二,形容词有关的词性转换
在我们印象中,形容词一般都是以“…的”的形式出现的,但也有很多情况,译为“的”并不恰当,下面一起看看形容词的这些“变形”吧。
1. 形容词译为动词
(1)英语中有一些表示知觉,情绪(如捉急,感激,抱歉,怀疑,害怕)等心理状态的形容词,放在am/is/are之后,介词短语或不定式之前,作表语时,常常译为动词,如:
①She's thankful to be alive.
她庆幸自己能活着。
②She was deeply ashamed of her behavior at the party.
她对自己在聚会上的行为深感羞愧。
③Are you afraid of spiders?
你怕蜘蛛吗?
此外还有像aware, ignorant, sure,confident等等也是这样翻译的。
(2)有些时候,根据语境我们也可以将某些形容词译为动词如:
For some buildings a vertical section is more informative than a plan.
有些建筑的立面图能比平面图提供更多的信息。
(informative本身意思“提供信息的; 增长见闻的”中就含有动词)
2. 形容词转译为名词
主要有以下几种几种情况:
(1)the +形容词,表示某一类人
如the old, the rich, the poor, the former, the latter
(2)某些表特征的形容词用在am/is /are之后作表语时,可译为“…性”“…度”如:
①These regulations are elastic.
这些规定是有弹性的。
②This makes none of the lines readable and the continuity of the text is utterly destroyed.
这样使得没有一行文本具有可读性,文本的连续性彻底破坏了。
(3)其他情况下,有时出于行文需要,形容词也可以译为名词如:
①Official speeches in recent days have been larded with promises of democracy.
近日官方在讲话中满口对民主的承诺。
②He is silly.
他是个傻子。
3. 英语形容词转译为汉语副词
(1)当某个形容词修饰的名词转译为动词时,此形容词相应地转译为副词,如
Have a keen sense of(强烈地感到)take full consideration(充分地考虑)
①All of this proves that we must have a profound study of properties of metals.
所有这一切证明我们必须深入地研究金属的特性.
(2)出于行文需要,形容词译为副词
②Men feel perfectly free to pronounce on the way women should look.
男人随心所欲地对女性美的标准发表看法。
(形容词free在此译为“随心所欲地,自由地”)
三. 形容词的一词多义
除了词性转化,还有一种自动变身的词,即多义词,比如sharp:
Sharp teeth=锋利的牙齿
Sharp boy=聪明的男孩
sharp drop=骤降
a sharp outline=清晰的轮廓
sharp taste=刺鼻的味道
sharp criticism=尖锐的批评
sharp eyes=敏锐的眼睛
对于这类词,大家平时要多做积累,学会根据不同语境灵活处理。
四. 形容词分句的转译
当一个形容词或形容词短语起分句的作用时,可译为汉语的定语/谓语/状语,或分句如:
①Short of money,they can’t do any experiments.
由于缺乏资金,他们什么实验也做不了。
(形容词分句起到解释原因的作用,译为原因状语从句)
②Bob ,full of enthusiasm, said “hurry up! I am so excited about what we are going to do!”
鲍勃热情极高。他说:“快点!我好兴奋!”
(原句中的形容词短语译为谓语)
④I tried vainly to forget her.
我想忘记她,可是却怎么也做不到。
以上我们讲到了形容词及形容词短语在翻译时的几种“变形”,形容词在英语里是两个非常活跃的词类,其词义往往会根据搭配不同而变化,并且它的用法也非常灵活,翻译是注意结合上下文,找出最合适的译法。另外,本篇不仅适合英译汉,汉译英也一样适用哦~
下一篇: On the fence?
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