长句的翻译

长句的翻译
英语中的长句往往是翻译中最为困难的部分。

这是因为英语长句往往修饰关系复杂，句法结构多样，因此会让译者较为头痛。

因此在翻译长句时，首先要搞清楚原文的句法结构，找出整个句子的中心内容和各层意思，再寻找几层意思之间的逻辑关系，然后将这些部分译成汉语，并将这些汉语句子按照时间顺序和逻辑顺序，遵循汉语表达习惯进行调整和重新组合，正确地译出原文的意思。

长句翻译的基本原则是拆句和改变顺序。

常见的长句译法主要有：内嵌法、切分法、倒置法、拆分法、插入法、重组法。

1. 内嵌法
内嵌法就是把长句中后置的修饰部分放到中心词的前面，从而使译文紧凑、连贯。

这种方法适合翻译含有一个或几个限制性较强的定语从句的英语长句。

例如：1）Instead, it was ethanol, which stores less energy per litre, tends to absorb water and is corrosive; people will use it only if it is cheap or if you force them to through mandatory blending.(Para.3)
译文：相反，每升乙醇中的能量较低，而且它又较易吸收水分因而具有腐蚀性。

只有在价格低廉或以法令的形式强制与其它燃料混用的情况下，人们才会使用它。

2）Ceres, which is based in Thousand Oaks, California, has taken several species of fast-growing grass, notably switchgrass and sorghum, and supercharged them to grow even faster and put on more weight by using a mixture of selective breeding and genetic engineering. (Para25) 译文：位于加州千亩橡林地区的塞瑞斯公司，已经种植了包括柳枝稷和高粱在内的几种速成草，并且通过择优杂交和基因工程的相结合的手段催生他们长得更快更壮。

2. 切分法
切分法就是在句子太长，不合乎汉语表达习惯的时候，把句子切分开来，变成两个或三个句子来译的译法。

特别要注意的是断开的句子翻译成汉语后，要保持原文内在的联系，意思的完整性。

3）And big plants will, indeed, bring the price down—probably not to the point where cellulosic ethanol can compete in a fair fight, but quite possibly to a level at which fuel companies will make or buy the stuff rather than pay fines for not doing so. (Para.23)
译文：当然大企业将使生物燃料的价格降低。

但可能不会低到使这种用纤维素制造的乙醇可以可其他燃料相提并论，但是却很可能低到使燃料公司宁愿制造或购买这种燃料，而不是选择支付罚款。

4）A large shift to electric cars would put the kibosh on the biofuel market as currently conceived by most of its supporters; but it would not necessarily kill the principle of using plants to convert sunlight into car-power.（Para.28）
译文：目前多数支持生物燃料的人士觉得，对于电动汽车的青睐会阻碍生物燃料市场的发展，但却不一定能扼杀利用植物将太阳光转化成汽车动力的做法。

3. 倒置法
倒置法是指有些英语长句的表达次序和汉语表达习惯不同，甚至完全相反，翻译时就要对句子顺序进行部分或全部倒置的方法。

5) In Brazil, which turned to biofuels after the 1970s oil shocks, the price of ethanol eventually became low enough for the fuel to find a market, thanks to highly productive sugar plantations and
distilleries powered by the pulp left when that sugar was extracted from its cane. (Para.3) 译文：在巴西，由于拥有高产的蔗糖种植园和蒸馏场，可用轧过糖的蔗浆提炼乙醇。

乙醇价格低廉，便成为燃料，拥有了市场。

因此自二十世纪70年代爆发的石油危机后该国就转向发展生物燃料。

6）Brazil is a well-governed country, but other parts of the tropics, though endowed with sunshine and cheap land, are not always the sorts of places that the wise investor would pile into. （Para.27）
译文：巴西是一个治理有序的国家。

但是尽管拥有得天独厚阳光和低廉的土地，热带的其他地区却并非是那些精明的投资家所青睐的热土。

4拆分法
拆分法即把原文中的某一部分（单词、短语或从句）提取出来单独处理，后放在句首，或放在句末。

在翻译长句过程中，当内嵌法和切分法行不通时常用此法。

该方法又可以分成拆分单词、短语和从句。

(1) 拆分单词
1) An outsider’s success could even curiously help t wo parties to get the agreement they
want.
译文：说来奇怪，一个局外人取得的成功竟然能够促使双方达成意向他们希望得到的协议。

2) The number of the young people in the United States who cannot read is in credible-about
one in four.
译文：大约有四分之一的美国青年人没有阅读能力，这简直令人难以置信！
(2) 拆分短语
1) All members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from
membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.
译文：各会员国应该一秉诚意，履行依照本宪章所承担之义务，以保证全体会员国由加入本组织而发生之权益。

2) The foreign visitors watched in a fascinated manner the tournament held in Beijing, which
exhibited a superb performance in smash service, twist service, steady setvise, high drop and killing and ended in a draw.
译文：外边观看了在北京举行的锦标赛。

这场比赛在发扣球、主拿球、保龄球、貂裘和扣杀方面技术都十分精湛，最后打成平局。

他们看得简直入迷了。

The foreign visitors watched in a fascinated manner the tournament held in Beijing, which exhibited a superb performance in smash service, twist service, steady service high drop and killing and ended in a draw.
译文：外宾们观看了在北京举行的锦标赛。

这场比赛在发扣球、转球、保险球、吊球和扣杀方面技术都十分精湛，最后打成平局。

他们看得简直入迷了。

(3) 拆分从句
1) This land, which once barred the way of weary travelers, now has become a land for
winter and summer vacations, a land of magic and wonder.
译文：这个地方现在已经成了冬夏两季的休假胜地，风光景物，蔚为奇观；而从前精疲力竭
的旅游者只能到此止步。

2) The very important oil industry, which has done much to rejuvenate the economy
of the South since the end of World War II, made considerable headway especially in the five states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas.
译文：第二次世界大战以后石油工业对振兴南部经济起了很大的作用。

这个十分重要的工业部门特别是在以下五个州中取得了很大的进展：阿肯色、路易斯安那、密西西比、俄克拉荷马和得克萨斯
5插入法
这里的插入法主要是指在长难句中插入破折号，冒号，括号等标点符号，使汉语译文更清晰、连贯。

考虑到汉语的表达习惯，插入的部分应该有一定的长度限制（不超过20个汉字），否则就与汉语的用法不一致了。

例如：
1) But that is nothing to celebrate, because melting permafrost will release billions of tonnes
of methane, an especially potent greenhouse gas. (Para.15 text A)
译文：但是这没有什么值得庆祝的，因为冻土融化将释放几十亿吨的甲烷—温室气体的重要组成部分。

2) Indeed, the decay of Congo’s Belgian-built roads, which in 1960 ran to over 100,000km,
must rank as one of the greatest boons to forests since the Black Death. (Para.19 text A)
译文：实际上刚果在比利时统治时期修筑的道路(建于1960年全长100，000千米)的坍塌，是继黑死病后对森林的又一大恩惠之一。

6重组法
重组法又称为综合法，在准确的领会、把握原文的基础上，打破原文的结构，用译者自己的话恰如其分地表达原文的信息、含义和精神风貌。

这是长句翻译中最难掌握的翻译方法，是对译者的外语和外语驾驭能力的严峻考验。

例如：
1) In practice, the selected interval thickness is usually a compromise between the need for a
thin interval to maximize the resolution and a thick interval to minimize the error.
译文：为保证最大分辨率必须选用薄层，为使误差最小却须选用后层，实际上通常选择介于两者之间的最佳厚度。

2) It will also be offset by an increase in forest dieback elsewhere, caused by rising aridity,
drought, pests and fires—all symptoms of global warming. (para.15 text A)
译文：而且其他地区由于全球变暖导致的干旱、虫害和火灾造成的森林退化也令人担忧。