第五章 翻译的语言对比 英语和汉语分属于不同的语言体系 英语是拼音文字，是一种以形合为主的语言。形与义之间没有必然的联系。词汇量大，语法形态齐备 汉语是在象形文字的基础上发展出来的意合为主的语言。往往可以因形见意。语法结构松散，词汇意义的蕴涵较广。

一、语义的差异 词汇的意义

词义完全对等 只限于一些通用的技术术语和少数的专有名词 The Pacific ocean Helicopter paper

词义部分对等 1.It is a cat. She is a cat.(她是个心地狠毒的女人。) 2.marriage(嫁、娶)、sister(姐、妹)、 3.sophisticated man (老于世故的人)、sophisticated woman（狡猾的女子） sophisticated columnist(老练的专栏作家) Sophisticated electronic device(精密的电子装置) Sophisticated weapon(尖端的武器) 4.颜色词、动物词等

Fish in the air(水底捞月) One boy is a boy, two boys half boy, three boys no boys. As poor as a church mouse Lead a dog life Spend money like water Put a fifth wheel to the other

词义完全不对等 Ajar Commuter In my poor opinion,you should let her go. In private Thatcher scoffed at his continental allies as “bloody wets(软弱)”. If you think I am for him, you are all wet（wrong）. In the end I had to have a caesarean(剖腹产), which just knocked me for six(made me at a loss).

He has only untutored strength, like a bull in a china. Among the blind the one eyed man is king. They were too strong to be opposed head on. To do that was to tilt at windmills.

他有力气，可是没有经过训练，想一头钻进瓷器店的牛，一动就闯祸。 山中无老虎，猴子称霸王。 他们太强大了，不能同他们正面对阵。要是正面对阵，就会跟唐吉可德一样，跃马持枪向风车冲刺。

She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. The student from provincial area feels like a fish out of water White elephant Golden cock

词义冲突 Love me, love my dog. Dragon Red

The local press challenged the license of the TV station. 当地报纸要求吊销那个电视台的执照。

句法差异：1.形合与意合 形合（hypotaxis）:句中的词语或分句之间需要一种语言形式如连词，或关联词连接起来，表达一定的语法和逻辑意义； 意合（parataxis）句中的词语或分句之间不用语言学上手段进行连接，句中的语法意义或逻辑关系通过词语或分句的含义来表达。

就表情功能而言，意合是明示，意合是隐含 You feel such a sense of exhilaration that you wouldn’t exchange it for all the power and glory of the world.(你是那样的欢乐，世界上的任何权力与荣耀你都视若敝埽。)

If you tell me all about it, I shall be able to decide.

英语重形合，汉语重意合。但不绝对。 Poor acoustics spoilt the performance. The good tiding filled the whole nation with joy. I shall pass by the next paragraph, which has nothing to do with the topic in hand. Beggars must not be choosers. A little of everything and nothing at all.

音响效果不好，演出大为逊色。 捷报传来，举国欢腾。 下一段我不准备谈了，因为它与目前讨论的话题无关。 既然已经是要饭的，就不要挑肥拣瘦。 如果什么事情都是浅尝即止，终将一事无成。

2.前重心与后重心 英语从小到大，从特殊到一般，从个体到整体，重心一般放在句前。 Tragedies can be written in literature since there is tragedy in life. One problem in trying to discuss my reporting is its sheer volume.

生活中既然有悲剧，文学作品就可以些悲剧。 我的报告篇幅特别长，若要讨论我的报告，这就 成了一个问题。

With considerable justification, environmental groups accuse the Administration of “destroying environmental laws by failing to enforce them or by enforcing them in ways that deliberately encourage non-compliance.”

某些环境保护组织批评政府“不执行环境法，或者名为执行，实际上却在蓄意纵容犯法”。这种批评是很有道理的。

So it was that the farm poor were caught in their won past, the double victims of technology: exile from their home by advance in agricultural machinery; unfitted for life in the city because of consequences of industrial mechanization.

农村中的穷人如同过去一样贫穷，他们成了即使发展的双重牺牲品：以来农业机械的广泛应用使得他们不得不背井离乡；二来工业机械化所产生的后果又使得他们在城市里无法立足。

It works by eliciting the general principles which apply to the facts, as they exist, and then by an intellectual survey of alternative possibilities which are consistent with those principles.

想象是通过引出适用于具体事实本身的一般规律，并随之对与这些规律一致的种种可能性进行理性推理概括而起作用的。

3.已知与未知 英语在叙事与表态的关系上是先表态后叙事，在分析与结论的关系上是先结论后分析，在前提与假设的关系上是先假设后前提，在原因与结果的关系上是先结果后原因。而汉语则相反。

The isolation of the rural world because of distance and the lack of transport facilities is compounded by the paucity of the information media.

因为距离远，又缺乏交通工具，农村社会是与外界隔绝的。这种隔绝状态，由于通讯工具的不足，就变得更加严重。

The people of a small country can certainly defeat aggression by a big country, if only they dare to rise in struggle, dare to take up arms and grasp in their own hands the destiny of their own country. It is a good plan to imagine an argument with a person having a different bias.

小国人民敢于起来都在，敢于拿起武器，掌握自己国家的命运，就一定能够战胜大国。 借助想象与持有不同偏见的人进行辩论，是一个很好的办法。

For reasons that range from simple making ends meet to putting money away for luxuries or for retirement, millions are taking on second and even third jobs for added cash.

成千上万的人为了挣外快，身兼双职，甚至三职，兼职的原因各有不同，有的想平衡家庭开支，有的想存些钱购买高档消费品，有的则是存钱防老。

Tess and the other three were dressing themselves rapidly, the whole bevy have agreed to go together to Mellstock Church, which lay some three or four miles distant from diary house.

离牛奶场三、四英里是梅勒陶教堂，苔丝和她那三个伙伴商议好了，要一块到那儿去做礼拜，所以现在都在屋里急急忙忙地换衣服。 苔丝和三个伙伴在屋子里急急忙忙地换衣服，她们已经事先商量好，要一块到梅尔斯托克教堂去做礼拜，那儿离挤奶场有三、四英里地。

It requires that discipline of character which can say “yes” and “no” to other men, not by reason of blind obstinacy, but with firmness derived from a conscious evaluation of relevant alternatives.

在性格上必须受过这样的训练，即对别人的看法表示赞同或者反对时，不是出自于固执己见，而是理智地权衡各种相关选择方案，从而变得果断的结果。

4.被动与主动 英语多被动，汉语少被动。 不觉青林没晚潮。 门锁上了。 字典潮了。 他淋雨了。 他受人尊重。 他遇刺身亡。 黄浦江上又建了一座桥。

I always believe that I was very lucky to have been brought up in a small town with a great sense of friendliness and voluntary service . The visitor was flattered and impressed. He said it would be preferable for the experts to be at present at the sessions, whether or not they were invited to express their views.

我常常感到，我得以生长在一个小城镇中是一件幸事，因为小镇具有 纯厚的街坊感情和自觉的公益精神。 这位客人受宠若惊，大为感动。 他说，最好也请专家列席会议，不管他们是否已受到邀请来表达他们的意见。

it +be +past participle +that…… It should be noted that……应当指出 It is believed that …….据信……

The clever failed because of their cleverness.(聪明反被聪明误。)

5.肯定与否定 We decide that as it was only for a few days our pocketbook would stand the strain. The thought of returning to his native land never deserted him amid his tribulation. These demands seemed less than reasonable.

我们商量以后认为，我们只在这里呆几天，所以我们的钱不至于告罄。 在苦难的日子里，归国的念头一直萦绕在他心中。 这些要求似乎不近情理。

she has been a widow only six months. 他的丈夫死了才半年。 We must never stop taking an optimistic view of life. 我们对生活要永远抱乐观态度。

6.抽象主语与人称主语 The seclusion in which they had kept themselves so long, had cut them off from a knowledge of the relation between the nations. The enjoyment of pornography and use of obscenity became the self-imposed obligation of the emancipated women.

他们与世事隔绝日久，对于国际间错综复杂的关系已经一无所知。 一些所谓思想解放的妇女沉溺于荒诞放纵的生活，并视此为自己应该得到的享受。

Her eagerness to be gone from Norland was preserved from diminution by the evident satisfaction of her daughter-in-law in the prospect of her removal; a satisfaction which was but feebly attempted to be concealed under cold invitation to her to defer her departure.

译文1.达什伍德太太渴望离开若兰德的心情丝毫没有减弱，因为她的儿媳看到她将要搬走明显地露出了满意的神情，这种满意的神情只在假惺惺地请婆婆推迟她们的行期时稍微地掩盖了一下。

译文2.看到达什伍德要搬走，她儿媳喜形于色。她假惺惺地邀请婆婆推迟她们的行期，以便稍稍地掩盖了一下这种心情。但达什伍德太太一心渴望离开若兰德，根本不为所动。

The justification for a university is that it preserves the connection between knowledge and the zest of life, by uniting the young and the old in the imaginative consideration of learning. Nightfall found him many miles short of his appointed preaching place.

大学之所以有理由存在，是因为它使老少两代人在富于想象力的学习中，保持了知识与对生活热情之间的联系。 夜幕降临，他离预定的不道地点还有好几英里呢。

时空差异 在时间的坐标里，英语沿用空间思维，用back来指称过去，用forward指称未来；汉语虽然也有用空间思维来表示时间的，但方位相反，称过去为以前，未来为以后，所以英语from this time forward翻译为汉语就是“从此以后”，two years back是“两年以前”。所以，汉译时往往需要把以空间顺序构建英语句子或句群按照时间的顺序来处理。

例1 The decision was taken only after the most serious consideration and careful weighing of implication. 译文1只有在极为严肃地考虑并慎重地权衡了利弊以后，这一决定才能做出。 译文2做出这一决定之前，我们极为严肃地考虑并始终地权衡了利弊。 辨析：两个译文其实都体现了原文的含义，但译文更符合汉语的思维习惯。

例2 　I am getting ahead of the story. 译文１我讲到故事前边去了。 译文２我讲到故事后边去了。 辨析：英语的ahead of 实际是一个表示空间的词语，原文把故事从空间上划分，在时间上它指“故事以前发生的事”。所以译文2是正确的，而译文1是理解错误。

examples The lion is less cruel than the tiger. I want to be a man, and a man I am. There had been too much publicity about their relationship.

Examples Here is a book of matches. Her face was an open book. It is a sealed book to me. She is a book keeper. He is pretty wonderful person in my book. The huge treaty book were ready at last. 书画（handwriting）,说书的（story-teller）

More examples Live and learn.( 活到老，学到老。) Learn and live.(学习才能真正地生活。) We were completely in the dark as to who stole the coffin and why it was stolen. Harry was always a deliberate man.(deliberate ) He was a barrister of Philadelphia, but became far more renowned by his gun than by his law cases.(他原来是费城的一个小律师，但他办案子远不如他打枪出名。)