11.英語有些副詞和動詞的搭配無法直接譯過來,可將原文副詞的含義譯成謂語或分句,放在句末。
So heedful a writer as Henry James, for instance, on occasion wrote so ungrammatically that a schoolmaster, finding such errors in a schoolboy’s essay, would be justly indignant.
就拿亨利 詹姆士來說吧,連他這樣細心的作家寫的東西,有時也不合語法。要是小學老師在學生的作文里發現那樣的錯誤也會生氣,而生氣是完全應該的。
12.英語有些副詞放在句首,具有豐富的內容,譯成漢語可以適當地加以發揮。
Ideally, one day, researchers will know enough about the genesis of earthquakes……
最理想的情況是,有朝一日研究人員能夠對地震的成因……有足夠的了解。
13.主語的位置。英語往往把目的狀語或其他成分放在句首,然后再出主語,主語與動詞靠得較近。漢語則往往先出主語。
To protect the whale form the cold of the Arctic seas, nature has provided it with a thick covering of fat called blubber.
大自然為了保護鯨魚,使它不致在北冰洋受凍,便讓它長了厚厚的一層脂肪,叫做鯨脂。
14.英語的書面語差不多每個句子都要有主語,漢語的主語則不那么重要,如果前面已把主語說清楚,后面的句子不一定用主語。甚至在一個句子里應該出現另外一個主語的時候,這個主語仍然可以省略。
They used this kind of scare tactic when I was growing up. I wonder what they use today.
我小的時候,他們用過這種嚇唬人的辦法。現在用什么辦法,就不得而知了。(譯文第二句,兩個主語“他們”和“我”都沒有出現。)
15.英語有who, which等詞,可以引出定語從句,漢語多用并列分句,或單成一句,有時可把定語從句先處理。
Richardson, who served as both Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare during the Nixon Administration, was talking about the negotiations for a Law of the Sea treaty, which came to a virtual conclusion last week after six years of deliberations.
理查森曾在尼克松政府中擔任國防部長和衛生、教育和福利部長,他是在談到關于海洋法條約的談判時說這番話的。(譯文用了并列分句)
I have never had much patience with the writers who claim from the reader an effort to understand their meaning.
有些作家,讀者要費力氣才能看懂他們的意思,我對這樣的作家一向是沒有多少耐心的。(原文中的定語從句在譯文中提前處理。)