1. "when"引導(dǎo)狀語從句有時并不好譯,不能一看到when從句就考慮譯為"當(dāng)……的時候",它還有許多種譯法。
Anything is better than not to write clearly. There is nothing to be said against lucidity, and against simplicity only the possibility of dryness. This is a risk that is well worth taking when you reflect how much better it is to be bold than to wear a curly wig.
2. "not…because…",有時可否定前面,有時可否定because本身,往往出現(xiàn)歧義。應(yīng)根據(jù)上下文面判定。
In 1600 the earth was not the center of the universe because the majority then supposed it was; nor, because she had more readers, was Ella wheeler Wilcox a better poet than Father Hopkins.
3. "so…that, such…that"是一個普通的句型,但在同一個句子里有兩處使用它卻比較少見。
The truth is, that in one point of view, this matter of national literature has come to such a pass with us, that in some sense we must turn bullies, else the day is lost, or superiority so far beyond us, that we can hardly say it will ever be ours.
4. "by doing…"結(jié)構(gòu)。這個結(jié)構(gòu)的意思是"通過(做)……",但翻譯實踐中不能拘泥于這種釋義,不少情況下需要靈活變通。
The hippos, by depositing dung in the water, fed the fish that support the storks that destroy the rare trees.
5. 下面例句為一倒裝句,主語很長,而且又含有非常復(fù)雜的句型。這是以形容詞作表語的倒裝,翻譯實踐中多把倒裝部分譯到前面。
No less obvious is the fact there are great numbers of people so constituted or so brought up that they cannot get so much pleasure out of processes and experiences resulting in a poorer life less full of meaning.
6. "what…of"句型
I can not say of myself what Johnson said of Pope: He never passed a fault unamended by indifference, nor quitted it by despair. I do not write as I do; I write as I can.