A Comparative Study of English and Chinese1.pptVIP

A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Sentences Contents: Hypotactic vs. Paratactic (形合与意合) As E. A. Nida points out in his “Translating Meaning”, …so far as English and Chinese are concerned, the most important difference linguistically is the contrast between hypotaxis and parataxis. Hypotaxis: The dependent or subordinate construction or relationship of clauses arranged with connectives; Parataxis: The arranging of clauses one after the other without connectives showing the relation between them; Examples: 1. That is our policy and that is our declaration. —— W. Churchill 这就是我们的国策。这就是我们的宣言。 2. First, we make clear what is doing the travelling —— a car, a bus, a plane or whatever it may be. 首先，我们要搞清旅行工具，例如小汽车、公共汽车、飞机或别的可用工具。 3.发展体育运动，增强人民体质。 Promote physical culture and build up people’s health. 4.东海缺少白玉床，龙王请来金陵王。 If the Dragon King wants a white jade bed, he applies to the Wangs of Jinling, it’s said. 2. Complex vs. Simplex (简约与繁复) The English complex sentences are often like chains with clauses linking clauses. On the other hand, the Chinese sentences or clauses tend to be short and simple in structure. They are flowing and simplex, with one clause following the other rather in a line. Illustrative examples: 1. The moon is so far from the earth that even if huge trees were growing on the mountains and elephants were walking about, we could not see them through the most powerful telescopes which have yet been invented. 月球离地球非常遥远，即使那边山上长着大树，有大象在移动，我们用当今发明的最高倍率的望远镜，也不能看见它们。 2. As we lived near the road, we often had the traveler or stranger visit us to taste our gooseberry wine, for which we had great reputation, and I confess, with the veracity of an historian, that I never knew one of them to find fault with it. 我们就住在路边，过路人或外乡人常到我们这里，尝尝我们家酿的醋栗酒。这种酒很有名气。我敢说，尝过的人，从没有挑剔过。我这话像历史学家的话一样靠得住。 3. 文章做到极处，无有他奇，只有恰好；人品做到极处，无有他异，只有本然。 —— 洪应明：菜根谭 When a p