定语从句翻译

定语从句翻译

定语从句就其与先行词的关系分为限制性定语从句和非限制性定语从句。因此英语定语从句的译法主要涉及限制性和非限制性定语从句的译法。

翻译限制性定语从句可以采用以下几种方法：

（1）合译法

合译法指把定语从句译成带“的”的定语词组，放在被修饰词的前面，从而将复合句译成汉语单句。合译法一般适用于结构比较简单或具有描写性的限制性定语从句。

经典例: Yet no such effect had been detected in any of the ingenious and delicate

experiments that physicists had devised：the velocity of light did not vary.

参考译文: 然而在任何物理学家所进行过的精细巧妙的实验中，都没有发现这种影响：光速没有变化。

经典例题: If the probe takes，say，100 years to make a copy of itself，then the average

speed at which all probes would spread throughout the galaxy would be about 1/25th the speed of

light.

参考译文; 如果探测体需要，比如说，100年时间来生成自己的副体，那么所有探测体传遍整个星系的平均速度大约为光速的1/25。

经典例题: But such trouble is confined mainly to the railways on which the current is picked

up from a third rail rather than from overhead conductors.

参考译文: 但是，这样的问题主要局限于从第三轨而不是从高架线得到电力的那些铁路上。

（2）分译法

如果限制性定语从句结构较为复杂。译成前置的定语短语显得太长而不符合汉语表达习惯时，从句一般与主句分译，往往可以译成后置的并列分句，也可以依据上下文译成前置的并列分句。

经典例题: As brighter areas of the image eject more electrons than the darker or shaded

portions，an electronic image is produced in which varying degrees of positive charge duplicate

light intensities seen in the scene being pictured.

参考译文: 因为图像的较明亮的部分比黑暗的部分或者阴影部分发射的电子更多，所以产生的电子图像随正电荷的变化强度，使正在描述的荧幕上的光强度成倍增强。

经典例题: In this unusual state，helium in many ways resembles a vacuum—particles can

move through the super fluid without resistance，for example，and spontaneous miniature ripples

sometimes form that correspond to the virtual particles（虚拟粒子）that pop in and out of existence

within a vacuum.

参考译文: 在这种非常状态下，氦在许多方面类似于真空———例如，粒子可以无阻力地在其中移动，并且有时会形成自发的微小波纹，与真空中悄然隐现的虚拟粒子对应。

经典例题: To kill weed which may sprawl rampantly among crops in the first several years，effective weedicide is needed to play the same role as ploughing fields does to eliminate weed.

参考译文: 在最初的几年里，杂草可能在农作物之间繁茂地蔓生，为了消灭这些杂草，需要有效的除草剂，发挥与耕地同样的消灭杂草的作用。

（3）融合法

当定语部分所给信息与被修饰词关系紧密、必不可少时，可将原来的语序打乱，用自己的话将原句中的主句与定语从句重新组织，译成一个独立的句子。

经典例题: There are those who insist that the era of a computer terminal on every desk is just

around the corner，while others insist that traditional teaching methods will never give way to

computerized instruction.

参考译文: 有些人坚信，每张课桌上放一台计算机终端设备的时代即将来临，而另一些坚持说传统的教学方法决不会让位于计算机教学。

经典例题: At a large terminal railway station，the work of the station master is largely

administrative because of the extent of the operations and the staff of which he is in command.

参考译文: 在大的铁路终点站，站长的工作主要是行政管理性的，这是由于车站运营范围广、工作人员多。

（4）断开法

当前置或后置都要影响上下文连贯时，可以将其放在主句中间，用破折号或括号等将其与主句断开。

经典例题: The last bits and pieces of interplanetary debris（星际碎片）from which Earth is

formed were just arriving.

参考译文: 最后的一批星际碎片（地球正是由这些碎片构成的）正降落在地球上。

翻译非限制性定语从句可以采用以下几种方法：

非限制性定语从句和它的先行词之间只有比较松散的关系，对先行词不起限定的作用。就其意义来说，在句中有时相当于一个并列分句。翻译此类句子，一般可采用以下方法：

（1）译成独立句

一般来说，非限制性定语从句较少译成带的的定语词组。在翻译成汉语时可以将从句与主句分译，独立成句。

经典例题: Attending services at the Cathedral of Pisa，he found himself watching a swinging

chandelier，which air currents shifted now in wide arcs，now in small ones.

参考译文: 一次在比萨大教堂做礼拜时，他发现自己正看着一个吊灯架，它随着气流时而划一个大弧，时而划一个小弧。

经典例题: Although he got generally good grades and was outstanding in mathematics，Einstein hated the academic high school he was sent to in Munich，where success depended on

memorization and obedience to arbitrary authority.

参考译文: 虽然爱因斯坦门门功课都很优异，数学尤为突出，但他很讨厌上这所慕尼黑的中学。在这所学校里成功取决于死记硬背和对专制权威的服从。

经典例题: One is the visible edge of the sun，which is a gaseous surface from which visible

light photons（光子）freely emerge.

参考译文: 一个例子就是太阳的边缘，这是一个气状的表面，可见光的光子从中源源涌出。

（2）断开法

我们同样可以用括号或破折号将非限制性从句和主句断开。

经典例题: All commercial communication satellites，which began to be launched in 1965，are now designed for use in geosynchronous orbits（地球同步轨道）。

参考译文: 所有商业性通讯卫星（1965年开始发射的）现在都设计用于地球同步轨道。

经典例题: On this and succeeding days，during which our anticraft guns were doubled in

numbers，very hard and continuous air fighting took place over the capital，and the Lufewaffe

were still confident through their overestimation of our losses.

参考译文: 在当天和随后几天（我们的高射炮在这几天增加了一倍），首都上空发生了连续不断的激烈空战，德国空军由于过高地估计了我们的损失，因而仍然怀有信心。

（3）翻译成有状语职能的句子

非限制性定语从句在语义上有时起状语分句的作用，表示原因、目的、结果、条件、让步等意义。因此可将此类从句译为相应的状语分句。

经典例题: Rockets perform best in space，where there is no atmosphere to impede their

motion.

参考译文: 火箭在太空中运行最佳，因为在太空中不存在阻碍火箭的大气。

经典例题: Congress，which had met to continue its protests to the Crown，found itself raising

an army and selecting George Washington as its commander in chief.

参考译文:国会先前已集会决定继续向英皇提出抗议，而现在则发展到招募兵员并推选乔治·华盛顿为总司令了。

历年真题分析

经典例题: The food supply will not increase nearly enough to match this，which means that

we are heading into a crisis in the matter of producing and marketing food.（1991年）

参考译文: 食品供应的增加将赶不上人口的增长，这就意味着我们在粮食的生产和购销方面正陷入危机。

经典例题: In short，a leader of the new school contends，the scientific revolution，as we call

it，was largely the improvement and invention and use of a series of instruments that expanded the

reach of science in innumerable directions.（1994年）

参考译文: 新学派的一位领袖人物坚持说：简而言之，我们所谓的科学革命，主要是指一系列器具的改进、发明和使用，这些改进、发明和使用使科学发展的范围无所不及。

经典例题: This trend began during the Second World War，when several governments came

to the conclusion that the specific demands that a government wants to make of its scientific

establishment cannot generally be foreseen in detail.（1996年）

参考译文: 这种趋势始于第二次世界大战期间，当时一些国家的政府得出结论：政府要向科研机构提出的具体要求通常是无法详尽预见的。

经典例题: It applies equally to traditional historians who view history as only the external

and internal criticism of sources and to social science historians who equate their activity with

specific techniques.（1999年）

参考译文: 这种谬误同样存在于历史传统派和历史社科派，前者认为历史就是史学界内部和外部人士对各种史料来源的评论，后者认为历史的研究是具体方法的研究。

经典例题: Pearson has pieced together the work of hundreds of researchers around the world

to produce a unique millennium technology calendar that gives the latest dates when we can

expect hundreds of key breakthroughs and discoveries to take place.（2001年）

参考译文: 皮尔森汇集世界各地数百位研究人员的成果，编制了一个独特的新技术千年历，它列出了人们有望看到数百项重大突破和发现的最新日期。

经典例题: The reason why a great conductor makes notations on his musical scores—mark

them up again and again each time he returns to study them—is the reason why you should mark

your books.

参考译文: 一个伟大的指挥家会在他的音乐曲谱上做上符号，在每次复习它们的时候一遍又一遍地做上标记，指挥家这样做的原因就是你为什么应该在你的书上做标记的原因。

经典例题: Other issues that concern the body politic，such as crime，poverty，and welfare，are not easily linked to public support of scientific research，save at the educational level.

参考译文: 除了在教育层次上，其他一些与国家息息相关的问题，如犯罪、贫穷和福利

都难以与公共支持的科研相提并论。

经典例题: I worry，particularly，about the effects on our children of our own society，a

society that is less safe and less hospitable than the one I experienced as a child growing up during

the1950’s and1960’s.

参考译文: 我特别担心对于我们这个社会的孩子们所产生的影响，同我孩提时代所生活的五、六十年代相比，如今的社会缺少安全感，也显得冷漠。

经典例题: Smart cards，which can carry as much as 80 times more information on them than

conventional cards with a magnetic stripe，are already widely used in European countries where

centralized banks can roll out new services on a nationwide basis.

参考译文: 智能卡能载有的信息量是磁性普通卡信息量的80倍，已在欧洲各国广泛应用。欧洲各国实现中央化的银行在全国范围展开新型的服务。

经典例题: In the Greek heritage of the west，myth has always been in tension with reason，which signified the rational and analytic mode of arriving at a true account of reality.

参考译文: 在西方希腊遗产中，神话与理性始终处于紧张冲突状态，因为理性意味着对现实进行合情合理、符合实际的分析描述。

经典例题: Medicine，like all branches of science，needs scholars who are able to develop

appropriate rule of evidence and then apply those rules to the continuously flowing stream of new

idea to determine what is relevant.

参考译文: 正像所有的科学分支一样，医学也需要这类学者，他们既能开发适当的实证规则，又能把那些规则应用到不断变化的新数据流中去，进而确定哪些信息是相关的。

经典例题: Behaviorists suggest that the child who is raised in an environment where there

are many stimuli which develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will experience

greater intellectual development.

参考译文: 行为主义者指出，如果一个孩子在有许多刺激物的环境中长大，那么这个儿童将会有更高的智力发展。

经典例题: My idea of a good P.E. class is one where youth are involved in at least20minutes

of basic movement that gets their heart rates up.

参考译文: 谈到一堂好的体育课，我的想法是，青年人在体育课中至少要进行20分钟使他们心跳加快的基本运动。

经典例题: That summer，those who remained were found fleeing down river to return home

to England by new settlers with fresh supplies，who encouraged them to reconsider.

参考译文: 那年夏天，带着给养刚刚到来的拓居者发现前期的幸存者们顺着河流逃往英国，便劝说他们三思而行。

经典例题: By and large，the American diet continued to reflect a considerable reliance upon

animal products，rather than on grains，which meant that a relatively large acreage was required to

feed the American public.

参考译文: 总的说来，美国人的膳食仍大量依赖家畜产品而不依赖粮食，这就意味着需要比较大的土地面积来养活美国公众。

经典例题: The purpose of this book is to place at the disposal of the design engineer who is

facing these challenges a survey of the experience gained from the many and diverse applications

of aerostatic bearings which have already been successfully accomplished.

参考译文: 空气静压轴承已经研制成功，在许多方面的应用中都取得了经验。本书的目的就是向面临这些任务的设计工程师提供这些经验。

经典例题: The challenge we both face is to avoid forcing people to make a hard choice

between a system at one extreme which provides equality but would perpetuate poverty and one at

the other extreme which provides prosperity but would ignore poverty.

参考译文: 我们两国面临的共同挑战是避免强迫人民在两个极端之间作出困难的选择：一种制度实现了平等，但会使贫穷长期继续下去；另一种制度带来了繁荣，却会无视贫困。

经典例题: Many of China’s aging singles are victims of the Cultural Revolution lasting to

the1970s，when they were sent to the countryside to live among the peasants for re-education，and

made a career and settled down in the expanse of the countryside.

参考译文: 多数大龄单身男女是延续至70年代的文化大革命的牺牲品。他们被送到农村与农民们一起生活，接受教育，在广阔天地里扎根落户。

经典例题: These new-age executives are likely to cause trouble in companies where

longer-serving middle managers，who have done their time in a less-privileged environment，resent the concessions the recruits are winning.

参考译文: 这些新时代的管理人员很有可能在一些公司制造事端，因为在这些公司里，在特权现象较少的环境里，有较长工作年限的中等经理对这些新成员所赢得的特许权深感不满。

经典例题: Pantomime，for example，which originally began as a means of communicating

ideas too profound or too difficult to express in verbal language，has since turned into a means of

communication that cuts across many languages.

参考译文: 例如哑剧最初只是用于交流那些太深奥或很难用语言表达的思想。现在它已成为一种超越许多语言的交流手段。

经典例题: This is an elegant，antimagnetic，waterproof，shock-protected and heat-resistant

watch which is made of stainless steel and high-precision fittings.

参考译文: 这是一只不锈钢和高精度配件制成的手表，它既美观、又防磁、防水、抗震、耐热。

经典例题: They send out pulses of sound waves，pitched at50，000cycles per second，far

above the limits of the human ear，which can hear sounds up to frequencies of about20，000cycles

per second.

参考译文: 人类的耳朵仅能听见最高频率为20000赫兹的声音，蝙蝠却可以发送出大大超过这个限制的高达50000赫兹的声波脉冲。

经典例题: Refugee laws，laid down in international treaties and adopted into national legal

codes，acknowledge and spell out legal obligations toward people whose own governments are

unwilling or unable to protect them.

参考译文: 难民法是经国际公约确定并已融入各国法律的，它对那些本国政府无意或无力提供保护的人承担法律责任，并明确规定了这样的法律责任。

经典例题: Article I of the GATT is the celebrated most favored nation（MFN）clause under

which each member nation must give treatment to other member nation‘s imports and exports that

is at least as favorable as that applied to the most favored nation.

参考译文: 关贸总协定的第一条是著名的最惠国（MFN）条款。按照该条款，每一个成员国给予其他成员国的进出口货物的待遇至少应和给予最惠国待遇一样优惠。

经典例题: On the other hand，the person who is really guilty and whose past experience has

prepared him for such tests can distort the results by anticipating the crucial questions or

deliberately giving exaggerated responses to neutral ones.

参考译文: 另一方面，一个真正犯了罪的人由于过去的经验使他对这种测验有所准备，或对关键问题早有所料，或对中性问题故作夸大的反应，他是能使测验结果出现反常现象的。