翻译长句难点







There is no agreement whether methodology refers to the concepts

peculiar to historical work in general or to the research techniques

appropriate to the various branches of historical inquiry.

【结构分析】根据句子结构和语意分析，这个句子可分成5段：主句（There is

no....）+从句（whether...）+后置定语（peculiar to...）+选择性并列从句（or....）+后置定语（appropriate

to....）。从语意上讲，主句讲的是结果，从句说的是细节。根据汉语的表达习惯，译文的表达顺序正好与原文相反。

【参考译文】方法论是指一般的历史研究中特有的概念，还是指历史研究中各个具体领域适用的研究方法，人们对此意见不一。

For example, they do not compensate for gross social inequality, and

thus do not tell how able an underprivileged youngster might have

been had he grown up under more favorable circumstances.

【结构分析】这句话长达31个单词。从结构上讲，它是主句(they do not...)+并列谓语(and thus do

not...)+宾语从句(how able an underprivileged youngster might...)+条件状语从句(had

he...)；从语义上讲，它有四层意思："不能.....因此.....不能会有多大的才干.....如果...."。根据对这个句子的结构分析和语意分析，我们可以把它切分成四个小段：

For example, they do not compensate for gross social inequality, /

and thus do not tell / how able an underprivileged youngster might

have been / had he grown up under more favorable circumstances.

由于每一小段包含一个意群，切分后我们就可以试译为：

例如，它们不能弥补巨大的社会不公，因此不能说明一个物质条件差的年轻人会有多大才干，如果他在较好的环境中长大。

上海道正认为这样的译文可以说已经很清楚，汉语也基本过得去，但仔细检查一下，我们仍然发现汉语表达中还有英语的影子，那就是表示条件"如果...."放在句子最后不大符合汉语的表达习惯，因此上海道正建议可以调整为

【参考译文】例如,测试并不弥补明显的社会不公，因此它们不能说明一个物质条件差的年轻人，如果在较好的环境下成长的话，会有多大的才干。

Television, it is often said, keeps one informed about current

events, allows one to follow the latest developments in science and

politics, and offers an endless series of programs which are both

instructive entertaining.

【结构分析】从句主语带有三个并列的谓语keeps..., allows..., and offers...

构成一个三项并列结构，第二个三项中又各有一小的二项并列结构。

【参考译文】人们常说，电视使人们了解最近发生的大事， 使人跟上最新科学和政治的发展，并向人们提供无终止的既有教育意义又有娱乐性的节目。

You have all heard it repeated that men of science work by means of

induction and deduction, that by the help of these operations, they,

in a sort of sense, manage to extract from Nature certain natural

laws, and that out of these, by some special skill of their own,

they build up their theories.

【机构分析】如能看出此句所涉及的并列结构... that ..., that... , and that...,

即可以说解决了此句的关键疑难点。因此，遇到长句如能查看一下是否有并列结构很重要。

【参考译文】人们常说过，科学家使基于归纳法和演绎法工作，借助于这些方法，在某种意义上说，设法从自然界找出某些自然规律，然后根据这些规律，用他们自己特殊的技能逐步建立起自己的理论。

From agreement on this general goal, we have, unfortunately, in the

past proceeded to disagreement on specific goals, and from there to

total inaction.

【结构分析】本句在词序上是倒装，顺过来应为："We have, unfort5unately, in the past

proceeded form agreement on this general goal to disagreement on

specific goals and from there to total inaction."句中的there指agreement

on general goal。

【参考译文】遗憾的是，在过去我们已经从总目标的一致发展到在目标上的分歧，并且从有所作为到无所作为。

Just as all truck drivers and construction workers are no longer

necessarily men, all secretaries and receptionists are no longer

automatically women.

【结构分析】这里句子结构实际上是Just as...., so.....,

译为"正如.....，......也一样"。从上述我们可以看出，翻译中的关键在于缩小两种语言的结构上的差距，如果能将差距缩小到最小限度，那么翻译就小，这本身就证明了这点。

【参考译文】正如所有的卡车司机和建筑工人不一定都是男的，所有的秘书和接待员也不一定都是女的。

Science moves forward, they say, not so much through the insights of

great men of genius as because of more ordinary things like improved

techniques and tools.

【结构分析】此句中的主要结构涉及not so much...as... 的固定表达，意为："与其说... ...不如说... ..."。

【参考译文】一些新学派科学家说，科学的发展与其说起源于伟大天才的真知灼见不如说是由于改进了的技术和工具等更为普通的事物。

Interest in historical methods has arisen less through external

challenge to the validity of history as an intellectual discipline

and more from internal quarrels among historians themselves.

【结构分析】本句的结构是：Interest---has arisen less through---and more from---

【参考译文】人们之所以关注历史研究的方法论，主要是因为史学界内部意见不一，其次是因为外界并不认为历史是一门学问。

This will be particularly true since energy pinch will make it

difficult to combine agriculture in the high-energy American fashion

that makes it possible to combine few farmers with high yields.

【结构分析】本句中，since引导的原因状语从句，其中，to combine agriculture---是will

make的宾语，it是形式宾语；而to combine few---也是宾语，它作makes的宾语，makes后面的it也是形式宾语。

【参考译文】这种困境是确定无疑的，因为能源的匮乏使农业无法以高能量消耗这种美国的耕作方式继续下去，而这种耕作方式使投入极少数农民可获得高产成为可能。

It is not that the scales in the one case, and the balance in the

other, differ in the principles of their construction or manner of

working but that the latter is a much finer apparatus and of course

much more accurate in its measurement than the former.

【结构分析】本句结构复杂：从整体来看，这是一个 "not---but---"

的结构，译为"不是...而是..."。根据上下文我们知道，在not后面的that从句中，scales

指代"面包师或屠夫使用的磅秤"，而balance指代"化学家使用的天平"。在but后面的that从句中，有一个比较级结构"---much

finer --- much more --- than --- "， 其中，the latter指代balance，而the

former指代scales。

【参考译文】这并不是说面包师或买肉者所使用的磅秤和化学家所使用的天平在构造原理和工作方式上存在差别，而是说与前者相比，后者师一种更精密的装置，因而在计量上必然更准确得多。
关键字:英语翻译
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