英语长句翻译

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[Abstract]TheaimofthisessayistotellushowtotranslateEnglishlongsentencesintoChinesecorrectlyandprecisely.ItcontainsthecomparisonbetweenEnglishandChineselongsentences,anddefinesEnglishlongsentence.ThecommontypesofEnglishlongsentencesareclassifiedintheessay,anditalsoexplainswhyandwherelongEnglishsentencesareusedrespectively.Inthethirdpartoftheessay,weproposesthestepsandmethodsintranslatinglongEnglishsentence.Inconclusionpart,wepointsoutthekeytobecomeagoodtranslatoristoreadandpracticeasmuchaspossible,andalsomentionsthesimilarwaysintranslatingChineselongsentencestoEnglish.

[KeyWords]longsentences;understanding;expressing;translating

【摘要】本论文主要是向大家介绍如何准确到位的将英语长句翻译为中文。作者比较了中英文句子结构和表达的不同特点，同时对英语长句作了定义，对常见的几种英文长句作了说明，并且分别介绍了英语长句发生的原因和背景。在论文第三部分作者提出了翻译英语长句的步骤与方法。在结论部分，作者指出成为一个好的译者关键是多读多练，同时也提出了将中文长句翻译成英文相似的方法。

【关键词】长句；理解；表达；翻译

1.Introduction

English-Chinesetranslationisaprocesswhichrequiresadetailedanalysisoftheoriginalsentencesinsuchaspectsasmeaning,structureandlogic,andwhich,asaresult,needsalongtimeofpracticetoperfect.However,translationismademoredifficultandcomplexbyfrequentappearanceoflongsentencesinthetwolanguages.Inthisessay,wediscusshowwecandevelopskillsinlongsentencetranslation.Whatisalongsentence?Alongsentenceisonewithseveralattributives,subordinateandadverbialclauses,whichareinterdependentonandlinkedtoeachother.Longsentencesarecharacterizedbyfrequentuseofattributiveandadverbialclauses,compoundstructure,parenthesisanddanglingstructure.Besides,whatmakeslongsentencesdifficulttotranslateisthefactthatChineseandEnglishmenhavedifferentthinkinghabit,whichnaturallyleadstotheirdifferencesinwaysofexpressionandsentencestructure.Thus,theemphasisofthisessayisonacomparisonbetweenthestructuresofEnglishandChinesesentences.ReasonswhythisessayisonacomparisonbetweenthestructuresofEnglisharealsodiscussed,andthetypesofarticleswherelongsentencesfrequentlyappearareshowntothereaders.Thepriorityofthisessayisgiventothesteps,whichshouldbetaken,andthemethodstobeusedinlongsentencetranslationandviceversa.

parisonbetweenEnglishandChinesesentences

2.1CommontypesoflongsentencesinEnglish

Generally,therearevarioustypesoflongsentences,whicharedifferentinstructures.

2.1.1“Sentenceswithattributiveclauses[1]P565--583

Onecommontypeoflongsentenceisonewithattributiveclauses.Whatisanattributiveclause?Anattributiveclauseisoneusedafteranountomodifythenoun.Attributiveclauses,althoughsharingthesimilarityofbeingmodifiers,aredifferentaccordingtotheirrelationshipwiththemainclause,andcanbedividedintoseveraltypes.

(i).Attributiveclausesuggestingcauseoreffect

Animportanttypeofattributiveclauseistheonesthatsuggestcauseoreffect.Intranslatingalongsentencewiththistypeofattributiveclause,therelationshipoftheattributiveclausewiththemainclause-whetheritisthecauseoreffectofthemainclause-shouldbedeterminedfirst.Then,basedonitsfunction,aproperconjunctivewordshouldbechoseninordertoshowthereadertherelationshipofthetwoclauses.

“ThereasonfordeterminingtherelationshipfirstisthatEnglishisalanguagewhichusesalargenumberofdifferentstructurestoshowtherelationshipbetweenclauses,whileinChinesesentences,wordsareemployedshowthereaderstherelationshipbetweenclauses.”[2]P120Touseanexampletoclarifytheprocess,

(1)Theimprovementinhishealthresultedfromthephysicalexerciseshedideverymorning.

Inthissentence,theattributiveclauseis“hedideverymorning”.Afterreadingthesentence,wecanfindoutthatthefactthat“hedidexerciseseveryday”isthereasonfor“hisimprovementinhealth”,thus,inEnglishChinesetranslationweshouldchoosetheChineseequivalenceof“because”tobeusedbeforetheattributiveclausetosuggesttherelationshipbetweentheattributiveandthemainclause,ThisEnglishsentencecanbetranslateinChinese,因为他每天早晨都锻炼，所以身体好了很多。

(ii).Attributiveclausesuggestingtime

Attributiveclausesometimesisusedtoshowthemainclause.Intranslatingthistypeofattributiveclauses,ananalysisoftherelationshipbetweenthemainandattributiveclausesisnecessarysoastochooseaproperChineseequivalenceoftheword“when”,“after”or“before”.

(2)Atseven,hewentuptolookatJohn,whowassleepingatthattime.

Inthissentence,theattributiveclause“whowassleepingatthattime”canberegardedasthetimewhentheactioninthemainclausetookplace.Asaresult,weshouldtranslatetheattributiveclauseasatimeadverbialclause,andtheChineseequivalenceoftheword“when”shouldbeputbeforetheattributiveclausetosuggestthetime.

(iii).Attributiveclausesuggestingtransitionturn

Attributiveclausecanalsobeusedtosuggesttransitionturn.Inthiscase,theChineseequivalenceoftheword“but”shouldbeputbeforetheattributiveclauses.Considerthefollowingsentence,

(3)Hedidn’twanttoseehiswife,who,unexpectedly,camebackaftertwodays.

Afterreadingthissentence,itiseasyforustofindoutthattheattributiveclause“who,unexpectedly,camebackaftertwodays”shouldberegardedasaturningpointofthemainclause,soitisequaltothissentenceinmeaning“Hedidn’twanttoseehiswife,butshecamebackaftertwodays.”Thus,intranslatingthissentence,weshouldputtheChineseequivalenceoftheword“but”beforetheattributiveclause”.

2.1.2Adverbialclause

“TheuseofadverbialclausescanalsoresultinlongEnglishsentences.Adverbialclausesarethoseusedtosuggesttime,placeorreasonofthemainclauses.Adverbialclausescanbeputeitherbeforeorafterthemainclauses,andthespecificrelationshipbetweenthemainclauseandtheadverbialclausecanbeeasilyidentifiedbecausetherelationshipisclearlysuggestedbythedifferentwordusedbeforetheadverbialclause.”[3]P563Forinstance,anadverbialclausebeginningwiththeword“when”naturallysuggeststime,andonewiththeword“because”paredwithattributiveclause,adverbialclauseisgenerallyeasiertotranslate.IntranslatingtheEnglishsentenceintoChinese,theadverbialclausesaremostlyputaheadofthemainclausesinChinese.Wecanlookatthefollowingsentences,

(4)“Pleaseturnoffthelightwhenyouleavetheroom.”[4]P140

Intranslatingthissentence,weshouldputtheadverbialclausewhenyouleavetheroombeforethemainclauseaccordingtothecommonwayofexpressioninChinese.

2.1.3Compoundsentence

“Compoundsentencesareoftenlongsentencesbecauseacompoundsentenceusuallyincludestwoclauses.What,however,poundsentencesusuallysuggestasequenceofactionsthattakeplaceoneafteranother,andthewordsmostlycommonlyusedtoconnectthetwoclausesinacompoundsentenceare“and”and“but”.”[5]P483

(5)Sheworkedhard,butshefailedinthefinalexam.

Afterreadingthissentence,themeaningisquiteapparenttousbecausethestructureofcompoundsentencesisthesameasthatofmostChinesesentences.Naturally,intranslatingcompoundsentences,wejustneedtotranslateitwithoutchangingthestructureoftheoriginalsentence.

2.1.4Parenthesis

ParenthesisisanotherattributiontolargequantitiesoflongsentencesinEnglish.“InanEnglishsentence,theparenthesiscanbeaword,aphrase,orasentence,andbeforetranslatingthesentenceweshouldfirstfindouttherelationshipoftheparenthesiswiththemainsentenceanditsfunctioninaneffortthatthetranslatedversioncomplieswiththeChinesewayofexpression.”[6]P612-616

(6)Hegetsupearlyeverymorning,whetheritissummerorwinter,todoexercises.

Similarly,intranslatingthissentence,puttheparenthesis“whetheritissummerorwinter”atthebeginning,followedbythemainsentence“Hegetsupearlyeverymorningtodoexercises.”

2.2DifferencesinEnglishandChinesesentencestructures

2.2.1Differenceinwaysofthinking

Differentpeopleshavedifferentwaysofthinking,sotheirlanguages,whichareusedtoexpresspeople’sthoughts,arealsodifferent.

“InEnglish,resultsareusuallygivenaheadofthecauses,whileinChinese,causesappearbeforetheireffects.ThisisbecauseChinesepeopleputemphasisonthenaturalorderoftheverbsaccordingtothetimetheactionstakeplace.Forexample,

(7)Tragediescanbewritteninliteraturesincethereistragedyinlife.生活中既有悲剧，文学作品就可以写悲剧。”[7]P199

Andlookatthisexample,

(8)Hebegantoreadabookafterhavingsupper.

Afterreadingthissentence,wecanidentifythattheactionhavingsuppertakesplacebeforetheactionreadabook,butinthesentence,thelatterisputbeforetheformer.SointranslatingEnglishsentencefirstcarefullyfindoutthetimesequenceoftheverbs,andthenputthemintoChineseaccordingtothetimesequence,asistheChinesewayofexpression.

2.2.2Differenceintheuseofprepositions

“R.Banderusedtosay:“Aprepositionmaybedefinedasaconnectingwordshowingtherelationofanounorsubstituteforanountosomeotherwordinthesentence.…PrepositionsappearconstantlyinEnglishspeechandwriting.…”Likethesentences,

(9)Theanycolorsofarainbowrangefromredontheoutsidetovioletontheinside.彩虹有多种颜色，外圈红，内圈紫。”[8]P50-51Englishsentencescannotwithoutpreposition,butChinesesentencesarenotuseoromitpreposition.

2.2.3Differenceinrelativepronoun

RelativepronounisaveryimportantpartinEnglish,butinChinesethere’renosuchwordsasrelativepronouns.Relativepronounsarefrequentlyusedinsubordinateclauses,suchasobjectsubordinateclauseandattributiveclause.Incomparison,pronounsareusedinsteadofrelativepronouns.

(10)SheturnedtoTom,whowaswatchingTV.她转向汤姆，而他正在看电视。

2.2.4DifferentorientationsofChineseEnglishsentences

“Chineseischaracterizedbyitsemphasisonmeaning,whileEnglish,onthecontrary,paymuchmoreattentiontostructureandlogicofthesentence.Areader,whilereadingaChinesesentenceorarticle,musttryhardtofindoutitsmeaning,butthemeaningofEnglishsentencesismuchclearerbecauseitsstructuremakesthemeaningquiteclear.”[9]P53/58

(11)Hesteppedrightinafterthem,likeitornot,andhewasdeterminedthatnothingasprettyasgoodmannersshouldkeephimfromachanceofenlightenment.他不管人家欢迎不欢迎，紧跟着他们走了进去。什么礼貌不礼貌，他顾不得这一套了。他决心不错过这个机会，把心里的问题弄明白。

AdetailedcomparisonbetweentheabovetwosentenceswillshowhowtheEnglishsentences,ingeneral,differfromeachother.

2.2.5Differentrelationofclauses

“AnotherbigdifferencebetweenEnglishandChinesesentencesliesinthemorefrequentuseofclausesinEnglishthaninChinese.ThestructureofanEnglishsentencecanbecomparedtoa“grapevine”,whichmeansthatmanywordsinaEnglishsentencehavetheirownclause.Incontrast,thewordsinatypicalChinesesentencedon’thavetheirclauses,butappearintimesequence,eachplayingequallyimportantroleintheChinesesentence.”[10]P43

(12)Lily,whoisaveryactivegirlatschool,becomesquietassoonasshearriveshome,whichmakesherparentsquitepuzzled.莉莉在学校里非常活跃，但一回到家却变得很安静，这让她的父母感到很迷惑。

IntheaboveEnglishsentences,therearetwoattributiveclausestomodifytwosegmentsinthesentence,whileintheChinesesentence,allthesentencesareequallyimportantandcomeoneafteranotherintimesequence.

3.StepsandmethodsinlongEnglishsentencetranslation

LongsentencesmakeupalargeportioninEnglish,andthereareseveralreasonsforitsfrequentappearance.

3.1ReasonsforfrequentappearanceoflongEnglishsentences

3.1.1Frequentuseofmodifiers

ComparedwithChinese,modifiersaremuchmorefrequentlyusedinEnglish,suchasattributiveclauses,adverbialclausesandappositives.ButinChinese,thespecificnounsarenotmodified,butareexplainedbyemployinganotherindependentsentence.

(13)Thesestudents,whorarelydoanyhouseworkathome,willserveaswaitersintherestaurantneartheschool,whichdrawsalargenumberofcustomerseveryday.

Themainstructureofthissentenceis“thestudentswillbewaitersintherestaurant”,butthesentenceismadelongbytheuseoftwoattributiveclauses,oneofwhichistomodifytheword“students”,andtheotherofwhich“therestaurant”.ButinChinese,thissentencewillbeputasfollowed.这些学生在家几乎不做家务，而他们将要到学校附近的一家餐馆去当侍者，而这家餐馆每天食客云集。WecanseethatthesingleEnglishsentenceisseparatedintothreeclauses,eachexpressingaspecificmeaningwithoutemployinganysubordinateclauses.

3.1.2Complexstructures

“ComparedwithChinese,inwhichverbsarearrangedintimesequence,Englishsentencesaremuchmorecomplexwiththeuseofvariousclauses,parenthesis,appositivesandprepositions.ChinesestudentsusuallyfindithardtoidentifythemainstructureoflongEnglishsentences,soitisnecessaryandquitehelpfultolearnthesegmentsthatmakethesimplesentenceslong.”[11]P61

(14)He,insteadofstandingback,walkedforwardtofacetheaccuser,withotherslookingathiminastonishmentaswellaspuzzlement.

ThisisatypicallongEnglishsentencewithcomplexstructures.AstudentwithoutathoroughknowledgeofEnglishgrammarisboundtofailtounderstanditsmeaning.Tounderstandlongsentences,astudyofEnglishgrammarisrequired,andalargeamountofreadingofalltypesofarticlesinEnglishisalsoveryhelpful.

3.2Typesoflongsentenceswriting

Inordertoknowbetterhowtotranslatelongsentences,itisnecessarytoknowthetypesofwritingswherelongsentencesaremostfrequentlyused.Generally,longsentencesfrequentlyappearinofficialdocuments,scientificreports,andnewspapers.

(i).Lawdocuments

Thereasonwhylongsentencesarefrequentlyusedinlawdocumentsisthatlongsentencesaremoreformalcomparedwithshorterones,andofficialdocumentsmustbewritteninaformaltoneandstyle.Forexample,

(15)“Anyclause,covenantoragreementinacontractofcarriagerelievingthecarrierortheshipfromliabilityforlessordamageto,orinconnectionwith,goodsarisingfromnegligence,fault,orfailureindutiesandobligationsprovidedinthisarticleorlesseningsuchliabilityotherwisethanprovidedintheserulesshallbenullandvoidandofnoeffect.”[12]P256

(ii).Scientificdocuments

Longsentencesalsomakeupalargeportioninscientificdocument,suchastechnologyspecifications.Wecanlookthetypicalexample.

(16)“Butitisrealizedthatsuppliesofsomeofthemarelimited,anditisevenpossibletogiveareasonableestimateoftheir“expectationoflife”,thetimeitwilltaketoexhaustallknownsourcesandreservesofthesematerial.”[13]P6

(iii).Newspapers

Newspapersusuallyarequiteabundantinlongsentences,butnotallkindsofarticlesinnewspapersarelong-sentence-oriented.Onlyformaltypesofarticles,suchasarticlesaboutpolitics,economy,sports,economyandcultureusealotoflongsentencesnormally.Forexample,

(17)“TheChinaBandingRegulatoryCommission(CBRC)alsosaidonFridaymorereformmeasuresareinthepipelinethisyear,includingpressingaheadwithjoint-stockreformsoftheIndustrialandCommercialBankofChina(ICBC),broadeningreformsofruralcreditcooperationandinitiatingkeyreformmeasurestothepostalsavingssystem.”[14]P4

ThereasonforfrequentappearanceoflongsentencesinEnglishhasbeenanalyzed.ThenwhatarethecommonwaysoftranslatinglongsentencesinEnglish?

Regardlessofwhichkindsofarticlescontainlongsentences,therearecommonstepsandmethodsintranslatinglongEnglishsentences.Generally,thestepstakenshouldbe,first,understandingthestructureandmeaningofthesentencecorrectly,and,second,expressingoutthesamemeaninginChineseinanaturalwayofexpression.

3.3StepsintranslatinglongEnglishsentences

Thestepsthatshouldbetakenintranslationareunderstandingandexpressing.Astrictadherencetothisprinciplewouldbesuretomakethetranslationprocessmucheasier.

3.3.1Understanding

“Understandingisthefirstandalsothemostimportantstepintranslationoflongsentences.Aslongsentencesareusuallyquitehardtounderstandbecauseoftheirbeingcomplex,correctunderstandingoftheoriginalsentenceisdirectlylinkedtocorrecttranslationwithoutchangingthemeaningoftheoriginalsentence.TounderstandalongEnglishsentencethusrequiresananalysisofthemainstructure,theexactmeaningofspecificwordsthattendtobemisunderstood,distinguishingthemainclausesfromthesubordinateclauses,identifyingthelogicofdifferentsegmentsineachclause,and,finallyandmostimportantly,findingoutthecorrectmeaningofthesentence.”[15]P13

(i).Findoutthe“trunk”ofthesentence

By“trunk”,wemeanthemainstructureofthewholesentence.ZhangYanholdtheviewthat“Findingoutthemainstructureofthesentenceisquiteimportantbecausethisoftenhelpsthereaderidentifywhichclausesareusedtomodifywhich,andthefunctionandrelationofeachclause.Inaword,themainstructureofsentenceincludessubject,verbandobject(ifthereisanyobjectinthesentence).Asubjectisalwaysanoun,indicatingthedoeroftheactionoftheverb;averbalwaysindicatesanaction;anobjectisusedtoindicatethebeareroftheaction.AtypicalEnglishsentencemustcontainasubjectandaverb,andtheobjectcanbeomittedifnotneeded.What’smore,eachEnglishsentenceshouldonlycontainonemainstructure.”[16]P121

(18)Eachcommentfromher,whichseemedquitedisappointingtoeveryoneelse,madeTom,however,veryexited.

Themainstructureofthissentenceis“eachcommentmadeTomexited.”Ifreaderscanseparatethemainstructurefromtheoriginalsentence,thenthemeaningofthisseeminglycomplexlongEnglishsentencebecomesquiteclear.”

(ii).Analyzethemeaningofimportantwords

Afterfindingoutthemainstructure,whatthetranslatorshoulddoistoidentifythecorrectmeaningofthewordsthatseemtohavesomedifferentmeanings.InEnglish,therealsoexistsomewordsthatmayhavedifferentmeaningsaccordingtothecontextinwhichthewordsareused.Thus,thetranslatorneedstoidentifythemeaningofthewordsinthesentence.Themostefficientwayistoconsultthedictionarytofindoutthedifferentmeaningsawordmayhaveandthedifferentcircumstancesthewordisusedaccordingtotheirmeaning.Thisstepisespeciallyimportantinunderstandingthemeaningoftheimportantwordsinthesentences.

(19)Heheardagirlcryingoutside.

Inthissentence,thewordwhichhastwowaysofunderstandingistheword“crying”.Asweknow,theword“cry”hastwomeanings:onebeingtheactionofsheddingtears,andtheotherbeingtheactionofshouting.Tofindoutwhichisthecorrectmeaningoftheword“cry”inthissentence,thereaderneedstotakethewholecontextintoconsiderationbecausethespecificmeaningofaworddependsonthewholecontext.

(iii)Identifysubordinateclause

Afterfindingoutthemainstructureandmeaningofthewordsinasentence,subordinateclausesmustalsobeidentifiedtofindouttherelationbetweenthesubordinateclausesandthewordsandthemainclause.Asisknown,eachsubordinateclausehasitsownfunction,eithertomodifyaspecificword,ortoindicateitsrelationwiththemainclause.Whetherasentenceiswellandappropriatelytranslatedlargelydependsonwhetherthesubordinateclauseisthoroughlystudied.

(20)Heopenedthebookthathisfathergavehimasagiftathisthirteenthbirthday.

Themainclauseofthissentenceis“heopenedthebook”,andthat“hisfathergavehimasagiftathisthirteenthbirthday”isanattributiveclausetomodifythebook.Sothemainclauseshouldfirstbetranslated,andthentheattributiveclauseshouldbetranslatedinanotherclauseorsentencetofurtherintroducetothereaderthesourceofthebook.Thus,thesentenceshouldbetranslatedasfollowed.他打开了那本书，那本书是他爸爸在他13岁生日时作为礼物送给她的。

(iv).Getthegeneralideaofthesentence

Thereasonwhywedon’ttendtochangethemainideaoftheoriginalsentenceisthatwedon’ttendtochangethemainideaoftheoriginalsentenceinthetranslatedversion.Eventhoughareadermaynothaveanydifficultyinunderstandingthemeaningofeachofthewordsinasentence,hemayfindithardtofindoutthemainideaofthesentence,thusmakingitimpossibleforhimtotranslatethesentencecorrectly.

Ingeneral,understandingisthefirststepthatshouldbetakenintranslatinglongsentences.Toachievecorrectunderstandingofthesentences,areadermustbegoodatEnglishgrammar,befamiliarwithvarioustypesofEnglishsentencesandafairlylargevocabulary.

3.3.2Expressing

Afterunderstandingthemeaningandstructureoftheoriginalsentence,thenextsteptobetakenistoexpressthemeaninginthetargetlanguageinarationalway.

“EnglishandChinesehavedifferentwaysofexpressions,grammaticalrulesandthinkinghabits,soitisnaturalthatthesamemeaninghasdifferentstructureswhenexpressedinEnglishandChinese.SowhentranslatingEnglishsentencesintoChinese,thesentencestructureshouldbechangedinordertobeacceptableinChineselanguage.Thisstepisparticularlydifficultinlongsentencetranslationastranslatorsusuallyfinddifficultiesinwheretoputthesegmentsinthetargetedlanguage.”[17]P25

AfterreadingtheEnglishsentence,thereaderneedstoidentifythefunctionofeveryword,phrase,andclause,andthenputthesesegments,accordingtotheirfunction,intheproperplaceinconformationwiththegrammaticalrules,wayofexpressionandthinkinghabitofChinese.Forexample,attributiveclausesareusedasmodifiersofnouns,buttheyshouldbeputbeforethenounratherthanafterthenoun.Foranotherinstance,timeadverbsareoftenputattheendofasentence,whileintheChineselanguage,thetimeadverbsshouldbeputatthebeginningofasentence.Similarly,inEnglish,nouns,ratherthanverbs,aremorefrequentlyusedtoindicateanaction,sointhetranslatedChineseversion,thenounshouldbetransformedintoaverb,asverbsarefrequentlyusedinChinesethannouns.

(21)Hebecameangrierasthenoisedidn’tstop.

Afterreadingthesentence,weknowthat“asthenoisedidn’tstop”isthereasonforthefact“hebecameangrier”.InChinese,thereasonisusuallyfirstgivenbeforetheaffectedinconformationwithtimesequence,sothereasonshouldbeputbeforetheeffectinChinese.Thus,thetranslatedversionshouldbe,

“噪音没有停止，这让他更生气了。”

3.4“MethodsintranslatinglongEnglishsentences”[18]P149-158

Besidesknowingthestepstakenintranslatinglongsentences,moreimportant,perhaps,istomasterthemethodsandskillsintranslatinglongsentences.ZhangPeijiinhisbookACourseinEnglish-ChineseTranslationshowshisopinionintranslatinglongEnglishsentences.

3.4.1Obversetranslation

AlthoughEnglishandChinesesentencesaredifferentinthewayofexpression,somesentencesinEnglisharethesameinwordorderandwayofexpressionasChinesesentences.Thus,intranslatingthesesentences,theoriginalwordorderneednotbechanged,makingthetranslationprocessrelativelyeasier.

(22)BeforeIhadmydinner,Iwentouttoseewhethermyunclehadcomeback.

Inthissentence,“beforeIhadmydinner”isatimeadverbialclause.InChinese,thetimeadverbialclauseisusuallyputatthebeginningofthisadverbialclause.InChinese,thetimeadverbialclauseisusuallyputatthebeginningofasentence,sothetranslatedversionofthisadverbialclausedonotneedtobechangedtoanotherposition.Thus,thetranslateversionshouldbe“吃饭之前，我出去看看叔叔有没有回来。”

(23)Heknockedatthedoor,and,havingheardnosoundfrominside,begantoshout.

Inthissentence,therearethreeverbs:“knock”,“hear”,and“shout”.Afterreadingthissentence,wecanfindoutthatthethreeverbsarearrangedintimesequence,asisthewayverbsarearrangedinChinesesentences.Thus,whentranslatingthissentence,thewordorderneednotbechanged,anditshouldbetranslatedasfollowed:“他敲了敲门，听到里面没有声音，就开始喊。”

3.4.2Reversetranslation

MostofEnglishsentenceare,becauseofthethinkinghabitofEnglishmen,differentinwordorder,phraseorderorclauseorderfromChinesesentences.SomesentencesarecompletelyreversedaccordingtoChinesegrammar.Translatingthesesentences,asaresult,requiresthetranslator,first,toputthereversedsegmentsinthenormalorderbasedonChinesegrammar.Thisiscalledreversetranslation.

(24)Hepickedupthebookhismothergavehim.

Thissentencecontainsanattributiveclausetomodifythenoun“thebook”,butweknowthatinChinese,modifiersaregenerallyputbeforethenounitmodifies.So,inthetranslatedsentence,theattributiveclauseshouldbeputbeforethenoun.However,thereisanexception.Iftheattributiveclauseistoolong,itisnotpropertoputthetranslatedclausebeforethenoun.Thisisbecause,ifthustranslated,thetranslatedversionwouldsoundtooawkwardbasedonChinesegrammar.Thedetailsofthiskindoftranslationwillbediscussedlater.

So,thetranslatedversionoftheaboveexampleis“他拿起了妈妈给他的那本书。”

3.4.3Reverse-and-obversetranslation

SomesentencesinEnglishcontainboththesegmentsthatarethesameinwordorderasChineseandthosesegments,whicharedifferent.So,intranslatingthesesentences,theformershouldbetranslatedbyusingobversetranslation,andthelattershouldemployreversetranslation.Bothreverseandobversetranslationshouldbeemployedtotranslatedifferentpartsofthesentence.

(25)AsTomisatpresentwritingareport,thebookyougavehimshouldbeofmuchhelptohim.

Inthissentence,“AsTomisatpresentwritingareport”isanadverbialclauseindicatingthecause,and“thebookyougavehimshouldbeofmuchhelptohim”istheeffect,sothesentencestructureingeneralisthesameasaChinesesentence.However,thissentencealsocontainsanattributiveclauseusedtomodifythenoun“book”.Ashasbeendiscussedbefore,theattributiveclauseshouldbeputbeforethenounitmodifies.Inthiscase,bothobverseandreversetranslationisusedintranslatingthissentence.Thetranslatedsentenceis“他正在写报告，所以你给他的那本书一定对他有帮助。”

MostofthelongsentencesinEnglishareofthistype,thatis,requiringbothobverseandreversetranslation.So,itisrequiredofthetranslatortofirstanalyzethestructureofthesentenceandthenunderstandthemeaningofthesentence.TheneststepistotranslatethesentenceinthecorrectorderandinthecommonwayofexpressioninChinese.

3.4.4Componenttranslation

Componenttranslationisgenerallyusedinattributive-clausetranslation,providedthattheattributiveclauseisrelativelytoolongtobeputbeforethenouninthetranslatedversion,andontheconditionthattheattributiveisnotsocloselyrelatedtothemainclauseinmeaning.Generally,theattributiveclausecanbetranslatedasaseparatesentencefromthemainclause,oritcanbetranslatedasanadverbialclause.

(26)Hedecidedtogotothemarket,whichwasfarfromhishome,sohetookataxi.

Inthissentence,theclause,“whichwasfarfromhishome”isusedtomodifythenoun“themarket”,butitisnotsocloselyrelatedtothemainclauseinmeaning.Rather,itcanberegardedasaturningpointinthesentence,soitcanbeseparatedfromthemainclause.Sothetranslatedversionis“他决定去那个市场，而那个市场离他家很远，所以他打了车去。”

(27)Hechoosetheredonewhosecolorheliked.Inthissentence,theattributiveclause“whosecolorheliked”canberegardedasthereasonwhy“hechoosethered”,sotheattributiveclausecanbetranslatedasanadverbialclauseindicatingreason.Thetranslatedversionis“他选了那个红的，因为他喜欢那种颜色。”

(28)Heleftatoneo’clocklastnight,whenalltheothersweresleeping.Inthissentence,theattributiveclauseisusedtoindicate“thetimewhenheleft”,sothisclausecanberegardedasatimeadverbialclause.Besides,intranslatingthissentence,atransitionalwordcanbeusedtolinkthetwoclausestomakethewholesentencenatural.Thetranslatedversioncanbe“他是昨天晚上1点走的，那时候，其他人都在睡觉。”

Itcanbeseen,inthetranslatedsentence,thetransitionalphrase“那时候”isusedtoconnectthetwoclauses,makingthewholesentencesoundnatural.So,inaword,attributiveclausesthathavecloserelationwiththemainclauseshouldbetranslatedandputbeforethenounasmodifiers,andthoseattributiveclausesthatarenotusedtomodifythenounandwhicharenotsocloselyrelatedtothemainclauseshouldbetranslatedasadverbialclauses.

3.4.5Translationbyrearrangementoftheoriginalsentence

TherearesomesentencesinEnglish,especiallyinlawdocumentsandtechnologydocuments,whichhaverathercomplexsentencestructures,which,withoutathoroughstudyofthestructure,wouldbetoodifficulttotranslate.Inthiscase,thewholestructureoftheEnglishsentencemustbechangedinorderthattheChineseversionshouldcomplywithChinesegrammaticalrules.Thiskindoftranslationisachievedbyrearrangementoftheoriginalsentence.

(29)PetrahadbecometheleaderofthegirlsassoonasshesnappedoutofheroriginaldepressionatcomingtoPrague.

Thissentencecontainsfourverbs-cometo“Prague,depress,snapoutofthedepression,andbecametheleader.”InChinese,thefourverbsshouldbearrangedintimesequence,sotheorderoftheverbsshouldbe“cometoPrague,depress,snapoutandbecometheleader.”Sothetranslatedversionshouldbe“佩德到了布拉格，原是满怀抑郁，后来变得开心起来，就立刻成了女孩子们中间的领袖。”

(30)Icouldn’tbeataboywhohadn’tgotarelationintheworldandwhosefatherhadlefthimtomebecausehethoughtI’dbekindtohim.

Inthissentence,therearetwoattributiveclausestomodifythenoun“theboy”,andthere’sanadverbialclauseindicatingthereasonofthesecondattributiveclause,and,what’smore,where’sanobjectsubordinateclause“I’dbekindtohim”.HowcanweputtheseclausesinChinesesentences?

Afterreadingthewholesentence,wefindoutthattherearefourmeaningsinthissentence,andweshould,asusual,putthesemeaningsintimesequence.Thus,theordershouldbe:first,“hehadn’tgotarelationintheworld”;second,“hethoughtI’dbekindtohim”;third,“thefatherlefthimtome”;fourth,“Icouldn’tbeataboy.”So,thetranslatedversionis:一个举目无亲的孩子，而且他父亲当初是认为我会待他好才把孩子托给我的，我总不能打他吧。

So,thegeneralprincipleintranslatinglongEnglishsentencewithcomplexstructureistoanalyzethestructureofthesentence,understandtherelationbetweentheclauses,understandthemeaning,rearrangethesentencestructureandexpressthemeaningoutingoodChineselanguage.

TheabovearethegeneralmethodsthatshouldbeusedintranslatinglongEnglishsentencesintoChinese.Agoodtranslator,however,shouldbeabletousethesemethodsincombinationwhenevernecessary.

4.Conclusion

English-Chineselong-sentencetranslationis,ingeneral,quitedifficultforeventhemostexperiencedtranslators,somuchpracticeisneededbeforeatranslatorcanreallybeateasewithlong-sentencetranslation.However,itshouldbepointedoutthat,onlypracticeisnotenough.Besidesalotofpractice,agoodtranslatorshouldalsoreadasmanyaspossibleEnglishandChinesebooksinallfieldsinordertobefamiliarwithalltypesofsentencestylesandacquireafairlylargescopeofknowledge.

Inthisthesis,wehavediscussedthestepsandmethodsintranslatinglongEnglishsentencesintoChinese,however,infact,thestepsandmethodsoftranslatinglongChinesesentencesintoEnglisharethesameasthoseinEnglish-Chinesetranslation.Thereforeabriefdiscussionwillbeprovidedhere.

Understandingandexpressionare,similarlythetwostepstobetakeninChinesetoEnglishtranslationoflongsentences.Tounderstandthecorrectmeaningandstructureofthesentencerequiresthetranslatortoanalyzethemainstructureofthesentence,tofindouttherelationsoftheclauses,andtogetthegeneralideaofthesentence；ExpressionmeanstoexpressthemeaninginanaturalwayinEnglish.Afterunderstandingtheoriginalsentence,thetranslatorshouldrearrangetheclausesandmodifythetranslatedversiontomaintaintheoriginalstyleofthesentence.

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