-
Omission
（
省略法
）
Omission of Words Peculiar to English
（
省略英语特有的词
）
Omission of the
Expletives
It
and
There
（省略语助词
it
和
there
）
Examples & Drills
Guided Translation
(1)
Omit
impersonal
it
,
which
denotes
natural
phenomena,
time,
distance,
or state
of
things in general:
1. How is
it
with the sick
man?
2.
It
is all over with him.
3. She feared
it
would go hard with Antonio.
(2)
Omit anticipatory
it
, which stands for an
infinitive, a gerund, or a clause:
4. Lu Xun has
it
that
“
Read your own work at
least
twice after you have got through
your
writing, trying to cut off all
unnecessary words, sentences, and even paragraphs
without
any regret.”
5.
It
is with
words as with sunbeams: the more they are
condensed, the deeper they burn.
(3)
Omit demonstrative
it
:
6.
I don’t
think
it
is he.
(4)
Omit idiomatic
it
:
7.
Y
ou’
ll be in for
it
if father finds out
you’ve not been to school for three
days
.
要是爸爸发现你三天没去上学，你就要倒霉了。
8.
He led a dog’s life of
it
.
他过着牛马不如的生活。
9.
Lord Angelo dukes
it
well.
(Shakespeare)
安哲罗勋爵很有爵爷的神气。
10. We are born to slave
it
for our lord. (Thackeray)
我们生来就是为君主效劳的。
11.
I am used to roughing
it
.
我已习惯于栉风沐雨，过艰苦的生活了。
12. He lords
it
over his inferiors.
他对部下摆架子，逞威风。
13.
If you are found out, you will catch
it
.
14. I am
determined to fight
it
out.
15. She is starring
it
in
the provinces.
16. We had to
walk
it
in the rain.
17.
Can’t
you
swim
it
?
18. Shall we walk
it
or bus
it
?
19. We will
have a hard time of
it
.
(5) Omit expletive
there
in existential
sentences:
1. Where
there
is a will,
there
is a way.
2. Where
there
is
smoke,
there
is fire.
3. Where
there
is
life,
there
is hope.
(6) Omit expletive
there
in idiomatic
expressions (often found in idioms or proverbs):
4.
There
are
always more round pegs than round holes.
5.
There
are
friends and friends.
6.
There
is no free lunch.
7.
There
is no
royal road to anything.
8.
There
is no telling when he
will come.
9.
There
is no mistaking that
fact.
10.
There
is no come and go with him.
11.
There
is no
rule without an exception.
12.
There
is no fire without
smoke.
13.
There
is nothing but is good for something.
14.
There
is no
use crying over spilt milk.
Omission of English
Articles
（省略英语冠词）
Examples:
1.
A
parrot can talk like
a
man.
鹦鹉会像人一样说话。
2. The
young actress is
a
new
Marilyn Monroe!
这个年轻的女演员活像玛莉莲
?
梦露！
3.
A
Mrs. Smith wishes to see
you.
有一位史密斯夫人想见你。
4. The Prime Minister spoke to
an
astonished Commons.
首相向惊愕不已的下议院致辞。
5.
His dinner hour is
an
inevitable 6:30 p.m.
他总是下午
6<
/p>
点半吃晚饭。
6. My
father is
a
vigorous 86.
我父亲现年
86
岁，仍很健旺。
7.
Y
ou
can’t be
the
Charles
Chaplin!
你可不是鼎鼎大名的查理
?
卓别林啊！
8. Men perish, but
man shall endure; lives die but
the
life is not dead.
(Algernon Sivinburne:
Hymn of
Man
)
人要死亡而人类永存；寿命有限而生命不绝。
Drills
9. This
is
a
complete Shakespeare.
10.
The
wish is
father to
the
thought.
11. She was
a
Jones before she married Bill.
12.
I can’t remember
a
Christmas when it snowed
so much.
13.
A
stitch in time saves nine.
14.
A
bird in
the
hand is worth two in
the
bush.
15.
From
that
day
to
this,
the
islands
discovered
by
Columbus
have
been
called
“
the
West
Indies”
.
16. We often dine with
the
Browns.
17.
He likes
the
Picasso.
18. Do you know where
the
Kodak is made?
19. She had
the
bravest bravery of all,
the
bravery that is never afraid to speak
the
truth. (
King
Lear
)
NOTES
Many years ago, flying
to the moon was
out of the
question
. (= impossible)
许多年
前，飞往月球是
不可能的
。
At
present,
flying
to
the
moon
is
out
of
question
.
(=
beyond
question
=
cannot
be
doubted)
现在，飞往
月球是
毫无疑问的
。
Translate
the
sixth and the last paragraph
of the text, please.
请翻译课文的
第
六段和最后一段
。
Translate
the
sixth and last paragraph
of
the text, please.
请翻译课文的
第六段即
最后一段
。
Omission of Words Superfluous in Chines
e
（
省略汉语多余的词
）
1. I belong to you and you
(
belong
) to me.
我
属于
你，你也
属于
我。
2. Reading makes a full
man; conference (
makes
) a
ready man; and writing
(
makes
) an exact
man. (Francis Bacon:
Of
Studies
)
读书
使
人充实，讨论
使
人机智，笔记
使
人准确。
3.
你用直接法学习英语，
（
你
）便做不好翻译工作。
You
can’t do translation work well if
you
study English by the
direct method.
4.
白求恩大夫一到前线（
他
）就立刻开始工作。
Dr
. Bethune
set
to work as soon as
he
came
to the front.
Omission of
Pronouns
（省略代词）
Examples & Drills
Guided Translation
(1) Omit pronouns used as subjects
1. Water passes from a
liquid to a solid state when
it
freezes.
水结冰时就从液态变为固态。
2.
When
we
want to move a body
of great mass
we
must apply
a great force.
要移动质量大的物体，就要用大力。
3. As
you
sow, so
also shall
you
reap.
4.
We
have 365
days in a year.
5. Subtract four from
ten and
you
will get six.
6.
You
should
keep calm even when
you
are
in danger.
7. We cannot see sound waves
as
they
travel through air.
8.
Before
you
hand
in
your
paper,
you
have
to
read
it
over
and
over
and see
if
there
is
anything in it to be
corrected and revised. Then
you
will have your work well
done.
(2) Omit pronouns used as objects
1. Aristocratic and democratic
tendencies in a nation often show
themselves
in its speech.
一个民族的贵族倾向和民主倾向，常常从言语中表现出来。
2.
Gathering
facts,
confirming
them,
suggesting
theories,
testing
them,
and
organizing
findings,
—
this is all the work of
science.
收集事实并加以论证，提出理论并加以检验，以及整理所获得的结果
，
——
这就是
科学工作的全部内容。<
/p>
3. I have received your
letter and read
it
with
delight.
4. If you have read these
stories, tell
them
in your
own words.
5.
1 can’t
express
myself
in English.
6. Insects hide
themselves
in winter.
7. He was ashamed of
himself
for being behind in
his work.
8. A
gas
distributes
itself
uniformly
throughout a container.
9. All metals
are crystals. In other words, their atoms arrange
themselves
in patterns.
(3) Omit possessive pronouns
1. She covered
her
face with
her
hands as if to protect
her
eyes.
她用手蒙脸，好像去保护眼睛。
2.
Halliday
put
his
pipe
down,
crossed
his
hands
behind
his
neck,
and
turned
his
face
towards the window. (
The
Apple Tree
)
哈利德放下烟斗，两手交叉着放在脖子后面，转过头去看窗子。
3. The analogue computer determines
its
quantity by measuring
how much while the digital
computer
determines
its
quantity by
counting how many.
模拟计算机计出量的大小，数字计算机算出量的多少。
4. “
Wash
your
hands before you have
your
meal
s,
children.” says the teacher.
5. Turning on
his
face, he rested
his
chin on
his
hands. (
The
Apple Tree
)
6.
She
put
her
hands
up
to
her
cheeks,
but
her
eyes
seemed to
look
right
into
him.
(
The
Apple
Tree
)
7. Why do you not cry
out in
your
millions to your
insane children:
“
Cease
your
slaughter!”
(Maxim Gorky)
Omission of
Connectives
（省略连接词）
The
basic
difference
in
syntax
between
English
and
Chinese
is
the
contrast
between hypotaxis
and parataxis. E.A. Nida (1982) has this to say: <
/p>
就汉语和英语而言，
也许在语言学上最重要的一个区别就是形合和
意合的对比。
在英
语以及大多数的印欧语言中，
句子的从属关系大多是用连接词如
if, although,
because,
when, in order that,
so
,
so that
等词明确地表
示出来的，但是，这同一概念，我们用意
合的方法基本上也同样可以表达出来。
那就是说，
将两个句子放在一起并没有连接词
表
明其相互关系，而从句子本身的意思中体现出来。例如，我们说
Because it is late,
I
must
leave.
在这里两个句子的逻辑关系是用连接词
because
表示出来的；但是我们
也可以说
It is late, I must leave.
在这里，
虽然没有明确的词汇表明相互的关系，
但是
这种关系显然是存在的。
Y
an Fu (
严复
)
，
one of the famous
translators in the Qing Dynasty, wrote the
following when
referring to the
syntactic difference
：
西文句中名物字，多随举随释，如中文之旁支，后乃遥接前文，足意成句。故西文句
< br>法，少者二三字，多者数十百言。假令仿此为译，则恐必不可通，??此在译者将全
文神理，融会于心，则下笔抒词，自善互备。
（
《天演论
·
译例言》
）
Wang Li
(
王力
1984:141,457), a well-
known linguist in modern China, also has it that <
/p>
西洋语法是硬的，没有弹性；中国语法是软的，富于弹性。??惟其是软的，所以中
国语法以达意为主，
如，
初系的目的格可兼次
系的主格，
又如相关的两件事可以硬凑
在一起，
不用任何连接词。
??所以英国人写文章往往化零为整，
而中国人则往往化
整为零。
（
《中国
语法理论》
）
Keeping in
mind this basic difference between the two
languages, a translator will find a way
to avoid translatorese
(
翻译腔
)
in translation. Compare the following:
1.
Even if
you go there it won’t do any
good.
去了也是白去的。
2.
Whatever
you
like to eat, just tell me.
想吃什么，只管告诉我。
3.
I can’t trust him,
because
he is not honest.
他不老实，我不能信任他。
4.
The sun,
which
had hidden
all day, now came out in full splendor.
那太阳，整天躲了起来，现在又光芒四射了。
5.
跑了和尚，跑不了庙。
The monks may run away,
but
the temple cannot run
away with them.
6.
不入虎穴，焉得虎子。
If
you fail to
enter the tiger’s den, how can you get the tiger
c
ub?
7.
一个英国人，不会说中国话，有一次在中国旅行。
An Englishman
who
could not speak Chinese was once traveling in
China.
Examples & Drills
Translate the following,
omitting connectives wherever necessary:
(1) Simple and compound sentences:
1. Try
and
do it.
2. Go
and
look at
it.
3. We shall wait
and
see.
4. The
door opened,
and
Jim stepped
in
and
closed it. (O. Henry:
The
Gifts
)
5. The enemy are busy preparing for
war,
therefore
we must
always keep our powder dry.
6. Wise men
love truth,
but
fools shun
it.
7. Give him an inch,
and
he will take a mile.
8. Like charges repel each other
while
opposite charges
attract.
(2) Complex sentences:
1. Never get on or off the bus
before
it comes to a
standstill.
2. Practically
all substances expand
when
heated
and
contract
when
cooled.
3.
The lion eats the zebra
that
eats the grass. The snake catches the toad
that
eats the insect
that
nibbles the green
leaves.
4.
As
she
turned the corner she had a new idea
which
made her stop dead.
(
Betrayed Spring
)
NOTES
Chinese
“Contracted Sentence”
（汉语的“紧缩句”
——
复句的紧缩）
·汉语的紧缩句
：用单句形式表达复
句内容，是汉语意合法的典型句式。
性质
：由复句紧缩而成
关系
：表达复句的并列、转折、假设、条件、因果、让步等关系
形式
：像单句，有的是单句，有的仍是复句
修辞
：紧凑、精炼、简洁、明快
所谓“紧”
，就是紧凑，是取消各分句之间的语音停顿，让它们紧紧
地挨在一起；所谓
“缩”
，就是压缩，是略去原来分句的一些词
语，让它们简约一些。
Examples & Drills
Guided
Translation
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