英文否定结构的汉译

第11讲英文否定结构的汉译

1. 双重否定结构

1) 译为肯定

(1) Nothing has been done that can’t be done better.

(2) God never closes a door without opening another one.

(3) The star can’t go anywhere without being the center of attention.

(4) In our work it’s nothing unusual to be confronted with failures.

2) 译为双重否定

(1) There exists no language or dialect in the world that can’t convey complex ideas.

(2) The works of poets serve no other purpose than revealing the truth and meaning of life.

(3) Small-minded officials, rude waiters, and ill-mannered taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the US.

(4) Modern society cannot do well without the contribution that women can make in the professions and other kinds of work.

2. 特殊的双重否定结构

1) but引导定语从句

(1) With the introduction of the electronic computer, there is no complicated problem but can be solved in a few hours.

(2) There is no fact, however trivial, but may prove useful in some way or other if carefully interpreted.

(3) There is not a worm we tread upon, nor a leaf that dances merrily as it falls but calls for our study and admiration.

2) but引导状语从句

(1)It never rains but we have a flood.

(2)He never passes his old house but he thinks of the happy years he spent there.

(3) Nothing is so secret but it may be discovered.

(4) There is no man so learned but he can learn something from the book.

3. 否定转移结构

(1) A high exe cutive doesn’t have a large vocabulary merely because of the opportunities of his position.

(2) Two systems are not necessarily identical, or even very similar because they have some properties in common.

(3) They do not conduct the dangerous experiment to serve their private interest.

(4) We did not build institutes of technology to educate our young people for export.

(5) He has never mixed with them or spoken to them on equal terms.

(6) Mozart was not an accomplished pianist at the age of eight as the result of spending his days in front of a television set.

(7) All are not thieves that dogs bark at.

(8) Everyone is happy, but everyone does not know it.

4. 伪否定结构

(1) I couldn’t have performed worse.

(2) They could not have been more wrong.

(3) One cannot see too many summer sunrises on the Mississippi. They are enchanting.

(4) No sacrifice is too great in order that the child can have whatever he needs to become a musician.

(5) A book may be compared to the company you keep; if it is good, you cannot keep it too long; if bad, you cannot get rid of it too early.