一生词性从句的重要性

从句的翻译_英语翻译教程

（一）名词性从句

所谓名词性从句，顾名思义就是名词成分用从句来代替，如主语从句、表语从句、宾语从句。

1．主语从句

主语部分由从句代替。通常从句部分是疑问分句或陈述分句，如果是疑问分句语序是陈述语序，此时翻译成汉语可按原文的正常顺序。如：

Whatever form is used by the majority of educated speakers or writers is correct．

虽然这句话的主语表面上看起来是一个特殊疑问句，但在翻译时我们可按陈述语气来对待。应译为“大多数受过教育的人说话和写作所使用的语言形式是正确的。”

Where she spends her time is none of your business．

where引导的从句翻译时可以直接译出。应译为“她去哪消磨时间不关你的事。”

由it做形式主语的主语从句，主语从句是否需要提前译，要视情况而定。如：

It has been estimated that the weight of all the insects destroyed by spiders in Britain in one year would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the country．

这句话真正的主语从句过长，所以不提前译，先译it做形式主语的部分，it也没有强调故不需译出。参考译文为“据估计在英国一年中蜘蛛所消灭的害虫的重量要比所有英国人加在一起的体重还要重。”

It is curious to consider the diversity of men’s talents，and the causes of their failure or success．

这句话真正的主语从句比较短，所以可以提前翻译。文中没有明确的主语，故it需要译出，但没有具体所指，所以可以泛泛地翻译。参考译文为“人各有天分，各人成败的原因也不同。人们对这些问题的思考都透着一份好奇。”

It is more important that each kind of wine should be served at whatever the right temperature was for it．

此句主语从句不提前翻译，it需要译出。参考译文为“这一点对酒来说更显得重要。每个品种的酒，都应该以合适的温度饮用或储存”。

It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many they kill，but they are hungry creatures，not content with only three meals a day．

此句主语从句提前翻译，it不需要译出。参考译文为“它们一年中消灭了多少昆虫，我们简直无法猜测，它们是吃不饱的动物，不满意一日三餐。”

2．宾语从句

由what，that，how引导的宾语从句在翻译时不需要改变句序，也就是通常所说的顺译法。如：

While assembling a new national security team，President George W．Bush is confronting what could become the biggest challenge of his second term．

what作为疑问词在这不用译出。参考译文为“在组织新的国防班子的时候，小布什总统碰到了他连任以来最棘手的问题。”

No one will deny that what we have been able to do in the past five years is especially striking in view of the crisis which we inherited from the previous government．

参考译文为“没有人能够否认由于从前任政府遗留下来的危机，我们在过去5年所能够做的现在已经进行不下去了。”

The sagas of these people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2000 years ago．

参考译文为：“当地人的传说告诉了人们：其中有一部分是约在2000年前从印度尼西亚迁来的。”

Other experiments showed that her knees and shoulders had a similar sensitivity．

参考译文为“其他实验表明，她的膝盖和双肩有类似的感觉能力。”

I was speaking to her about my aunt，and mentioned that my aunt had been very sad ever since Mary died，and said to her，“Of course，you know how important Mary was to her．”

参考译文为“我在对她说我姑妈的情况时提到，我姑妈自从玛丽死后一直非常伤心，所以我对她说：‘当然，玛丽对她来说是多么重要’。”

3．表语从句

表语从句的翻译比较简单，一般按照原文的顺序翻译即可。如：

The result would be that the representation of sensations and memories would be confined to smallish，discrete areas in the left hemisphere，while exactly the same input to a corresponding area of the right side would form a sprawling even impressionistic，pattern of activity．

此句句型复杂，但主体是一个表语从句，参考译文为“其结果往往是，感知和记忆的表现总是限于左半脑中的较小且离散的区域，而进入右脑的相应区域的完全相同的输入则总是形成一种散开的甚至印象式的活动模式。”

The fact，however，remains that，though seemingly a big military power，she is far from invulnerable in her air defence．

参考译文为“然而，现实情况仍旧是，虽然她貌似一个军事强国，她的空防却远不是无懈可击的。”

Perhaps the most commonly voiced objection to volunteer participation during the undergraduate years is that it consumes time and energy that the students might otherwise devote to“academic”pursuits．

虽然这句话的主语较长，但仍按原文的顺序来翻译。参考译文为“反对在大学期间参加志愿者服务的最普遍的看法是认为社会服务占去了学生的时间和精力，否则，学生会利用这些时间去做学术研究。”

What we should like to know is whether life originated as the result of some amazing accident or succession of coincidences，or whether it is the normal event for inanimate matter to produce life in due course，when the physical environment is suitable．

这句话的表语从句部分成分复杂，需要注意翻译的顺序。参考译文为 “我们想知道的是生命究竟是起源于某个惊人的事件，或是一系列的巧合呢？还是当自然环境适合，无生命的物质经过相当一段时间就自然而然地产生了生命呢？”

The blunt truth of the matter is that human beings are not designed for tasks which require relentless vigilance：for the sophisticated human brain these are boring．

参考译文为“此事说明了一个真切的道理：人类并不是生来就适合做不间断的高度警觉的工作。对于复杂的大脑来说，这些工作太乏味了。”

4．同位语从句

所谓同位语从句，是对句中的名词或代词作出进一步的解释。如：

Furthermore，it is obvious that the strength of a country’s economy is directly bound up with the efficiency of its agriculture and industry，and that this in turn rests upon the efforts of scientists and technologists of all kinds．（2000年真题）

参考译文为“再者，显而易见的是一个国家的经济实力与其工农业生产效率密切相关，而效率的提高则又有赖于各种科技人员的努力。”

（二）定语从句

定语从句的作用是限制或解释说明主句中的某一成分，可以是单词、短语甚至是句子。从宏观上来看，定语从句分为限制性定语从句和非限制性定语从句。一般来说，限制性定语从句在主句中不可省略，而非限制性定语从句往往在主句中起附加说明的作用，故在有些情况下可以省略。

1．限制性定语从句

限制性定语从句和先行词连接紧密，中间没有逗号。对于比较简单的限制性定语从句，可把定语从句变为定语词组放在先行词之前。如：

And it helps to explain why so many inventions that were of Chinese origin or that had been known to the Greco－Romans，were fully developed and exploited only by the Western Europeans．

此句含有两个限制性定语从句，因其结构比较简单，故都可把定语从句变为定语来修饰先行词，参考译文为“它有助于说明，为什么发源于中国的许多发明和希腊罗马人所知道的许多发明，只是在西欧人手中才得到全面发展和充分利用。”

Likewise in the east were the Seljuk Turks who had infiltrated from their Central Asian homeland into the Islamic Empire where they were employed as mercenaries by the Baghdad caliphs．

此句含有两个限制性定语从句，分别由who，where引导，但从句都比较短且不难，所以也可以适用之前的方法。参考译文为“同样，在东方从家乡中亚进入伊斯兰教帝国的塞尔柱突厥人，在那里被巴格达哈里发雇为雇佣军。”

有的限制性定语从句结构复杂，篇幅较长，译为前置定语就不恰当了，此时可以把定语从句的位置后移，变为并列句。如：

They would have had to live the rest of their lives under the stigma that he had recklessly precipitated an action which wrecked the Summit Conference and conceivably could have launched a nuclear war．

这句话的定语从句部分由that引导，结构相当复杂，此时需要把定语从句放在先行词后面翻译，并且需要重复先行词。参考译文为“他们可能已不得不蒙着一种臭名而终其余生，这个臭名就是：他曾贸然采取了一项行动，这项行动破坏了最高级会谈，并且可以设想，还可能已触发一场核战争。”

Computers have metamorphosed from the University of Pennsylvania’s 1946ENIAC－whose more than 17000vacuum tubes had less number－crunching power than today’s laptopinto thumbnail－sized computer chips containing 42million transistors．

参考译文为“电脑已经从宾夕法尼亚大学的1946的电子数字积分计算机演变到今天的模式，这种模式是从17 000多个真空管、较小的数字处理能力到笔记本电脑变成指甲那么大小的、可容纳4 200万个晶体管的集成电路芯片。”

A few stars are known which are hardly bigger than the earth，but the majority are so large that hundreds of thousands of earths could be packed inside each and leave room to spare；here and there we come upon a giant star large enough to contain millions of millions of earths．

此句话的定语从句不长，但同样需要放到先行词后面翻译，并且此时要省略先行词。参考译文为“人们所知道的几个恒星并不比地球大多少，但绝大多数恒星却非常巨大，每个星球容纳成千上万个地球还绰绰有余。我们到处都能见到大得足以包容千千万万个地球的巨星。”

2．非限制性定语从句

这种定语从句翻译一般都是把定语从句放在先行词后面翻译。可以把从句和主句并列起来。如：

“The Internet will probably be the single most democratizing force in education，”says Columbia Business School Dean Meyer Feldberg，who envisions educational programs being routed through the Net to hundreds of millions of people．

这句话是由who引导的非限制性定语从句，为了更好地解释先行词“Meyer Feldberg”，在翻译定语从句时需要重复先行词，用he来代替。参考译文为“因特网或许会是进入教育领域的唯一最民主化的力量，”哥伦比亚商学院教务长Meyer Feldberg说。他设想通过教育节目的网络来连接亿万民众。

It has long been my wish to encounter one of the oldest civilizations in earth．I have come amidst you from Egypt，on the banks of the Nile，which also has a most ancient civilization．

这句话在翻译时把含有先行词的那句话放到定语从句后了，也同样是翻译成两个并列句。参考译文为“我一直向往着要同世界最古老的文明会晤。尼罗河畔的埃及也有着最古老的文明，我正是从那里来到你们中间的。”

As I came in，Tom，who owned the taxi cab that used to stand at the corner of our street，waved to me from a table．

这句话的翻译同样适用于后置法，只是此时可以省略掉关系代词的意思。参考译文为“我进去时，那个开出租汽车的汤姆，车子经常就停在我们街角上，坐在一张桌子那里向我招手。”

有的非限制性定语从句需要译成一个独立的句子。如：

This was a defensive pact，designed to protect Germany against the French，who aspired to recover the Alsace－Lorraine provinces lost in 1871，and also to protect Austria－Hungary a－gainst the Russians，with whom they continually clashed in the Balkans．

参考译文为“这是一个防御性的盟约，旨在保护德国人免受法国人的攻击，保护奥匈帝国免受俄国人的攻击；因为法国人想收复1871年失去的阿尔萨斯－洛林地区，而俄国人则在巴尔干半岛同奥匈帝国接连不断地发生冲突。”

Not surprisingly，the most complex political structures appeared in the Sudan，where long distance trade was most highly developed and where Islamic influence was the strongest．

参考译文为 “毫不奇怪，苏丹出现了最复杂的政治组织，在那里，长途贸易发展得最快，伊斯兰教的影响最为强烈。”

（三）状语从句

状语从句的种类有很多，按意义可分为时间、地点、原因、目的、结果、条件、让步等。不同的类型的从句翻译时也各有特点。

1．时间状语从句

When I became aware of my imminent mortality，my attitudes changed．

这句话篇幅简短，那么我们可以把状语从句部分译为状语成分。参考译文为 “当我得知自己大限将至以后，我的态度就变了。”

As land developed，rain water and rivers dissolved salts and other substances from rocks and carried them to the oceans，making the ocean salty．

参考译文为“在陆地形成时，雨水和河水溶解了岩石中的盐和其他物质并把它们带入海洋，使海水变咸。”

2．原因状语从句

The policies open to developing countries are more limited than for industrialized nations because the poorer economies respond less to changing conditions and administrative control．

这句话包含原因状语从句，既然表原因，就要有类似的关联词。参考译文为“由于贫穷国家的经济对形势变化的适应能力差一些，政府对这种经济的控制作用也小一些，所以发展中国家所能采取的政策比起工业化国家来就更有局限性。”

Besides learning the prescribed textbooks，you are supposed to read more books on your subject in order that you may expand your scope of knowledge．

参考译文为 “为了扩大知识面，你们除了学好规定的教材之外，还应该阅读一些与专业相关的书籍。”

He says computer manufacturers used to be more worried about electromagnetic interference，so they often put blocks of material inside to absorb stray signals．

参考译文为 “他说过去的计算机生产商往往更担心电磁干扰，所以他们常常内置一层材料来吸收杂散信号。”

He is planning to make this speech in order that we might have a better understanding of the vicissitude of the international situation．

这句话看似没有表示因果的关联词，但实际上也是一个原因状语从句。参考译文为“他打算做一次演说，以便我们能更好地理解当今国际形势的风云变幻。”

3．让步状语从句

让步状语从句翻译时最显著的特点就是关联词“虽然，但是，即使”。如：

Although humans are the most intelligent creature on earth，anything humans can do，Nature has already done better and in far，far less space．

参考译文为“虽然人类是地球上最聪明的生物，人能创造一切，但大自然更富于创造性，早已创造出比人类创造的更好更小巧的东西。”

Although I had to restrict the size of my practice，I felt a closer empathy with my patients．

参考译文为“虽然我不得不限制自己的医务工作量，但我感到与病人更加心灵相通。”

4．条件状语从句

You jump on the bandwagon when you decide to support a candidate because public opinion studies show he is likely to win．

参考译文为“如果民意调查显示某个候选人很可能会取胜，因此你决定支持他，你就跳上了他的宣传车。”

The assertion that it was difficult，if not impossible，for a people to enjoy its basic rights unless it was able to determine freely its political status and to ensure freely its economic，social and cultural development was now scarcely contested．

参考译文为“如果一个民族不能自由地决定其政治地位，不能自由地保证其经济、社会和文化的发展，要享受其基本权利，即使不是不可能，也是不容易的。这一论断，在那时几乎是无可置疑的问题。”

5．目的状语从句

We do not read history simply for pleasure，but in order that we may discover the laws of political growth and change．

目的状语从句的关联词常用“为了，以免”。参考译文为“我们阅读历史书籍不仅仅是为了兴趣，而是为了发现政治发展与变革的规律。”

In plucking wild flowers，he always refrained from taking many from one locality，lest he should injure the future growth．

参考译文为“他采野花的时候避免从一个地方采集很多，以免影响花的生长。”