英语论文网

tend to change the main idea of the original sentence in the translated version. Even though a reader may not have any difficulty in understanding the meaning of each of the words in a sentence, he may find it hard to find out the main idea of the sentence, thus making it impossible for him to translate the sentence correctly. In general, understanding is the first step that should be taken in translating long sentences. To achieve correct understanding of the sentences, a reader must be good at English grammar, be familiar with various types of English sentences and a fairly large vocabulary. 3.3.2Expressing After understanding the meaning and structure of the original sentence, the next step to be taken is to express the meaning in the target language in a rational way. “English and Chinese have different ways of expressions, grammatical rules and thinking habits, so it is natural that the same meaning has different structures when expressed in English and Chinese. So when translating English sentences into Chinese, the sentence structure should be changed in order to be acceptable in Chinese language. This step is particularly difficult in long sentence translation as translators usually find difficulties in where to put the segments in the targeted language.”[17]P25 After reading the English sentence, the reader needs to identify the function of every word, phrase, and clause, and then put these segments, according to their function, in the proper place in conformation with the grammatical rules, way of expression and thinking habit of Chinese. For example, attributive clauses are used as modifiers of nouns, but they should be put before the noun rather than after the noun. For another instance, time adverbs are often put at the end of a sentence, while in the Chinese language, the time adverbs should be put at the beginning of a sentence. Similarly, in English, nouns, rather than verbs, are more frequently used to indicate an action, so in the translated Chinese version, the noun should be transformed into a verb, as verbs are frequently used in Chinese than nouns. (21)He became angrier as the noise didn’t stop. After reading the sentence, we know that “as the noise didn’t stop” is the reason for the fact “he became angrier”. In Chinese, the reason is usually first given before the affected in conformation with time sequence, so the reason should be put before the effect in Chinese. Thus, the translated version should be, “噪音没有停止，这让他更生气了。” 3.4 “Methods in translating long English sentences”[18]P149-158 Besides knowing the steps taken in translating long sentences, more important, perhaps, is to master the methods and skills in translating long sentences. Zhang Peiji in his book A Course in English-Chinese Translation shows his opinion in translating long English sentences. 3.4.1 Obverse translation Although English and Chinese sentences are different in the way of expression, some sentences in English are the same in word order and way of expression as Chinese sentences. Thus, in translating these sentences, the original word order need not be changed, making the translation process relatively easier. (22)Before I had my dinner, I went out to see whether my uncle had come back. In this sentence, “before I had my dinner” is a time adverbial clause. In Chinese, the time adverbial clause is usually put at the beginning of this adverbial clause. In Chinese, the time adverbial clause is usually put at the beginning of