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从汉语看英语修辞（3）

三、多样性

1、词汇

英语用词讲究同义变换，如：

A definition is the effort to distinguish an entity from all other things for the purpose of being able to recogize it or in some way to understand it. To define "apple", for instance, is to find some means of isolating "apple" from all other things, especially from those things that superficially resemble it, like qiunces or pomegranates.

第一句中的entity 与things 显然是同义词，前边用entity,后边用things,以避免重复。第二句中的isolating显然与第一句中的to distinguish是同义词。

We know that 320,000 members of the urban plebs received gifts of money from Auguests in 5 B.C.  and that about 200,000 were on the dole three years later.(《高级英语散文教程》，第89页)

句中received gifts of money与were on the dole同义。

汉译英中的用词也得讲究变换，如：

原文：为完成党在新世纪新阶段的这个奋斗目标，发展要有新思路，改革要有新突破，开放要有新局面，各项工作要有新举措。

译文：In order to attain the Party's objectives for the new stage in the new century, it is imperative to come up with new ideas for development, make new breakthroughs in reform, break new ground in opening up and take new moves in all fields of endeavor.

说明：四个“要有”在译文中应有变化。come up with new ideas是非常符合英语习惯用法的。

2、句式

句式要有变化，如果只使用一种句式，文章显得单调乏味。句式变化就是同一意思用不同的句式表示。如果要表示物体的度、量、衡、性质等，英语有很多方法。最常见的三种是：The well is 45 meters deep. The well has a depth of 45 meters. The depth of the well is 45 meters.第一种常用于口语，第二种为普通语体，第三种常用于科技语体。

英语句子结构有三种：松句loose sentence,紧句/掉尾句periodic sentence,平衡句balanced sentence.

松句又称弛缓句，把主要思想放在句子的开头，可以在中间一、两处停下来，仍不失为语法上的完整句子。如：We came to our journey's end at last, with no small difficulty, after much fatigue, through deep roads and bad weather.松句多用于口语，多是并列句。

紧句是根据制造悬念的原则，主要意思迟迟不说出来，中间不停，直到句尾，语法结构才算完整，意思才算明白。上面那个句子改动一下就可以变成紧句：At last, with no small difficulty, and after much fatigue, we came, throught deep roads and bad weather, to our journey's end.

初学者常会写一系列的松句即并列句，不会写紧句，可能是受汉语的影响。如：The West Lake is one of the scenic places in China, and it looks its best in the springime, and many foreign tourists are attracted by it.可以这样改写：The West Lake, one of the scenic place in China, look its best in springtime, attracting many foreign tourists.
并列句常可以改为修饰语，同位语，或其他片语。初学者常会写一系列的松句即并列句，不会写紧句，可能是受汉语的影响。如：The West Lake is one of the scenic places in China, and it looks its best in the springime, and many foreign tourists are attracted by it.可以这样改写：The West Lake, one of the scenic place in China, look its best in springtime, attracting many foreign tourists.
并列句常可以改为修饰语，同位语，或其他片语。如：

原句：He is always a music lover and he never misses an opportunity to enjoy a concert.

修改：Always a music lover, he never misses an opportunity to enjoy a concert.

原句：The traveler was worn out by hnuger and fatigue, and he finally reached a village.

修改：The traveler, worn out by hunger and fatigue, finally reached a village.

xiaoxiao123 发布在 每日记事  |  发布时间: 09:41AM Apr 16, 2007  |  评论[209]