• 王力 (1984): “就句子的结构而论，西洋语言是法治 的，中国语言是人治的”。所谓 “法治”，即句子 的形式严格受到语法的制约，如句子必须有主语和 谓语动词，及物动词必须有宾语，这些“不管用得 着用不着，总要呆板地求句子形式的一律”。
• 所谓 “人治”，即句子不太受形式的约束，可以因 表意的需要而加以变通，词语的分合伸缩比较灵活， “用得着就用，用不着就不用”，只要双方意思明 白，就可以了。 • 英语有综合语的特征，受形态的约束，因而 “语法 是硬的，没有弹性”；汉语是分析语，不受形态的 约束，因而 “语法是软的，富于弹性”。
Chinese, however, is relatively free from the government of S-V concord and formal markers. The subject-predicate structure is usually varied, flexible, and therefore complicated and supple. The suppleness of the Chinese language also manifests itself in the “run-on” sentence (流水句) ,which is composed of the “full sentence” and the “minor sentence” (小句). A full sentence has a subjectpredicate structure, while a minor sentence has only a word(s) or phrase(s).
•
English sentences can be summarized as these five patterns or their variants (变式), expansion (扩展), combination (组合), omission (省略), or inversion (倒装). (1) Variants: interrogative, negative, and passive; “There be + subject”. (2) Expansion: adding modifiers, including words, phrases, and clauses; using phrases or clauses instead of words as the members of the basic patterns.
2. 汉语主语的英译
• 在很多情况下，汉语施动者往往难以确定。因此 汉译英时，必须首先理清汉语句子成分之间的关 系，找准合适的主语，然后进行相应的调整或增 补，目的就是为了使译文连贯流畅，增加可读性。
(1) 文章翻译完了。
(受事主语) • The article has been translated. （地点主语） (2) 全市到处都在建新厂。
• 英语的 “主语—谓语型” 结构，分为四个句式：
① 施事主语：We caught a thief.
• 我们抓住了小偷。 handed. • • • 小偷当场抓住。 昨夜下得很大。 这本书很有趣。 ② 受事主语：The thief was caught red-
③ 形式主语：It rained heavily last night.
(3) Combination: combining simple sentences into compound or compound-complex sentences. (4) Omission: omitting certain members of the sentence. (5) Inversion: inverting the word order of the sentence. English subject-predicate structure appears rigid as a result of certain grammatical constrain, including the patternization and the principles of grammatical and notional concord.
⑤ 时间主语：昨晚抓住了三个小偷。 • Three thieves were caught last night. ⑥ 地点主语：公共汽车上抓住了三个小偷。 • Three thieves were caught on the bus. ⑦ 工具主语：一把菜刀闹革命。 • He began revolutionary career with a chopping knife. ⑧ 方式主语：这么快就盖好了一座房子。 • The house was built at admirable speed. ⑨ 存现主语：处处有热心人。 • There are warm-hearted people everywhere. ⑩ 关系主语：这件事请保密。 • Please keep quiet about this.
A. SV (主语+动词) • The meeting has begun. B. SVP (主语+动词+表语) • We are students. C. SVO (语+动词+宾语) • The news surprised me. D. SVoO (主语+动词+间接宾语+直接宾语) • She sang us a song. E. SVOC (主语+动词+宾语+宾语补足语) • We elected him our monitor.
④ 主题主语：The book is very interesting.
• 其中①和②是真正语义上的句子，③是形式上的句 子，④也是意义上的句子，凡是不适宜前三种句式 里的，就放在这里。由于判断句既不是施事，又不 是受事，所以都定为主题句。 • 从语义上来看，汉语主语至少分为十种: ① 施事主语：警察抓住了小偷。 • The police caught a thief. ② 受事主语：三个小偷都抓住了。 • All three thieves were caught. ③ 零位主语 (无主语句)：( ) 下雨了；( ) 刮风了。 • It is raining. The wind is blowing. ④ 主题主语：老虎是一种动物。 • A tiger is an animal.
• 除了③和④类似于英语句式之外，其他均
从语义上考虑。之所以视其为主语，就是
因为它们处在主语的位置上。从英语的对
译来看，⑤到⑩这六种主语在英语中都是
状语。从深层次上看，汉语主语的认定缺
少英语那种主谓一致的形态标准，确定主
语只有两种办法：一是凭意义，二是凭词
序。例如：
◆ 雨是最寻常的，一下就是三两天。可别恼， 看，象花针，象细丝，密密地斜织着，屋 顶上全笼着一层薄烟。（朱自清《春》） ← 雨是最寻常的，（它指 “雨”）一下就 是三两天。（不过）（你）可别恼，（你 试向外边）看，（它）（正在下着），象 花针，（也）象细丝，（它）（那么）密 密地斜织着，（以至于人家的）屋顶上全 笼着一层薄烟。 （朱自清《春》）
(4) 现在正下着毛ing at the moment. (5) 那个学生瞄了我一下，眼里突然放出光，问： “下棋吗？” 倒吓了我一跳，（）急忙摆手说： “不会！”
◆ The student took a glance at me then his eyes suddenly lit up. “Would you like a game of chess?” he asked, giving me a start. “I can’t play”, I replied with a quick gesture.
王力先生认为，“西洋每一个句子里，通 常必须有一个主语；中国语则不然，当说 话人和对话人都知道谓语所说的是谁（或 什么）的时候，主语可以不用” 潘文国先生指出，在现代汉语语法体系中， “主语说”不仅难以解释汉语句子本身， 也不利于汉语与外语之间的转换。为此， 他从语义的角度对英语的 “主语—谓语型” 和汉语的 “话题—说明型” 进行了对比 研究。
Rigid vs. Supple (刚性与柔性)
• English sentence structure is composed of noun phrase (s) and verb phrase (s). It has become an invariable rule to have a subject before a verb, and therefore a sentence that does not contain a subject and a verb is felt to be incomplete. The subject (s) must agree with the predicate verb (V) in person and number, etc.
(3)a. 房子盖在西区。 （受事主语） • The house was built in the western campus. (3)b. 西区盖了一栋房子。 （地点主语） The house was built in the western campus. (3)c. 去年又盖了一栋房子。 （时间主语） • Another house was built last year. (3)d. 房子我们已经盖了一大半了。 （受事主语+施事主语） • We have finished a good part of the house.
(6) 他有个女儿，在北京工作，已经打电话去 了，听说明天回来。 • ← 他有个女儿，( ) 在北京工作，( ) 已经打 电话去了，( ) 听说 ( ) 明天回来。（变换主 语并省略）