英語形容詞翻譯的小竅門

英語形容詞翻譯的小竅門
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英語和漢語語言結構和表達習慣有很多差異之處，翻譯時往往能死扣原文逐詞逐句譯出。本文擬談談形容詞的翻譯問題。
翻譯技巧 (1)
一、一些原義並無否定意思的形容詞和別的詞搭配，有時可譯成否定句。

1. These goods are in short supply.
這些貨物供應不足。
2. This equation is far from being complicated.
這個方程一定也不複雜。
二、為了使譯文自然流暢，讀起來順口，在一些形容詞前可根據上下文內容加上副詞“很”、“最”等字。

1. It was as pleasant a day as I have ever spent.
這是我度過最愉快的一天。
2. It is easy to compress a gas.
氣體很容易壓縮。
三、有時可將英語的“形容詞+名詞短語”譯成漢語的主謂結構。

1. She spoke in a high voice.
她講話聲音很尖。
2. This engine develops a high torque.
這台發動機產生的轉矩很大。
四、如果一個名詞前有幾個形容詞修飾，英譯時應根據漢語習慣決定其順序。

1. a large brick conference hall
一個用磚砌的大會議廳
2. a plastic garden chair
一把在花園裡用的塑膠椅子
五、英語中一些表示知覺、情感、欲望等心理狀態的形容詞，同連系動詞構成複合謂語時，翻譯時可將形容詞譯成動詞。

1. You are ignorant of the duties you undertake in marrying.
你完全不懂你在婚姻方面承擔的責任。
2. Such criticisms have become familiar in his later commentaries on America.
類似的批評在他後來寫的評論美國的文章中屢見不鮮。
3. He is truly sorry for his past, and he has undertaken to give up motorcars entirely and for ever.
他誠懇地懺悔過去，並保證永遠不再玩汽車。
六、由於語言習慣不同，英語裡的形容詞有時譯成漢語副詞。

1. I am going to be good and sweet and kind to every body.
我要對每一個人都親切、溫順、和善。
2. He asked me for a full account of myself and family.
他詳盡地問起我自己和我家裡的情況。
3. Another war will be the absolute end of our country.
再來一次戰爭將徹底毀滅我們這個國家。
從以上幾個方面可以看出，譯好形容詞是使譯文通順、 流暢的一個環節。
翻譯技巧 (2)
1. 同義反譯法

例子：

1.1. Only three customers remained in the bar.
酒吧間只有三個顧客還沒有走。(不譯：「還留著」或「還呆在那裡」)

1.2. I'll be here for good this time.
這一次我再也不走了。(不譯：「永遠在此呆下去」)

1.3. Please keep the fire burning when I'm out.
我不在家的時候，請別讓爐子滅了。(不譯：「我外出時，請讓爐子繼續燒著」)

1.4. "Wait, he is serious."
「等等，他不是說著玩兒的。」(不譯：「等等，他是認真的。」)

1.5. "Now, Clara, be firm with the boy!"
「聽我說，克拉拉，對這孩子可不能心軟。」(不譯：「……對這孩子要堅定」)
2. 刪減解釋詞

例子：
The traveller in the south must often have remarked that peculiar air of refinement, that softness of voice and manner, which seems in many cases to be a particular gift to the quotation and mulatto women.
到南方去的人看見那些黑白混血的女郎，準定會注意到她們十之八九都賦有那種獨特的優雅風度、那種柔和的聲調和文靜的舉止。
3. 短句拆譯

例子：
" ...on one sunshiny morning in June , ..."
「在六月裡的一天早上，天氣晴朗，……」
4. 譯詞推陳出新

例子：
When he might well have acted with boldness, he found himself filled with doubts, scruples and equivocations, in addition to the ordinary fears of a lower.
原譯：當他可以大膽行動的時候，他發現自己除了一個情人所具有的那種普通的害怕之外，心裡還充滿懷疑、顧慮和躊躇。
改譯：等到他不妨放膽去追求的時候，他卻遲疑不定，顧慮重重。至於一般墮入情網的人那種種常有的提心吊膽的心理，那就更是難免的了。
原詞、原譯、改譯
when 當……的時候 等到……的時候
act with boldness 大膽行動 放膽去追求
a lover 一個情人 一般墮入情網的人
ordinary fears 普通的害怕 種種常有的提心吊膽的心理
in addition to 除了……之外 那就更是難免的了
5. 解釋性添詞

例子：
"George, I'm ashamed of you! George, I couldn't have believed you would have done it! I always knew you to be a rolling stone that gathered no moss; but I never thought you would have taken away what little moss there was for Bagnet and the children to lie upon," said Mrs. Bagnet.
「喬治，我真替你害臊﹗喬治，想不到你會幹出這種事情來﹗俗話說得好：『滾著的碌碡不長苔，流浪的漢子不攢財。』我早曉得你就是這麼一個流浪漢﹗可真沒有想到你連貝格納特和孩子們靠它過活的那一點點財也騙走，」貝格納特太太說道。
6. 數字譯法

7、詞意定譯

例子：
It is quite useless to ask whether Vanderbilt was criminally prosecuted or civilly sued by the Government. Not only was he unmolested, but two years later, he carried on another huge swindle upon the Government under peculiary heinous conditions.
我們根本不必追問政府是否根據刑法或民法對範德比爾特提出起訴。範德比爾特不僅逍遙法外，而且在兩年後又以極其兇狠的手段對政府進行弓一次巨大的詐騙。
8. 精鍊譯詞

例子：
A new dignity crept into his walk.
原譯：走路的姿態不知甚麼時候開始給人一種莊重的印象。
改譯：走起路來，不覺平添了幾分尊嚴。
9. 刪削"When"字

例子

9.1. When he saw me, he was startled.
他看見我，嚇了一大跳，(不譯：當他看見我的時候，……)

9.2. "When your gals takes on and cry, what's the use of cracking on them over the head, and knocking on them round?"
「你那些女黑奴哭得那麼傷心，你還拿鞭子沒頭沒腦的抽，把她們打得死去活來，那有甚麼用呢？」(不譯：當你那些女黑奴哭得那麼傷心的時候，你還拿鞭子……)
10. 感嘆詞的不同譯法

例子：
1. "O, don't mother! I should like the flowers; do give them to me; I want them!"
"Why, Eva, your room is full now."
「嗐，媽媽，別這樣﹗我喜歡這些花，把花給我吧，我要﹗」
「得了吧，伊娃，你屋裡的花都滿了。」
2. "Well, that's odd!" said Marie. "What in the world do you want that for?"
「喲，真是怪事﹗」瑪利說，「你幹嘛非要這個不可？」
3. ("...Haley, if you had any conscience.")
"Well, I've got just as much conscience as any man in business can afford to keep - just a little, you know, to swaer by, as were," said the trader, jocularly; ...
"Well, then, Haley, how will you trade?" said Mr. Shelby, after an uneasy interval of silence.
(「……哈利，你要是有良心的話。」)
「得，幹這行當兒的人能有多少良心，我也有多少良心——瞧，我的良心就這麼一丁點兒，夠拿出來起誓就得，」奴隸販子開著玩笑說；……
「那好，哈利，這樁買賣你打算怎麼個做法？」謝爾比先生在一陣令人發窘的沉默之後問道。
11. 順拆法

例子：
His delegation agreed with the Executive Director/ that the fund should continue working/ for a better understanding of the interrelationship between economic, social and demographic factors.
原譯：他的代表團同意執行主任關於該基金會應繼續為更好地瞭解經濟、社會和人口的相互關係而努力的意見。
改譯：他的代表團同意執行主任的意見，/認為該基金會應繼續努力，/ 以求更好地瞭解經濟、社會和人口這三方面的相互關係。
12. 倒拆法

例子：
To him there is something divine/ in the sympathetic indulgence she substitute / for the angry disgust/ with which one of his own country women resent his supposed conditon.
要是一個英國女人看到他真像他自己所假定的那麼爛醉，/ 她就會對他又惱怒，又厭惡，/ 而挪拉對他卻又同情又寬容，/ 他在這中間看出了一點神聖的品質。
13. 抽詞拆句法

例子：
All the way along the line, from the border right up to Peking, as far as the eye could see, the countryside was literally covered up with a green carpet of growing crops, holding a promise of bumper harvests.
從邊境到北京，一路上沿鐵路線極目縱觀，但見農村到處是茁壯的莊稼，彷彿鋪上一塊綠地毯，這說明豐收在望了
翻譯技巧 (3)

1. 改變詞類Conversion。英語一個詞能充當的句子成分較少，充當不同成分時常常要改變詞類。

Insulin　is used in the treatment of diabetes.
This issue is of paramount importance.
Rationing by points is over and rationing by the purse is in.

Oceanography has been defined as ″The application of all sciences to the study of the sea″. 1990. 
2. 選詞用字Diction。

Before Hugo could protest, he and the others were led away. (抗議-分辯)

Put a teaspoonful of tea in the pot and then you just add the boiling water to it and let it stand. (稍等片刻再喝)

It's a crime you didn't finish school. (憾事)
3. 詞序調整Inversion。一個句子中詞和分句的順序，英漢兩種語言往往不同。如表示時間和地點，英語常常是先小後大，而漢語是先大後小。

His address is 3612 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19001, USA.

Don't hesitate to come when you need help.
black and white TV, iron and steel company
4. 省略Omission。

You cannot build a ship, a bridge or a house if you don't know how to make a design or how to read it.

It took him a long time to reach the bottom and to couch behind a little dwarf palm.
5. 增詞Amplification。英語中沒有量詞，助詞，翻譯時應根據上下文的需要予以增加。有些英語的不及物動詞必須增加賓語意思才完整。

I could knit when I was seven.

Without a sense of your fault, how can repentance and amendment be expected?
Walking past the Garden of Eden, Adam's son asked his father, “Who owns that large estate?”
“That's where your mother and I used to live,” replied Adam,
“before she ate us out of house and home.”
6. 重複Repetition。

Practically every river has an upper, a middle and a lower part. 上游，中游，下游

If an atom contains three protons, it must have three electrons to be electrically neutral.
7. 正譯反譯法Negation。

The Organization has not, so far, justified the hopes which the people set on it. (辜負)

Suddenly he heard a sound behind him, and realized he was not alone in the garage. (還有別人)

If a patient at Beth Israel is not responding to treatment, it is not uncommon for his nurse to propose another approach to his doctor. 1993.

8. 分譯法Division 。英語長句多，為了符合漢語表達習慣，可將英語長句拆成短句。

It was a real challenge that those who had learned from us now excelled us.

It has been rightly stated that this situation is a threat to international security.

Because they tremble at the thought of being seen in public in clothes that are out of fashion, they are always taken advantage of by the designers and the big stores. 1993.
9. 常見短語和重要句型的翻譯。

1)It goes without saying that…不言而喻的是……
2)It is common knowledge that…眾所周知的是……

3)It occurs to me that…我突然想起

4)It is not that...but that…並不是說……而是說

11. 某些含蓄否定的翻譯。

Plants which refine crude ores are often located in countries other than those in which the crude ores are mined. 提煉礦石的工廠通常不是設在開採礦石的國家，而是設在其它國家。

1) more...than...與其說……不如說……
She is more like his mother than like his teacher.
2) no more...than...和……一樣都不

There is no reason they should limit how much vitamin you take, any more than they can limit how much water you drink. 他們沒有理由限制你服用多少維生素，就像他們不能限制你喝多少水一樣。

3) not...all..., all is...not...並不是……都……
All that glitters is not gold.
Both of the books are not helpful.

Everyone doesn't want to go to the concert.
4) cannot...too...無論……也不過分

We can't praise him too much.
5) much less, still less, to say nothing of, not to mention, let alone更不用說

He knows little of mathematics, and still less of chemistry.
In old China, there was hardly any machine-building industry, to say nothing of an electronic industry.
All they have to do is to press a button, and they can see plays, films, operas and shows of every kind, not to mention political discussions and the latest exciting football match.
6) so...that...如此……以至於

And home appliances will also become so smart that controlling and operating them will result in the breakout of a new psychological disorder-kitchen rage.
7) not so much...as...與其說……不如說……
Science moves forward, they say, not so much through the insights of great men of genius as because of more ordinary things like improved techniques and tools.
8) not...because...(否定轉移)並不是因為……
The police didn't arrest me because I committed any crime. They said I was wandering on the street with the intent of committing an arrestable offense.
9) anything...but...一點也不，決不 nothing...but...就是，僅僅，but for...要不是……
The method of scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of the necessary mode of working of the human mind it is simply the mode by which all phenomena are reasoned about and given precise and exact explanations.

Alone in a deserted house he was so busy with his research work that he felt anything but lonely.
But for your timely help, we couldn't have finished the work on time.
10) as特殊狀語從句，譯為定語從句

“In short”, a leader of the new school contends, “the scientific revolution, as we call it, was largely the improvement and invention and use of a series of instruments that expanded the reach of science in innumerable directions.”
11) such...as...諸如……

Whether to use tests, other kinds of information, or both in a particular situation depends, therefore, upon the evidence from experience concerning comparative validity and upon such factors as cost and availability.
12) not...not...雙重否定，可依情況譯為沒有……不……，或每一個……，都……
12. 注意英語慣用法，俚語和俗語的翻譯。

Mr. Wilson talks a lot, but Mrs. Wilson wears the trousers in their house.
It seems to me what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander公鵝 .
I hope she will always feel like a daughter of America, and not like a stepchild.

It's a lot easier to get in the hole than to get out again.