翻译实训九

翻译实训九

第二节定语从句的翻译

把英语的定语从句翻译成汉语，往往要在两个方面进行变化处理：第一是位置的变化。定语从句在英语中永远放在先行词的后面，而翻译成汉语之后，它所表达信息的位置则可前可后，也可以杂糅在其他句子里。第二是作用的变化。表面上看，英语的定语从句起修饰作用，但是要把它的信息在汉语中得以通顺表达，往往需要把它的作用进行调整，如翻译成状语等。这二者的变化有一定的联系：位置的变化影响到所表达信息在句子中的作用；而定语从句不起修饰功能时位置一般都要发生变化。

4．2．1 翻译成前置修饰语

如前所述，英语定语从句永远在先行词的后面，而汉语的定语则在被修饰词的前面。如果英语定语从句的信息量较小，就很容易翻译成汉语的前置修饰语。

I first heard this story a few years ago from a girl I had met in New York's Greenwich Village. The girl told me that she had been one of the participants.

几年前我第一次听到这故事，是在纽约格林尼治碰到的一个女孩子说的。她说当时那些人里有她。

这个定语从句所表达的信息"在纽约格林尼治碰到"和主句的信息比较起来强度很弱，所以翻译的时候位置没有做改动，依然被作为定语放在了先行词前面。下面再举几例：

1) He had been too proud to acknowledge the tenderness which his heart felt.

他太骄傲了，不肯让心里的感情流露出来。

2) All the articles you see here have been sold.

你在这里看到的一切商品都已售出。

3) This is the very spot where we camped last year.

这就是我们去年野营的地点。

4) The people who worked for him lived in mortal fear of him.

他手下的人对他都怕得要死。

5) Now it is proving itself not as a country which is threatened but as

a country which is threatening others.

现在证明它自己不是一个受到威胁的国家，而是一个威胁他国的国家。

6) It is a consolation to know that the successor surely carry on the cause for which he strove so faithfully all his life.

了解到他的继承人一定会把他终身为之奋斗不渝的事业继承下来，这是件令人快慰的事情。

4．2．2 信息后置与作用的变化

如果定语从句的信息量较大，它起的作用往往就不单是修饰的作用，而很可能是说明、叙述的作用。按照汉语的表达习惯，就要把这些信息进行调整。常用的有翻译成独立句、翻译成并列分句和翻译成状语从句三种不同的处理方法。4．2．2．1 翻译成独立句

即把定语从句和主句主语结合起来翻译成一个句子。

1) She had a balance at her banker's which would have made her beloved anywhere.

她在银行的存款，足够使她到处受到欢迎的。

2) There were many wonderful stories to tell about the places I visited and the people I met.

我访问了一些地方，遇到了不少人，要谈起来奇妙的事情多得很。

3) This living "side-by-side" may cause disagreements to develop between groups whose ways of life are very different from one another.

各族生活方式极不相同，这种"并存"可能会在他们之间产生分歧。

4) He opposed the idea, as could be expected.

正如所料，他反对这个意见。

5) The prayers and the meals, the lessons and the walk, which were arranged with a conventional regularity, oppressed her almost beyond endurance. 在这儿，祈祷，吃饭，上课，散步，都有一定的时候，这日子叫她怎么过得惯？6) My assistant, who had carefully read through the instructions before doing his experiment, could not obtain satisfactory results, because he followed them mechanically.

虽然我的助手在动手做试验之前已从头到尾仔细地阅读了说明书，但由于他死搬

硬套，不会灵活运用，所以不能取得满意的结果。

4．2．2．2 翻译成并列分句

有的时候，定语从句所包含的信息值比较大，几乎可以和主句齐肩，那么这

时候往往把它翻译成一个分句和原来的主句并列。例如：

1) Yet he failed somehow, in spite of a mediocrity which ought to have insured any man a success.

按理说，他这样的庸才正该发迹才是，可不知怎么就是不得志。

2) They are striving for the ideal which is close to the heart of every Chinese and for which, in the past, many Chinese have laid down their lives. 他们正在为实现一个理想而努力，这个理想是每个中国人所珍爱的。在过去，许

多中国人曾为了这个理想而牺牲了自己的生命。

3) She knew that Amelia would tell her mother, who would probably tell Joseph.

她知道爱米丽亚准会去告诉妈妈。做妈妈的多半又会说给乔瑟夫听。

4) Nevertheless the problem was solved successfully, which showed the computations were accurate.

不过问题还是圆满地解决了，这表明计算是正确的。

5) He failed his exam, which proves that he wasn't working hard enough. 他考试没及格，这证明他不够用功。Anybody's better than Matt, who has neither honor, nor ability, nor capital.

总之谁都比玛特强，他既没有面子，又没有能力，又没有资金。

4．2．2．3翻译成状语从句

虽然从语法结构上讲定语从句属于修饰成分，修饰前面的先行词，但是从功

能上来讲，它却可能和句子其他成分一起构成因果、转折等关系。所以有的时候

定语从句就被翻译成了状语从句。如下例：

1) She's furious at the goat, which got on the wrong side of the fence