英汉互译-比较句的翻译

4.3　比较句的翻译

比较在英汉两种语言中都有着广泛的运用，但英语中的比较方式比汉语的发达，其构成也与汉语的不同。英语的比较包括表示相同或相似的比较(like，as，as…as，)、表示量级差别的比较(more than/ less than)、表示“越……越……”的比较(the more…the more)以及表示最高量级的比较(the most)。英语中，比较结构的句型复杂，表现形式多样。在翻译的时候，需要仔细分析弄清英语比较方式的语法结构，对英汉互译有很大的帮助。

4.3.1　英语比较句的翻译

4.3.1.1　译为汉语中的比较句

把带比较的英语句子翻译成汉语的时候，最要紧的是看清比较的内容，或者是哪个词的比较。在多数情况下，可以把这些句子译成汉语中带“比”、“更”等字的比较句。下列5个例句中的比较结构，在译成汉语时基本上采用的是对等译法。

例1:Even more interesting is the possibility that life on their planets may be in a more advanced stage of evolution.

【译文】更加有趣的是，他们那些星球上的生命可能处于进化中更加高级的阶段。

例2:The sources of infrared radiation may be natural or man made，but a more useful classification to the worker in infrared technology is that of target and background.

【译文】红外辐射源可以分为天然和人造的两种，不过对于红外线技术工作者来说，以目标和背景来分类则更为实用。

例3:Not surprisingly，the younger，better educated，and more affluent parts of the population are disproportionately represented in the New Breed，whereas the older，poorer，less well-educated parts of the population cling more tenaciously to the old value system and to traditional symbols.

【译文】比较年轻、受过比较良好教育、比较富有的那部分人，在新一代人中所占的比例比较大，而年纪比较大、比较贫困、没有受过多少教育的那部分人则比较保守，往往抱住旧的价值体系和传统象征不放，其实这也并不奇怪。

下面两个句子中有些成分省略了，在译成汉语时要进行必要的补充。

例4:There is Jacqui，a cleaning woman who knows more by intuition than most of us learn by analysis.

【译文】还有清洁女工杰基。她凭直觉所明白的事比我们多数人通过分析弄明白的事情还多。

例5:More countries can now make nuclear bombs than advanced microprocessor chips.

【译文】现在能够制造核弹的国家比能制造先进微处理器芯片的国家还多。

4.3.1.2　从句子的整体入手反面进行翻译

例1:The managerial structure of their firm is much simpler than that of Japanese corporation.

【正译】他们公司的管理机构比日本公司的要简单得多。

【反译】日本公司的管理机构比他们的要复杂得多。

例2:He cared no more for Kennedy than he had for Eisenhower and ceased voting in presidential elections.

【译文】他对肯尼迪的厌恶不亚于对艾森豪威尔的，于是再也不参加总统选举的投票了。

例3:The pickpocket is not anymore honest than the burglar.

【译文】扒手和夜贼一样缺德。(错译:扒手并不比盗贼更诚实。)

例4:Does it mean that we need to think less now about producing more food at home?

【译文】这是不是说我们现在对增加国内粮食生产的问题不要多考虑了?

4.3.1.3　可以不译为比较句

有些句子虽然是比较的结构，但为了表达时符合汉语的习惯，就不要译为汉语的比较句，否则句子会显得很别扭。例如:

例1:We have got more alligators than we know what to do with.

【译文】我们的鳄鱼太多，都不知道该拿它们怎么办了。

【分析】如果我们把此句译为“我们拥有的鳄鱼比我们知道该拿它们怎么办的还要多”，读起来就很别扭，这时我们就应当进行变通。

再如下面这个例句。它涉及否定句的译法，译文中采取了变通办法，用了“主要是因为……而不是因为”的结构来代替比较结构:

例2: And increasingly，especially in the large business or in government，employeeship is more important to success than the special professional knowledge or skill.Certainly more people fail because they do not know the requirements of being an employee than because they do not adequately possess the skills of their trade; the higher you climb the ladder，the more you get into administrative or executive work，the greater the emphasis on ability to work within the organization rather than on technical abilities or professional knowledge.

【译文】与专业知识和技能相比，雇员素质对取得成功来说已经越来越重要，在大企业和政府部门尤其如此。当然，许多人之所以失败，主要是因为他们不知道作为一名雇员所必须具备的素质，而不是因为他们不充分具备干他们那一行所需的技能。你的位置越高，介入管理和行政事务就越多，对在组织内工作的能力要求就比对技术技能和专业知识的要求高。

4.3.1.4　具有特殊含义的比较句的翻译

英语的比较句式除了用于表示常见的比较意义以外，还有一些特殊的用法值得注意。

例1:American presidents tend to be judged less by the goods they set in motion than by how well they respond to crises.

【译文】美国人对总统的评判往往不是看他们能否成功治理国家，而是看他们能否泰然应对危机。

【分析】英语中这种比较的句式(A than B或more A than B或not so much A as B)多半是肯定一方否定一方，因此往往译成“不是……而是……”或“与其说……不如说……”，本句便是一例。肯定than后面的内容，否定其前面的内容。how well they respond to crises直译是“如何很好地面对危机”，这里意译成“能否泰然应对危机”。the goods they set in motion直译是“所做的好事”，这里意译成“能否成功治理国家”。

例2:Charles is more cautious than decisive.

【译文】查尔斯谨慎有余，果敢不足。

【分析】more A than B一般译成“与其说B…不如说A…”，than前后的两个部分在译文中需互换位置，翻译时只求达意，不必拘泥于一种结构，如译成“A有余B不足”;再如:He is an expert more in name than in reality.就不能用“与其说……不如说……”，不妨译成“他是个有名无实(名不符实)的专家”，或“他这个专家有名无实”。

例3:It is not advice as much as approval that he seeks.

【译文】与其说他在征求意见，不如说他在期望得到赞同。

【分析】not A as much as B，即not so much A as B，仍是肯定B，否定A。这句还可译成“他不是在征求意见，而是期望得到赞同”。英语里常有一个动词带两个宾语的现象，译成汉语时往往不宜直译，需要考虑汉语词语的搭配，因为英语词的搭配不一定与汉语词的搭配相一致。如本句的seek advice是“征求意见”，而seek approval则不能译成“征求赞同”。

例4:If you ask my opinion，I'd say he is a man who is more brave than wise.

【译文一】要我说，他这人有勇无谋。

【译文二】要我说，他这人勇敢有余，韬略不足。

【分析】这又是一种变通的译法，“有勇无谋”比译成“与其说有智谋，不如说勇敢”更精炼，更符合汉语习惯。

例5:We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.

【译文】我们不创造幸福就无权享受幸福，就像不创造财富就无权享受财富一样。

4.3.1.5　含比较意义的句子

一些句子虽然没有比较结构，但却具有比较的含义，可以译为汉语中的比较句:

例1:They are two lessons ahead of us.

【译文】他们比我们多学了两课。(他们领先我们两课。)

例2:I prefer Blue Belt to Qingdao.(www.chuimin.cn)

【译文】蓝带啤酒和青岛啤酒相比，我更喜欢前者。

4.3.1.6　倒译

除了进行顺译之外，还可以调整句子前后顺序，进行倒译。

例1:Longer than the waves we feel as heat we find the waves to be which we call radio waves.

【译文】我们发现，我们所说的无线电波比我们感觉到的热辐射波要长。

【分析】这是个倒装句，正常的结构是:We find the waves which we call radio waves to be longer than the waves we feel as heat.如果按照原文倒装结构来译，译成的汉语就很难理解，所以翻译时将前后顺序加以调整。

例2:Only when total production expands faster than the rate of labor force growth plus the rate of productivity increase and minus the rate at which average annual hours fall does the unemployment rate fall.

【译文】只有当劳动力增长速度加上生产力增长速度再减去年平均工时下降速度低于总生产扩大速度时，失业率才会下降。

【分析】原文属于用“only”开头的句子，句子结构倒装。还可以这样译:失业率下降只有在下述情况出现时才会发生:劳动力增长速度加生产力增长速度减年平均工时下降速度的值低于总生产扩大速度。

例3:Yet people continue to believe that the next，more glamorous party，more expensive car，more luxurious vacation，fancier home will do what all the other parties，cars，vacations，homes have not been able to do.

【顺译】可是人们总觉得今后更愉快的聚会、更昂贵的汽车、更豪华的度假、更迷人的住房将会产生以前的聚会、汽车、度假、住房所没能达到的效果。

【倒译】可是人们总觉得以前的聚会、汽车、度假、住房所没能达到的效果，一定会在下一次更愉快的聚会、更昂贵的汽车、更豪华的度假、更迷人的住房中得到体现。

4.3.1.7　倍数的翻译

倍数问题在翻译中是个不可忽视的问题。请看下面的例句:

例1:The number of college students in 1990 was nearly a hundred times that of1949.

【译文】1990年的在校大学生人数几乎是1949年的100倍。(是……倍)

例2:The number of college students in 1990 was nearly a hundred times bigger than that of1949.

【译文】1990年在校大学生人数比1949年几乎高出100倍。(高……倍)

例3:The number of college students in 1990 increased almost a hundred times as compared with that of1949.

【译文】在校大学生人数比1949年增加了几乎100倍。(增加……倍)

例4:After New Jersey lowered it to 18，the number of people killed by 18－20-year-old drivers more than doubled，so the state recently upped it back to 21.

【译文】新泽西州把驾驶年龄降到18岁之后，死于18～20岁驾车者轮下的人数翻了一番还多，所以该州最近又把这个年龄提高到21岁。

4.3.2　汉语比较句的英译

与英语相比，汉语中表示比较的方法要简单些。表示英语最高级概念时，在必要的地方加个“最”字就行了;在表示比较的时候，多用“比”字或“较”字，不过“比”是动词，而“较”则多用作副词。如:甲比乙大(A is bigger than B.);甲乙相比，甲较大(Compared with B，A is bigger.)

如果对含比较意义的英语句子比较熟悉，那么把汉语中含比较意思的句子译为英语就不会很困难。

例1:中国已经成为国际事务中最活跃的力量之一。

【译文】China has become one of the most active members in international affairs.

例2:现在南京的气候不像以前那么热了。

【译文】Nanjing is not as hot as it used to be.

例3:她的美貌不亚于西施。

【译文】She is no less beautiful than Xishi，the beauty.

例4:多出好书，促进社会主义精神文明建设。

【译文】Publish more good books to help promote socialist cultural and ideological progress.

例5:天黑了下来，风也越刮越大了。

【译文】It was getting dark and the wind was blowing harder and harder.

例6:最近在文化比较发达的广州，中国女足打了三场比赛，可是门票总共售出还不到两千张。

【译文】Recently，the women's football team had three matches in the culturally more developed city of Guangzhou，however，the total number of tickets sold was less than 2，000.

例7:在上述三大地带中，城市之间的差距较小，农村之间最大。东部沿海的城市和中西部城市的人均收入相差不到一倍，而农村人均收入相差2～2.5倍以上。

【译文】In the three regions mentioned above，the gap is much bigger in rural areas than in the cities.The average income of the rural people in the eastern region is 2 to 2.5 times higher than that of the rural people in the central and western parts of China while the difference between city people is no more than 1 time.

【练习】

1.I believe in the 50-percent theory.Half the time things are better than normal; the other half，they are worse.I believe life is a pendulum swing.It takes time and experience to understand what normal is，and that gives me the perspective to deal with the surprises of the future.

2.The best example of this behavior is found with professional sports people.They know that the faster they can forget an incident or missed opportunity and get on with the game，the better their performance.

3.If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together;there is something you must always remember.You are braver than you believe，stronger than you seem，and smarter than you think.But the most important thing is，even if we're apart; I'll always be with you.

4.Books possess an essence of immortality.They are by far the most lasting products of human effort.Temples and statues decay，but books survive.Time is of no account with great thoughts，which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author's minds，ages ago.

5.This is actually more a change in terminology than a change in reality.

6.Yet in salesmanship，we somehow think the skills are more inherent than learned.

7.However，noise is more than just a nuisance，it is harmful to people's health.

8.Some economists deem that automation will benefit the workers no less than the employers.

9.Its increasing economic strength has made it far less dependent on the American market.

10.The rapid shrinkage in natural resources is pressing for a lower birth rate.

11.在村子里，那个家族拥有大量的土地，这使得他长时间都过着富裕的生活。

12.江南，秋当然也是有的;但草木凋得慢，空气也来得润，天的颜色显得淡，并且又时常多雨而少风。

13.在初学的阶段，由小学至大学，我们与其倡言趣味，不如偏重纪律。

14.九岁时，母亲死去。父亲也就更变了样，偶然打碎了一只杯子，他就要骂到使人发抖的程度。

15.后来听说他病中的光景，那实在太惨;为他想，早点去，少吃些苦头，也未尝不好的。