浅谈英语长句的汉语翻译

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浅谈英语长句的汉语翻译[Abstract]TheaimofthisessayistotellushowtotranslateEnglishlongsentencesintoChinesecorrectlyandprecisely.ItcontainsthecomparisonbetweenEnglishandChineselongsentences,anddefinesEnglishlongsentence.ThecommontypesofEnglishlongsentencesareclassifiedintheessay,anditalsoexplainswhyandwherelongEnglishsentencesareusedrespectively.Inthethirdpartoftheessay,weproposesthestepsandmethodsintranslatinglongEnglishsentence.Inconclusionpart,wepointsoutthekeytobecomeagoodtranslatoristoreadandpracticeasmuchaspossible,andalsomentionsthesimilarwaysintranslatingChineselongsentencestoEnglish.[KeyWords]longsentences;understanding;expressing;translating【摘要】本论文主要是向大家介绍如何准确到位的将英语长句翻译为中文。作者比较了中英文句子结构和表达的不同特点，同时对英语长句作了定义，对常见的几种英文长句作了说明，并且分别介绍了英语长句发生的原因和背景。在论文第三部分作者提出了翻译英语长句的步骤与方法。在结论部分，作者指出成为一个好的译者关键是多读多练，同时也提出了将中文长句翻译成英文相似的方法。【关键词】长句；理解；表达；翻译1.IntroductionEnglish-Chinesetranslationisaprocesswhichrequiresadetailedanalysisoftheoriginalsentencesinsuchaspectsasmeaning,structureandlogic,andwhich,asaresult,needsalongtimeofpracticetoperfect.However,translationismademoredifficultandcomplexbyfrequentappearanceoflongsentencesinthetwolanguages.Inthisessay,wediscusshowwecandevelopskillsinlongsentencetranslation.Whatisalongsentence?Alongsentenceisonewithseveralattributives,subordinateandadverbialclauses,whichareinterdependentonandlinkedtoeachother.Longsentencesarecharacterizedbyfrequentuseofattributiveandadverbialclauses,compoundstructure,parenthesisanddanglingstructure.Besides,whatmakeslongsentencesdifficulttotranslateisthefactthatChineseandEnglishmenhavedifferentthinkinghabit,whichnaturallyleadstotheirdifferencesinwaysofexpressionandsentencestructure.Thus,theemphasisofthisessayisonacomparisonbetweenthestructuresofEnglishandChinesesentences.ReasonswhythisessayisonacomparisonbetweenthestructuresofEnglisharealsodiscussed,andthetypesofarticleswherelongsentencesfrequentlyappearareshowntothereaders.Thepriorityofthisessayisgiventothesteps,whichshouldbetaken,andthemethodstobeusedinlongsentencetranslationandviceversa.2.ComparisonbetweenEnglishandChinesesentences2.1CommontypesoflongsentencesinEnglish   Generally,therearevarioustypesoflongsentences,whicharedifferentinstructures.2.1.1“Sentenceswithattributiveclauses[1]P565--583   Onecommontypeoflongsentenceisonewithattributiveclauses.Whatisanattributiveclause? Anattributiveclauseisoneusedafteranountomodifythenoun.Attributiveclauses,althoughsharingthesimilarityofbeingmodifiers,aredifferentaccordingtotheirrelationshipwiththemainclause,andcanbedividedintoseveraltypes.(i).AttributiveclausesuggestingcauseoreffectAnimportanttypeofattributiveclauseistheonesthatsuggestcauseoreffect.Intranslatingalongsentencewiththistypeofattributiveclause,therelationshipoftheattributiveclausewiththemainclause-whetheritisthecauseoreffectofthemainclause-shouldbedeterminedfirst.Then,basedonitsfunction,aproperconjunctivewordshouldbechoseninordertoshowthereadertherelationshipofthetwoclauses.“ThereasonfordeterminingtherelationshipfirstisthatEnglishisalanguagewhichusesalargenumberofdifferentstructurestoshowtherelationshipbetweenclauses,whileinChinesesentences,wordsareemployedshowthereaderstherelationshipbetweenclauses.”[2]P120Touseanexampletoclarifytheprocess,(1)Theimprovementinhishealthresultedfromthephysicalexerciseshedideverymorning.Inthissentence,theattributiveclauseis“hedideverymorning”.Afterreadingthesentence,wecanfindoutthatthefactthat“hedidexerciseseveryday”isthereasonfor“hisimprovementinhealth”,thus,inEnglishChinesetranslationweshouldchoosetheChineseequivalenceof“because”tobeusedbeforetheattributiveclausetosuggesttherelationshipbetweentheattributiveandthemainclause,ThisEnglishsentencecanbetranslateinChinese,因为他每天早晨都锻炼，所以身体好了很多。(ii).AttributiveclausesuggestingtimeAttributiveclausesometimesisusedtoshowthemainclause.Intranslatingthistypeofattributiveclauses,ananalysisoftherelationshipbetweenthemainandattributiveclausesisnecessarysoastochooseaproperChineseequivalenceoftheword“when”,“after”or“before”.(2)Atseven,hewentuptolookatJohn,whowassleepingatthattime.Inthissentence,theattributiveclause“whowassleepingatthattime”canberegardedasthetimewhentheactioninthemainclausetookplace.Asaresult,weshouldtranslatetheattributiveclauseasatimeadverbialclause,andtheChineseequivalenceoftheword“when”shouldbeputbeforetheattributiveclausetosuggestthetime.(iii).AttributiveclausesuggestingtransitionturnAttributiveclausecanalsobeusedtosuggesttransitionturn.Inthiscase,theChineseequivalenceoftheword“but”shouldbeputbeforetheattributiveclauses.Considerthefollowingsentence,(3)Hedidn’twanttoseehiswife,who,unexpectedly,camebackaftertwodays.Afterreadingthissentence,itiseasyforustofindoutthattheattributiveclause“who,unexpectedly,camebackaftertwodays”shouldberegardedasaturningpointofthemainclause,soitisequaltothissentenceinmeaning“Hedidn’twanttoseehiswife,butshecamebackaftertwodays.”Thus,intranslatingthissentence,weshouldputtheChineseequivalenceoftheword“but”beforetheattributiveclause”.2.1.2Adverbialclause“TheuseofadverbialclausescanalsoresultinlongEnglishsentences.Adverbialclausesarethoseusedtosuggesttime,placeorreasonofthemainclauses.Adverbialclausescanbeputeitherbeforeorafterthemainclauses,andthespecificrelationshipbetweenthemainclauseandthe adverbialclausecanbeeasilyidentifiedbecausetherelationshipisclearlysuggestedbythedifferentwordusedbeforetheadverbialclause.”[3]P563Forinstance,anadverbialclausebeginningwiththeword“when”naturallysuggeststime,andonewiththeword“because”impliescause.Comparedwithattributiveclause,adverbialclauseisgenerallyeasiertotranslate.IntranslatingtheEnglishsentenceintoChinese,theadverbialclausesaremostlyputaheadofthemainclausesinChinese.Wecanlookatthefollowingsentences,(4)“Pleaseturnoffthelightwhenyouleavetheroom.”[4]P140Intranslatingthissentence,weshouldputtheadverbialclausewhenyouleavetheroombeforethemainclauseaccordingtothecommonwayofexpressioninChinese.2.1.3Compoundsentence“Compoundsentencesareoftenlongsentencesbecauseacompoundsentenceusuallyincludestwoclauses.What,however,makescompoundsentencesdifferentfromotherlongsentencesisthatthetwoclausesineachcompoundsentenceplayanequallyimportantroleinthesentence.Compoundsentencesusuallysuggestasequenceofactionsthattakeplaceoneafteranother,andthewordsmostlycommonlyusedtoconnectthetwoclausesinacompoundsentenceare“and”and“but”.”[5]P483(5)Sheworkedhard,butshefailedinthefinalexam.Afterreadingthissentence,themeaningisquiteapparenttousbecausethestructureofcompoundsentencesisthesameasthatofmostChinesesentences.Naturally,intranslatingcompoundsentences,wejustneedtotranslateitwithoutchangingthestructureoftheoriginalsentence.2.1.4ParenthesisParenthesisisanotherattributiontolargequantitiesoflongsentencesinEnglish.“InanEnglishsentence,theparenthesiscanbeaword,aphrase,orasentence,andbeforetranslatingthesentenceweshouldfirstfindouttherelationshipoftheparenthesiswiththemainsentenceanditsfunctioninaneffortthatthetranslatedversioncomplieswiththeChinesewayofexpression.”[6]P612-616 (6)Hegetsupearlyeverymorning,whetheritissummerorwinter,todoexercises.Similarly,intranslatingthissentence,puttheparenthesis“whetheritissummerorwinter”atthebeginning,followedbythemainsentence“Hegetsupearlyeverymorningtodoexercises.”2.2DifferencesinEnglishandChinesesentencestructures2.2.1DifferenceinwaysofthinkingDifferentpeopleshavedifferentwaysofthinking,sotheirlanguages,whichareusedtoexpresspeople’sthoughts,arealsodifferent.“InEnglish,resultsareusuallygivenaheadofthecauses,whileinChinese,causesappearbeforetheireffects.ThisisbecauseChinesepeopleputemphasisonthenaturalorderoftheverbsaccordingtothetimetheactionstakeplace. Forexample,(7)Tragediescanbewritteninliteraturesincethereistragedyinlife.生活中既有悲剧，文学作品就可以写悲剧。”[7]P199Andlookatthisexample,(8)Hebegantoreadabookafterhavingsupper.Afterreadingthissentence,wecanidentifythattheactionhavingsuppertakesplacebeforetheactionreadabook,butinthesentence,thelatterisputbeforetheformer.SointranslatingEnglish sentencefirstcarefullyfindoutthetimesequenceoftheverbs,andthenputthemintoChineseaccordingtothetimesequence,asistheChinesewayofexpression.2.2.2Differenceintheuseofprepositions“R.Banderusedtosay:“Aprepositionmaybedefinedasaconnectingwordshowingtherelationofanounorsubstituteforanountosomeotherwordinthesentence.…PrepositionsappearconstantlyinEnglishspeechandwriting.…”Likethesentences,(9)Theanycolorsofarainbowrangefromredontheoutsidetovioletontheinside.彩虹有多种颜色，外圈红，内圈紫。”[8]P50-51Englishsentencescannotwithoutpreposition,butChinesesentencesarenotuseoromitpreposition.2.2.3DifferenceinrelativepronounRelativepronounisaveryimportantpartinEnglish,butinChinesethere’renosuchwordsasrelativepronouns.Relativepronounsarefrequentlyusedinsubordinateclauses,suchasobjectsubordinateclauseandattributiveclause.Incomparison,pronounsareusedinsteadofrelativepronouns.(10)SheturnedtoTom,whowaswatchingTV. 她转向汤姆，而他正在看电视。2.2.4DifferentorientationsofChineseEnglishsentences“Chineseischaracterizedbyitsemphasisonmeaning,whileEnglish,onthecontrary,paymuchmoreattentiontostructureandlogicofthesentence.Areader,whilereadingaChinesesentenceorarticle,musttryhardtofindoutitsmeaning,butthemeaningofEnglishsentencesismuchclearerbecauseitsstructuremakesthemeaningquiteclear.”[9]P53/58(11)Hesteppedrightinafterthem,likeitornot,andhewasdeterminedthatnothingasprettyasgoodmannersshouldkeephimfromachanceofenlightenment.他不管人家欢迎不欢迎，紧跟着他们走了进去。什么礼貌不礼貌，他顾不得这一套了。他决心不错过这个机会，把心里的问题弄明白。AdetailedcomparisonbetweentheabovetwosentenceswillshowhowtheEnglishsentences,ingeneral,differfromeachother.2.2.5Differentrelationofclauses“AnotherbigdifferencebetweenEnglishandChinesesentencesliesinthemorefrequentuseofclausesinEnglishthaninChinese.ThestructureofanEnglishsentencecanbecomparedtoa“grapevine”,whichmeansthatmanywordsinaEnglishsentencehavetheirownclause.Incontrast,thewordsinatypicalChinesesentencedon’thavetheirclauses,butappearintimesequence,eachplayingequallyimportantroleintheChinesesentence.”[10]P43(12)Lily,whoisaveryactivegirlatschool,becomesquietassoonasshearriveshome,whichmakesherparentsquitepuzzled.莉莉在学校里非常活跃，但一回到家却变得很安静，这让她的父母感到很迷惑。IntheaboveEnglishsentences,therearetwoattributiveclausestomodifytwosegmentsinthesentence,whileintheChinesesentence,allthesentencesareequallyimportantandcomeoneafteranotherintimesequence.3.StepsandmethodsinlongEnglishsentencetranslationLongsentencesmakeupalargeportioninEnglish,andthereareseveralreasonsforitsfrequentappearance. 3.1ReasonsforfrequentappearanceoflongEnglishsentences3.1.1FrequentuseofmodifiersComparedwithChinese,modifiersaremuchmorefrequentlyusedinEnglish,suchasattributiveclauses,adverbialclausesandappositives.ButinChinese,thespecificnounsarenotmodified,butareexplainedbyemployinganotherindependentsentence.(13)Thesestudents,whorarelydoanyhouseworkathome,willserveaswaitersintherestaurantneartheschool,whichdrawsalargenumberofcustomerseveryday.Themainstructureofthissentenceis“thestudentswillbewaitersintherestaurant”,butthesentenceismadelongbytheuseoftwoattributiveclauses,oneofwhichistomodifytheword“students”,andtheotherofwhich“therestaurant”.ButinChinese,thissentencewillbeputasfollowed.这些学生在家几乎不做家务，而他们将要到学校附近的一家餐馆去当侍者，而这家餐馆每天食客云集。WecanseethatthesingleEnglishsentenceisseparatedintothreeclauses,eachexpressingaspecificmeaningwithoutemployinganysubordinateclauses.3.1.2Complexstructures“ComparedwithChinese,inwhichverbsarearrangedintimesequence,Englishsentencesaremuchmorecomplexwiththeuseofvariousclauses,parenthesis,appositivesandprepositions.ChinesestudentsusuallyfindithardtoidentifythemainstructureoflongEnglishsentences,soitisnecessaryandquitehelpfultolearnthesegmentsthatmakethesimplesentenceslong.”[11]P61(14)He,insteadofstandingback,walkedforwardtofacetheaccuser,withotherslookingathiminastonishmentaswellaspuzzlement.ThisisatypicallongEnglishsentencewithcomplexstructures.AstudentwithoutathoroughknowledgeofEnglishgrammarisboundtofailtounderstanditsmeaning.Tounderstandlongsentences,astudyofEnglishgrammarisrequired,andalargeamountofreadingofalltypesofarticlesinEnglishisalsoveryhelpful.3.2TypesoflongsentenceswritingInordertoknowbetterhowtotranslatelongsentences,itisnecessarytoknowthetypesofwritingswherelongsentencesaremostfrequentlyused.Generally,longsentencesfrequentlyappearinofficialdocuments,scientificreports,andnewspapers.(i).LawdocumentsThereasonwhylongsentencesarefrequentlyusedinlawdocumentsisthatlongsentencesaremoreformalcomparedwithshorterones,andofficialdocumentsmustbewritteninaformaltoneandstyle.Forexample,(15)“Anyclause,covenantoragreementinacontractofcarriagerelievingthecarrierortheshipfromliabilityforlessordamageto,orinconnectionwith,goodsarisingfromnegligence,fault,orfailureindutiesandobligationsprovidedinthisarticleorlesseningsuchliabilityotherwisethanprovidedintheserulesshallbenullandvoidandofnoeffect.”[12]P256(ii).ScientificdocumentsLongsentencesalsomakeupalargeportioninscientificdocument,suchastechnologyspecifications.Wecanlookthetypicalexample.(16)“Butitisrealizedthatsuppliesofsomeofthemarelimited,anditisevenpossibletogiveareasonableestimateoftheir“expectationoflife”,thetimeitwilltaketoexhaustallknownsources andreservesofthesematerial.”[13]P6(iii).NewspapersNewspapersusuallyarequiteabundantinlongsentences,butnotallkindsofarticlesinnewspapersarelong-sentence-oriented.Onlyformaltypesofarticles,suchasarticlesaboutpolitics,economy,sports,economyandcultureusealotoflongsentencesnormally.Forexample,(17)“TheChinaBandingRegulatoryCommission(CBRC)alsosaidonFridaymorereformmeasuresareinthepipelinethisyear,includingpressingaheadwithjoint-stockreformsoftheIndustrialandCommercialBankofChina(ICBC),broadeningreformsofruralcreditcooperationandinitiatingkeyreformmeasurestothepostalsavingssystem.”[14]P4ThereasonforfrequentappearanceoflongsentencesinEnglishhasbeenanalyzed.ThenwhatarethecommonwaysoftranslatinglongsentencesinEnglish?Regardlessofwhichkindsofarticlescontainlongsentences,therearecommonstepsandmethodsintranslatinglongEnglishsentences.Generally,thestepstakenshouldbe,first,understandingthestructureandmeaningofthesentencecorrectly,and,second,expressingoutthesamemeaninginChineseinanaturalwayofexpression.3.3StepsintranslatinglongEnglishsentencesThestepsthatshouldbetakenintranslationareunderstandingandexpressing.Astrictadherencetothisprinciplewouldbesuretomakethetranslationprocessmucheasier.3.3.1Understanding“Understandingisthefirstandalsothemostimportantstepintranslationoflongsentences.Aslongsentencesareusuallyquitehardtounderstandbecauseoftheirbeingcomplex,correctunderstandingoftheoriginalsentenceisdirectlylinkedtocorrecttranslationwithoutchangingthemeaningoftheoriginalsentence.TounderstandalongEnglishsentencethusrequiresananalysisofthemainstructure,theexactmeaningofspecificwordsthattendtobemisunderstood,distinguishingthemainclausesfromthesubordinateclauses,identifyingthelogicofdifferentsegmentsineachclause,and,finallyandmostimportantly,findingoutthecorrectmeaningofthesentence.”[15]P13(i).Findoutthe“trunk”ofthesentenceBy“trunk”,wemeanthemainstructureofthewholesentence.ZhangYanholdtheviewthat“Findingoutthemainstructureofthesentenceisquiteimportantbecausethisoftenhelpsthereaderidentifywhichclausesareusedtomodifywhich,andthefunctionandrelationofeachclause.Inaword,themainstructureofsentenceincludessubject,verbandobject(ifthereisanyobjectinthesentence).Asubjectisalwaysanoun,indicatingthedoeroftheactionoftheverb;averbalwaysindicatesanaction;anobjectisusedtoindicatethebeareroftheaction.AtypicalEnglishsentencemustcontainasubjectandaverb,andtheobjectcanbeomittedifnotneeded.What’smore,eachEnglishsentenceshouldonlycontainonemainstructure.”[16]P121(18)Eachcommentfromher,whichseemedquitedisappointingtoeveryoneelse,madeTom,however,veryexited.Themainstructureofthissentenceis“eachcommentmadeTomexited.”Ifreaderscanseparatethemainstructurefromtheoriginalsentence,thenthemeaningofthisseeminglycomplexlongEnglishsentencebecomesquiteclear.”(ii).Analyzethemeaningofimportantwords Afterfindingoutthemainstructure,whatthetranslatorshoulddoistoidentifythecorrectmeaningofthewordsthatseemtohavesomedifferentmeanings.InEnglish,therealsoexistsomewordsthatmayhavedifferentmeaningsaccordingtothecontextinwhichthewordsareused.Thus,thetranslatorneedstoidentifythemeaningofthewordsinthesentence.Themostefficientwayistoconsultthedictionarytofindoutthedifferentmeaningsawordmayhaveandthedifferentcircumstancesthewordisusedaccordingtotheirmeaning.Thisstepisespeciallyimportantinunderstandingthemeaningoftheimportantwordsinthesentences.             (19)Heheardagirlcryingoutside.Inthissentence,thewordwhichhastwowaysofunderstandingistheword“crying”.Asweknow,theword“cry”hastwomeanings:onebeingtheactionofsheddingtears,andtheotherbeingtheactionofshouting.Tofindoutwhichisthecorrectmeaningoftheword“cry”inthissentence,thereaderneedstotakethewholecontextintoconsiderationbecausethespecificmeaningofaworddependsonthewholecontext.(iii)IdentifysubordinateclauseAfterfindingoutthemainstructureandmeaningofthewordsinasentence,subordinateclausesmustalsobeidentifiedtofindouttherelationbetweenthesubordinateclausesandthewordsandthemainclause.Asisknown,eachsubordinateclausehasitsownfunction,eithertomodifyaspecificword,ortoindicateitsrelationwiththemainclause.Whetherasentenceiswellandappropriatelytranslatedlargelydependsonwhetherthesubordinateclauseisthoroughlystudied.(20)Heopenedthebookthathisfathergavehimasagiftathisthirteenthbirthday.Themainclauseofthissentenceis“heopenedthebook”,andthat“hisfathergavehimasagiftathisthirteenthbirthday”isanattributiveclausetomodifythebook.Sothemainclauseshouldfirstbetranslated,andthentheattributiveclauseshouldbetranslatedinanotherclauseorsentencetofurtherintroducetothereaderthesourceofthebook.Thus,thesentenceshouldbetranslatedasfollowed.他打开了那本书，那本书是他爸爸在他13岁生日时作为礼物送给她的。(iv).GetthegeneralideaofthesentenceThereasonwhywedon’ttendtochangethemainideaoftheoriginalsentenceisthatwedon’ttendtochangethemainideaoftheoriginalsentenceinthetranslatedversion.Eventhoughareadermaynothaveanydifficultyinunderstandingthemeaningofeachofthewordsinasentence,hemayfindithardtofindoutthemainideaofthesentence,thusmakingitimpossibleforhimtotranslatethesentencecorrectly.Ingeneral,understandingisthefirststepthatshouldbetakenintranslatinglongsentences.Toachievecorrectunderstandingofthesentences,areadermustbegoodatEnglishgrammar,befamiliarwithvarioustypesofEnglishsentencesandafairlylargevocabulary.3.3.2ExpressingAfterunderstandingthemeaningandstructureoftheoriginalsentence,thenextsteptobetakenistoexpressthemeaninginthetargetlanguageinarationalway.“EnglishandChinesehavedifferentwaysofexpressions,grammaticalrulesandthinkinghabits,soitisnaturalthatthesamemeaninghasdifferentstructureswhenexpressedinEnglishandChinese.SowhentranslatingEnglishsentencesintoChinese,thesentencestructureshouldbechangedinordertobeacceptableinChineselanguage.Thisstepisparticularlydifficultinlongsentencetranslationastranslatorsusuallyfinddifficultiesinwheretoputthesegmentsinthe targetedlanguage.”[17]P25AfterreadingtheEnglishsentence,thereaderneedstoidentifythefunctionofeveryword,phrase,andclause,andthenputthesesegments,accordingtotheirfunction,intheproperplaceinconformationwiththegrammaticalrules,wayofexpressionandthinkinghabitofChinese.Forexample,attributiveclausesareusedasmodifiersofnouns,buttheyshouldbeputbeforethenounratherthanafterthenoun.Foranotherinstance,timeadverbsareoftenputattheendofasentence,whileintheChineselanguage,thetimeadverbsshouldbeputatthebeginningofasentence.Similarly,inEnglish,nouns,ratherthanverbs,aremorefrequentlyusedtoindicateanaction,sointhetranslatedChineseversion,thenounshouldbetransformedintoaverb,asverbsarefrequentlyusedinChinesethannouns.(21)Hebecameangrierasthenoisedidn’tstop.Afterreadingthesentence,weknowthat“asthenoisedidn’tstop”isthereasonforthefact“hebecameangrier”.InChinese,thereasonisusuallyfirstgivenbeforetheaffectedinconformationwithtimesequence,sothereasonshouldbeputbeforetheeffectinChinese.Thus,thetranslatedversionshouldbe,“噪音没有停止，这让他更生气了。”3.4“MethodsintranslatinglongEnglishsentences”[18]P149-158Besidesknowingthestepstakenintranslatinglongsentences,moreimportant,perhaps,istomasterthemethodsandskillsintranslatinglongsentences.ZhangPeijiinhisbookACourseinEnglish-ChineseTranslationshowshisopinionintranslatinglongEnglishsentences.3.4.1ObversetranslationAlthoughEnglishandChinesesentencesaredifferentinthewayofexpression,somesentencesinEnglisharethesameinwordorderandwayofexpressionasChinesesentences.Thus,intranslatingthesesentences,theoriginalwordorderneednotbechanged,makingthetranslationprocessrelativelyeasier.(22)BeforeIhadmydinner,Iwentouttoseewhethermyunclehadcomeback.Inthissentence,“beforeIhadmydinner”isatimeadverbialclause.InChinese,thetimeadverbialclauseisusuallyputatthebeginningofthisadverbialclause.InChinese,thetimeadverbialclauseisusuallyputatthebeginningofasentence,sothetranslatedversionofthisadverbialclausedonotneedtobechangedtoanotherposition.Thus,thetranslateversionshouldbe“吃饭之前，我出去看看叔叔有没有回来。”(23)Heknockedatthedoor,and,havingheardnosoundfrominside,begantoshout.Inthissentence,therearethreeverbs:“knock”,“hear”,and“shout”.Afterreadingthissentence,wecanfindoutthatthethreeverbsarearrangedintimesequence,asisthewayverbsarearrangedinChinesesentences.Thus,whentranslatingthissentence,thewordorderneednotbechanged,anditshouldbetranslatedasfollowed:“他敲了敲门，听到里面没有声音，就开始喊。”3.4.2ReversetranslationMostofEnglishsentenceare,becauseofthethinkinghabitofEnglishmen,differentinwordorder,phraseorderorclauseorderfromChinesesentences.SomesentencesarecompletelyreversedaccordingtoChinesegrammar.Translatingthesesentences,asaresult,requiresthetranslator,first,toputthereversedsegmentsinthenormalorderbasedonChinesegrammar.Thisiscalledreversetranslation. (24)Hepickedupthebookhismothergavehim.Thissentencecontainsanattributiveclausetomodifythenoun“thebook”,butweknowthatinChinese,modifiersaregenerallyputbeforethenounitmodifies.So,inthetranslatedsentence,theattributiveclauseshouldbeputbeforethenoun.However,thereisanexception.Iftheattributiveclauseistoolong,itisnotpropertoputthetranslatedclausebeforethenoun.Thisisbecause,ifthustranslated,thetranslatedversionwouldsoundtooawkwardbasedonChinesegrammar.Thedetailsofthiskindoftranslationwillbediscussedlater.So,thetranslatedversionoftheaboveexampleis“他拿起了妈妈给他的那本书。”3.4.3Reverse-and-obversetranslationSomesentencesinEnglishcontainboththesegmentsthatarethesameinwordorderasChineseandthosesegments,whicharedifferent.So,intranslatingthesesentences,theformershouldbetranslatedbyusingobversetranslation,andthelattershouldemployreversetranslation.Bothreverseandobversetranslationshouldbeemployedtotranslatedifferentpartsofthesentence.(25)AsTomisatpresentwritingareport,thebookyougavehimshouldbeofmuchhelptohim.Inthissentence,“AsTomisatpresentwritingareport”isanadverbialclauseindicatingthecause,and“thebookyougavehimshouldbeofmuchhelptohim”istheeffect,sothesentencestructureingeneralisthesameasaChinesesentence.However,thissentencealsocontainsanattributiveclauseusedtomodifythenoun“book”.Ashasbeendiscussedbefore,theattributiveclauseshouldbeputbeforethenounitmodifies.Inthiscase,bothobverseandreversetranslationisusedintranslatingthissentence.Thetranslatedsentenceis“他正在写报告，所以你给他的那本书一定对他有帮助。”MostofthelongsentencesinEnglishareofthistype,thatis,requiringbothobverseandreversetranslation.So,itisrequiredofthetranslatortofirstanalyzethestructureofthesentenceandthenunderstandthemeaningofthesentence.TheneststepistotranslatethesentenceinthecorrectorderandinthecommonwayofexpressioninChinese.3.4.4ComponenttranslationComponenttranslationisgenerallyusedinattributive-clausetranslation,providedthattheattributiveclauseisrelativelytoolongtobeputbeforethenouninthetranslatedversion,andontheconditionthattheattributiveisnotsocloselyrelatedtothemainclauseinmeaning.Generally,theattributiveclausecanbetranslatedasaseparatesentencefromthemainclause,oritcanbetranslatedasanadverbialclause.(26)Hedecidedtogotothemarket,whichwasfarfromhishome,sohetookataxi.Inthissentence,theclause,“whichwasfarfromhishome”isusedtomodifythenoun“themarket”,butitisnotsocloselyrelatedtothemainclauseinmeaning.Rather,itcanberegardedasaturningpointinthesentence,soitcanbeseparatedfromthemainclause.Sothetranslatedversionis“他决定去那个市场，而那个市场离他家很远，所以他打了车去。”(27)Hechoosetheredonewhosecolorheliked.Inthissentence,theattributiveclause“whosecolorheliked”canberegardedasthereasonwhy“hechoosethered”,sotheattributiveclausecanbetranslatedasanadverbialclauseindicatingreason.Thetranslatedversionis“他选了那个红的，因为他喜欢那种颜色。”(28)Heleftatoneo’clocklastnight,whenalltheothersweresleeping.Inthissentence,theattributiveclauseisusedtoindicate“thetimewhenheleft”,sothisclausecanberegardedasa timeadverbialclause.Besides,intranslatingthissentence,atransitionalwordcanbeusedtolinkthetwoclausestomakethewholesentencenatural.Thetranslatedversioncanbe“他是昨天晚上1点走的，那时候，其他人都在睡觉。”Itcanbeseen,inthetranslatedsentence,thetransitionalphrase“那时候”isusedtoconnectthetwoclauses,makingthewholesentencesoundnatural.So,inaword,attributiveclausesthathavecloserelationwiththemainclauseshouldbetranslatedandputbeforethenounasmodifiers,andthoseattributiveclausesthatarenotusedtomodifythenounandwhicharenotsocloselyrelatedtothemainclauseshouldbetranslatedasadverbialclauses.3.4.5TranslationbyrearrangementoftheoriginalsentenceTherearesomesentencesinEnglish,especiallyinlawdocumentsandtechnologydocuments,whichhaverathercomplexsentencestructures,which,withoutathoroughstudyofthestructure,wouldbetoodifficulttotranslate.Inthiscase,thewholestructureoftheEnglishsentencemustbechangedinorderthattheChineseversionshouldcomplywithChinesegrammaticalrules.Thiskindoftranslationisachievedbyrearrangementoftheoriginalsentence.(29)PetrahadbecometheleaderofthegirlsassoonasshesnappedoutofheroriginaldepressionatcomingtoPrague.Thissentencecontainsfourverbs-cometo“Prague,depress,snapoutofthedepression,andbecametheleader.”InChinese,thefourverbsshouldbearrangedintimesequence,sotheorderoftheverbsshouldbe“cometoPrague,depress,snapoutandbecometheleader.”Sothetranslatedversionshouldbe“佩德到了布拉格，原是满怀抑郁，后来变得开心起来，就立刻成了女孩子们中间的领袖。”(30)Icouldn’tbeataboywhohadn’tgotarelationintheworldandwhosefatherhadlefthimtomebecausehethoughtI’dbekindtohim.Inthissentence,therearetwoattributiveclausestomodifythenoun“theboy”,andthere’sanadverbialclauseindicatingthereasonofthesecondattributiveclause,and,what’smore,where’sanobjectsubordinateclause“I’dbekindtohim”.HowcanweputtheseclausesinChinesesentences?Afterreadingthewholesentence,wefindoutthattherearefourmeaningsinthissentence,andweshould,asusual,putthesemeaningsintimesequence.Thus,theordershouldbe:first,“hehadn’tgotarelationintheworld”;second,“hethoughtI’dbekindtohim”;third,“thefatherlefthimtome”;fourth,“Icouldn’tbeataboy.”So,thetranslatedversionis:一个举目无亲的孩子，而且他父亲当初是认为我会待他好才把孩子托给我的，我总不能打他吧。So,thegeneralprincipleintranslatinglongEnglishsentencewithcomplexstructureistoanalyzethestructureofthesentence,understandtherelationbetweentheclauses,understandthemeaning,rearrangethesentencestructureandexpressthemeaningoutingoodChineselanguage.TheabovearethegeneralmethodsthatshouldbeusedintranslatinglongEnglishsentencesintoChinese.Agoodtranslator,however,shouldbeabletousethesemethodsincombinationwhenevernecessary.4.ConclusionEnglish-Chineselong-sentencetranslationis,ingeneral,quitedifficultforeventhemostexperiencedtranslators,somuchpracticeisneededbeforeatranslatorcanreallybeateasewith long-sentencetranslation.However,itshouldbepointedoutthat,onlypracticeisnotenough.Besidesalotofpractice,agoodtranslatorshouldalsoreadasmanyaspossibleEnglishandChinesebooksinallfieldsinordertobefamiliarwithalltypesofsentencestylesandacquireafairlylargescopeofknowledge.Inthisthesis,wehavediscussedthestepsandmethodsintranslatinglongEnglishsentencesintoChinese,however,infact,thestepsandmethodsoftranslatinglongChinesesentencesintoEnglisharethesameasthoseinEnglish-Chinesetranslation.Thereforeabriefdiscussionwillbeprovidedhere.Understandingandexpressionare,similarlythetwostepstobetakeninChinesetoEnglishtranslationoflongsentences.Tounderstandthecorrectmeaningandstructureofthesentencerequiresthetranslatortoanalyzethemainstructureofthesentence,tofindouttherelationsoftheclauses,andtogetthegeneralideaofthesentence；ExpressionmeanstoexpressthemeaninginanaturalwayinEnglish.Afterunderstandingtheoriginalsentence,thetranslatorshouldrearrangetheclausesandmodifythetranslatedversiontomaintaintheoriginalstyleofthesentence.Bibliography[1]张道真.实用英语语法(1995年修订重印本)[M].北京:外语教学与研究出版社,1996[2]罗艳秀.英语长句翻译技巧[J].黄山学院学报,2005,2,7(1)[3]章振邦.新编英语语法教程第三版学生用书[M].上海:上海外语教育出版社,2002[4]张培基.英汉翻译教程[M].上海:上海外语教育出版社,2002[5]同[1][6]同[1][7]林大津.跨文化交际研究——与英美人交往指南[M].福州:福建人民出版社,1996[8]连淑能.英汉对比研究[M].北京:高等教育出版社,2002[9]同[8][10]王治奎、温洪瑞等.大学英汉翻译教程[M].山东:山东大学出版社,1998[11]邓红顺.从英汉词序差异看长句翻译[J].株洲师范高等专科学校学报,2001,8,6(4)[12]同[10][13]陈桂琴.科技英语长句翻译方法例析[J].中国科技翻译.2005,8,18(3)[14]Janecheng,Chinaoutlaws[z].ChinaDaily,Jan22—23,2005.5[15]同[10][16]张雁.英汉长句翻译教学探讨[J].宁波工程学院学报,2005,6,17(2)[17]同[10][18]同[4]