Amplification in Translation (增译法)

A book，tight shut，is but a block of paper． 译文一：—本书，紧紧合上，只是—叠

2) Success is often just an idea away． 译文一：成功往往只是一个念头的距离。 译文二：成功往往只是一念之差。 译文三：成功与否往往只是—念之差。

3) Nothing happened in the night． 译文一：夜间什么事也没发生。 译文二：夜间倒是风平浪静，什么 3) Nothing happened in the night． 译文一：夜间什么事也没发生。 译文二：夜间倒是风平浪静，什么 事也没发生。 4) Away flies the arrow! 译文一：箭飞走了! 译文二：箭嗖的一声飞走了! 或：嗖—，箭飞走了!

Definition of amplification

作为翻译的一个普遍原则，译者不应该对原文的内容随意增减。不过，由于英汉两种语言文字之间所存在的巨大差异，在实际翻译过程中我们很难做到字词句上完全对应。因此，为了准确地传达出原文的信息，往往需要对译文作一些增减。所谓增译法，就是在原文的基础上添加必要的单词、词组、分句或完整句，从而使译文在语法、语言形式上符合汉语的习惯并使译文在文化背景、词语联想方面与原文保持一致，以达到译文与原文在内容、形式和精神方面对等起来的目的。这里的增加不是无中生有地随意增加，而是增加原文中虽无其词却有其意的一些部分。从理论上说可以根据具体的上下文增加任何词, 但在什么时候增加什么样的词，才能恰到好处，而不超出一定的界限，则需要悉心体会。

II. Classification of Amplification

Lexical Amplification（从词汇上考虑的增词） Lexical Amplification（从词汇上考虑的增词） This kind of amplification includes: amplification by supplying such kinds of words as verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, numerals, category words, generalization words, and the plural forms of nouns. These kinds of words are amplified so that they can express the intended or implied lexical or contextual meanings of the SL text clearly and exactly, or in other words, they are amplified so as to make the implied lexical meanings in the SL text concrete, clear, and idiomatic.

1 增加动词 ① Tom Canty, born in rags and dirt and misery, what sight is this! (Mark Twain: The Prince and the Pauper) 译文一：啊，汤姆·康第，生在破烂、肮脏和苦难中，现在这番景象却是多么显赫啊！ 译文二：汤姆·康第原来(who was born)生在可怜巴巴的人家(in misery)，穿得破破烂烂(in rags)，一身邋里邋遢(in dirt)，现在(what sight is this)换了这身装束，啊，是何等气派！

She felt the flowers were in her fingers, on her lips, growing in her breast. 译文一：她觉得手里和唇上都是花儿，胸中也生长着花儿。 译文二：她觉得她好像手里拿着花，嘴里吻着花，连胸中也生出了花。

③ Asia’s strength of economic management, however, has not been its perfection, but its pragmatism and flexibility. ④In the evening, after the banquets, the concerts and the table tennis exhibitions, he would work on the drafting of the final communiqué. ⑤ The quarrels of friends are the opportunities of foes.

1. 2 增加名词 A. 在抽象名词后面增加名词 ① Not to educate him (the Child) is to condemn him to repetitious ignorance. ② The arrogance of the aristocracy helped to lead to the French Revolution. ③ From the evaporation of water people know that liquids can turn into gases under certain condition.

evaporation 蒸发作用. fault-finding 吹毛求疵的作法 fatuity顽愚状态. favoritism. 徇私作风 evaporation 蒸发作用 fault-finding 吹毛求疵的作法 fatuity顽愚状态 favoritism 徇私作风 loftiness 崇高气质 necessity必要性 readability 可读性 lithonephrotomy 肾结石切除术corrosive腐蚀剂 dripping滴注法 allergy过敏反应 assimilation 同化作用 alienation异化现象 modernization 现代化 relativity相对论 indifference冷漠态度foolhardiness 蛮干作风 transformation 转化过程precaution 预防措施 muddledness混沌状态arrogance傲慢态度 derangement 紊扰现象segregation隔离政策/隔离措施 lightheartedness 轻松愉快的心境

gayety 欢乐气氛. jealousy嫉妒心理dejection 沮丧情绪 gayety 欢乐气氛 jealousy嫉妒心理dejection 沮丧情绪 transition 演变过程 development 开发工程 processing 加工方法 preparation 准备工作 tension 紧张局势 backwardness 落后状态 oxidation 氧化作用 correctness 正确性 dependence 依赖性 commercialization 商业化 abstraction 抽象化 irregularities 越轨行为 hostility 敌对情绪　　 notoriety 名声狼藉的境地 togetherness 集体感 complexity 复杂局面 infiltration 渗透作用 madness 疯狂行为 remedy 补救方法 irregularities越轨行为; 脱出常规的事物

B. 在具体名词后面增加名词. (两种情形) a). 当具体名词表达某种抽象概念时，在译文中也常常需要根据上下文增加一些适当的名词。 ① B. 在具体名词后面增加名词 (两种情形) a) 当具体名词表达某种抽象概念时，在译文中也常常需要根据上下文增加一些适当的名词。 ① He　allowed　the　father to be overruled by the judge，and declared his own son guilty。 ② Kissinger felt that Rogers was quibbling，but the lawyer in Nixon supported the quibble of a fellow lawyer. ③ The molecules of hydrogen get closer and closer with the pressure.

在具体名词后面增加名词，避免译文含混，使译文符合汉语习惯。 ① 在具体名词后面增加名词，避免译文含混，使译文符合汉语习惯。 ① In this way she brings the ends of her life together with a terrifying rush: she is a girl, a wife, a mother, widow, all at once. ② Many great writers were not appreciated fully while they were alive.

在形容词前面增加名词 ① This new type of computer is indeed cheap and fine. ② 在形容词前面增加名词 ① This new type of computer is indeed cheap and fine. ② He is a complicated man---moody, mercurial, with a melancholy streak. ③ Cowboys had to be skilful and strong. They had to be skilled horsemen and good gunmen.

在不及物动词后面增加名词 英语中的某些动词在用作不及物动词的时候，虽然后面并没有带宾语，但宾语实际上是隐含在动词后面的。所以在翻译成汉语时，往往要把隐含的宾语翻译出来。

①. Wash before meal. ②. Shopping-bag ladies do not drink. ③ ① Wash before meal. ② Shopping-bag ladies do not drink. ③ Steel and iron products are often coated lest they should rust. ④ Mary washed for a living after her husband died of acute pneumonia.

3 增加概括词 概括词是英汉两种语言所共有的，但有时英语句子中并没有出现概括词，而翻译的时候却往往可以加入“两人”、“双方”、“等”、“等等”、“凡此种种”等概括词，同时省略掉英语中的连接词。

①    Like most wildlife，deer reproduce，grow，and store fat in the summer and fall when there is plenty of nutritious food available. 与大多数野生动物一样，鹿在营养丰富、食物充足的夏秋两季，繁殖、生长储存脂肪。 ② The advantages of the hall are bright, spacious, fashionable and without echo. ③ In the 1960s, the Soviets posed a serious challenge to America’s hegemonic ([hegimnik] 霸权的) position militarily, politically and economically.

4 增加副词 为了确切地表达原意，有些动词在一定场合可根据原文的上下文增加适当的副词。 ① To make sure that my parents understood, I declared that I wanted nothing else. 为了让父母切实了解我的心思，我特意宣布，别的我什么也不想要。 ②    Instead, we are embarrassed and shrug off the words we are really so glad to hear. ③ Time drops in decay, like a candle burnt out.

5. 增加量词. 英语中数词与可数名词往往可以直接连用，不用加量词。而汉语往往要加量词。 ① 5 增加量词 英语中数词与可数名词往往可以直接连用，不用加量词。而汉语往往要加量词。 ① Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you are aboard, there’s nothing you can do. ② A red sun rose slowly from the calm sea. ③ The first electronic computers went into operation in 1945.

另外，英语中的某些动词或动名词，在翻译成汉语时往往需要增加一些表示行为、动作量的动量词 ① 另外，英语中的某些动词或动名词，在翻译成汉语时往往需要增加一些表示行为、动作量的动量词 ① He had a rest after walking ten miles. ② Wait for me. I will be right back. ③ Yesterday they had a big quarrel.

6 增加表达复数的词 汉语中的名词没有复数概念，也没有词形上的变化，很多情况下不必表达出来；而英语中的名词有词形的变化，但没有量词，所以在翻译成汉语的时候，可根据情况增加重叠词、数词或其他一些词来表达复数的概念，以达到修辞效果。

A． 增加重叠词表示复数 ①. All roads lead to Rome. 条条大道通罗马。 ② A． 增加重叠词表示复数 ① All roads lead to Rome. 条条大道通罗马。 ② Flowers bloom all over the yard.

B. 增加数词或其他词表示复数 ①    Mr. Hobbs didn't talk over my suggestions with his brother until yesterday afternoon. ② The judge let him off with warnings not to cause trouble again. ③ The lion is the king of animals.

7 Amplifying words in the TL text that can indicate the verb tenses in the SL text. (增加表达时态的词) As the Chinese language is the one whose verbs cannot manifest tenses while the English language is the one whose verbs themselves can well indicate tenses, in English-Chinese translation, adverbs are often supplied or amplified to indicate the tenses that are manifested by the verbs in the English text

英语时态是靠动词的词形变化或助词来体现的。汉语中的动词没有时态的变化，要表达时态就必须靠时态助词和一些表示时间的词。所以，在表达过去的概念时往往加上“曾”、“已经”、“过”、“了”等字眼在表达进行时态时往往用“在”、“正在”、“着”等字眼在表达将来时态时往往用“将”、“就”、“要”、“会”、“便”等字眼。此外，为了强调时间概念或强调时间上的对比，往往增加一些其他的词。

强调某种时间概念 ① I had never thought I’d be happy to find myself considered unimportant. But this time I was. ② Christmas was coming. I wanted a pony. ③ He is the son of a wealthy family，but he seems to have come down in the world.

强调时间上的对比 ①      Man，was, is and always will be trying to improving his living conditions. ② It was said that his father was a fisherman. Maybe he was as poor as we are.

2. Syntactical Amplification (从句法结构上考虑的增词) 2. Syntactical Amplification (从句法结构上考虑的增词) Omission is very frequently used in English for rhetorical or syntactical purposes. When we translate English sentences with omission into Chinese, however, in nine cases out of ten, we have to supply in the target text what has been omitted in the source text. Otherwise, the meaning in the TL text would be neither complete nor smooth or idiomatic.

2. 1. 增补原文中省略的动词 这里所说的原文中省略的动词，指的是在并列关系的复句中由于前后两句的结构相同且使用相同的谓语动词，为了避免重复而在后句中省略的动词。在翻译成汉语的时候，出于句法上的需要，有时还需要将动词补出。另外，在某些英语句子当中由于一个谓语动词连接几个宾语或表语，在译文总往往要重复这个动词。当这个动词后有前置词时，在第二次第三次往往只用前置词而省略动词，在译文中则要重复动词以代替英语中重复的前置词。

①. Matter can be changed into energy, and energy into matter. ② ① Matter can be changed into energy, and energy into matter. ② Courage in excess becomes foolhardiness, affection weakness, thrift avarice. ③ A government of and by and for the exploiting class cannot possibly survive. ④ Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. (Francis Bacon)

2. 2. 增补原文比较句中的省略部分 ①. This is true of nations as it is of individuals 2. 2. 增补原文比较句中的省略部分 ① This is true of nations as it is of individuals. ② Better be wise by the defeat of others than by your own.

2．3. 增补原文回答句中的省略部分 ①. “Nothing but a pony. " My father asked 2．3 增补原文回答句中的省略部分 ① “Nothing but a pony?" My father asked. “Nothing，”I said. ② How shall l do it?” “Just as you wish.”

2．4. 增补表示逻辑关系的词语 有时候英语原文中并没有表达逻辑关系的词语，但根据上下文可以判断出其隐含的逻辑关系，如转折、假设、让步、因果关系等，在翻译成汉语的时候，要适当地在句中或句子之间补充关联词和承上启下的词。 (Amplification by supplying necessary transition words or connectives for the sake of cohesion. ）

①. The strongest man cannot alter the law of nature. ② ① The strongest man cannot alter the law of nature. ② I am in charge of the depot, only I. People will hold me responsible but not you. ③ More thorough testing might have caught the failure initially.

④. Suppose the preparatory work should not be completed. ⑤ ④ Suppose the preparatory work should not be completed. ⑤ For mistakes had been made, bad ones.

2．5 增补/重复同位语结构中的先行词 ① As a result, a few token meetings were being set up through Foggy Bottom, the more-than-ever appropriate nickname for the Department of State. ② Water can be decomposed by energy, a current of electricity.

Cultural Amplification (从文化上考虑的增词)

3. 1 增加比喻的喻意 ① Every family is said to have at least one skeleton in the cupboard. ② Advice and correction roll off him like water off a duck’s back. ③ 三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮。

①. He is sitting in a Ford. ②. The United States has now set up a ① He is sitting in a Ford. ② The United States has now set up a loneliness industry. ③ In April，there was the“ping”heard around the world．In July，the ping “ponged". ④ The blond boy quickly crossed himself. ⑤ You must come back before nine. Period!

Rhetorical Amplification （从修辞上考虑） Rhetorical Amplification （从修辞上考虑） Rhetorical amplification is mostly employed for the sake of the smoothness of the translation. Therefore, rhetorical amplification is more often employed in the process of weighing the words (推敲), doing proofreading and polishing the style or manner of the translation. And the words that are amplified are generally modal particles (语气词), emphatic adverbs (强调性副词) and other words needed for rhetoric purposes. These amplified words do not add, nor subtract the meanings of the SL text. Among them, the key words that are repeated in the translation for the purpose of making the translation clear, emphatic or vivid are also considered rhetorically amplified words.

汉语中的语气助词很多，如“的” “吧”、“啊” 、“呀” “嘛”、“吗” 、“啦” 、“了”、 “罢了”、“而已”等等。不同的语气助词可以表示不同的含义。在英译汉时，增加一些恰当的语气助词可以更好地表达英语原文的含义和修辞色彩。另外，为了使译文更加生动通顺，译者也可以增加无损原意的四字词组，四字对偶词组和叠词。

①. Don’t take it seriously. It’s only a joke. ② ① Don’t take it seriously. It’s only a joke. ② Their host carved, poured, served, cut bread, talked, laughed, proposed health. ③ As I snooze she talks – of anything, everything, all the things that women talk of: books, music, dress, men, other women. ④ We think we have freed our slaves, but we have not. We just call them by a different name.

4．2 增加四字词组，四字对偶词组或叠词 ①. Target priorities were established there. ② 4．2 增加四字词组，四字对偶词组或叠词 ① Target priorities were established there. ② But there had been too much publicity about my case. ③ I had been completely honest in my replies，withholding nothing． ④ It was a bright September anteroom，and the streets of New York were brilliant with moving men．

结语 一、“好的译文一般都会略长于原文”（《奈达论翻译》，第117页）原因是译者除了要把原文中明显地由语句表达出来的意思转换成译文外，还必须把原文中的“内隐成分”表达出来。这些“内隐成分”通常是语义上的、文化背景上的、语气修辞上的以及语言结构上的等等。英译汉中的增补在很多情况下都出于结构上的需要，例如重复就多出于很多汉语结构上的要求。

二、省略大多出于译文行文上的考虑。因此英译汉省略的多半是原文的形态结构词或关联词语。英译汉必须有意识地注意尽量省略英语代词。

三、翻译中的增补、重复与省略常常出现在译者推敲行文或校正行文的过程中，可见这类调整与译者的母语语感很有关系，从本质上说这是一个译文的可读性问题(readability)，其关键在求得译文与原文在深层结构上的对应，而不求双语在词语形式上的对等。