英语名词性从句的翻译.doc

Translation of Nominal ClausesEnglish subordinate clauses are classified into six groups, namely, subject clause, objective clause, predicative clause, appositive clause, attributive clause and adverbial clause. Since the first four of them function as nouns in a complex sentence, they are generally called nominal clauses. In this section we are going to find some specific methods of translating nominal clauses. 英语名词性从句包括主语从句, 宾语从句, 表语从句和同位语从句, 在翻译这类从句时, 大多数可以按照原文的句序翻译成相应的汉语, 但是也有一些具体的处理方法.A.Subjective clauses:Usually we would like to translate noun clause in the same order, that is to say, to remain their original position.例1. Whoever comes to our library will be welcome.（主语从句）什么人到我们图书馆来都欢迎。例2. How and when human language developed and whether animals such as chimpanzees and gorillas can develop a more elaborate system of communication are issues at present being researched, but as yet little understood.人类的语言是如何发展起来的, 是什么时候形成的, 诸如黑猩猩和大猩猩一类的动物是否会形成一种更加复杂的交流系统, 都是现阶段人们研究的课题, 但对此人们都知之甚少。（主语从句）例3. How well the prediction will be validated by later performance depends upon the amount, reliability, and appropriateness of the information used and on the skill and wisdom with which it is interpreted. (主语从句)这些预测能在多大程度上被后来的成绩所证实取决于所使用的信息的量、可靠性和适合程度, 并取决于对信息作出解释的技能和智慧。 When it functions as a formal subject, the subject clause may either precede or follow the principle clause.例4. It is often said that wide reading is the best alternative course of action but even here it is necessary to make some kinds of selection.（主语从句）人们常说, 大量阅读是可供选择的最佳方案, 但即使在这一方面, 也需要某些选择。例5. 例5. And it is imagined by many that the operations of the common mind can by no means be compared with these processes, and that they have to be acquired by a sort of special training. (主语从句)许多人认为, 普通人的思维活动根本无法与科学的思维相比, 认为这些思维过程必须经过某种专门的训练才能掌握。例6. From the end of the Second World War until very recently, it was generally accepted in Britain that the State should provide a full range of free educational facilities from nursery schools to universities.（主语从句）从第二次世界大战结束直到最近, 英国人普遍接受这样一个观点, 即: 国家应该提供从幼儿园到大学的全方位的免费教育设施。B. Objective Clauses: Generally speaking, there is no need to change the position of the object clause in translation. However, in some cases, when “it” functions as the formal object of a complex sentence, or sometimes, preceded by a preposition, a change of order is necessary. 例7. He believes that the highly mobile American society leaves individuals with feelings of rootlessness, isolation, indifference to community welfare, and shallow personal relationships.（宾语从句）他认为, 流动性很大的美国社会留给个人的感觉是没有根基、孤立、对社会福利漠不关心和个人关系淡漠。例8. Some people think that it is a shame that a censor should interfere with works of art. (宾语从句)有些人认为审查员审查文艺作品是不光彩的事。例9. It is virtually impossible to imagine that universities, hospitals, large business or even science and technology could have come into being without cities to support them. (宾语从句)如果没有城市的支持, 简直难以想象会有大学、医院和大企业, 甚至连科学技术也不会有。例10. We fail to learn that pain is the bodys way of informing the mind that we are doing something wrong, not necessarily that something is wrong.我们不知道, 人体只是用疼痛这种方式通知大脑, 我们的行为出了差错, 而并 非一定健康有问题。（宾语从句）例11.You have all heard it repeated that men of science work by means of induction and deduction, that by the help of these operations, they, in a sort of sense, manage to extract from Nature certain natural laws, and that out of these by some special skill of their own, they build up their theories. (宾语从句你们都多次听说过, 科学家是用归纳法和演绎法工作的, 他们用这种方法, 在某中意义上说, 力求从自然界找出某些自然规律, 然后, 他们根据这些规律, 用自己的某种非同一般的本领, 建立起他们的理论。C. Predicative Clauses: English predicative clauses, like object clauses, are generally translated without changing their original position.例12. Nutritional experiments have made it evident that vitamins are indispensable for ones growth and health. （表语从句）营养实验证明：维生素对人们的健康和生长是不可缺少的。例13. One aspect of analogies is that they are limited by the scientific understanding of the time.类比存在的一个问题在于类比受所处时代的科学理解水平的限制。（表语从句）例14. A even more possibility is that the dark matter is composed of sub-atomic articles left over the Big Bang that is believed to have sparked the creation of the universe.另外一种可能是: 那些黑色物体是由“大碰撞”遗留的逊原子微粒组成。据认为“大碰撞”创造了宇宙。（表语从句）例15. Galieos greatest glory was that in 1609 he was the first person to turn the newly invented telescope on the heavens to prove that the planets revolve around the sun rather than around the Earth. (94年考题)伽利略的最光辉的业绩在于他在1609年第一个把新发明的望远镜对准天空, 以证实行星是围绕太阳旋转, 而不是围绕地球。（表语从句）D. Appositive clauses: Apposition, a state of affairs in grammar in which one simple sentence contains two or more noun phrases that describe the same person or thing and are used in the same way, appears more frequently in English than in Chinese. The following methods are usually used too translate appositive clauses.Using punctuation marks or specific words:例16.Unfortunately, Platos analogy misses an important characteristic of memory, namely it is selective.令人遗憾的是, 柏拉图所作的类比忽视了记忆的一个重要特性, 即记忆是有选择性的。（同位语从句）例17.In spite of the fact that the authors who dealt with womens issues prior to 1949 agreed in principle that reforms had to be instituted, the outlook they depicted for reform was bleak.尽管1949年以前研究妇女问题的作者原则上同意改革势在必行, 但他们为改革描绘的前景却是暗淡的。（同位语从句）(注意在本句的译文中, 省略了fact一词)Changing the relation between the noun and the appositive clause, the noun being converted into a verb.例18. An order has been given that the researchers who are now in the sky-lab should be sent back. （同位语从句）以下命令要求将目前在航天实验室里的研究人员送回来。例19. Even the most precisely conducted experiments offers no hope.（同位语从句）即使是最精确的实验，也没有希望获得无任何误差的实验结果。例20. However, the writing of chemical symbols in the form of an equation does not give any assurance that the reaction shown will actually occur.（同位语从句）但是，将化学符号写成反应式，并不意味着所表示的反应确实会发生。经常与同位语从句连用的单词或短语包括：Idea, fact, rumor, hope, belief, thought, doubt, proposition, suggestion, advice, agreement, message, probability, certainty, likelihood, evidence, on condition, on the supposition, on the grounds, on the understanding, with the exception, in spite of the fact等。Christmas Lost and FoundBy McCall Shirley BarksdaleChristmas was a quiet affair when I was growing up. There were just my parents and me. I vowed that someday Id marry and have six children, and at Christmas my house would vibrate with energy and life and love. I found the man who shared my dream, but we had not reckoned on the possibility of infertility. 1 Undaunted, we applied for adoption and, within a year, he arrived.We called him our Christmas Boy because he came to us during that season of joy, When he was just six days old. Then nature surprised us again. In rapid succession we added two biological children to the familynot as many as we had hoped for, but compared with my quiet childhood, three made an entirely satisfactory crowd.As our Christmas Boy grew, he made it clear that only he had the expertise to select and decorate the Christmas tree each year. He rushed the season, starting his gift list before wed even finished the Thanksgiving turkey. 2 He pressed us into singing carols,3 our froglike voices contrasting with his musical gift of perfect pitch. Each holiday he stirred us up, leading us through a round of merry chaos. 4Our friends were right about adopted children not being the same. Through his own unique heredity, his irrepressible good cheer, his bossy wit, our Christmas Boy made our life colorful. He made us look and behave better than we were.Then, on his 26th Christmas, he left us as unexpectedly as he had come. He was killed in a car accident on an icy Denver street, on his way home to his young wife and infant daughter. But first he had stopped by the family home to decorate our tree, a ritual he had never abandoned.Grief-stricken, his father and I sold our home, where memories clung to every room. We moved to California, leaving behind our friends and church. 译文 失而复得的圣诞节麦考尔雪莉巴克斯代尔 小时候，圣诞节过得很平静，那时的我正处于成长阶段。我们家是典型的三口之家，只有父母及我。1我发誓将来我要结婚并养六个孩子，过圣诞节时我的家里就会爱意盈盈、生气勃勃。我找到了与我有共同梦想的丈夫，但没料到我们没有生育能力。我们并未气馁，于是申请领养孩子。不到一年，他来到我们家中。我们叫他圣诞孩，因为他是在那个喜庆的节日来到我们中间的，那时他生下来刚满六天。2后来，造化弄人，再次令我们惊喜。我们自己竟很快为家里连续添了两个小宝宝还没有我们希望的那么多，不过同我那平静的孩童时代相比，三个孩子是足以构成使人完全心满意足的小群体啦。3随着圣诞男孩的长大，他清楚地向大家表明只有他才有本事选择和装饰一年一度的圣诞树。我们还未享受完感恩节的火鸡，他就开始列出礼物单，为圣诞节忙这忙那。他要求我们唱圣诞颂歌，我们沙哑的声音与他具有音乐天赋的完善的音调构成鲜明的对比。每个假日，他都早早地把我们鼓动起来，带我们去看那一连串热闹非凡的场面。4领养的孩子就是不一样，朋友们说得一点不错。我们的圣诞男孩凭着他独特的遗传因子，无拘无束、天真浪漫的性格和爱发挥的风趣话语，使我们的生活多姿多彩。他使我们的面貌与举止都比以前好很多。然而，在他的第26个圣诞节那天，他永远离开了我们，就像它当初到来一样，走得是那样出任人意料，它在冰雪覆盖的丹佛大街丧生于车祸，当时他正在回家的途中，准备回到年轻的妻子和还在襁褓中的女儿身边。在此之前，他先在我们家装饰了圣诞树，这是他从未改变过的礼数。我和父亲悲痛欲绝，变卖了那每间屋子都充满着记忆的家。我们丢下了朋友和教堂，移居加州。5 (李智译, 选自英语世界2000年第12期) 译文赏析 原文语言简洁，很有平铺直叙的味道，但却蕴含着很深的感情。译文无论在句式上，还是在用词方面都采取了直译的方法，很好地保留并再现了原文的语言风格。纵观全文，译文虽然有个别疏忽之处，但整体上还是非常成功的。1 适当的增词保留了原文简洁的语言特色。比如：Christmas was a quiet affair when I was growing up. “小时候，圣诞节过得很平静，那时的我正处于成长阶段”。“小时候”的增加使译文更生动贴切。又如：There were just my parents and me. “我们家是典型的三口之家，只有父母及我”。2 个别关键词的翻译不但保留了原文的意思，还保留了原文的修辞效果：比如译者将And at Christmas my house would vibrate with energy and life and love一句译成了“过圣诞节时我的家里就会爱意盈盈、生气勃勃。”vibrate本来是“振荡”的意思，译者将其译成“盈盈”和“勃勃”，转静为动，传神入化。再比如：Each holiday he stirred us up 一句中的s