语序问题(2)
语序(work order)指各级语言单位在组合中的排列次序。它是言内意义的体现。
语序是汉语的重要组合手段。汉语的语序是固定的,即反映了一定的逻辑事理,又体现了人们在长期使用语言过程中形成的语言习惯。英语的语序比较灵活。
一、单句中的语序
汉语句中的事件与行为均按其发生的先后顺序排列,它反映了人们逻辑思维的过程及事件发展的客观规律。例如:
1、他起身拿了雨伞就走了。
2、没有票怎么去看电话呢?
3、我吃了午饭就出去给你买药。
但英语句子的成分就不一定按这一顺序排列。例如(1)可译为:
He stood up, took the umbrella and went away.
但例(2)及(3)就译为:
How can we go and see the film without tickets?
I’ll go to buy medicine for you after lunch.
若句中成分的大小、宽窄、距离有别,汉语的语序应从最大到最小,从最宽到最窄,从最远到最近,但英语语序则正好相反。
例如:
4、他在华中师大英语系办公室工作。
He works at the office of the English Department of Huazhong Normal University, 信封地址的写法最能反映汉英语序的这一重要差别。
5、中国北京
朝阳区和平里砖角楼
Beijing Arts and Crafts Corporation Export Building Zhuanjiaolou,Hepingli, Chaoyang District
Beijing
China
有些并列成分的组合,隐含着逻辑事理的制约,并列的概念之间有轻重、主次、高低、强弱、大小的差别。例如:
6、从小学一年级到进入大学,一个中国学生要经历多次期中考试、期末考试和毕业考试,还有三次犹如生死博斗的升学考试,谁的分数高,谁就能升入重点中学或重点大学。
From first grade to college a Chinese student has to pass many mid-term, final and graduation exams and three life or-death entrance examinations in order to enter junior and senior middle school and college. The only way to get into a key middle school and key college or university is to pass the entrance examinations with top scores.
reaction order
析:“期中考试”、“期末考试”和“毕业考试”即按时间顺序排列,也以递进方式按重要性排列。英译时这部分语序保持不
变。
7、独有这一件小事,却总是浮在我眼前,有时反更分明,教我惭愧,催我自新,并且增长我的勇气和希望。
(鲁迅:《一件小事》)
Y et this small incident keeps coming back to me , often more vivid than in actual life, teaching me shame, spurring me on to reform, and imbuing me with fresh courage and fresh hope.
(杨宪益、戴乃迭译)
析:“教我……”“催我……”与“并且增长……”三个短语虽然是并列组合,但从叙述的逻辑看,是步步深入,体现了“一件小事”对“我”的深刻影响。这一言内意义与其语用意义在译文中也得到了再现。
若定语是形容词,一般都可按限制性定语——描述性定语——类属定语——中心词的语序排列。例如:
8、这些枯燥无味的法语教材
these dull French teaching materials
9、一株高大的柳树
a tall willow tree
然若定语是短语或从句,在汉语中它们一般置于中心词前,在英语中可置于中心词前也可置于中心词后,英译时要视语境而定。例如:
10、一只栖息在树上的美丽的蓝鹦鹉
a beautiful blue parrot perching on the tree
11、最近几次专为大学生举办的实用翻译讲座吸引了许多翻译爱好者参加。
The latest lectures on practical translation delivered to college students attracted many translation lovers.
12、公园里几乎同时开放的几千朵美丽的红玫瑰吸引了许多游人。
Several thousands of beautiful red roses that blossomed almost at the same time in the park attracted many visitors.
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汉语中的状语按时间——地点——方式——中心词的语序排列。
英语则正好相反。
15、她每天早晨在校园里朗读。
She reads aloud on the campus every morning.
16、她好不容易才回到家。
She found her way home with great difficulty.(也可译为:It was with great difficulty that she found her way home.)
17、这个会是昨天晚上大约七时在302教室召开的。
The meeting was held in Classroom 302 at about 7 o’clock yesterday evening.
18、他过马路时,左顾右盼,害怕撞到过路的车子上。
While crossing the street, he looked right and left, for fear that he might run into some passing car.
二、复句中的语序
复句中分句之间的关系,若靠关联词语来体现,则很容易辨别,英语时可用意义相符的关联词语和基本相同的语序反映这些关系。例如:
19、油画的实践使他“狂热地追求彩”,而国画的实践又使他步入“水墨的淡雅之乡”。多少年来他在油画和水墨画之间杂交互补,使之相得益彰。
(袁运甫:《我所认识的吴冠中及其绘画》,《现代中国》1992年第3期)
Working in oils enables him to “madly pursue color,” while traditional Chinese painting enable him to enter “the elegant realm of ink and wash”. For many years he has executed both oil and traditional Chinese paintings, creating a uique style of his own. The two genres shine more brilliantly in each other’s company.
(Wu Guangzhong and His Paintings ,China Today, No.3,1992)
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