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英汉对比研究
English vs Chinese Ten Pairs of
Features
English vs Chinese: Ten Pairs of Features
英汉对比研究
1
/
77
1.
Synthetic
vs.
Analytic
（
综
合
语
与
分
< br>析
语
）
A
synthetic
language is
characterized by frequent and systematic use of
inflected form
(
曲折变化形式，词尾变化的词语
) to express
grammatical relationships.
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An
analytic
language
is
marked
by
a
relatively
frequent
use
of
function
words, auxiliary verbs, and changes in word order
to
express syntactic relations, rather
than of inflected forms.
Modern English
has become analytic but still frequently uses
some hereditary inflections from Old
English. It is therefore
a synthetic-
analytic language. Chinese is a typical analytic
language.
Inflection,
word
order
and
the
use
of
function
words
are
employed
as
the
three
grammatical
devices
in
building
English
sentences.1.1
Inflectional
vs
Non-inflectionalIn
English,
nouns,
pronouns,
and
verbs
are
inflected.
Such
grammatical
meanings
as
parts
of
speech,
gender,
number,
case,
person, tense, aspect, voice, mood,
etc. can
3
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77
be
expressed
by
the
use
of
inflected
forms
with
or without
the
help of function words
and word order, which is generally not
true
of
Chinese.
In
Chinese
the
above
grammatical
meanings
are
mostly implied in contexts or between
the lines, Though often
with
the
help
of
word
order.
E.g.
He moved
astonishingly
fast.
He
moved
with
astonishing
rapidity.
His
movements
are
astonishingly
rapid.
His
movements
astonished
us
by
their
rapidity.
他行动之快令人惊讶。
他行动之迅速令人惊讶。
他行动之迅速令我们惊讶不已。
1.2 Word Order: Flexible
vs.
InflexibleThe less inflective
a
language,
the
more
rigid
the
word
orde
Word
order
in English
is
not
so
rigid
as
in
Chinese.
More
ways
Of
inversion
are
often
seen in
English. E.g.
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What in
the world do you mean?
你的意思究竟是什么？
What a
beautiful
voice
you
have!
你有多美的嗓音啊！
Not
a
finger
did
I lay
on him?
我从来没有指责过他。
1.3 The Use of Function Words:
English and Chinese Employ
Different
Types
of
Function
Words
English
function
words
include
the
articles,
prepositions,
auxiliary
verbs,
coordinators and subordinators, While
Chinese function words
comprise
particles, connectives, and
prepositions
5
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77
Each has its
own features in the use of these words.
was with a child.
她身边带着一个孩子。
She
was with child.
她怀有身孕。
They are students of our school.
他们是本校的一部分学生。
They
are
the
students
of
our
school.
他们是本校的全体学生。
Chinese
is
rich
in
particles(
助词
),
which
can
be
classified
into aspect
particles(
动态助词，如：着、
了、过
), structural
particles
（结构助词，
如：
的、
地、
得）
,
and
emotional
particles
（语气助词，如：
嘛、吗、吧、呢）
.
The
frequent
use
of
Chinese
particles is a hard
nut for foreign learners of Chine
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这回我可亲眼看见啦！
（感叹语气）
This time I?ve actually seen
it for
myself.
打吧，打不下去；跑吧，跑不了，敌人
只好投降。
Unable
to
fight
on
or
escape,
the
enemy
was
forced
to
surrender.
你呀，
老这样下去可不行啊！
（
加重语气）<
/p>
Look!
You
can
’
t go on like
this.
这也不能怪他，头一回嘛。
（答辩语气）
He
is
not
to
blame.
After
all,
it
was
the
first
time that he had done
it.
7
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77
1
1.4
Intonation
vs.
Tone(
语
调
与
声
调
) .
1
English
is
an
intonation
language, . 4 while Chinese is a tone language. In
a
language
in
which
inflection
has
been
greatly
reduced,
word-order
must
become
relatively
more
rigid.
One
consequence
of this tendency
to a fixed word-order is an increase in the
role of intonation in the language. The
varying of tone to
indicate
meanings
is
characteristic
of
both
English
and
Chinese.
Musical variety of
tone to indicate shades of meaning becomes
natural in both
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English
and
Chinese.
Chinese
finds
its
natural
way
of
development
through
a
fundamental
system
of
tones
and
tone-
groups.
A change of tone in Chinese will turn “to buy”
into “to sell”. In English, intonation
has a very i
mportant
and
far-reaching role. A rising or falling tone in the
parts
of a sentence determines much of
its meaning. Moreover, there
is
a
very
close
bond
between
stress
and
tone
or
pitch,
a
strong
stress, for instance,
often corresponding with a rising tone.
Such a sentence as “You are going to
buy that house” may be
statement of
fact(declarative) or a question
(interrogative)
9
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77
rising at its
end. One of the important features in modern
Chinese
is
the
predominance
of
disyllables
and
quadrisyllables
（
双
音
节
化
和<
/p>
四
音
节
化
）
.
As
a
result,
reduplication
of
characters, repetition of
words, fourcharacter expressions,
and
parallelism of syllables, words, phrases, and
sentence
structures
have
become
popular
grammatical
and
rhetorical
devices
in
Chinese.
Look
at
the
following
example.
It
was
a
day
as
fresh
as
grass
growing
up
and
clouds
going
over
and
butterflies coming down
can make it. It was a day compounded
from
silences of bee
and
flower and
ocean
and land,
which were
not silences at
all, but motions, stirs, flutters, risings,
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fallings,
each
in
its
own
time
and
matchless
rhythem.
(E.
Bradbury:
The
Vacation)
绿草萋萋，白云冉冉，彩蝶翩翩，那日子
如此清新可爱。
蜜蜂无言，春花不语，海波声
歇，大地静谧，那日子如此万籁俱
寂。
然而并
非安静，因为万物各以其适宜的时刻，特有的
节奏，或
动，或摇，或振，或起，或伏。
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77
2. Rigid vs.
Supple (
刚性与柔性
)English
sentence structures
are
composed
of
noun
phrases,
verb
phrases,
etc.
It
has
become
an
invariable custom to have a subject before a verb,
and
therefore
a
sentence
that
does
not
contain
a
subject
and
a
verb
is felt to
be incomplete. The subject
must agree
with
the
predicate
verb
in
person
and
number,
etc.
This
rigid
S-V
concord
forms
the
kernel
of
a
sentence,
with
the
predicate
verb
controlling other main
members. English sentences, however
long and complicated, can be reduced to
five basic patterns:
SV, SVP, SVO,
SVoO, and SVOC.
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English
sentences
are
characterized
by
their
variants
（变式）
,
expansion
（扩展）
,
combination
（组合）
,
omission
（省略）
, or
inversion (
倒装
(1)
Variants: interrogative, negative, and
passive;
“There
be
+
subject”.
(2)
Expansion:
adding
modifiers,
including
words,
phrases,
and
clauses;
using
phrases or clauses instead of words as
members of the basic
patte
(3)
Combination:
combining
simple
sentences
into
compound
or
compound-complex
sentences.
(4)
Omission:
omitting
certain members of
the sentence. (5) Inversion: inverting the
word-order of the sentence.
13
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77
Etc.
This
rigid
S-V
concord
（主谓协调一致）
forms
the
kernel
of an English sentence. English
sentences, however long and
complicated, can be reduced to five
basic patterns: SV, SVP,
SVO,
SVoO,
and
SVOC.
Chinese,
however,
is
relatively
free
from
the
government of the rigid S-V concord. The
subjectpredicate
structure
is
usually
varied,
flexible,
and
therefore
complicated and supple. E.g.
文章翻译完了。
（受事主语）
The essay has been
translated.
全市到处在兴
建新工厂。
（地点主语）
New
factories
are
being
built
all
over
the
city.
现在正下着毛毛细雨。
（时间主语）
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It is
drizzling at the
moment.
累得我站不起来了。
（无主句）
I am so exhausted that
I can?t stand up. The
predicate of a
Chinese sentence is so varied and complicated:
天高云淡。
（形容词作谓语）
The sky is high and
the clouds are pale.
他出国留学去了。
（连动式谓语）
He has gone abroad
for further studies.
我
介绍他加入协会。
（兼语式谓语）
I
recommended him for membership of of the
association.
15
/
77
This contract should be signed by the
manage
这姑娘长得漂亮，
鹅蛋形脸，两眼又深又黑，<
/p>
披着又长又密的头发。
She
is
a
pretty
girl,
with
an
oval
face,
deep
dark
eyes,
and
long heavy clinging
tresses.
许多房子，盖着琉璃瓦，曲曲折折，
无数的
朱红栏杆。
Many houses are roofed with glazed
tiles and set within
numerous
winding
red
balustrades.
In
addition,
there
are
quite
a few
“illogical” expressions in Chinese. E.g.
晒太阳
to
bask in the sun
晒衣服
to sun one?s clothes
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救火
to
fight
a
fire
救国
to
save
the
nation
补充缺额
to fill
a
vacancy
补充人力
to replenish
manpower
恢复疲劳
to get
refreshed
恢复健康
to
recover one?s health
打扫卫生
to
do
some
cleaning
打扫房间
to
clean
a
room
吃大碗
to
eat
with
a
big
bowl
吃苹果
to eat
an apple
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77
More ambuguity
can be found in Chinese due to the lack of
connectives,
inflections
and
other
grammatical
markers.
E.g
准
备了两年的食物
< br>（准备了两年的
+
食物
/
准备了
+
两年的食物）
神
秘的少女的心
（神秘的
+
少女的心
/
神秘的少女的
+
心）
The
suppleness
of Chinese also manifests itself in the
“run
-
on”
sentence
（流水句）
,
which is co
mpos of “the full sentence”
and
“the
minor
sentence”
（
小
< br>
A
full
sentence
has
a
subject-predicate structure, while a
minor sentence has only
a word(s) or
phrase(s) . As
吕叔湘（
1979
：
27
）points
out,”
用
小句而不用句子做基本单位，较能适应汉语的情况。
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因为汉语口语里特多流水句，一个小句接一
个小句，很多地方可断
可连。
”
接着，他继续设想，鸡又生鸡，用鸡卖
钱，钱买母牛，母牛<
/p>
繁殖，
卖牛得钱，
用钱
< br>
放债，
这么一连串的发财计划，
当然也不能
算
是生产的计划。
（马南：
《
燕山夜话》
）
He
went
on
indulging
in
wishful
thinking:
chickens would breed more chickens;
selling them would bring
him money;
with this money he would buy cows; the cows would
breed, to
and selling oxen
would
make
more
money
for
him;
with
the money he could become a
mon
19
/
77
lender.
Such
a
succession
of
steps
for
getting
rich,
of
course,had
nothing
to
do
with
production.
The
rigidity
of
English generally requires a complete
sentence structure, SV
concord,
and
formal
cohesion
(
形式衔接
),
while
the suppleness
of Chinese enjoys flexibility of
sentence structure and pays
more
attention to semantic coherence
(
语义连贯
). Jespersen
(1954:334)
points
out,
“
Analysis
means
suppleness,
and
synthesis means
rigidity; in ana lytic languages you have the
power of kaleido
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copically
arranging
and
rearranging
the
elements
that
in
synthetic forms are in
rigid connexion.” 王力
(1984:53)
指
出: “就句子的
结构而论
,
西洋语言是法治的
,
中国语言是人
治
的。
所谓‘法治’
，即句子的形式严格受到
语法的制约，
如句子必须
有主语和谓语动词，
及物动词必须有宾语，
这些不管用得着用不
着，
总要呆板地求句子形式的一律。
所谓
‘人治’
，
即句子比较不受形式的约束，可以
因
表意的需
要而加以变通，词语的分合伸缩
比较灵活，用得着就用，用不着就
不用，只
要双方意思明白，就可以了。
英语有综合语
21
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77
的特征，受形式的约束，因而语法是硬的，
< br>没有弹性；汉语是分析
语，不受形态的约束，
因而语法是软的，富于弹性。
”三
.
Hypotactic
vs.
paratactic
(
形合与意合
)
Hypotaxis
(
形
合
)is
the
dependent
or
subordinate
construction
or
relationship of clauses
with connectives. English sen tence
building is characterized by hypota
xis. Parataxis (
意合
) is
the arranging of lauses one after
another without connectives
showing the
relation between them
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Chinese
sentence
building
is
featured
by
par
taxis.
To
clarify
the relations between words, phrases or
clauses, English more
often resorts to
overt cohesion(
显性衔接
),
frequently using
various cohesive ties
(
衔接纽带
)such as coordinators
(
并列连
词
)(e.g. and,
or, but, yet, so,
however, as well as,
either…
or…, neither…
nor…),subordinators (从属连词
) (e.g. when,
while, as, since, until, so… that…
unless, lest), relative
pronouns
and
adverbs
(
e.g.
who,
whom,
whose,
that,
which,
when,
23
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77
where, why,
how), prepositions and others. Let?s look at some
examples.
(1)
All
was
cleared
up
some
time
later
when
news
came
from a distant place that an earthquake
was felt the very day
the little copper
ball fell.
过了一些时候
,
从远方传来消
息
:
小铜球坠落那天
,
人们感受到了地震
.
这一
切终于得到了澄清。
(2)
We will not attack unless we are
attacked.
人不犯我
,
我
不犯人。
(3) Let everybody share the food if there is any .
有饭大
家吃。
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(4)
Until all is over, ambition never dies.
不到黄河心不死。
（紧缩句）
(5)
不进则退。
（四字格）
He who does not
advance falls backward. Move
forward,
or you will fall behind. (6)
聪明一世，糊涂一时。
（对偶）
Smart
as
a
rule,
but
this
time
a
fool.
四、
Complex
vs
Simplex
(
繁复与简短
)
Subordination
(
从属结构
),
the
placing
of
certain
elements
in
modifying
roles,
is
a
funda
mental
feature
of
English.
With
plenty
of
subornate
clauses
and
phrases, English
has
25
/
77
comparatively
longer
and
more
complicated
sentences
than
Chinese,
which,
on
the
other
hand,
is
marked
by
its
coordination
(
并列结构
), loose or
minor sentences (
松散句
),
contracted
sentences
(
紧缩句
),
elliptical
sentences,
run-on
sentences
(
流
水句
),
and composite sentences
(
并列句
). English sentence
building
is
featured
by
an
“architecture
style”
(楼房建筑
式
)
with extensive
use of longer or subordinate structures, while
Chinese is marked by a “chronicle
style” (流水记事式
) with
frequent
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use
of
shorter
or
composite
structures.
In
short,
English
sentences are often complex, while
Chinese setences are often
simplex.(1)In
the
doorway
lay
at
least
twelve
umbrellas
of
all
sizes and colors.
门口放着
一堆
雨伞
,
少说也有十二把
,
五颜六
色
,
大小不一。
(2)
There
are
many
wonderful
stories
to
tell
about
the
places
I
visited and the people I met.
我访问了一些地方<
/p>
,
也遇到了一
些人。
要谈起来
,
奇妙的事儿可多着哩。
27
/
77
( 3) Can you
answer a question which I want to ask and which
is
puzzling
me?
我有一个问题弄不懂，
想请教
你，
你能回答吗？
(4)
Gentlemen,
I
am
ashamed
to
see
men
who
embarked
on
so
great
and
glorious
an
undertaking
as
that
of
robbing
the
public,
so
foolishly and weakly dissenting among
themselves. (Fielding:
Jonathan Wild)
诸位先生，
有些人正在干着一番光荣而
伟大的事
业，即掠夺大众。
他们居然如此愚蠢，
如此虚弱，甚至在自己人中间发生内讧。
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看到他们做这种事，我真觉得丢脸。
(5) Closely linked with this commitment is the new
last
paragraph
of
the
preamble
which
reaffirms
that
principle
of
the
Charter
of
the
United
Nations
in
accordance
with
which
Mem
ber
States must refrain from the use of
force the threat of force
against
the
territorial
integrity
or
political
independence
of
any State an which
declares that the establishment and the
maintenance
of
international
peace
and
secu
are
to
be
promoted
with
the
least
diversion
fo
armaments
of
the
world?s
human
and
econom
29
/
77
resources.
与这一承诺密切相连的是序言中
新增加的最后一段
,
它重申联合国宪章的一条
原则
,
即会员国不得使用武力或武力威胁
来
侵犯任何国家的领土完整或政治独立
,
并且
声明要尽量减少把
世界人力和经济资源用于
军备
,
以促进建立和维护国际和平与国际
安全。
From the examples above, it can
be seen that an invloved
sentence in
English is normally turned into two or more than
two
sentences,
or
into
a
full
sentence,
followed
by
some
minor
sentences in Chinese. This translation
technique is called
division (
分译
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五、
Impersonal
vs.
Personal
(
物称与人称
)
Formal
written
English
often goes with an
impersonal style, in which the writer does
not refer directly to himself or his
readers, and he avoids
using
the
pronouns
I,
we,
and
you,
thu
the
writer
and
the
reader
are out of the picture hiding
themselves behind impersonal
languag
Some
of
the
common
features
of
impersonal
language
are
passives,
setences
beginning
with
the
introductory
word
it
and
abstract
nou
as
subjects(Leech,
1974:25).
Chinese,
by
con
trast,
prefers to use the
personal style, which
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is
featured
by
more
active
sentences,
or
more
active
sentences
in
form
but
passive
in
meaning,
personal
subjects,
or
subjectless and subject-omitted
sentences when the subject i
self-
evident, unknown or implied in the contex As a
result of
the above differences, the
conversion of English impersonal
subjects into Chinese personal subjects
is often employed in
translation. (1)
An idea suddenly struck me.
我突然想到了一
个主意。
(2) A strange peace came over her
when s
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was alone.
她独处时感到一种莫名奇妙
的宁静。
(3) Alarm
began to take entire possession of her.
他开始
变得惊恐万状。
(4) From the moment we stepped into
the People?s Republic
of China, care
and kindness surrounded us on every side.
一
踏上中华人民共和国国土
,
我们就随
时随地受到关怀与照顾。
(5)
The
happiness
––
the
superior
advantages
of
the
young
women
round
about
her,
gave
Rebecca
inexpressible
pangs
of
envy.
丽贝卡看见周围的小姐那么福气，
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/
77
享受种种优越的权利，就有说不出的
眼红和痛心。
(6)
Specialties
in
colleges
and
universities
should
be
adjusted and teaching
metho improved.
应该调整高等院校的专业
设置
改进教学方法。
六、
Passive
vs.
Active
（被动与主动
Passives
of
various
forms
are
frequ
ly
used
in
English
mainly
due
to
the
following
reasons:
1) When the agent of action is unkno
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or
self-
evident,
or
it
is
unnecessary
or
impossible
to
mention
the agent. E.g. It
is said that the murderer will be hanged.
2)
Syntactic
factors:
for
cohesion,
balance
end
focus,
weight,
etc. E.g. I was
astounded that he should be prepared to give
me a job. 3) Rhetorical factors: for
variation, etc. e.g The
basic English
sentence pattern of subJect-verb-object can be
varied in many ways 4) Stylistic
factors: more passives in
informative
writing, notably in the objective, imper sonal
style of scientific articles, news
items an
35
/
77
government
communications.
E.g.
The
resistance
can
be
determined
provided
that
the
voltage
and
current
are
known.
The
passive voice allows us to express
ideas without attributing
them
to
a
specific
individual
source.
That
is
why
it
is
so
widely
used
in
government
communications
in
which
decisions
and
opinions are presumed to be those of
the bureau or agency as
a
whole
and
not
considered
to
be
those
of
individual
officials.
Anyone who does not wish to take
personal responsibility for
his
statements find
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a
way
out
by
saying
or writing “It
is
directed
that”
instead
of“I direct that”. The weak
passive is used in newspaper
articles
for the same reason: to achieve the impersonal
note
and thus, in many instances, to
disclaim dire responsibility
for
statements that are based o hearsay. By contrast,
active
forms,
including
thos
in
passive
sense
are
often
used
in
Chinese.
There
are
some
reason
for
the
limited
use
o
the
Chinese
passive
forms marked by
被
,
让、
给、叫、挨、受、遭、蒙，
etc.
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The
Chinese
passive
form
marked
by
被
is
traditionally
felt
to
be an “inflicting voice”
（不幸语态）
, mainly expressing
things unpleasant or undesirable to the
subjective person, as
被捕、被杀、被剥削、被压迫，
though
there
is
a
modern
tendency
to
denot things
desirable
or
neutral,
as
“被选为工会
主席”、
“被选为先进工作者”。
The Chinese passive form generally
has an agent after
被
,
which restricts the use of the passive
form when the agent is
unknown or
difficult to mention.