翻译技巧（二）：加词法和减词法

加（增）词法

英汉两种语言，由于表达方法不尽相同，有些词在英语中可以省略而不会影响全句意思的完整表达，但译成汉语后就可能出现意思不够明确的语言现象；还有些词虽然在原文中意义明确而完整，但译成汉语后文字却不甚通顺流畅。在这种情况下，就需要使用增词译法。增词法就是在翻译时按照意义、修辞或句法上的需要，在原文的基础上添加必要的单词、词组、分句或完整句，从而使得译文在语法、语言形式上符合译文习惯和在文化背景、词语联想方面与原文一致，使得译文与原文在内容、形式和精神等三方面都对等起来，更忠实通顺地表达原文的思想内容。

Syntactical Amplification（从句法结构上考虑的增词）

This kind of amplification includes: amplification by supplying such kinds of words as verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, numerals, category words, generalization words, and the plural forms of nouns.

(1) 增加量词（classifier）

英语中数词与可数名词往往可以直接连用，不用加量词。而汉语往往要加量词。

It was a nova!

这是一颗新星！

The sun rose thinly from the sea.

一轮红日从海边淡淡升起。

A stream was winding its ways through the valley into the river.

一弯溪水蜿蜒流过山谷，汇到江里去了。

(2) 增加表达复数的词(convey the concept of plurality)

汉语中的名词没有复数概念，也没有词形上的变化，很多情况下不必表达出来；而英语中的名词有词形的变化，但没有量词，所以在翻译成汉语的时候，可根据情况增加重叠词、数词或其他一些词来表达复数的概念，以达到修辞效果。

All roads lead to Rome

条条大路通罗马

The lion is the king of animals.

狮子是百兽之王。

The mountains began to throw their long blue shadows over the valley.

群山已在山谷里开始投下蔚蓝色的长影。

I saw bubbles rising from under the water.

我看见一个个水泡从水下升起。

(3) 增加概括词(Amplification by supplying words of generalization)

有时英语句子中并没有出现概括词，而翻译的时候却往往可以加入“两人”、“双方”、“等”、“等等”、“凡此种种”等概括词。

Like most wildlife，deer reproduce，grow，and store fat in the summer and fall when

there is plenty of nutritious food available.

与大多数野生动物一样，鹿在营养丰富、食物充足的夏秋两季，繁殖、生长、储存脂肪。

Then a little over a decade ago, Professors Hoyle, Bondi, and Gold, working at Cambridge, proposed an entirely different scheme.

然而十多年前，剑桥大学的霍伊尔、邦迪和哥尔德三位教授却提出了完全不同的学说。

The thesis summed up the new achievements made in electronic computers, artificial satellites and rockets．

论文总结了电子计算机、人造卫星和火箭三方面的新成就。

(4) 增加表达时态的词 (Amplifying words in the TL text that can indicate the verb tenses in the SL text.)

英语时态是靠动词的词形变化或助词来体现的。汉语中的动词没有时态的变化，要表达时态就必须靠时态助词和一些表示时间的词。所以，在表达过去的概念时往往加上“曾”、“已经”、“过”、“了”等字眼，在表达进行时态时往往用“在”、“正在”、“着”等字眼，在表达将来时态时往往用“将”、“就”、“要”、“会”、“便”等字眼。

They are leading a happy life.

他们现在过着幸福的生活。

He was the late president’s alter ego and he is a close and influential friend of the president to be in office.

他过去是已故总统的化身，而现在是即将就职的总统亲密而有影响的朋友。

(5) 增加语气词

汉语中的语气助词很多，如“的” “吧”、“啊” 、“呀” “嘛”、“吗” 、“啦” 、“了”、 “罢了”、“而已”等等。在英译汉时，增加一些恰当的语气助词可以更好地表达英语原文的含义和修辞色彩。

①Don’t take it seriously. It’s only a joke.

不要认真嘛！这不过是开个玩笑而已。

②Is more growth really better

经济发展得越快越好吗

③As I snooze she talks – of anything, everything, all the things that women talk of: books, music, dress, men, other women.

我这边打着盹，她那里说着女人爱说的一切，什么 书籍啦 、音乐啦 、服装啦 、男人啦 、别的女人啦 ，五花八门，包罗万象 。

(6) 增补表示逻辑关系的词语

有时候英语原文中并没有表达逻辑关系的词语，但根据上下文可以判断出其隐含的逻辑关系，如转折、假设、让步、因果关系等，在翻译成汉语的时候，要适当地在句中或句子之间补充关联词和承上启下的词。

①Heated，water will change into vapor．

水如受热，就会汽化。

②The strongest man cannot alter the law of nature.

即使是最强有力的人也不能改变自然法则

③Without a sense of your fault, how can repentance and amendment be expected

如果对自己的错误都不认识，怎么能悔恨和改正呢

④For mistakes had been made, bad ones.

因为已经犯下了许多错误，而且还是很严重的错误。

(7) 增补语法省略成分

①Matter can be changed into energy, and energy into matter.

物质可以转化为能，能也可以转化为物质。

②Courage in excess becomes foolhardiness, affection weakness, thrift avarice.

勇敢过度即成蛮勇，感情过度即成溺爱，节俭过度即成贪婪。（增补被省掉的in excess becomes）

③She ate little. Food sickened her, and I think much of life too.

她吃得很少；她厌恶食物，我觉得她也厌恶生活。

④The best conductor has the least resistance and the poorest the greatest．

最好的导体电阻最小，最差的导体电阻最大。

Lexical amplification (从词汇上考虑的增词)

When we translate English sentences with omission into Chinese, in nine cases out of ten, we have to supply in the target text what has been omitted in the source text. Otherwise, the meaning in the TL text would be neither complete nor smooth or idiomatic.

(1) 抽象名词具体化

英语中有一些抽象名词由动词或形容词派生而来，翻译时可根据上下文在译成

具体名词，使译文意思明确、符合汉语的表达习惯。

Oxidation will make iron and steel rusty．

氧化作用会使钢铁生锈。

After all preparations were made, the planes were flown across the U.S. to San Francisco.

一切准备工作就绪以后，飞机就飞越美国去旧金山。

Recourse to arms is not the best solution to a quarrel between countries.

国与国之间的争端诉诸武力，并不是最好的解决方法。

evaporation 蒸发作用 fault-finding 吹毛求疵的作法 loftiness 崇高气质necessity必要性 assimilation 同化作用 indifference冷漠态度

readability 可读性 relativity相对论 arrogance傲慢态度lightheartedness 轻松愉快的心境

(2) 语境增词 (Contextual Amplification)

英译汉有时有必要增加合适的动词、形容词或副词，使译文意思明确。

A professor of mine once said: …

教过我的一位教授曾说过：……

The sports meet is scheduled for April 16.

运动会定于四月十六日举行。

This printer is indeed cheap and fine．

这部打印机真是物美价廉。

And Homer! Is not he likewise human Even Homer may sometimes nod.

荷马！他不也是“活生生”的人吗即使荷马也有打盹的时候。

Tom Canty, born in rags and dirt and misery, what sight is this! (Mark Twain: The Prince and the Pauper)

译1：啊，汤姆·康第，生在破烂、肮脏和苦难中，现在这番景象却是多么显赫啊！

译2：汤姆·康第原来(who was born)生在可怜巴巴的人家(in misery)，穿得破破烂烂(in rags)，一身邋里邋遢(in dirt)，现在(what sight is this)换了这身装束，啊，是何等气派！

(3) Cultural Amplification (从文化上考虑的增词)

…, this hopeful person soared into so pleasing a Cupid….

这个很有希望的年轻人就扮成极其讨人喜欢的插着双翅的爱神丘比特。

（狄更斯：《艰难时世》）

注释：原文Cupid是希腊神话中的爱神，形象为手挽金弓金箭，长着双翅的美少年。译文在保持形象的基础上略加了一些解释性的词语，既完整地表达了原意，也增强了修辞效果。

…that the female Boundby, instead of being the Gorgon he had expected, was

young and remarkably pretty.

那位叫庞得贝的女人，并不是他所想象的那样，是一个看谁一眼就会把谁变成

石头的女妖高根，而是一个年轻的绝妙美人儿。

注释：Gorgon是希腊神话中极为可怕的蛇发女妖，其貌丑而凶，人见其面皆化为石。gorgon，“丑陋可怖的女人”。

The blond boy quickly crossed himself.

那个金发小男孩立刻在胸前划十字，祈求上帝保佑 。

减（略）词法 （Omission in English—Chinese Translation）

Generally speaking，omission in English-Chinese translation is used to achieve

the effect of succinctness，especially in dealing with excessive use of English

pronouns and such functional words as the article, the preposition, the conjunction.

1. Omission of the Pronoun

Pronouns are more frequently used in English than in Chinese．Therefore, when translated into Chinese，many English pronouns may be omitted so as to conform the rendering to accustomed usage of Chinese expression．

1. He put his hands into his pockets and then shrugged his shoulders．

他将双手放进衣袋，然后耸了耸肩。

2. For two weeks，he had been studying the house，looking at its rooms，its

electric wiring，its path and its garden．

两周以来，他一直注意观察房子的情况，查看各个房间，留心电线的走向、通道和花园的布局。

2. Omission of the Article

The article is the hallmark Of English nouns. When translated into Chinese, it is usually omitted except when the indefinite article is intended to indicated the numeral “one” or “a certain”．

1. The moon was slowly rising above the sea．

月亮慢慢从海上升起。

2. Any substance is made up Of atoms whether it is a solid，a liquid，Or a gas.

任何物质，不论是固体、液体或气体，都由原子组成。

3. Omission of the Preposition

1. Smoking is prohibited in public places.

公共场所不许吸烟。

2. The difference between the two machines consists in power

这两台机器差别在于功率不同。

4. Omission of the Conjunction

Chinese is considered an analytic language and many conjunctions that are

indispensable in English may seem redundant in Chinese．Therefore, omission of the conjunction is a common practice in English-Chinese translation．

1. He looked gloomy and troubled.

他看上去有些忧愁不安。

2. If I had known it, I would not have joined in it．

早知如此，我就不参加了

5. Omission of the Impersonal Pronoun “it”

This often occurs when “it” is meaningless or empty．

lt was not until the middle of the 19th century that the blast furnace came into use.

直到19世纪中叶，高炉才开始使用。