綜合法
我們講述了英語長句的逆序法、順序法和分句法, 事實(shí)上,在翻譯一個(gè)英語長句時(shí), 并不只是單純地使用一種翻譯方法, 而是要求我們把各種方法綜合使用, 這在我們上面所舉的例子中也有所體現(xiàn)。尤其是在一些情況下, 一些英語長句單純采用上述任何一種方法都不方便, 這就需要我們的仔細(xì)分析, 或按照時(shí)間的先后,或按照邏輯順序, 順逆結(jié)合, 主次分明地對(duì)全句進(jìn)行綜合處理,以便把英語原文翻譯成通順忠實(shí)的漢語句子。例如:
例1. People were afraid to leave their houses, for although the police had been ordered to stand by in case of emergency, they were just as confused and helpless as anybody else.
分析: 該句共有三層含義: A: 人們不敢出門; B: 盡管警察已接到命令, 要作好準(zhǔn)備以應(yīng)付緊急情況; C: 警察也和其他人一樣不知所措和無能為力。在這三層含義中, B表示讓步, C表示原因, 而A則表示結(jié)果, 按照漢語習(xí)慣順序, 我們作如下的安排:
盡管警察已接到命令, 要作好準(zhǔn)備以應(yīng)付緊急情況, 但人們不敢出門, 因?yàn)榫煲埠推渌艘粯硬恢牒蜔o能為力。
下面我們再舉幾個(gè)例子:
例2. Modern scientific and technical books, especially textbooks, requires revision at short intervals if their authors wish to keep pace with new ideas, observations and discoveries.
對(duì)于現(xiàn)代書籍, 特別是教科書來說, 要是作者希望自己書中的內(nèi)容能與新概念、新觀察到的事實(shí)和新發(fā)現(xiàn)同步發(fā)展的話, 那么就應(yīng)該每隔較短的時(shí)間, 將書中的內(nèi)容重新修改。
例3. Taking his cue from Ibsen`s A Doll`s House, in which the heroine, Nora, leaves home becauseshe resents her husband`s treating her like a child, the writer Lu Xun warned that Nora would needmoney to support herself; she must have economic rights to survive.
易卜生的劇作《玩偶之家》中的女主人公娜拉離家出走, 因?yàn)樗鲪核恼煞蛳駥?duì)待孩子一樣來對(duì)待她。作家魯迅從中得到啟示, 從而告誡人們娜拉得需要錢來養(yǎng)活自己, 她要生存就必須有經(jīng)濟(jì)上的權(quán)利。
例4. Up to the present time, throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this new tendency placed the home in the immediate suburbs, but concentrated manufacturing activity, business relations, government, and pleasure in the centers of the cities.
到目前為止, 經(jīng)歷了18和19兩個(gè)世紀(jì), 這種新的傾向是把住宅安排在城市的近郊, 而把生產(chǎn)活動(dòng)、商業(yè)往來、政府部門以及娛樂場所都集中在城市的中心地區(qū)。