英语陷阱：汉英翻译要注意的问题.doc

英语陷阱(2) You cannot be too careful. 你要特别小心. ---------------------------------------- 此句不能按字面译作:你不能过分小心.因为cannot...too是个固定结构,其义为无论如何...也不过分.如用英语阐述,上句相当于:You should be as careful as possible. 我们在学习英语的时候,遇到这类实际意义与其字面意义大相径庭的句子,必须小心区别,正确地理解其涵义.下面请看几个类例: ? ?We cannot recommend this book too strongly. ? ?这本书很好,无论我们如何推荐也不过份. ? ?You cant be too careful in dong this experiment. ? ?在做这个实验时,你们愈仔细愈好. ? ?One cannot be too careful in matters like that. ? ?人们在处理这种事情时必须非常慎重. 要注意的是,cannot...too有几个变体结构,我们可以用impossible, difficult等字去代替cannot;以enough, difficulty, sufficiently, exaggerate, to over-等字去替代too. 下面的一些句子就是cannot...too结构的变体: ? ?I couldnt get home fast enough. ? ?我恨不得马上回到家里. ? ?You cannot take sufficient care. ? ?你要特别小心. ? ?The importance of this session cannot be exaggerated. ? ?这次大会极为重要. ? ?No man can have too many friends. ? ?朋友愈多愈好. L.G.Alexander编著的New Concept English第二册其中一课Do You Call That a Hat?中有这么一段风趣的夫妻对话,丈夫和妻子都用了这个句型的变体: I find it beautiful, I said. A man can never have too many ties. And a woman cant have too many hats, she answered. 这条领带很漂亮,我说道. 男人的领带愈多愈好. 女人的也是愈多愈好啊, 她答道. 现在请读者将下面两个句子译成汉语: We cannot too strongly inculcate (or It would be impossible to over-estimate) the importance of more teacher training to deal with student problems andprevent teenage suicides in Hong Kong. The importance of the campaign against dogs in public housing estates in Hong Kong cannot be exaggerated. 英语陷阱(3) Do you know how to service this new-type machine? 你知道怎樣維修這種新型的機器嗎? ------------------------------------------------------------ 這一句不能譯作:你知道怎樣使用這台新型的機器嗎? 如要表達此義,應該說: ? ?Do you know how to seve this new-type machine? 在現代英語里,出現了一種用名詞作動詞的傾向.例如: to paper ones room; to bottle the fruit; to bandage up a wound;to oil a machine; to position a factory near the town; to pressure him to do so等等. 然而, 某些名詞作動詞使用時, 與原有動詞的涵義有所不同, 上面所述的to service和to serve的區別就是一個典型的例子.試對比下列各組詞的不同涵義: to power? ? 為...提供動力 to empower??為...授與權力 to site? ???為...提供場所