Abstract：English double negative sentence is a kind of very special sentence pattern in English. There have been a lot of studies on the general attitude towards double negative sentence on its formation, translation, usages, effect and so on. Through different sentence patterns, they can manifest particular functions that cannot be found in general sentence or affirmative sentence. The way of expressing a negative concept in English is quite different from that in Chinese. Based on the analysis of the double negative sentences, for example, through their formations, translations, usages and effects and by some typical examples of the negative sentences, the author intends to make a further analysis on the usage and translation of this kind of sentences in physical field and tries to summarize the reasons why these sentences are used so frequently in this field.
Key words：English double negative sentence; usage; translation; physical field
Usage and Translation of English Double Negative Sentence in Physical Field 物理领域英语双重否定句的翻译
1. Introduction
Negation and affirmation are totally opposite twin concepts. The idea of negation is a part of linguistics universal for almost all the languages in the world, but languages differ in ways to accomplish negation.
Complexity of forms in English to express negative meaning, disagreement between negation meaning and negative form, difference from idiomatic expression and pattern between Chinese and English result in the difficulties in understanding translation and negative phenomenon in English. For these reasons, when we translate an English material for Science and Technology Purpose, we can never be too careful in translating it. Through the meaning they conveyed, negative sentence could be generally divided into two kinds: complete negation and partial negation. From the structure they formed, negative sentence could mainly be divided into two types: common negative sentence and special negative sentence. And special negative sentence contains many different sorts, too. They are double negative sentence, transfer negative sentence, implicit negative sentence, complete negative sentence, partial negative sentence, continued negative sentence, suppressive negative sentence, and so on. All the negations I mentioned above can make the translator confused easily when they come to understand or translate them, so, in this paper I will pay special attention to one of those special negative sentences-----double negative sentence. And this paper will concentrate on the usage and translation of English double negative sentence in physical field.
2. General Information of English Double Negative Sentence
2.1 Introduction about Double Negative Sentence：
2.1.1 Definition：
Just as Chen Hongwei mentioned in 《英汉翻译基础》, double negative sentence is a kind of special negative sentence which contains two negative words or a negative word and a word or a phrase that has a negative meaning. To use negation twice in a sentence has an effect on counteracting the negative meaning, but at the same time the mood of the whole sentence turns to be strong affirmation.[1]
expressed翻译
The phenomenon of double negation exists both in Chinese and English. The primary function of this structure is to strengthen the mood of speaking. Compared with the common affirmative sentence, double negative sentence can add the mood of the affirmation, so, according to what Chen Hongwei said, in my opinion, actually, double negative sentence is negation plus negation. The basic meaning of this structure can be considered as one negation
negates another negative word or another negative phrase. The innate character of the sentence meaning is affirmative, so, we can understand it in another way in which the double negative sentence has a mild tone of affirmation. During the process of translation, the structure can be translated into double negative sentence or affirmative sentence under different circumstances. In English, the negati
ve words and grammars are expressed quite different from each other. Thus, when we translate the documents that belong to English for Science and Technology Purpose, particular attention should be paid. Due to the fact that there are so many kinds of negative forms, we should be very clear about their structures, and then we can express them correctly.
2.1.2 Characteristics：
When we say double negative sentences belong to special negative sentence, to some extent, they are quite different from other negative forms. We should know its characteristics first. Double negative sentence is based on an affirmative meaning of the se ntence, and using the negation twice in a negative structure. We can say that double negative sentence is an affirmative sentence that shows a positive meaning with a negative form. From this we know, that two negations appear in one negative structure at the same time is the necessary conditions to form a double negative sentence. Of course, it conveys a positive meaning. It is required that the two negative parts must have logical negative relation between each other but not just join these two parts together.
2.1.3 Types：
We know different types of sentences have different functions. According to the mood the sentences c
onveyed, double negative sentences can mainly be divided into three types: Affirmative Double Negative Sentence, Emphatic Double Negative Sentence and Euphemistic Double Negative Sentence.[2]
2.1.4 Effects and Functions：
As we known, different kinds of double negative sentence show a different mood and express a rather different effect compared with the common negative sentence. There are mainly three major effects. Now let‟s see the following three phenomena respectively.
The first one is affirmative double negative sentence. Negation plus Negation means affirmation with strengthening effect. It is no doubt that an affirmative sentence ca n convey a positive content. For example, “热能每逢转换成某种能量时，总是有些损耗.” We can translate it into a common affirmative sentence as “When heat converted into a certain energy, it will lose some energy.”But if this sentence is expressed by “Heat can never be converted into a certain energy without something lost.”We can have different feelings from the two expressions. We will find the former expression is quite dull and flat, while the latter one is very affirmative and the mood is quite strong. Now let‟s see some more double negative sentences: Y ou cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs. (= Y ou have to break
eggs if you want to make an omelet.)有失才有得。/ 不打破鸡蛋做不成蛋卷。(=要做蛋卷，就得打破鸡蛋.) Nothing can live without water. (= All things live with water.) 万物无水不能生长。(=万物生长需要水。) There are also quite a lot of double negative sentences in English for Science and Technology purpose, such as: The sun is our energy source and without it we would not be able to survive. / No flow of water occurs unless there is a difference in pressure. / There can never be force acting in nature unless two bodies are involved. / An alloy will not change into a state called austenite until it is heated
above its critical temperature. We can find lots of expressions in the physical field formed by double negative sentence. The main reason is that the phenomenon researched in physical field is so objective that we can never convey it indefinitely.
The Second one is emphatic double negative sentence. Negation plus Negation equals emphasis negation. Let‟s see the following two sentences: worked and worked, and I did n‟t know how much I had not done. 我夜以继日的工作，不知道干了多少活。In the old society, our family had no food, no cloths, no nothing. 在旧社会里我们家无衣无食，一无所有。Due to there are two negations in its structure, so, the meaning are always counteract, there is a possibility that one of the two negations makes a negative emphasis on the other one. In the Emphatic Double Negative Sentence, usually it is
the second negative word shows a negative emphasis effect on the first negative word but loses its original meaning and mood at last. To some extent, the meaning of the sentence can be replaced by its antonym. Obviously, this kind of expression has a strong negative mood.
The last one is euphemistic double negative sentence. Now take the following sentences as examples: Hardly a year now passes without Shanghai losing its traditional dominance in another field or product.上海几乎每年都要失去其在一个领域或在一种产品上的传统优势。They left without hardly a word. 他们几乎一个字也没有说就离开了。In this kind of sentences, the first negation usually is a common negation or an absolute negation, while the latter one usually is a semi-negative word, such as few, seldom, rarely, little, hardly, barely, scarcely, etc. Obviously, the meaning of the absolute negation is very definite and extreme. While it is the second negative word that offset the mood of the first one, and this kind of sentences can be translated into “几乎不……”. The mood of the sentence will be much milder.
2.2 Using in Physical Field and Its Reasons：
2.2.1 Facts and Reasons：
We have just mentioned the major effects and functions of double negative sentence. Now let‟s see an
interesting phenomenon: Today, when we read newspapers, magazines, or journals, we can find that double negative sentences are used more and more in some specific fields. Take the physical field for example: meanings tend to be shown or to be expressed by different forms of double negative sentence. Why? Generally speaking, there are two reasons. On the one hand, the research in this field is so serious and objective that the records or the results must be elaborated or shown objectively and surely. In this way, readers will believe what he/ she had read or heard, may be people‟s desire on learning will be inspired due to this reason. On the other hand, the fact that these kinds of sentences are used frequently in physical field provides us large number of examples, and they can help us to summarize fixed patterns to different kinds of double negative sentences on their translation. Physics, as we known, is a subject that focuses on the study of the objective phenomenon in our universe. Through this subject we can understand our objective world, also we can know the innate character of many natural phenomena, so, the sentence expression and mood used in physical documents are quite confirmative and strong. Maybe in this way, people‟s belief on physical research will be gained.
2.2.2 Usage in Different Forms：
Why could the information conveyed in physical field be so affirmative and strong? The reason is the usage of double negative sentence. In physical documents, there are a great number
of double negative sentences. There are more than ten kinds of differe nt forms of double negative sentences. Now I will give a brief introduction on the different forms we find in physical documents.
a). without…no(not)…
（1）The sun is our energy source and without it we would not be able to survive.
太阳是我们的能源，没有太阳，我们就无法生存。
（2）Without gravity there would be no sound of any kind.
没有重力的作用（地心吸引力），就不会有任何响声。
b). no…not…
（3）There is no steel not containing carbon.
没有不含碳的钢。/ 钢都含有碳。
（4）Now no spaceship can be loaded with man.
现在没有任何宇宙飞船不能载人了。/现在所有的宇宙飞船都可以载人。
c). Negation plus Negation / a word with negative meaning.
（5）No machine ever runs without some friction.
从来没有一台机器运转时没有摩擦。
（6）No flow of water occurs unless there is a difference in pressure.
没有压差，水就不会流动。
（7）There can never be force acting in nature unless two bodies are involved.
在自然界中除非牵涉两个物体，就不能有作用力。
（8）No machine can be completely frictionless.
没有摩擦作用的机器是制造不出来的。
d). not …unlike…
（9）  A radar screen is not unlike a television screen.
雷达荧光屏跟电视荧光屏一样。
（10）The changing of a condenser from a battery is not unlike the filling of that from a reservoir.
电池给电容器充电就像油库给油箱加油一样。
e). no / not plus but
（11）There is no material but will deform more or less under the action of force.
各种材料在力的作用下多少会有些变形。

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