第七章 静态与动态

第七章静态与动态

(Stative vs．Dynamic)

英语倾向于多用名词，因而叙述呈静态(stative)；汉语倾向于多用动词，因而叙述呈动态(dynamic)。R．Quirk等人对静态和动态曾作如下解释：

Broadly speaking, nouns can be characterized naturally as …stative‟in that they refer to entities that are regarded as stable．whether these are concrete (physical) like house，table，paper，or abstract (of the mind)like hope，botany，length．At the opposite pole，verbs can be equally naturally characterized as …dynamic‟：they are fitted (by their capacity to show tense and aspect，for example) to indicate action，activity and temporary or changing conditions．These relations between the open classes can be summarized thus：

STA TIVE noun ↔ adjective

DYNAMIC verb adverb

英语的静态倾向，主要表现在以下几方面：

一、名词化(Nominalization)是英语常见的现象。

名词化主要指用名词来表达原来属于动词(或形容词)所表达的概念，如用抽象名词来表达动作、行为、变化、状态、品质、情感等概念。S．Potter在“Changing E nglish”一书中曾指出英语“名词优势于动词”的倾向(preponderance of nouns over verbs)。这种名词优势往往可以使表达比较简洁，造句比较灵活，行文比较自然，也便于表达较为复杂的思想内容。试比较：

The doctor arrived extremely quickly and examined the patient uncommonly carefully; the result was that he recovered very speedily．

The doctor‟ s extremely quick arriva l and uncommonly careful examination of the patient brought about his very speedy recovery．

医生迅速到达，并非常仔细地检查了病人，因此病人很快就康复了。

Freedom-loving people everywhere condemned them because they violated the agreement reached at Helsinki and abused basic human rights in their own country．The abuse of basic human rights in their own country in violation of the agreement reached at Helsinki earned them the condemnation of freedom-loving people everywhere．

他们违反在赫尔辛基达成的协议，在国内侵犯基本人权。因此受到了各地热爱自由的人们的谴责。

运用名词化表达法(nominal style)可以使叙述较为准确，贴切，但也会使语言抽象、难解。O．Jespersen指出：

It seems possible to express ideas with greater precision and adequacy by means of nouns than by means of the more pictorial verbs．…When we express by means o f nouns what is generally expressed by finite verbs，our language becomes not only more abstract, but more abstruse, owing among other things to the fact that in the verbal substantive some of the life-giving elements of the verb (time，mood，person)disappear．While the nominal style may therefore serve the purposes of philosophy，where，however，it now and then does nothing but disguise simple thoughts in the garb of profound wisdom，it does not lend itself so well to the purposes of everyday life.

英美不少语言学者都指出英语有过分使用名词的习惯(noun habit)．名词使用多了，与之相随的介词(尤其是of短语)也必然增多，与此同时，富有活力和生气的动词也就相应减少，弱化动词be的各种形式成了hard workers和heavy-duty words，这就使英语的静态倾向更加明显。如；

The effect of the overuse of nouns in writing is the placing of too much strain upon the verbs and the resultant prevention of movement of the thought．

这一句子充满了名词、动名词和介词，其唯一的谓语动词是“i s”．这个软弱的动词必须拉动一个满载名词的主语，还必须推动两个满载名词的表语，这就使整个句子缺乏动态感。若将部分名词改为动词，即可分担句子的负荷，化静态为动态：

One who overuses nouns in writing places too much strain upon the verbs and as a result prevents the thought from moving along．

写作时过分使用名词，势必给动词增加太多的负担，因而阻碍思路畅通。

过分使用名词会使文句冗长(wordy)、含糊(vague)，缺乏活力(1ifeless)，许多英语文体学家都反对滥用名词化表达法，主张通过多用生动活泼的动词来简化句子结构。试比较：Integrated into the circulation of national life much more completely than any other modern literature，American belles—lettres also give a much more faithful and adequate picture of the entire civilization to which they belong than literature abroad, whose very compliance with一or willful opposition to一traditions that have long lost their anchorage in the depths of their respective national civilizations, renders them unable to keep abreast of the rejuvenated spirit of their epoch．

这一句子使用了多个抽象名词，因而显得冗长、死板，若用动词代替这些名词，即可使句子轻松、活泼：

American belles—lettres circulate in the national life much more than other modern literatures do; they picture the entire civilization to which they belong more faithfully and adequately．The spirit of the times has become young again，and literatures abroad cannot keep abreast with it because of certain traditions they comply with or willfully oppose．These traditions were once anchored in the depths of their national civilizations．but have 1ost that anchor— age long ago．

二、用名词表示施事者(Agentive noun)，以代替动词。

英语除了用抽象名词表示行为和动作(如realize—realization，complete—completion)等概念外，还常用含有行为和动作意义的普通名词代替动词。大量由动词派生(如以-er或-or结尾)的名词既表示施事者，又保留原来动词的意义。这类名词常常与前置形容词构成静态结构：

a hard worker—someone who works hard工作勤奋的人

a slow walker—someone who walks slowly走路很慢的人

a good thief—someone who thieves well很会偷窃的人

a bad sailor—someone who often gets seasick会晕船的人

汉语由动词加后缀构成的名词(如读者、教师、打字员、观察家、修理工)用来指人，不再表示行为或动作，因而英语这类名词往往要转换为汉语动词：

1)He is a good eater and a good sleeper．(C．Eckersley)

他能吃能睡。

2)He is a young and rapid writer. (S．Coleridge)