笔译自学汉译英

比较句的翻译

对人或事物的某种属性作比较时，最基本的意义有三种：相等、超越、差逊。表示比较意义的汉语句子，英译时表达方法灵活多样。现简要归纳如下：

7.1 相等

当汉语句子表示两种事物的某种属性在比较之下程度一样时，英译时用下列表达方法：

1. as...as

例1. 在真空中，轻物体与重物体降落得一样快。

In vacuum, light bodies will fall as fast as heavy ones. 例2. 你左手拉东西使的劲必须和右手使的劲一样。

You must pull as hard with your left hand as you do with your right hand. 例3. 她的脸圆圆的，跟孩子的脸一样。

Her face is as round as a child's (face). (比喻) 例4. 他很伤心地看着我们，眼睛睁得跟他的祖母的一样大。

He looked at us sadly with his eyes as large as his grandmother's (eyes). 【评析】例3、4在英译时应注意比较部分的逻辑性。句中最后一个词如不加“’s”例3就成了“脸”和“孩子”比，例4就成了“眼睛”同“祖母”比，那是不合逻辑的。 例5. 郑州是和西安同等重要的一个工业中心。

Zhengzhou is as important an industrial center as Xian. 例6. 做体操是一种跟其它减肥方法一样的好方法。

Exercising is as good a way as any to lose unwanted weight.

【评析】在译例5、6时应注意两个问题：句中的比较部分既含有名词又含有形容词，因而必须首先弄清楚比较的重心。这里重心在于形容词；同级比较的形容词跟单数可数名词连用时，不定冠词要紧接在作为比较重心的形容词之后。

此外，as...as还可用来表示具体人或事物所具有的不同性质或特征在某种程度上相似的比较。例如：

例7. 你有多聪明，他就有多狡猾。

He is as cunning as you are clever. 例8. 这里生活便宜，但出租车却很贵。

Life here is as cheap as taxies are expensive.

2. the same...as...

例1. 荷兰语与古英语同出一源。

Dutch is of the same origin as Old English. 例2. 他的艰苦奋斗的作风和在学生时代一样。

His hard-working style remains the same as when he was a student. 例3. 这个和你给我看过的那个是一样吗?

Is this the same as the one you showed me before?

3. 含有否定/肯定意义的比较

相等程度比较，如含有否定意义，可以使用no more...than (not any more...than)或no better...than (not any better than)等等。意思是“和??同样不??”，意味被比较的两者均否定。例如：

例1. 他不善于游泳，如同你不善于游泳一样。(两个都不善游泳。) He is no more skilful at swimming than you are. (or: He is no better at swimming than you are.) 例2. 我同他一样，都不喜欢玩扑克。(两人都不喜欢玩扑克。) I am no more fond of playing poker than he is.

例3. 国家不能以大小而论，如同个人不能以大小而论一样。(两者都不能以大小而论) Nations are not to be judged by their size any more than individuals. 例4. 他不会游泳，就像我不会飞一样。

He can no more swim than I can fly.

在英语中，诸如此类的表达方法还有：no wiser than(相比的两者都不聪明)、no richer than(相比两者都不富)、no bigger than(相比的两者都不大)。

当两者相比相差无几并含有肯定意思时，可以使用not more...than、not better...than、not less...than或not so...as。意思是“不像??”、“没有到??的程度”、“并不比??更??”，意味着两者肯定。如：

例5. 他并不比你更善于游泳。(两人都善于游泳，只是他游得比你差一点而已。) He is not more skilful at swimming than you are.

(or: He is not better at swimming than you are.=He is skillful at swimming but not so skilful as you are.)

例6. 我并不比他更喜欢玩扑克。(两个都喜欢玩扑克)

I am not more fond of playing poker than he is. 例7. 新版本并不比旧版本贵。(两种版本均贵)

The new edition is not more expensive than the old one.

在英语中，诸如此类的表达方法还有：not wiser than(相比的两者都聪明)、not richer than(相比的两者都富)、not bigger than(相比的两者都大)。

4. 比较的常用句型

比较两种相似的关系或相似的情况时，英译时一般可遵循下列句型： 1) A之于B犹如C之于D

A is to B what C is to D. 例1. 军民关系犹如鱼水关系。

The army is to the people what fish is to water. 例2. 照相机之于光犹如留声机之于声。

The camera is to light what the gramophone is to sound. 例3. 读书对于精神如同食物对于身体一样。

Food is to the body what reading is to the mind. 例4. 莎士比亚对于文学的贡献如同贝多芬对于音乐的贡献。

Shakespeare is to literature what Beethoven is to music.

从语法上来看，该句型中的what是一个关系代词，由what引起的从句是“A is”的表语。即：A is what C is to D to B. 如果用括弧把“to B”括上，会显得清楚一些，即：A is (to B) what C is to D.

2) 正如C之于D，A之于B也同样。 As C is to D, so is A to B. 例1. 12:6就像2:1一样。

As two is to one, so is twelve to six. 例2. 室之于人，犹巢之于鸟，穴之于兽。 As the house is to the man, so is the nest to the bird and the cave to the animal.

例3. 像地球绕太阳运行一样，月亮绕地球运行。

As the earth moves round the sun, so the moon moves about the earth. 例4. 正如烈火试炼真金，同样逆境试炼人的美德。

As fire tries gold, so does adversity try virtue. 在这个句型中，as引导的是从句，so之后为主句。

7.2 超越

当汉语句子表示两种事物的某种属性在比较之下，一方的程度高于另一方时，英译时用下列表达方法：

1. 用“比较级 + than...”结构

例1. 这任务比我想象的难。

The task is more difficult than I imagined it to be. 例2. 他在科研上取得的成就比预期的大。

The success he has achieved in scientific research is greater than expected. 例3. 这个实验室比你们昨天做实验的那个实验室要大得多。

This laboratory is much larger than that (or: the one) in which you did the experiment yesterday.

2. 用含有“超越”意义的动词或动词词组

例1. 心灵美胜过外表美。

Beauty of mind excels pulchritude of appearance. 例2. 真理胜过谎言。

Truth comes before lies. 例3. 伦敦比纽约大。

London exceeds New York in size.

英语中，这类动词和动词词组还有surpass、overtake、transcend、go beyond等等。

3. 用含有“超越”意义的形容词，后面被比较部分常用介词to引出

例1. 这项计划和原来的计划比起来，要完整得多。

This plan is far superior to the original one. 例2. 贫穷总比不健康好。

Poverty is preferable to ill-health. 例3. 这是洪水以前的事。

This was an event anterior to the flood.

4. 用表示程度、限度、次序或位置的介词

例1. 这比其它事都重要。

This is important before everything. 例2. 他声音比其他声音都要响。

His voice is heard above all other sounds. 例3. 他的身旁是他的妻子，她比她丈夫高。

Next to him was his wife, who towered over her husband. 例4. 我们比他们占优势。

We got the start of them.

7.3 差逊

当汉语句子表示两种事物的某种属性在比较之下，一方的程度低于另一方时，英译时用下列表示方法：

1. 用“比较级 + than...”的结构

例1. 机器所做的有用功总是比输入机器的功要小。

The useful work done by the machine is always less than the work done on the machine.

例2. 一个可疑的朋友比一个肯定的敌人还坏。

A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy.

2. 用含有“差逊”意义的动词或动词词组

例1. 他未能充分表现哈姆雷特这个角色。 He underacted the part of Hamlet.

3. 用含有“差逊”意义的形容词，后面被比较部分常用介词to引出

例1. 他的智力比弟弟差。

He is intellectually inferior to his younger brother. 例2. 他年龄比我小。

He is junior to me.

4. 用表示程度、限度、次序或位置的介词

例1. 他在班上比我强。

He is above me in the class. 例2. 我的成就比你的小。

My attainments are below yours. 例3. 这本书仅次于那本书。

After that book, this book is good. 例4. 他在学习上比他的弟弟差。

He is behind his younger brother in his studies.

7.4 数的比较

1. 表示数的比较之差，在英语中常用表示差数的介词by接数词

例1. 今年小麦产量比去年多4500万吨。

This year's yield of wheat exceeds last year's by 45 million tons. 例2. 她在女子单打中以3:0取胜。

She won by 3:0 in women's singles.

例3. 这座高耸入云的摩天大楼比它附近的教堂尖塔还高九英尺。 The cloud-kissing skyscraper is taller by nine feet (or: nine feet taller) than the church spire in its vicinity. 例4. 他只差两分钟没赶上班机。

He missed the airliner by two minutes.

2. 倍数

在汉语中，表示倍数的增加，如果包括基数在内(即表示增加后的结果)，可以说“是??n倍(n代表任何数)”、“增加到n倍”；如果不包括基数在内(即表示纯增加倍数)可以说“增加了n-1倍”、“比??大n-1倍”。这两种说法正好相差一倍，英译时必须注意辨明。

1) 增加的倍数如果包括基数在内，即“增加到n倍”、“是??的n倍”，英译时用下列结构表示：

(i) increase (be, rise, grow, go up, multiply...) + 倍数 例1. 1990年以来，我厂的产量已增加到4倍。

The output of our factory has increased four times since 1990. 例2. 1990年以来，电子产品的销售量已增加到6倍。

The sales of electronic products have multiplied six times since 1990. 例3. 试管A内的气体体积是试管B内气体体积的3倍。

The volume of gas in tube A is three times that in tube B. (ii) 倍数 + as + 形容词或副词 + as... 例4. 氧原子的重量几乎是氢原子的16倍。

The oxygen atom is nearly 16 times as heavy as the hydrogen atom. 例5. 水中的声速约为空气中的4倍。

The speed of sound in water is about four times as great as in air. 例6. 水银的重量是同样体积水的13.5倍。

Mercury weighs 13.5 times as much as an equal volume of water.

2) 增加的倍数如果不包括基数在内，即“增加了n-1倍”英译时用下列结构表示： (i) increase (grow, go up, rise, multiply...) + 表示差数的介词by + 倍数 例1. 煤产量比1990年增加了3倍。

The coal output has increased by three times as against 1990. 例2. 今年我国工业的产值比去年增加了3倍。

This year the value of our industrial output has increased by three times as compared with that of last year.

(ii) 倍数 + 比较级(more, better, larger, higher, greater...) + than... 例3. 这种机器的耗油量比那种类型的多3倍。

This type of machine uses three times more fuel oil than that type does. 例4. 这个图书馆已经完全自动化和电脑化，它比那个资料中心大4倍。

This library has been thoroughly robotized and computerized. It is four times larger than that information center.

3. 数量减少

1) 表示纯减少的数量，即“减少了??”、“降低了??”时，用表示减少意义的动词reduce (fall, drop, lower, bring down, lessen, decrease...)+表示差数的介词by+数字。例如：

例1. 收音机的成本降低了60%。

The cost of radio receivers decreased by 60%. 例2. 化肥、农药的价格降低了1/3。

Prices for chemical fertilizer and insecticides have dropped by one-third. 例3. 利润减少了1/4。

The profit was lessened by one-fourth. 2) 表示“减少到??”、“降低到??”，用表示减少意义的动词+介词to+数字。例如： 例1. 采用这种新工艺，金属耗损降到20%。

By using this new process, the loss of metal was reduced to 20%. 例2. 由于节食，他把体重降到了232磅。

As a result of his dieting, his weight was reduced to a mere 232 pounds.

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