翻译技巧--正译与反译
1.名词
1) There was a complete absence of information on the oil deposit in that area. 关于该地区的石油储藏情况,人们毫无所知。 2) Her child was in a terrible state of neglect.
4) To our disappointment, he failed to take the overall situation into account.
使我们失望的是他不顾大局。
5) Such a chance was denied to me.
我没有得到这样一个机会。
类似的动词还有:
lack(缺乏,没有) defy(不服从,不遵从,不让) differ(不同,不同意,不合) miss(未打中,未见到,未达到)
直言不讳。
7) A dog in the manger. 占着茅坑不拉屎。 8) He who has a mind to beat his dog will easily find his stick. 欲加之罪,何患无辞。 9) He was utterly in the dark about what had happened in the department yesterday. 他对昨天系里发生的事全然不知。
II. Purposes of Conversion between Affirmation and Negation
1. to make the meaning clear 2. to strengthen the rhetorical effect 3. to make it conform to the idiomatic use of the target language
1) He knows better than to do such a thing. 他不至于干这样的事。 2) The problem is anything but easy. 这个问题可决不容易。 3) He is more brave than wise. 他有勇无谋。
IV. 反说正译法 (negative in English but affirmative in Chinese)
2. 动词
1) He hates going to work late.
他不喜欢上班迟到.
2) The motor refused to start. 马达开不动。
3) I missed what you have said because of the noise outside.
由于外面的噪音,我没听清楚你说的话。
3) Bite off more than one can chew.
贪多嚼不烂。
4) Let sleeping dogs lie.
莫惹是生非。
5) A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. 双鸟在林不如一鸟在手。
6) Call a spade a spade.
from the influence of magnetic field.
• 这些组件已加屏蔽,因此不受磁场的影响。
far from: (远远不,完全不) Your work is far from satisfactory. 你的工作一点儿也不令人满意。 The world today is far from peaceful. 今天的世界还很不安宁。 Far from admiring his paintings I dislike them intensely. 我不但不钦佩反而十分讨厌他的画。
类似这样的介词还有:
• under(未满足,不足) • except(不包括) • within(不超出,不出)等。
5.副词
1) She said idly, “well, what does it matter?” 她漫不经心地说:“哼,这有什么关系?” 2) Slowly he pulled the letter out of the envelope, and unfolded it. 他不慌不忙地从信封里抽出信纸打开来。
• 类似的形容词及其短语有: • absent (不在,不到) • awkward(不熟练,不灵活,使用起来不方便) • bad(令人不愉快的,不受欢迎的,不舒服的) • blind(看不到、不注意) • dead (无生命的、无感觉的、不毛的) • difficult(不容易的) • foreign to(不适合于,与……无关) • short of (不够) • poor(不好的,不幸的) • ignorant of (不知道)
4.介词或介词短语 Above, against, below, beneath, beyond, instead of, out of, without, but for 1) What you said is beside the question. 你所说的与本题无关。 2) But that’s very extraordinary. It seems against nature. 不过那件事很不平常,似乎不符合自然规律。 3) The Theory of Relativity put forward by Einstein, is now above many people’s understanding. 爱因斯坦提出的“相对论”,现在还有不少人不理解。
4) Learn how to be instead of do.
要学习如何做人,而不是做事。
5) The question is above the five-yea-old boy. 那个五岁的小孩不懂这个问题。 6) But for the storm, we should have arrived earlier. 要是没有遇上暴风雨,我们会早到了。
她的孩子简直没人管。
3)Shortness of time has required the omission
of some states.
由于时间不够,没能访问某些国家。
作为名词用的含蓄否定词还有:
defiance (不顾,无视) denial (否认,否定) exclusion (排除) freedom (不,免除) lack (无,缺乏) failure (不成功,不足,不履行) refusal ( 不愿,不允许) loss (失去)等。
III. Affirmative in English negative in Chinese 正说反译法
英语为肯定式,汉语译作否定式
but
• 形式: 不是由否定词缀构成,是肯定式; • 意义:含有否定意义或近似否定意义 • 词义:它们大多数是某些词的反义词,通过长期的
历史演变,这些曾完全作为反义词用的词义又引申 出其它否定的词义。 “含蓄否定词”(implicit negative word),“暗指 否定词”。
• Affirmation:
Affirmation in English → Negation in Chinese (英语里有些从正面表达的词或句子,译文可从反面 来表达,即正说反译法) Negation in English → Affirmation in Chinese (英语里有些从反面表达的词或句子,译文可从正面 来表达,即反说正译法)
6.连接词及其短语
含有if, before, unless,would rather 的从句或虚拟 语气的句子
1) I’ll do it now before I forget it. 我趁着还没有忘记的时候就做吧。 2) Life may well turn out to be the true, rather than exception. 很可能生命是普遍存在的,而不是一种例外,这一点很 可能得到证实。 3) Jump down from the roof of the building. If you dare. 我猜你也不敢从房顶上跳下来。
翻译技巧之 正译与反译
I. Definition of Negation and Affirmation
• Negation:
with no, not never, non-,un,im-, in-, ir-,-less 不、没、无、未、别、休、莫、非、毋、勿 without the words, prefixes, suffixes mentioned above.
4) She will die of hunger before she steals. 他宁愿饿死也不愿去偷。 5) I would rather die before I would betray my country. 我宁可死,也不背叛我的祖国。
7.某些含有否定意义的谚语和警句 英语中有些谚语和警句在结构形式上是 肯定的,但 却表示某种否定寓意。在翻译时,可采用正说反译法, 尽可能用简练的汉语或相应的汉语成语来表达。 例如: 1) Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. 宁为鸡口,不为牛后。 2) Seeing is believing. 百闻不如一见。
Private. 闲人莫入。
Keep upright.
切勿倒置。 Wet paint. 油漆未干。 Urban clearway.
市区通道,不准停车。
8.固定结构 一些固定结构也是形式肯定,意思否定,例如 absent (from), free from, safe from, different (from), far from, few, little,alien to,anything but, know better than(明白而不至于), too…to… , rather than, awkward(不熟练、不灵活、使用起来 不方便 ) , bad( 令人不愉快的,不受欢迎的、不舒服 的),blind to (看不到、不注意),dead(无生命的、 无感觉的、不毛的 ) , difficult( 不容易的 ) , foreign to( 不适于,与 …… 无关 ) , short of( 不足,不够 ) , poor(不好的,不幸的),ignorant of(不懂)