis and an adventurers’ paradise.

3.Nevertheless， knowledge of the cancers is advancing in such way that it seems likely that some definite control may be achieved in the fairly near future， but only if research and application of re-search on cancer are carried out in a far more vigorous， orderly and scientific way than they are at pre-sent.

4.The Parties， adhering to the principle of e-quality and mutual benefit and through friendly consultation， desire to exert all their efforts in co-operating with each other and agree to jointly in-vest to set up a joint venture enterprise in Changsha， the P. R. China for the purpose of expanding international economic cooperation and technological exchange on a mutually beneficial and profitable basis.

5.The firm may decide to （1） select a new location，thus expanding an existing service network； （2） expand an established outlets； （3） renew an existing lease； （4） relocate an existing outlet； （5） re-merchandise at a given location，thereby appealing to a different target market； or（6） close the retail facility.

二、用逆序法翻译下列句子：

1.Various machines parts can be washed very clean and will be as clean as new ones when they are treated ultrasonic waves，no matter how dirty and irregularly shaped they may be.

2.Interest in historical methods has arisen less through external challenge to the validity of history as an intellectual discipline and more from internal quarrels among historians themselves.

3.There is no agreement whether methodology refers to the concepts peculiar to historical work in general or to the research techniques appropriate to the various branches of historical inquiry.

4.We learn that sodium or any of its com-pounds produces a spectrum having a bright yellow double line by noticing that there is no such line in the spectrum of light when sodium is not present， but that if the smallest quantity of sodium be thrown into flame or other sources of light， the bright yellow double line instantly appears.

5.The development of a new drill is now offering exciting new capabilities for future space exploration because it is a ultrasonic device which， completely different from conventional rotary drills， can core even the hardest rocks as granite and basalt even though no more significant weight is put on the drilling bit.

三、用综合法翻译下列句子：

1.At first glance this looks like a way to make the balance of trade worse， but in the long run the repatriated revenues that flow back from services performed abroad， like those from American-owned factories overseas， will join the column of export earnings.

2.When you listen to people speak a foreign language that you understand， have you noticed that the native speakers of that language use words and phrases in a manner different from what you are used to?

3.At school the student needs to increase his knowledge in an organized way， to acquire sufficient vocabulary in science for effective communication， and to learn some facts because they are important in everyday living， such as knowledge that is useful for his health， for his safety and for an understanding of his surroundings.

4.Drenched with the pelting rain， confused by the deafening thunder， and bewildered by the glare of the forked lightening， they would have passed a solitary house without being aware of its vicinity， had not a man， who was standing at the door， called lustily to them to enter.

5.After months of calling for an international effort to eradicate avian influenza， the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization declared in late September that the virus had become so widespread in domesticated and wild birds alike that it would take years to wipe out， though health officials are not even sure it is possible to do so.