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英语长句的翻译技巧

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  英语长句是很复杂的句子,很多人觉得在翻译长句时很是吃力。那么英语长句有哪些翻译方法媕娿?下面由学习啦小编为大家整理的英语长句的翻译技,希望大家喜欢!

  英语长句的翻译技巧

  1.顺译法

  顺译法是指在处理一些叙述层次依次相连,跟汉语相近的长句时,按原句的自然顺序进行翻译,并根据具体情况,适当增加或省略有关的连接词。例如:

  例一:Visual cues from audience members can indicate that a speech is dragging, that the speaker is dwelling on a particular point for too long, or that a particular point requires further explanation.

  听众的眼神可以表明,演说过于拖沓,演说者在某一点上讲的太多,或者在某一点上还需要作进一步的解释。

  例二:But art history focuses on much more than this because art reflects not only the political values of a people, but also religious beliefs, emotions, and psychology.

  但是艺术历史注意的不仅仅是这些,因为艺术反映的不单是一个民族的政治价值观,而且还有他们的宗教信仰、情感和心理特点。

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  2.倒译法

  有时英语长句的结构层次与汉语相反,要从英语原文的后面译起,自下而上,颠倒次序进行翻译。一般来说,英语长句不符合汉语习惯的情况比较多,所以在翻译实践中,倒译通常要多于顺译。

  例一:It remains to be seen whether the reserves of raw materials would be sufficient to supply world economy which would have grown by 500 percent .

  如果世界经济真的以5倍于现有的速度增长,那么原材料的储备是否能充分满足其需求,尚不得而知。

  例二:And I take heart from the fact that the enemy, which boasts that it can occupy the strategic point in a couple of hours, has not yet been able to take even the outlying regions, because of the stiff resistance that gets in the way.

  由于受到顽强抵抗,吹嘘能在几个小时内就占领战略要地的敌人甚至还没有能占领外围地带,这一事实使我增强了信心。

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  3.分译法

  当英语长句中的主句与从句、或介词短语及分词短语等所修饰的词与词之间的关系不是很密切,并且各具有相对的独立意义时,可根据汉语一个小句表达一层意思的习惯,对原文的各个意思层进行分解,再按时间顺序、逻辑顺序安排,可增减适当的词语以便于短句之间的衔接。例如:

  例一:The behaviorists maintain that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimulation as the basis of their behavior.

  行为主义者坚信,人像机器一样,对环境的刺激作出反应,这是行为的基础。

  例二:A physically mature female deer in good condition who has conceived in November and given birth to two fawns during the end of May or first part of June, must search for food for the necessary energy not only to meet her body's needs but also to produce milk for her fawns.

  一只成熟健壮的母鹿,在11 月份怀胎,5 月底或6 月初生下两只幼鹿,这时她必须寻找食物以获得必要的能量,这不仅是为了满足自身的需要,也是为了给幼鹿生产乳汁。

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  4.综合法

  有些英语长句顺译或倒译都不合适,分译也有困难,这时就应仔细推敲,或按时间先后,或按逻辑顺序,有顺有倒、有主有次地对全句进行综合处理。

  例一:But without Adolph Hitler, who was possessed of a demoniac personality, a granite will, uncanny instincts, a cold ruthlessness, a remarkable intellect, soaring imagination and until toward the end,when drunk with power and success, he overreached himself an amazing capacity to size up people and situations, there almost certainly would never have been a Third Reich.

 

  例二:Energy is the currency of the ecological system and life becomes possible only when food is converted into energy which in turn is used to seek more food to grow, to reproduce and to survive.

  能量是生态系统的货币,只有当食物变为能量,能量再用来获取更多的食物以供生长、繁殖和生存,生命才成为可能。

  例三:By the middle of the year, he warned, the Soviet Union would overtake the United States in the number of land-based strategic missiles, the result of a massive Soviet effort beginning in the mid-1960s, after the Cuban fiasco, to achieve at least parity and possibly superiority in nuclear weapons.

  他警告说,到本年年中苏联将在地基战略导弹的数量上超过美国,因为苏联在古巴事件中失败后,从60 年代中期起就大力发展导弹,目的是为了在核武器方面至少达到同美国均等,并力争超过美国。

  分析英语长句时的方法

  (1)找出全句的主语、谓语和宾语,从整体上把握句子的结构。

  (2)找出句中所有的谓语结构、非谓语动词、介词短语和从句的引导词。

  (3)分析从句和短语的功能,例如,是否为主语从句,宾语从句,表语从句等,若是状语,它是表示时间、原因、结果、还是表示条件等等。

  (4)分析词、短语和从句之间的相互关系,例如,定语从句所修饰的先行词是哪一个等。

  (5)注意插入语等其他成分。

  (6)注意分析句子中是否有固定词组或固定搭配。

  英语长句的翻译技巧和策略

  1、 顺序操作

  英语中,若长句中的各个句子在逻辑关系、表达顺序上与汉语一致,可以保留原句的句子结构,顺句译出。“断句”是翻译的关键。

  例1、 But all I could make use of was all that was valuable: I had enough to eat and supply my wants, and what was all the rest to me? If I killed more flesh than I could eat, the dog must eat it, or vermin; if I sowed more corn than I could eat, it must be spoiled; the trees that I cut down were lying to rot on the ground; I could make no more use of them but for fuel, and that I had no occasion for but to dress my food.

  译文:但我只取我所需,只取能为我所用的:有的吃有的用,我还要那些多余的干嘛?如果捕猎过多,我吃不完,只能留给狗吃,或让害虫吃掉;如果种粮过多,我吃不了,只能放着腐烂变臭;如果伐木过多,多余的木材只能扔在地上,任其腐朽,除了当柴火,别无它用,而我也只有做饭时才会烧柴火。

  解析:此句的断句刚好是各个分号,容易识别。语言较为简单,顺势翻译即可。

  2、 句式重构

  句式重构就是根据原文的结构,按照汉语叙事的习惯重新组合句子使得汉语行文更加流畅自然。

  例2、 It is impossible to express theflutterings of my very heart when I found all my wealth about me: for as the Brazil ships come all in fleets, the same ships which brought my letters brought my goods: and the effects were safe in the river before the letters came to my hand.

  译文: 巴西的船只编队航行,其中一艘船带来了我的信,同时也把我的货物运载过来了:这封信送达我手中之前,财产已经安全抵达里斯本河了。当我知道我的财富近在眼前时,心中一阵阵激动狂喜之情无法言表。

  解析:当然此句也可以按照原文的顺序翻译。但是汉语在很多情况下,按照“原因在前,结果在后”或“前提在前,结论在后”的顺序来陈述因果关系的,英语恰恰相反。本句的中调是强调“It is impossible to express the flutterings……”的部分,所以句子结构调整下更为符合汉语的表达。

  例3、 Food manufacturers are flooding the UK with new products in response to rising demand from a population hungry for “something different”.

  译文:英国人极想“尝鲜“,对新产品的需求与日俱增,针对这种情况,食品生产商们正一个劲儿地向英国市场投放各种新产品。

  解析:面对长句,首先应该摸清句子的语义逻辑:a population hungry for “something different”——> in response to rising demand ——>Food manufacturers are flooding the UK with new products。所以应该从后朝前翻译,对句子进行句式重构。

  3、 变词为句

  英语句子依靠关联词在句子中“穿针引线”,逻辑严密,但结构复杂。汉语大多分成若干简短的句子,逐点交待。英汉翻译时,如含有动宾关系或主谓关系的表达,介词词组,名词词组等以句子形式翻译出。

  例4、 Time, however, and the satisfaction I had that I was in no danger of being discovered by these people, vegan to wear off my uneasiness about them.

  译文: 然而,随着时间流逝,我深知自己不会被这些人发现,心里感到满足,惶恐不安的情绪也渐渐被驱散了。

  解析: 若是直译,可能会译为“然而,时间以及深知不会被这些人发现的满足心理,把我的不安驱散了”,读起来十分拗口。此句把“time”变词为句,变为”随着时间的流逝“。把“the satisfaction……”这句改为主谓结构,增强译文可读性。

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