摘要: 在英译汉中英语句子通常长且结构复杂,而汉语则相反. 由于两种语言表达习惯上的差异,往往成为翻译难题. 介绍了5 种长句翻译法,即顺译法、倒译法、分译法、插入法、综合译法.
关键词: 长句;英译汉;翻译方法

Abstract: In English-Chinese translation , English sentences are generally long and complex instructure , which is rare for Chinese language. Because of this different way of language expressing ,translators sometimes are at a loss as to how to begin the translation when facing a long and complicated English sentence. In this paper , some translation skills , such as sequential , reversing , splitting , inserting and recasting are discussed.
Key words : long sentence ; English-Chinese translation ; translation skills

所谓英语长句一般是指20 字左右的句子,它除了主、谓、宾(表) 等主要成份外,往往还携带各种修饰成分(如从句、短语或独立主格等) ,其定语或状语可以一环套一环,修饰中另有修饰或限定,形成了峰回路转、错综复杂的长句结构. 而汉语句子短,动词多,语序比较固定,讲究对称. 对于母语是汉语的人来说,要做到译文通顺流畅,既符合汉语的表达习惯,又忠实于原文,是一件不容易的事. 翻译长句时,首先要弄清原文的句法结构,找出整个句子的中心内容及各层次的意思,然后分析各层之间的逻辑关系,再根据汉语的特点和表达方式,正确地译出原文意思,不拘泥于原文的形式. 因此,在平常的英语学习中要注意掌握英语的语言表达习惯,特别是那些与汉语表达习惯不同的地方,同时总结一些翻译规律,就会收到事半功倍的效果. 本文介绍5 种英语长句汉译的翻译方法,即:顺译法、倒译法、分译法、插入法和综合译法,以期提高翻译水平.

1 顺译法
顺译法是指在处理一些叙述层次依次相连,跟汉语相近的长句时,按原句的自然顺序进行翻译,并根据具体情况,可适当增加或省略有关的连接词。例如:(1) Visual cues from audience members can indicate that a speech is dragging , that the speaker is dwelling on a particular point for too long , or that a particular point requires further explanation 本句的主干是Visual cues from audience members can indicate. . . ,谓语动词带有3个由that引导的并列的宾语从句,3个宾语从句排列顺序自然,因此,按照顺序进行翻译,语言通顺自然. 可译为:听众的眼神可以表明,演说过于拖沓,演说者在某一点上讲的太多,或者在某一点上还需要作进一步的解释。(2) But art history focuses on much more than this because art reflects not only the political values of apeople , but also religious beliefs , emotions , and psychology.此句是一个带有原因状语从句的复合句,这种先“果”后“因”的表达习惯与汉语十分吻合. 可译为:但是艺术历史注意的不仅仅是这些,因为艺术反映的不单是一个民族的政治价值观,而且还有他们的宗教信仰、情感和心理特点。(3) One widely held belief is that a sharp frightwill end a troublesome bout of hiccups , but many people prefer just waiting for them to go away as this“cure”is often worse than the ailment itself .该句可分为3个层次, 即: one widely heldbelief is that a sharp fright will end a troublesome bout of hiccups ; but many people prefer just waiting for them to go away ; as this“cure”is often worse than the ailment itself . 各层次之间逻辑结构严密,语意自然,顺序翻译既不失原意又使译文语言流畅. 可译作:一种普遍为人们接受的观点是,猛然的惊吓会止住一阵讨厌的打嗝,但是许多人宁愿等打嗝自然过去,因为这种“治嗝的方法”往往比打嗝本身更糟.(4) So , as well as being overworked , a detective has to be out at all hours of the day and night interviewing his witnesses and persuading them ,usually against their own best interests , to help them. 本句的主干部分是a detective has to be out at all hours of the day and night ,分别在句首和句尾带有分词短语和介词短语作状语. 可译为:所以除了过渡操劳外,警探还需没日没夜地整天在外面找证人谈话,劝说他们往往是要说服他们违背自身地利益来帮助他办案.

2 倒译法
有时英语长句的结构层次与汉语相反,要从英语原文的后面译起,自下而上,颠倒次序进行翻译. 一般来说,英语长句不符合汉语习惯的情况比较多,所以在翻译实践中,倒译通常要多于顺译. 例如:(1) It remains to be seen whether the reserves of raw materials would be sufficient to supply world economy which would have grown by 500 percent .句中whether the reserves of...by 500 percent 部分为主语从句,it 是形式主语,形成了”It remainsto be seen whether ?”的结构,避免了句子的头重脚轻,此句如果按照自然顺序翻译,就无法正确表达,而先翻译which would have grown by 500 percent这一定语从句,并根据本句的逻辑意思,译成条件状语从句,译文就变得通顺流畅. 可译作:如果世界经济真的以5 倍于现有的速度在增长,那么原材料的储备是否能充分满足其需求,尚不得而知.(2) That our environment had little , if anything ,to do with our abilities , characteristics and behavior is central to this theory.句中That our environment had and behavior为主语从句,主语很长,若按句子的自然顺序翻译,肯定是一个头重脚轻的句子,不如采取倒译,使句子意思明了. 译作:这种理论的核心是,我们的环境同我们的才能、性格特征和行为即使有什么关系的话,也是微不足道的.(3) Time goes fast for one who has a sense of beauty , when there are pretty children in a pool and a young Diana on the edge to receive with wonder
anything you can catch ！这个句子有4 层意思:一是时间过得很快;二是如果你懂得什么是美的话;三是当你和可爱的孩子们站在池子里;四是你所捉上来的东西. 按照汉语先发生的事先叙述及条件在先结果在后的习惯,这个句子应该颠倒顺序翻译:当你和可爱的孩子们站在池子里,又有个年轻的狄安娜在池子边好奇地接受你捉上来的任何东西的时候,如果你懂得什么是美的话,时间过得很快的！(4)And I take heart from the fact that the enemy ,which boasts that it can occupy the strategic point in a couple of hours , has not yet been able to take even the outlying regions , because of the stiff resistance that gets in the way.本句是由一个主句、一个同位语从句、两个定语从句和一个宾语从句组成. 全句共有4 层意思:下面事实使我增强了信心;敌人吹嘘几个小时候后就能占领战略要地;敌人甚至没能占领外围地带;其原因是由于受到顽强抵抗. 按照汉语表达习惯,通常因在前果在后,同位语从句内各层意思可由后往前译,同位语从句本身很长,可译成主句里主语的同位语. 这样,这个句子可以颠倒原文的次序进行翻译:由于受到顽强抵抗,吹嘘能在几个小时内就占领战略要地的敌人甚至还没有能占领外围地带,这一事实使我增强了信心.

3 分译法
当英语长句中的主句与从句、或介词短语及分词短语等所修饰的词与词之间的关系不是很密切,并且各具有相对的独立意义时,可根据汉语一个小句表达一层意思的习惯,对原文的各个意思层进行分解,再按时间顺序、逻辑顺序安排,可增减适当的词语以便于短句之间的衔接. 例如:
(1) The behaviorists maintain that ,like machines ,humans respond to environmental stimuli as the basis of their behavior.
本句含有一个宾语从句,翻译时应采用分译法,将as 短语拆分译成汉语复指结构,即:行为主义者坚信,人像机器一样,对环境的刺激作出反应,这是行为的基础.(2) A physically mature female deer in good condition who has conceived in November and given  birth to two fawns during the end of May or first part ofJune , must search for food for the necessary energy notonly to meet her body’s needs but also to produce milk for her fawns.本句的中心词后跟了一个长定语从句,而定语从句又有两个并列的谓语动词,用分译法,化长为短,使句意层次分明,即:一只成熟健壮的母鹿,在11 月份怀胎,5 月底或6 月初生下两只幼鹿,这时她必须寻找食物以获得必要的能量,这不仅是为了满足自身的需要,而且也是为了给幼鹿生产乳汁.(3) The president said at a press conference dominated by questions on yesterday’s election resultsthat he could not explain why the Republicans had suffered such a widespread defeat , which in the end would deprive the Republican Party of long-held superiority in the House.本句含有两个宾语从句和一个非限制定语从句. 全句共有3 层意思:在一次关于选举结果的记者招待会上,总统发了言;他说他不能够解释为什么共和党遭到了这样大的失败; 这种情况最终会使共和党失去在众院中长期享有的优势. 3 层意思都具有相对的独立性,因此在译文中拆开来分别叙述,译成3 个单句,即:在一次记者招待会上,问题集中于昨天的选举结果,总统就此发了言. 他说他不能解释为什么共和党遭到了这样大的失败. 这种情况最终会使共和党失去在众院中长期享有的优势.(4) Anyone considering taking part in a work of transformation of those forms of older art which seem tous in many ways unsatisfactory , so that they should be more in turn with the changing times , and anyone who does not quail at the prospect of seeking out new forms of expression for new materials and new building function , will find spiritual kinship , observing Borromini’s building.此句中的两个并列主语anyone 带一长串后置修饰语,如果将它们译成长定语放在中心词的前面,不符合汉语的表达习惯,故采用分译法使中心词和谓语动词靠拢,并把后置修饰语拆成短语,另行安排,即:旧艺术形式在许多方面似乎不能令我们满意,这就有待于我们去变革这种形式以便更好地跟上变化多端的时代步伐,任何考虑参加这项工作的人,任何用勇于为新材料和新建筑功能探索新表现形式的人,观察一下博罗里尼的建筑,都会发现精神上的血缘关系.

4 插入法
插入法就是利用破折号或括号把难以处置的句子成分插入到译句中. 破折号用于表示语流的中断、转折或跃进,也可以用于对文中的某一部分进行注释说明. 括号一般用于解释语意、补充说明,以及交代某一事实或引语的出处等. 但是插入法只是一种不得已而为之的变通手段,在段落翻译中不宜多用. 例如:(1) When I went to Yan An in the summer of1946 , the Anti-Japanese War , and the Second World War of which it was a part , had been over for just a year.本句中的定语从句of which it was a part ,可插入括号对语意进行注解:夏天去延安的时候,抗日战争(抗日战争是第二次世界大战的组成部分) 才刚刚结束一年.(2) The second aspect is the application by all members of society from the government official to the ordinary citizen , of the special methods of thought and action that scientists use in their work.可以把”from... to...”介词短语用插入法放在”members of society”之后,作为进一步说明. 可译成:第二个方面是全体社会成员(从政府官员到普通公民) 都使用科学家们在工作中所采用的那种特殊的思考方法和行为方法.(3) The method was largely developed by physicists , chemists and biologists ; it was later adopted by people working in such areas as education, psychologyand sociology , where the subjects of research were often people.把非限制性定语从句”where the subjects ?”译成了插入成分,放在被修饰的名词后面,进行解释和说明. 可译作:这种方法在很大的程度上先是由物理学家、化学家和生物学家使用,后来为在教育学、心理学和社会学等领域内(其研究对象是人)工作的研究人员所采纳而发展起来的.

5 综合法
有些英语长句顺译或倒译都不合适,分译也有困难,这时就应仔细推敲,或按时间先后,或按逻辑顺序,有顺有倒、有主有次地对全句进行综合处理. (1) But without Adolf Hitler , who was possessed of a demoniac personality , a granite will , uncanny instincts , a cold ruthlessness , a remarkable intellect , a soaring imagination and until toward the end ,when drunk with power and success , he over-reached himself an amazing capacity to size up people and situations , there almost certainly would never have been a Third Reich.句中there almost certainly would never have beena Third Reich 是该长句的主干部分,在Adolf Hitler这一介词短语后带有一个非限定性定语从句和一个状语从句,插入主句中间的是一个由who 引起的非限制性定语从句,中间又插入了一个用破折号分开的、由until 引起的时间状语. 这个状语对非限制性定语从句的后面部分作一些补充说明,虽具有相对的独立意义,仍可根据逻辑关系将该句译文置于句末. 原文各句的逻辑关系和表达顺序与汉语基本一致,但因从句是插入成分,和汉语表达习惯不同,所以翻译时顺中有逆,可以综合处理. 该句可译为:然而,如果没有阿道夫·希特勒,那就几乎可以肯定不会有第三帝国. 因为阿道夫·希特勒有着恶魔般的性格、花岗石般的意志、不可思议的本能、无情的冷酷、杰出的智力、深远的想象力,以及对人和局势惊人的判断力. 这种判断力和胜利使他冲昏了头脑而自不量力,终于弄巧成拙.(2) Energy is the currency of the ecological systemand life becomes possible only when food is converted into energy which in turn is used to seek more food to grow , to reproduce and to survive.此句为并列复合句. 第二个主要分句中有一个由only when 引导的时间状语从句和一个非限制性定语从句. 用倒译法将时间状语从句提前,用分译法翻译非限制性定语从句. 译为:能量是生态系统的货币,只有当食物变为能量,能量再用来获取更多的食物以供生长、繁殖和生存,生命才成为可能.(3) By the middle of the year , he warned , the Soviet Union would overtake the United States in the number of land based strategic missiles , the result of amassive Soviet effort beginning in the mid 1960s , after the Cuban fiasco , to achieve at least parity and possibly superiority in nuclear weapons.这是一个简单句. 有一个插入语he warned 可以提前,还有一个表示结果的名词短语,其包含两个表示时间的短语和一个表示目的的短语,需要按逻辑关系来排列,表示结果的名词短语可译成表示原因的句子. 可译为:他警告说,到本年年中,苏联将在陆上发射的战略导弹的数量上超过美国,因为苏联在古巴事件中失败后,从60 年代中期起就大力发展导弹,目的是为了在核武器方面至少达到同美国均等,并力争超过美国.(4) What should doctors say , for example , to a 46-year- old man coming in for a routine physical checkup just before going on vocation with his family who ,though he feels in perfect health , is found to have a form of cancer that will cause him to die within six months ?这是一个长疑问句,中心词man 后面跟了分词短语、时间状语从句、让步状语从句和定语从句. 如果按原句译成一个长疑问句,不符合汉语表达习惯,因此用倒译法把它们都提到主语前面,并用分译法拆开来译,有顺、有逆、有分、有合地灵活表达原句意思. 可译为:举例说吧:一个46 岁的男子,在与家人外出度假之前进行常规体格检查;虽然他自我感觉良好,但医生发现他患了某种癌症,6个月内就会死去,这时,医生该怎么对他说呢?

6 结束语
在翻译实践中,虽然能总结归纳出一些简单有效的方法,但前提是翻译工作者要有扎实的英汉两种语言的语言知识功底,通晓两种语言的表达习惯及语言文化,对两种语言的民族的风俗习惯、宗教信仰、价值观念等方面有较全面的认识.翻译决非一字对一字,一句对一句的简单替换,它需要翻译工作者在忠实于原文的基础上进行再创造,只有这样,才能达到不同语言文化之间思想沟通的目的,才能提高翻译质量.