考博英语翻译笔记

倒装和分割结构


    为了强调句子的某些部分，或是为了保持句子平衡，英语中常常使用倒装。大体说来，倒装可以分为主谓倒装和非主谓倒装。主谓倒装里又分为完全倒装和部分倒装。在翻译的时候，既可以按照主谓语的顺序翻译，也可以按照字面意思翻译。非主谓倒装只是将强调部分前置，以保持句子平衡或是起强调作用。翻译时可以采用顺序译法或是倒序译法。

    1. For example, they do not compensate for social inequality, and thus do not tell how able an　underprivileged youngster might have been had he grown up under more favorable circumstances.

    分析：本句中 had he grown up under more favorable circumstances 属于部分倒装。正常语序为： if he had grown up under more favorable circumstances 。在正式文体中，可以将虚拟条件句中的 if 省略，并将助动词提前。

    译文：例如，它们（指测试）并不弥补社会的不公，因此不能说明一个贫困青年，要是在比较有利的境况下长大，会有多大才干。

    2. Nonstop waves of immigrants played a role, too and so did bigger crops of babies as yesterday’s “baby boom” generation reached its child-bearing years.

    分析：该句中 so did bigger crops of babies 属于语法倒装。用 so 来代替前述肯定句谓语部分所说情况。

    译文：不间断的移民浪潮也起了作用 —— 而且随着昔日在 “ 生育高峰期 ” 出生的一代人达到生育年龄，婴儿的出生数量增加了，这同样起了作用。

    3. Much as I have traveled, I have never seen anyone to equal her in thoroughness, whatever the job.

    分析：该句的 Much as I have traveled 是一个由 as 引导的让步状语从句。相当于 though I have traveled much ，但语气要比后者强。这种结构要求部分倒装。

    译文：我虽然见多识广，但还从未见过比她细心的人，不管什么职业。

    4. Only when you have acquired a good knowledge of grammar can you write correctly.

    分析：相信大家对这种结构都不陌生。 Only 后加副词、介词、状语从句时要用部分倒装。但是要注意的是，如果 only 修饰的不是状语，则不用倒装。

    译文：只有很好地掌握了语法知识，写出来的东西才会正确。

    5. Nowhere do 1980 census statistics dramatize more the American search for spacious living than in the Far West .

    分析：当句首是否定副词或含有否定词的词语时，一般要部分倒装。

    译文： 1980 年哪里的人口普查统计资料也不如远西地区的更能生动地说明美国人对宽敞的生活环境的追求。

    6. Hardly had he began to speak when the audience interrupted him.

    分析： hardly…when 的结构表示 “ 刚 … 就 …” 。含有这种结构的句子常将 hardly 置于句首，而采用部分倒装的语序。此外， hardly 分句中一般采用过去完成时，而 when （或 before ）分句中使用过去时。还有，与 hardly…when… 结构类似的用法还有 barely (scarcely)…when…

    译文：他刚开始讲，听众就打断了他的话。

    7. To such length did she go in rehearsal that two actors walked out.

    分析： such…that 结构可将 such 或含有 such 的词组放在句首，使全句采用部分倒装。

    与此用法类似的还有 so…that 结构。

    译文：她在排演中搞得太过分，以致两名男演员退出不干了。

    8. Certain it is that all essential processes of plant growth and development occur in water.

    分析：本句为表语前置，表示强调。正常语序应为： It is certain that… 。

    译文：植物发育生长的全部基本过程当然是在水中发生的。

    9. We rally should not resent being called paupers. Paupers we are, and paupers we shall remain.

    分析：这两句话是为了使上下文紧密衔接，从而将第二个并列分句的表语前置。

    译文：我们确实不应因为被称作穷光蛋而愤愤不平。我们的确是穷光蛋，而且还会继续是穷光蛋。

    10. Then, down the crowed thoroughfare comes the University of Cambridge ’s most distinctive vehicle, bearing its most distinguished citizen.

    分析：正常语序应为： The vehicle came down the thoroughfare 。为使语言生动形象，文学作品中常用这类倒装。在翻译时要尽量翻译出原句的语言效果。这里 bear=carry 。

    译文：从拥挤的街道上驶来了一辆剑桥大学最有特色的车，车上坐着学校最著名的人物。

    语法关系密切的两个句子成分被其他句子成分分隔的现象称为分割结构。英语中，分割结构的类型是多种多样的。例如，英语句子的主语和谓语一般都紧密相联，它们之间很少插入介词等比较长的结构。但是，在有些情况下，或是为了保持句子的平衡，避免头重脚轻；或是为了语义严密，结构紧凑，在主语和谓语之间有时也会插入其他成分。此外，还有定语（或定语从句）与其中心词被分隔；某些词语与其所要求的介词被分隔；动词与其宾语被分隔；介词与其宾语被分隔等等。总之，英语的分割应遵循尾重原则（应把长而复杂的成分放在句末，使结构匀称）和句尾信息焦点原则（把新信息，即语意重点放在句末）。同时，在阅读时要注意找出原来属于一个整体部分的意义。

    1. Most novelists and historians writing in the early to mid-twentieth century who considered women in the West, when they considered women at all, fell under Turner’s spell.

    分析：本句的主干结构是： Most novelists and historians…fell under Turner’s spell. Turner 是美国历史学家。 under a spell ：被迷住，着迷。 writing in the early to mid-twentieth century who considered women in the West, when they considered women at all 修饰主语，起分割主谓的作用。而其中的状语从句 when they considered women at all 是定语从句 who considered women in the West 中的状语成分。

    译文：从本世纪初到本世纪中叶从事写作的小说家和历史学家只要描写妇女，就会描述西部妇女，而且都被特纳迷住。

    2. Abraham Lincoln is the most famous instance of the claim that Americans often made that in their country a man may rise from the lowest to the highest position.

    分析： the claim 和其同位语 that in their country a man may rise from the lowest to the highest position 被 the claim 的定语从句 that Americans often made 分割。同位语从句在翻译时可按照顺序翻译，将其翻译为分句。

    译文：美国人常认为，在他们国家，一个人的地位可以从社会最底层上升到社会最上层，亚伯拉罕 " 林肯就是极好的例子。

    3. In the last eight years there were difficult, almost non-stop negotiations and reported threats of failure, ultimately overcome by a combination of creative compromise and stubborn determination—indeed, some call it unprecedented determination—to succeed.

    分析：本句的主干结构是： …there were negotiations and…threats of failure 。 “overcome by…” 是过去分词短语，修饰 threats of failure 。 stubborn determination 和其定语动词不定式 “to succeed” 被 “indeed, some call it unprecedented determination” 分割。

    译文：在最后的八年里，进行了艰苦卓绝的、几乎是不间断的谈判，其间屡经失败之虞，但最终通过创造性的协调和要取得成功的顽强决心 —— 确实有人称之为前所未有的决心 —— 而渡过难关，取得了胜利。

    4. The discovery of surplus value suddenly threw light on the problem, in trying to solve which all previous investigations, of both bourgeois economists and social critics, had been groping in the dark.

    分析： in trying to solve 插在 the problem 和定语从句 which… 之间，起到承上启下的作用。 of both bourgeois economists and social critics 为 investigations 的后置定语，起到分割作用。



    译文：由于剩余价值的发现，使问题明朗化了。而先前，无论资产阶级经济学家还是社会批评家所从事的一切研究都只是在黑暗中摸索。

    5. A better knowledge of China ’s civilization would lay open to us an empire of learning, hitherto fabulously described.

    分析： lay open 和 an empire of learning 被介词短语 to us 分割。本句选自英国前首相撒切尔夫人 1982 年在中国欢迎宴会上的讲话。翻译时要注意转译的应用。如把 “better” 译为副词 “ 更好地 ” 。

    译文：更好地了解中国的文明，将为我们打开一个知识的王国，对这个王国迄今只有神话般的描述。

    6. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in, and parts of, the United States —a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer.

    分析： insistence 后接 upon the interdependence of the various elements in, and parts of, the United States, 中间被插入语 as a first consideration 分割，做进一步说明。该句选自美国前总统罗斯福在 1933 年的就职演说。汉语中动词用得较多，翻译时可把名词转译为动词。

    译文：我们首先应考虑的是，坚持美国国内各种因素之间、各个部分之间的相互依赖关系 —— 即承认体现传统的和永远重要的美国开拓精神。

    7. Old Henry and his wife Phoebe were as fond of each other as it is possible for two old people to be who have nothing else in this life to be fond of.

    分析：连词 as 引导的比较状语从句中， it 代替 for two old people to be 。 to be 后省略了 fond of each other 。 to be 做分割成分。

    译文：象两位老人一生中没有其他什么东西可爱而彼此相爱一样，老亨利和他的妻子芬比也互相爱慕。

    8. As they grow old, people also accumulate belongings for two other reasons: lack of physical and mental energy—both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away—and sentiment.

    分析：该句包含了并列结构被分割的情况。 lack of physical and mental energy 和 sentiment 是并列结构，作 two other reasons 的同位语。但是被非限定性定语从句 both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away 分割。

    译文：人们随着日趋年迈，积存物品还有其他两个原因：一是缺乏体力和精神，两者在清理和扔掉无用之物时不可或缺，二是感情上的原因。

    9. Those who believe in capital punishment may have arguments for its retention, but surely no reasonable argument can be found for retention of the sickening mumbo-jumbo　that accompanies it from the moment that the judge dons the black cap with what looks like a pen-wiper balanced on the top of his wig, to the reading of the burial service over the condemned man before he is dead.

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考博英语翻译笔记

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