三.介詞、連詞與句子結(jié)構(gòu)
21.When such a physical limit is reached, the food consumption and nutrition intake of the people would generally not increase despite of further rise in income.
22.There was already a lot of discussions about the crisis in the economic as well as technical levels.
23.On a certain degree, it is the goal but not the reality.
24.The property assessment in the enterprise must be assessed by professional staffs and institutions that passed examination of the state.
25.Having summed up the preliminary experience of reform in the cities and rural areas, the principle of…
26.We should, from a long-term point of view, make efforts in developing the rural economy to reduce rural-urban disparity, therefore, labor migration from urban to rural areas, driven by benefit, will appear.
27.The financial reform in China has made great progress, however, the whole financial market is still under restraint.
28.But the question is, health is everybody’s basic right, what is the reason to legally enforce some people to donate their blood just for other people’s health?
29.Government is no longer responsible for gain and loss in state enterprises since the reform, soft budget restriction in the enterprise changes more or less, the financial pressure for the enterprise aggravates.
30.The reform of state owned enterprise was set as a key part of overall economic reform at the beginning of 80’s, since then the governments at central and local levels, entrepreneurs and economists have denoted much attentions and exerted many efforts to the reform, but one has to admit that comparing to the reforms in all the other fields in country, until now the reform of state enterprise is in the state of lowest point of “efficiency of input-output ”, from all views, the achievements we have made can not match the huge efforts (personnel resources, materials, finances and energies) we have exerted.
介詞是英語里最靈活的一個詞類,它能引出介詞短語在句中發(fā)揮各種作用,它能跟動詞連用,把不及物動詞變成及物動詞,引出賓語。總之,介詞在英語里廣泛使用,在漢語里許多用動詞表達的意思,在英語里可以用介詞來表達。然而介詞又是英語里一個很機械的詞類,它有許多固定的說法,稍一改變,不是不合用法,就是產(chǎn)出了別的意思。這就使我們感到很困難,必須用心體會,牢牢記住。
例21,despite就是介詞,等于in spite of,因此不能說despite of,也不能說in despite of。例22,levels前面不能用in。levels在這里指的是討論問題的角度,前面可用on。例23,習慣說法應(yīng)是To a certain degree。此外,例1中的in respect to也是不行的??梢哉fin respect of,也可以說with respect to,這是固定的,是不能換的。例13中的on 1954也是不行的,on只能用于日期,這里一定要用in。
例24,主語是assessment,和動詞must be assessed不搭配。把assessment刪去,用property作主語,就和動詞搭配了。例25,分詞短語和主語不搭配,把principle換掉,用人來作主語就可以了。
在英語里,therefore和however都是副詞,不是連詞,不能起連接分句的作用。詞典舉例:He’s only 17 and therefore not eligible to vote. | We thought the figures were correct. However, we have now discovered some errors. 例26,可在第1個分句末尾加and。例27,可將however前面的逗號改為分號,或?qū)⒋硕禾柛臑榫涮?,下面另起一句?span lang="EN-US">
例28,前半句是陳述句,后半句是問句。英語一般不這樣說,可以分成兩句,一個陳述句,一個問句,各自獨立。也可以考慮在But后面加一個as,把前半句變成一個從句。
漢語有時把幾個短句放在一個長句里,只用逗號,不用連詞,前后關(guān)系自明,這就是王力先生所說的“意合”。但這種作法在英語里則行不通。英語喜歡用連詞,把前后關(guān)系說得清清楚楚,否則就不要放在一個句子里,這就是所謂“形合”。
例29和例30就有這樣的問題?,F(xiàn)在別的問題都不談了,只談長句里面短句之間的聯(lián)系。例29有三個短句,只用逗號相連是不行的,至少要把第3個短句之前的逗號改為and。例30很長,它所包含的三個短句也都有一定的長度,因此最好把它分成三句,從since then開始另起一句,然后從from all views開始再起一句,這樣就好多了。
看到這里,讀者也許會說,你啰嗦了這半天,但所談內(nèi)容的深度似乎并未超出任何一本簡單的英語語法。的確是這樣,本文所談全是語法書里講的最基本的道理,學英語的人沒有沒學過的。但知道這些規(guī)則是一回事,能正確運用這些規(guī)則是另一回事。
本文所談的十八篇文章,譯文質(zhì)量也不一樣,有幾篇質(zhì)量很高,其余的則問題較多,參加工作的這二十多位譯者和校閱者肯定學過好多年英語,掌握的詞匯量很大,有不少翻譯經(jīng)驗和專業(yè)知識,能翻譯有一定深度的相當專門的文章。如果說他們還有什么不夠的地方,那就是基本功還不夠扎實,使用英語有許多漏洞?;竟栴}不屬于翻譯問題,只是在翻譯過程中暴露出來而已。不過事到如今,停下來重新練基本功,彌補這些漏洞已不可能,那就只能在今后的工作中針對這個弱點下功夫。
我覺得,在這一方面,有兩件事可以做。一是勤查詞典,稍有猶豫就去查一查,正確的拼法,可數(shù)不可數(shù),及物不及物,在句中怎樣用,這些問題在字典里都可以解決。二是注意別人怎樣用,不要視而不見。有人學了許多年英語,竟然不知道cannot是一個詞,不能分開寫,他們視而不見的毛病也太厲害了。只要做個有心人,注意觀察,把基本功一天加固一點兒,日積月累,幾年下來一定會大見成效。
1970年,周恩來總理針對翻譯工作有一篇講話。他說:“搞翻譯不是那么簡單的,不是懂幾句外國話就行的。不但要有政治水平,同時要有較高的文化水平。沒有基本功和豐富的知識不行?;竟Πㄈ齻€方面:政治思想、語言本身和各種文化知識?!?span lang="EN-US">
你的基本功怎么樣???
作者:莊繹傳,全國翻譯專業(yè)資格(水平)考試英語專家委員會顧問,北京外國語大學教授
(來源:catti.net.cn)
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