英汉句法结构对比.docx

英汉句法结构对比吕叔湘先生曾说过，“要认识汉语的特点，就要跟非汉语比较，要认识现代汉语的特点，就要跟古代汉语比较；要认识普通话特点，就要跟方言比较。无论语音、语汇、语法，都可以通过对比来研究” 。下面从翻译的角度出发，通过例子对英语和汉语进行比较、分析，以期准确地把握英语的语言特点及精神风貌，尽量把这种“特点”和“风貌”真实地反映到汉语译文中。 一、 英汉句法结构的互换A.英语简单句可转换成汉语复合句例1：This attitude has been described as anything from a “merciful loss of memory” to “escapist therapy”.【译文】人们对这种态度议论纷纷，有的说是“好心的遗忘”，有的说是“逃避现实的疗法”。【分析】英语简单句汉语联合复句.例2：His superior grades at high school enabled him to enroll at the tuition-free Beijing University.【译文】由于中学成绩优异，他免费上了北京大学。【分析】英语简单句汉语偏正复句的因果句.例3：His weariness and the increasing heat determined him to sit down in the first convenient shade.【译文】她很疲惫，也感到越来越热，于是决定一遇到有阴凉的地方就坐下来休息。【分析】英语简单句汉语偏正复句的因果句.B.英语并列句、复合句可转换成汉语简单句例1：He doesnt know what life means to him.【译文】他不知道人生的意义。【分析】英语主从复合句汉语简单句.例2：What troubles me is that I dont have much experience in this kind of work.【译文】使我苦恼的是我做这种工作经验不多。【分析】英语主从复合句汉语简单句.例3：He was very clean and his mind was open.【译文】他为人单纯而坦率。【分析】英语并列句汉语简单句.二、英汉句子顺序的调整“语义表达没有明确的从左向右或从上到下的顺序，但语义在句法上尤其是横向组合关系上有具体的线性体现。语序的实质是根据思维之流来安排句法单位的排列顺序”（邵志洪：2001）。但S-V-O句子结构是人类语言最优化的结构，最符合人类的认知顺序，使用最为广泛。A.调整时间顺序英语叙述较灵活，其从句可在主句之前，也可在主语之后，而汉语则按事情发生的先后顺序来叙述。例1：If she had long lost the blue-eyed, flower-like charm, the cool slim purity of face and form, the apple-blossom coloring which had so swiftly and oddly affected Ashurst twenty-six years ago, she was still at forty-three a comely and faithful companion, whose cheeks were faintly mottled, and whose grey-blue eyes had acquired a certain fullness.【译文】如果说她早已失掉了那蔚蓝色眼睛的、花儿般的魅力，也失掉了她脸儿和身段的那种玉洁冰清、苗条多姿的气质和那苹果花似的颜色儿二十六年前这种花容月貌曾那样迅速而奇妙地影响过爱舍斯特那么在四十三岁的今天，她依旧是个好看而忠实的伴侣，不过脸颊淡淡地有点儿斑驳，灰蓝的眼睛也已经有点儿饱满了。【分析】这是一个复合长句，一个主句带有四个从句，句首是一个由“if”所引导的假设条件从句其中并包含有一个由“which”所引导的定语从句，主句是“she was still at forty-three a comely and faithful companion”,后又跟两个分别由“whose”引导的定语从句，全局有五层意思，也是按照逻辑关系安排的，所叙述的事情基本上是按动作发生的时间先后顺序安排的。所以，翻译时也可按照这些动作顺序进行，译文也符合汉语表达。例2：Human history began when the inheritance of genetics and behavior which had until then provided the only way of dominating the environment was first broken through by conscious choice.【译文】遗传和行为的继承一直是支配环境的惟一方式， 当这种继承第一次被有意识的选择打破时，人类历史便开始了。【分析】这句话由一个主句“Human history began”，一个时间状语从句 “when the inheritance of genetics and behavior was first broken through by conscious choice” 和一个定语从句“which had until then provided the only way of dominating the environment”组成，可译为“人类历史便开始了”，“当遗传和行为的继承第一次被有意识的选择打破时”，“这种继承一直是支配环境的惟一方式”。从动作发生的顺序上看，“支配环境的惟一方式”在先，然后有“继承被打破”的动作，最后才是“历史开始”的事件。英语主句在前，时间状语随后，定语从句含于状语从句之中。汉译时，调整语序，按动作发生先后顺序安排语言。 例3: He smelled the breeze and he listened for any foreign sound of secrecy or creeping, and his eyes searched the darkness, for the music of evil was sounding in his head and he was fierce and afraid. After he had probed the night with his sense he went to the place by the side post where the pearl was buried, and he dug it up and brought it to his sleeping mat, and under his sleeping mat he dug another little hole in the dirt floor and buried his pearl and covered it up again.【译文】他吸闻着微风吹来的气息，听听有什么奇异声响，两眼在黑暗中搜索，因为邪恶之歌又在耳边响起。他有点凶猛，也有点害怕。他用眼睛和耳朵在黑夜里仔细审查一番之后，又回到屋里，来在侧柱旁埋珍珠的地方，把珍珠挖出来，拿到席子上，又在席子下面的地上挖了一个小洞，把珍珠埋进去，再盖上土。【分析】吸闻气息听声响歌又响起用眼耳审查回到屋里来在侧柱旁把珍珠挖出拿到席子上又挖个小洞把珍珠埋进去，这一系列动作都按一定的时间顺序依次发生，汉语译文和英语原文在时间顺序上完全一致。B.调整空间顺序英汉两种语言一般都遵循由上到下、由左到右、由里到外的顺序排列；但是汉语由背景到焦点、由参照体到目标体；英语由焦点到背景、由目标体到参照体，翻译时要注意这种认知差异在句法上的体现。英语大都把最重要的或者较紧急的信息放在最前面，而汉语则相反，最重要的却在最后，遵循“尾心”原则。例1：I enjoy the clean voluptuousness of the warm breeze on my skin and the cool support of water.【译文】和煦的微风吹拂着我的肌肤，凉爽的海水托浮着我的身体。我享受着那种纯净的飘飘欲仙的感觉。【分析】从外到内：肌肤身体感觉；微风吹拂海水托浮享受；和煦凉爽飘飘欲仙；感觉享受飘飘欲仙，都符合空间发展排列顺序。例 2：An individual human existence should be like a riversmall at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.【译文】人生像条河，开始是涓涓细流，夹在两岸之间，河水奔腾咆哮，流过巨石，飞下悬崖。后来河面逐渐展宽，两岸离得越来越远，河水也流得较为平缓，最后融入大海，与海水浑然一体，看不出任何界线，从而结束其单独存在的那一段历程。【分析】“An individual human existence should be like a river”译为“人生像条河”，接着译文在句式上先用语句短小，气势连贯，节奏紧凑，拍子急促的句子，给人一种紧迫感；然后语句渐渐拉长，节奏变慢，拍子舒缓，给人以轻松舒缓、开阔自由的感觉；读音上，前面为短元音，显得节奏急促，后用长元音，使节奏平缓；空间上是开始涓涓细流加在中间流过飞下，后来展宽离远平缓，最后入海浑然一体结束单独存在的经历，留给读者一个宽阔深远的印象。 例3：He entereth smiling andembarrassed. He holdeth out his hand to you to shake, anddraweth it back again. He casually looketh in about dinner-time when the table is full. He offereth to go away, seeing you have companybut is induced to stay. He filleth a chair, and your visitors two children are accommodated at a side-table.（Charles Lamb: Poor Relations）【译文】他微笑着走进来（自然是想讨好主人，让人家高兴并喜欢他），但又忸怩不安（自己心里明白，我这个穷亲戚，人家是不欢迎的）。他刚伸出手想同主人握手（既然是亲戚真没这个必要，可穷亲戚又矮人一节，还是主动先伸手，常言“礼多人不怪嘛”，可发现主人根本就没有握手的意思，所以伸出去的手）又缩回去了。他称本来无事只是随便来坐坐（是想给主人一个解释，你别怕，我不是来借钱，也不是要东西），正巧赶上主人宴请宾客（看似巧合，但实际上，每逢酒宴之日他总是不请都来），因有客人，他声言就走（并非本意，只是做做样子，他知道，主人一定会出于礼节或碍于面子而虚留一番的），可主人刚一劝（虚情假意也好，正中下怀，便来个“顺水推舟”），就不走了，留下吃饭（本想就如此这般）。他占了一个座位（混一顿算一顿），把客人的两个孩子挤在了桌旁（顾不了那么多，人穷志短嘛）。【分析】这段文字用空间顺序来描写“穷亲戚”的复杂心理，含而不露，将其心理状态勾画得淋漓尽致，入木三分。动作语言活灵活现地展示出来了主客双方的内心活动，人物关系十分清楚。翻译时，译文同样保持“含而不露”的表现手法，给读者留下思索回味的空间，以便体会、捕捉、翻译这种表达上的空白。C.调整逻辑顺序英语因果叙述较灵活，表示原因的从句可在主句之前，也可在主语之后，而汉语常是“因”在前，“果”在后；表示条件假设的从句和表示因果从句差不多，而汉语常是“条件假设”在前，“结果”在后；英语表示目的行为，常是“行为”在前，“目的”在后，而汉语有时为了强调目的，常把目的放在行为之前；表示结果理由的从句，常是“理由”在前，“结果”在后，汉语也常是“理由”在前，“结果”在后。汉语一般是由大到小、或由整体到部分这样排列；而英语一般是由小到大，由部分到整体排列。 例1：The young cyclist dashed about madly and was knocked down by a truck.【译文】那个骑车的青年横冲直撞，结果被一辆卡车撞倒了。【分析】把英语并列句译成了汉语因果句，虽然语言顺序一致，但其结构发生了变化，前面的“横冲直撞”是因，后边的“被撞倒”是果。例2：Instead of the sublime and beautiful, the near, the low, the common, was explored and poetized. That which had been negligently trodden under foot by those who were harnessing and provisioning themselves for long journeys into far countries, is suddenly found to be richer than all foreign parts. The literature of the poor, the feelings of the child, the philosophy of the street, the meaning of household life, are the topics of the time. It is a great stride.【译文】人们着意发掘并谱写成诗章的，不是崇高优美的阳春白雪，而是发生在身旁、卑微而平凡的事物。那些束装远游、寄情异国的人踩在脚下不屑一顾的事物，忽然被人发现其实远比一切外国事物更绚烂多彩。穷人的文学、童稚的感情、街头的哲学、家庭生活的意义，都是当代的题材。（石幼珊译）【分析】诗章阳春白雪平凡的事物不屑一顾的事物外国事物更绚烂多彩当代的题材（穷人的文学、童稚的感情、街头的哲学、