英语名词性从句包括主语从句, 宾语从句, 表语从句和同位语从句, 在翻译这类从句时, 大多数可以按照原文的句序翻译成相应的汉语, 但是也有一些具体的处理方法, 下面我们结合一些实例加以说明：
例1.How well the prediction will be validated by later performance depends upon the amount, reliability, and appropriateness of the information used and on the skill and wisdom with which it is interpreted. (95年考题) 这些预测能在多大程度上被后来的成绩所证实取决于所使用的信息的量可靠性和适合程度, 并取决于对信息作出解释的技能和智慧主语从句
例2.It is often said that wide reading is the best alternative course of action but even here it is necessary to make some kinds of selection. 人们常说, 大量阅读是可供选择的最佳方案, 但即使在这一方面, 也需要某些选择主语从句
例3.And it is imagined by many that the operations of the common mind can by no means be compared with these processes, and that they have to be acquired by a sort of special training. (93年考题) 许多人认为, 普通人的思维活动根本无法与科学的思维相比, 认为这些思维过程必须经过某种专门的训练才能掌握主语从句
例4.From the end of the Second World War until very recently, it was generally accepted in Britain that the State should provide a full range of free educational facilities from nursery schools to universities. 从第二次世界大战结束直到最近, 英国人普遍接受这样一个观点, 即: 国家应该提供从幼儿园到大学的全方位的免费教育设施主语从句(注意: 此句翻译中增加了“观点”一词, 并使用了“即”一词, 使得汉语译文非常通顺)
例5.He believes that the highly mobile American society leaves individuals with feelings of rootlessness, isolation, indifference to community welfare, and shallow personal relationships.他认为, 流动性很大的美国社会留给个人的感觉是没有根基孤立对社会福利漠不关心和个人关系淡漠宾语从句
例6.Some people think that it is a shame that a censor should interfere with works of art. (83年考题) 有些人认为审查员审查文艺作品是不光彩的事宾语从句
例7.It is virtually impossible to imagine that universities, hospitals, large business or even science and technology could have come into being without cities to support them. (87年试题)如果没有城市的支持, 简直难以想象会有大学医院和大企业, 甚至连科学技术也不会有宾语从句
例8.We fail to learn that pain is the body?s way of informing the mind that we are doing something wrong, not necessarily that something is wrong. 我们不知道, 人体只是用疼痛这种方式通知大脑, 我们的行为出了差错, 而并非一定健康有问题宾语从句
例9.You have all heard it repeated that men of science work by means of induction and deduction, that by the help of these operations, they, in a sort of sense, manage to extract from Nature certain natural laws, and that out of these by some special skill of their own, they build up their theories. (93年考题) 你们都多次听说过, 科学家是用归纳法和演绎法工作的, 他们用这种方法, 在某中意义上说, 力求从自然界找出某些自然规律, 然后, 他们根据这些规律, 用自己的某种非同一般的本领, 建立起他们的理论宾语从句
例10.One aspect of analogies is that they are limited by the scientific understanding of the time. 类比存在的一个问题在于类比受所处时代的科学理解水平的限制表语从句
例11.A even more possibility is that the dark matter is composed of sub-atomic articles left over the Big Bang that is believed to have sparked the creation of the universe. 另外一种可能是: 那些黑色物体是由“大碰撞”遗留的逊原子微粒组成据认为“大碰撞”创造了宇宙表语从句 researched, but as yet little understood. 人类的语言是如何发展起来的, 是什么时候形成的, 诸如黑猩猩和大猩猩一类的动物是否会形成一种更加复杂的交流系统, 都是现阶段人们研究的课题, 但对此人们都知之甚少主语从句
例12.Galieo?s greatest glory was that in 1609 he was the first person to turn the newly invented telescope on the heavens to prove that the planets revolve around the sun rather than around the Earth. (94年考题) 伽利略的最光辉的业绩在于他在1609年第一个把新发明的望远镜对准天空, 以证实行星是围绕太阳旋转, 而不是围绕地球表语从句
例13.Unfortunately, Plato?s analogy misses an important characteristic of memory, namely it is selective. 令人遗憾的是, 柏拉图所作的类比忽视了记忆的一个重要特性, 即记忆是有选择性的同位语从句
例14.In spite of the fact that the authors who dealt with women?s issues prior to 1949 agreed in principle that reforms had to be instituted, the outlook they depicted for reform was bleak. 尽管1949年以前研究妇女问题的作者原则上同意改革势在必行, 但他们为改革描绘的前景却是暗淡的同位语从句(注意在本句的译文中, 省略了fact一词)
定语从句可以分为限制性定语从句和非限制性定语从句两种,两类定语从句在翻译方法上基本类似, 因此我们把它们放在一起介绍在翻译定语从句时,我们经常采用下列的翻译方法:
一、前置法
把英语原文的定语从句翻译成带“的”的定语词组, 放置于被修饰的词之前, 将英语原文的复合句翻译成汉语的简单句, 这种方法一般用于限制性定语从句比较短的情况一些较短的具有描述性的非限制性定语从句也可采用前置法, 但没有限制性定语从句使用得普遍例如:
例1.For example, one function of friendship seems to fulfill is that it supports the image we have of ourselves, and confirms the value of the attitudes we hold. 例如, 友谊的一个作用似乎是支持我们在自己心目中的形象, 并使我们持有的价值观念更加坚定
例2.The first two must be equal for all who are being compared, if any comparison in terms of intelligence is to be made. (92年考题) 如果要从智力方面进行任何比较的话, 那么对所有被比较者来说, 前两个因素必须是一样的
例3.The first method is to give a synonym, a word that has nearly the same meaning as the word you wish to define: face for countenance, nervousness for anxiety. 第一种方法是同义词法, 即给出一个与需要释义的词在意义上几乎相同的, 如用face表示countenance, 用nervousness表示anxiety.
例4.Behaviourists, in contrast, say that difference in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often deprived of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy. (90年考题) 相反, 行为主义者认为, 成绩的差异是由于黑人常常被剥夺了白人在教育及其他外界环境方面所享有的许多有利条件而造成的
例5.The method of scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of the necessary mode of working of the human mind; it is simply the mode by which all phenomena are reasoned about and given precise and exact explanations. (94年考题) 科学研究的方法不过是人类思维活动的必要表达方式, 也就是对一切现象进行思考并给以精确而严谨解释的表达方式
例6.A youngster who has no playmates of his age living nearby may benefit greatly from attending nursery school. 附近没有同龄伙伴和自己玩的儿童上托儿所可以得到很多的益处
二、后置法
当定语从句较长时, 如果翻译成前置的定语, 就会不符合汉语的表达习惯, 在这种情况下, 往往把该定语从句翻译成并列的分句, 放置于原来它所修词的后面另外在处理此类定语从句时, 一般遵循的原则是: 若保留先行词, 则在第二个分句中加以重复, 若省略, 则两个并列分句中均不再保留当然, 在实际的翻译过程中也有例外：
例1.All the water that flows through the wide pipe in a second must somehow get through a narrow part too, which it can do only by going faster. 在一秒钟内流过粗管子的全部水量, 一定会以某种方式通过细管子, 这只有靠加快流速才能做到
例2.Perhaps light is some sort of electric wave, whose nature we do not yet understand.也许,光是某种电波,其性质我们尚不清楚
例3.They are striving for the ideal which is close to the heart of every Chinese and for which, in the past, many Chinese have laid down their lives.他们正在为实现一个理想而努力, 这个理想是每个中国人所珍爱的, 在过去,许多中国人曾为了这个理想而牺牲了自己的生命
例4.This will be particularly true since energy pinch will make it difficult to continue agriculture in high-energy American fashion that makes it possible to combine few farmers with high yields. (91年考题) 这种困境将是确定无疑的, 因为能源的匮乏使农业无法以高能量消耗这种美国耕种方法继续下去了, 而这种耕种方式使投入少数农民就可获得高产成为可能
例5.“In short”, a leader of the new school attends, “the scientific revolution, as we call it, was largely the improvement and invention and use of a series of instruments that expanded the reach of science in innumerable directions.” (94年考题) 新学派的一位领袖人物坚持说:“简而言之, 我们所称谓的科学革命, 主要指一系列器具的改进发明和使用, 这些改进发明和使用使科学发展的范围无所不及
例6.The food supply will not increase nearly enough to match this, which means that we are heading into a crisis in the matter of producing and marketing food. (91年考题) 食品的供应将赶不上人口的增长, 这就意味着我们在粮食的生产和购销方面正陷入危机
三、翻译成状语从句
英语中有些定语从句, 兼有状语从句的职能, 在逻辑上(即意义上)与主句有状语关系, 说明原因结果让步假设等关系, 翻译时应善于从英语原文的字里行间发现这些逻辑上的关系, 然后翻译成汉语中相应的偏正复合句例如:
例1.He did not remember his father who died when he was three years old. 他不记得他父亲了, 因为他父亲死时他才三岁
例2.However, iceberg water could be extremely cheap for some countries when compared with desalination, a process which requires much more fuel and much more money. 不过, 对某些国家来讲, 用冰山化水比海水脱盐相比, 费用可能极为便宜, 因为脱盐过程需要更多燃料和更多的资金
例3.Anyone who thinks that rational knowledge need not be derived from perceptual knowledge is an idealist.如果认为理性知识不必由感性知识得来, 那他就是一个唯心主义者
例4.…it was not until sixty years ago that a method of extracting aluminum ore was found which could lead to a cheap large-scale process. (88年考题) ……直到60年前人们才找到开采铝矿的方法, 从而使低成本大规模冶炼金属铝成为可能
例5.In office, figures, lists and information are compiled which tell the managers or heads of the business what is happening in their shops or factories. (85年考题) 在办公室里, 工作人员将各种数据表格和信息加以汇编, 以便让经理或主管人员了解他们的商店或工厂目前正在发生的情况
例6.Liquids, which contains no free electrons, are poor conductors of heat. 各种液体, 由于不含有自由电子, 是热的不良导体
我们讲了定语从句的各种翻译方法在这里我们还需要提醒大家在翻译含有定语从句的句子时我们应该特别注意在分析句子的结构上面下工夫务必要搞清定语从句所修饰的先行词是哪一个下面我们结合一个实例加以说明In fact a basic amount of movement occurs during sleep which is specifically concerned with preventing muscle inactivity. 曾经有人把这个句子翻译为事实上在睡眠期间仍有一定基本量的活动这种睡眠特别与防止肌肉活动有关
在判断上述翻译的正误之前我们首先分析一下这个句子中的定语从句所修饰的先行词在这个句子中which引导的定语从句有两个可能被修饰的成分a basic amount of movement和sleep, 一般来讲定语从句往往修饰离它最近的那个名词但是在这个句子中却不是这样因为如果是修饰sleep, 我们就会翻译成上面的句子但是从句子的意义来看讲不通因此这个定语从句是修饰前面的a basic amount of movement应该翻译为：事实上在睡眠期间仍有一定基本量的活动这种活动特别与防止肌肉活动中断有关。
由此我们可以看出确定定语从句的先行词是极为重要的做出正确的判断的关键在于分析句子的结构和熟悉划线的句子所出现的上下文另外我们还需要注意一些比较复杂的定语从句结构也就是那些定语从句里又含有定语从句的情况在翻译这类句子时我们应该注意灵活运用我们在前面讲述的一些翻译技巧尤其要注意分析各个定语从句之间的关系例如：
Behaviourists suggest that the child who is raised in an environment where there are many stimuli which develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will experience greater intellectual development. (90年考题)
上面句子的骨干结构为Behaviourists suggest that the child … will experience … development, 这是一个复合句在that所引导的宾语从句中在主语child的后面是一个由who引导的定语从句在在这个定语从句中又有一个由where引导的定语从句修饰前面的名词environment, 然后在这个定语从句中又有一个由which引导的定语从句修饰前面的名词stimuli, 这就构成了一个一套三的定语从句结构在翻译成汉语时考虑到定语从句太长我们需要将个别的定语从句分开来翻译这样我们可以将此句翻译为：行为主义者认为如果一个儿童在有许多刺激物的环境中成长而这些刺激物能够发展其作出适当反应的能力那么这个儿童将会有更高的智力发展。
