英语专业毕业论文-论英语长句的汉译.doc

本科学生毕业论文题 目 On Translation of Lengthy English Sentences 论英语长句的汉译系 外 语 专 业 英 语 学生姓名 指导教师 职称 讲师 论文字数 7576 完成日期 2012 年 04 月 6 日On Translation of Lengthy English SentencesWritten by: Zhang WeiSupervised by: Wu HongfangForeign Languages Departmentof Wanjiang CollegeAnhui Normal UniversityApril 2012AcknowledgementsFirst and foremost, Id like to express this gratitude to all those who were of great help in my composition of this essay, especially my tutor, Mrs. Wu Hongfang, who was also my Advanced English teacher during my junior year and who selflessly instructed me with her dedication and erudition. Wu walked me through my English learning for an entire year and now all the stages of the writing of this essay. Please allow me to give my special thanks to my teacher and tutor Mr. Wu Hongfang once more. Moreover, without her illuminating and patient correcting and comments, Id never advance my essay to such level or be a would-be graduate Ill soon turn into. I am also greatly indebted to all my teachers who have helped me to develop the fundamental and essential academic competence. My sincere appreciation also goes to all my classmates, who are the pride of my life. Last but not least, I want to thank all my friends very much, especially my loyal and trustworthy roommates for their miscellaneous and continuous encouragement and support.IIIOn Translation of Lengthy English SentencesAbstract This essay aims at the Chinese translation of long English sentences in a way of correctness and precision. It mainly contains a train of thoughts and several methods for this work. Through an analysis of the situation of the research of the Chinese translation of long English sentences, we can tell that these researches focus on the method for the translation and the arrangement of the target language Chinese, however, this to some extend ignores an important aspect which could great affect the original meaning, that is, the culture, which will certainly be discussed in this essay. A correct understanding of the sentence structure, which runs through the whole sentence, is certainly the prerequisite of starting a translation. Divergence between the two languages can also exert an important impact on the work, which can guarantee the precision and the original taste to the greatest extent. The main methods contain the methods sorted by sequence, including sequence, inverted sequence and insertion, separation and synthesis. The key to achieve a perfect translation cant be defined restrictively with just a few words, so this essay will comprehensively illustrate these points on the level as high as possible.Key Words: long sentence; understanding; difference; methods; expressing论英语长句的汉译摘 要本论文研究如何准确到位的把英语中的长句翻译成中文，主要包括此类翻译的思路和方法。通过对英语长句汉译研究现状的分析, 我们可以发现这之前的研究方向主要在于翻译方法和汉语语言组织, 但是忽略了两语言之间的文化差异对翻译会产生的影响，本论文将对这个问题作出弥补。句子结构贯穿一个句子的始终, 所以对其的正确理解是开始翻译的前提。中英两种语言的差异性也会对翻译产生影响, 这一点可以最大保证目的语言中, 源语言的原汁原味。本论文认为英语长句的主要翻译方法包括顺译法、逆序法、插入法，分译法和综合法。完美的翻译不能用简单的几个单词就可以定义的,本论文将对这几点问题进行详细论述。关键词:长句；理解；差异；方法；表达ContentsAcknowledgements .IAbstract .II摘 要.IIIChapter 1 Introduction.1Chapter 2 Difficulties in Translating Lengthy English Sentences.32.1 Morphology.32.1.1 Polysemy .32.1.2 Synonyms.32.1.3 Idioms.42.1.4 Modifiers.62.2 Difference between Structuring English and Chinese Sentences.62.2.1 Reasons.62.2.2 Different Structures.8Chapter 3 Steps in Translating Lengthy English Sentences.123.1 Understanding .123.1.1 Find out the Sentence trunk.123.1.2 Analyze the meaning of important words.133.1.3 Identify Dependent Clauses .133.1.4 Get the General Idea of the Sentences.143.2 Expressing .14Chapter 4 Methods of Translating Lengthy English Sentences.164.1 Obverse Translation.164.2 Reverse Translation.174.3 Reverse-and-Obverse Translation.174.4 Component Translation.184.5 Translation by Rearranging Original Sentences.194.6 Cultural Factors in Translating Lengthy English Sentences.20Chapter 5 Conclusion.24Works Cited.25V2On Translation of Lengthy English SentencesChapter 1 IntroductionEnglish-Chinese Translation is a course of converting the information in English into Chinese correctly, smoothly and coherently. It logically consists of two stages: receive and understand the meaning of the source language English, and rearrange it in the target language Chinese. This process requires that the translator possessed a sound knowledge of linguistics, semantics and the language users cultures. This essay discusses how translators can develop skills in long sentence translation. First, what are long sentences? According to the previous research into this issue, some scholars claim that a sentence with a certain amount of words can be defined as a long sentence, but in English, a long sentence can contain as many as over 100 words while some long sentence may has only 40 words in it. Anyway, its still long. So the length of a sentence cant be the only criterion to decide if a sentence is a long sentence. Later, a new theory that a sentence with two or more clauses or sub-clauses and around 20 words or above is a long sentence came into being, which won a wide approval. Long sentence is classified into 3 categories: the first is paralleling long sentence, which consists of two or more clauses with complete sentence structure and without affiliation; the second is compound long sentence, which comprises a principal clause and some other sub-clauses like noun clauses, attributive clauses, adverbial clauses, etc.; and the last is paralleling and compound long sentence, which as the name implies, is the most complicated with the features of the previous two types of long sentences. In a nutshell, long sentences are characterized by frequent use of attributive and adverbial clauses, compound structures and parenthesis. Besides what makes a long English sentence difficult to translate is the fact that Chinese and English have different thinking habits, which naturally leads to their differences in ways of expression and sentence structure.Thus, the emphasis of this essay is on a comparison between the structures of English and Chinese sentences. The reasons are also discussed. The priority of this essay is given to the steps, which should be taken, and the methods employed in long sentence translation and vice versa.25Chapter 2 Difficulties in Lengthy English Sentence Translation2.1 Morphology2.1.1 PolysemyIn semantics, polysemy refers to the ability of words, signs and symbols to have multiple meanings. Metaphor reveals not only a figure of speech but a means of human cognition and thinking. As a definite result from the development of human minds, polysemic metaphor has abundantly enriched the language which can be best exemplified by many a noun-turned verb in English. The author and the authoress introduce polysemy from a metaphoric point of view, taking examples of three categories of noun-turned verbs. It was also pointed out that the insight into polysemic metaphor helps language learners make better uses of vocabulary, which in reverse enhances the efficiency of language learning. Thus, the translation of this type of metaphor requires a comprehensive understanding of the vocabulary in different contexts. Herere some examples:1. We are tabling this matter until further notice. Table, in English, basically refers to a board, slab, piece, but when used as a verb, its equal to postpone. The original sentence can be namely put like this: we are postponing this matter until further notice.2. The flower girls carpeted the floor with rose petals before the brides entrance. Carpet, as we first touched this word, it means a certain kind of cloth. Actually in history, carpets meaning as a noun has a flexure evolution.Other examples are commonplace like “As soon as I saw his gun, I floored my car.”, “If he had tried harder, he could have topped his class.” and “When my car broke down, I flagged a police car.”2.1.2 SynonymsSynonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym I called synonymy. In the figurative sense, two words are often said to be synonymous if they have the same connotation. 1. “Agriculture is the foundation of national economy”. In this sentence, the word agriculture refers to an integration of a wide range of agricultural economy, including farming, graziery, forestry and fishery. While farming indicate a branch of agriculture, which parallel with forestry, animal husbandry, side-occupations and fishery and together they belong to agriculture, not the entire agricultural economy. 2. “He never touches wine.” Wine refers to a collection of all drinks that contain alcohol. Spirit, which is slightly different from wine, means the wine with high volume of alcohol, compared to the wines like grape wine, beer, etc.3. “So many deeds cry out to be done, and always urgently, the world rolls on, time presses. Ten thousand years are too long. Seize the day, seize the hour.” The word “deeds” her refers to national affairs. On one hand, it highlights the profound meaning of the “affairs”, and on the other hand, it enhances the poetic quality. 4. “They preach idealism whereas we advocate materialism.” The word “preach” and “advocate” are synonyms sharing the sense of “to propose, to advise or to assert”. The difference is that “preach” conveys a negative and derogatory meaning of advertising, while preach is sort of neutral, at least not derogatory. 5. “Gambling is prohibited!” Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material values (referred to as “the stakes”) on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period. And “prohibited” indicates the illegality and compulsion. So in Chinese, we need to find a possible equivalent to make the word “prohibited” properly interpreted.2.1.3 IdiomsIdiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made. There are estimated to be at least 25,000 idiomatic expressions in the English language. When a speaker uses an idiom, the listener might mistake its real meaning if he or she has not heard of this figure of speech before. Idioms usually do not translate well; in some cases, when an idiom is translated into another language, either its meaning is changed or it is meaningless.1. “Beat around the bush”. This idiom means to hint or discuss obliquely; nobody is literally beating any person or thing, and the bush is a metaphor.2. “To kick the bucket”. In English, when speaking this expression, the listener merely knowing the words “kick” and “bucket” would be unable to deduce the expressions true meaning: to die. Although this idiomatic phrase can in fact actually refer to kicking a bucket, native speakers of English rarely use it so. Causes like this are “opaque idioms”. Literal translation (word-by-word) of opaque idioms will not convey the same meaning in other languages. The phrase is subtly different but shares the same meaning with “to kick the bucket”. Through a research in to other language, we can find that “to kick the calender” in Polish, “to kick the bell” in Bulgarian, “to kick the void” in Finnish, “to eat dandelions by the root” in French, “to give the spoon away” or “to bite into the grass” in German, “to stretch the foot” in Spanish, “to put the spoon down” in Latvian, “to beat the boots” in Portuguese, “to take off the clogs” in Danish, “to fall off the stick” in Swedish, “to park the slippers” in Norwegian, and “to shake the horse-shoes” in Greek all have the same meaning as “to kick the bucket” in English. And “to kick the bucket” in Brazil has a completely different meaning (to give up on a difficult task, since a person coming to the end of their patience might kick a bucket in frustration).3. Same idioms, much of which can get through if they are literally taken. For example, “lay ones card on the table” meaning to reveal previously unknown intentions, or to reveal a secret. Transparency is a matter of degree; “spill the beans” (to let secret information become known) and “leave no stone unturned”(to do everything possible in order to achieve or find something) are not entirely literally interpretable, but only involve a slight metaphorical broadening. Another category of idioms is words having several meanings, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes discerned from the context of its usage. This is seen in English language in polysemes, the common use of the same word for an activity, for those engaged in it, for the product used, for the place or time of an activity taking place, and sometimes for a verb. Idioms tend to confuse those unfamiliar with them. Many natural language words have idiomatic origins, but are assimilated, so losing their figurative senses, for example, in Portuguese, the expression “saber de corao (meaning to know by heart, with the same meaning as in English), was shortened to saber de cor, and, later, to the verb decorar, meaning memorize.2.1.4 ModifiersCompared with Chinese, modifiers are much more frequently used in English, such as attributive clauses, adverbial clauses and appositives. But in Chinese, the specific nouns are not modified, but are explained by employing another independent sentence. For example:These students, who rarely do any housework at home, will serve as waiters in the restaurant near the school, which draws a large number of customers every day.The main structure of this sentence is “the students will be waiters.” But the sentence is much extended by the use of the two attributive clauses, one of which is to modify the word “student” and the other “the restaurant”. We can see that the single English sentence is separated into three clauses, each expressing a specific meaning without employing any subordinate clauses.2.2 Difference between Structuring English and Chinese Sentences2.2.1 ReasonsDifferent people have different ways of thinking. So their languages, which are used to express peoples thoughts, are also different. In English, results are usually given ahead of the causes. While in Chinese, causes appear before what they cause. This because Chinese people put emphasis on the natural order of the verb according to the time the actions take place. For example, “He began to read a book after having supper.” In this sentence, the act “having supper” takes place before the act “reading a book”, but the latter should be first translated and put ahead of the former. So when translating an English sentence, find out the time sequence of the verbs first and then put them into Chinese according to the time sequence, as in the Chinese way of expression.Prepositions are a grammatically distinct class of words whose most central members characteristically express spatial relations or serve to mark various syntactic functions and semantic roles. In that the primary function is relational, a preposition typically combines with another constituent to form a prepositional phrase, relating the complement to the context in which the phrase occurs. R. Bander used to say: “A preposition may be defined as a connecting word showing the relation of a noun or substitute for a noun to some other word in the sentencePrepositions appear constantly in English speech and writing.” Like the sentence “The any colors of a rainbow range from red on the outside to violet on the inside.” 彩虹有多种颜色, 外圈红, 内圈紫.(Lian 50-51) An English sentence cant go without preposition, while in Chinese, sentences dont use prepositions as much as English does, or ever omit the prepositions.Relative pronoun is a very important part in English, but in Chinese therere no such words as relative pronouns. Relative pronouns are frequently used in subordinate clauses, such as object subordinate clause and attributive clause. In comparison, pronouns are used instead of relative pronouns. “She turned to Tom, who was watching TV.” 她转向汤姆, 而他正在看电视.“Chinese is characterized by its emphasis on meaning, while English, on the contrary, pay much more attention to structure and logic of the sentence. A reader, while reading a Chinese sentence or article, must try hard to find out its meaning, but the meaning of English sentences is much clearer because its structure makes the meaning quite clear.” (Lian 53/58) “He stepped right in after them, like it or not, and he was determined that nothing as pretty as good manners should keep him from a chance of enlightenment.”他不管人家欢迎不欢迎, 紧跟着他们走了进去.什么礼貌不礼貌, 他顾不得这一套了.他决心不错过这个机会, 把心里的问题弄明白.A detailed comparison between the above two sentences will show how the English sentences, in general, differ from each other.Another big difference betwe