四、打散结构,重新组合。适用这种译法的长复合句,往往是从句和短语多、结构复杂、曲折迂回和层次迭出的句子。这要求译者不仅具备造诣较高的英语理解能力,而且具备必要的专业技术知识。例如:
1. 1. The point that I am anxious to make is that the search for mathematical models of this kind, the study of their henaviour and of the relationship of this behaviour to the real situations which they seek to represent, and the consequential modification, of them so as to lead to reliable prediction and then to decision-making, would not be possible were it not for the assistance afforded to the investigator by the digital computer——and by the work of the technologists who have successfully transformed the scientific ideas on which it is founded into stable, reliable and economic pieces of electrical equipment. 我要特别强调的是,假如研究员得不到数字计算机的帮助,假如技术员不把研制电子数字计算机的科学原理成功地用在制造性能稳定可靠、经济节约的电元件上,则探索这种数学模型,研究其作用与模型试图模拟的实际情况之间的关系,从而根据研究成果进一步修改模型,作出可靠的预测和决策等,这都是不可能的。(如果不打破原文的表层结构,就很难将原意表达清楚。现将第二个that引出的表语从句中三个并列主语search,study,modification以及条件虚拟从句中的assistance等——拆译成分句。)
有时,句子结构简单,用词也浅显,但其中却包含着许多曲折层次,不仅不得其解者无从下手,即得其真解者亦不易表达其义蕴,这更须吃透原文,汉译时就得在抽词拆句上非下功夫不可。如:
2. The list of chiral objects could go on,but examples of two kinds of sea-shells tell the story. 手性物不胜枚举,但以两类海贝为例,即可概其全貌。
3. In practice, the selected interval thickness is usually a compromise between the need for a thin, interval to maximise the resolution and a thick interval to minimise the error. 层的厚度的选择是相当困难的,因为实际上有很难调和的矛盾。从提高分辨率的角度来考虑,总希望把层选得尽可能薄;但从减小误差的角度来考虑,又总希望把层选得尽可能厚。这就往往需要在反复权衡其利弊得失之后,才能得出一个最佳的折衷方案。(采取“前后引衬”的手段“以显其意”。)
除上述基本译法外,在运用抽词拆译时,还必须遵守几条原则:一、分清主次先后;二、讲求层次分明;三、注意承上启下。
一、分清主次先后。要辨清哪层意思是主要的,哪层意思是次要的;哪层意思宜先说,哪层意思宜后说。一般说来,主要情况可先说,次要情况可后说,或把对句子主要成分的说明放在前面,作为背景交代;或把对句子主要成分的说明放在后面,作为补充。在抽词拆译时,切忌只顾原句的词语排列顺序而忽略其主次。要分清主次,就必须突出重点。要突出重点,不可不注意到英汉在词语排列顺序上的不同。句首和句后常是比较主要的意思所在地。不过,相比之下,重点内容在前,这是英语在词语排列顺序上的一个特点;而重点内容在后,这是汉语在词语排列顺序上的一个特点。由于汉语表达常常由小到大,由远及近,层层推进,越说越明。因此,有时译文采用跟英语相反的词语排列顺序,将原句的主要语言成分后移,往往能收到一点异曲同工之妙。例如:
A particularly bold contribution to African lithospheric studies has come from combining continent-wide gravity data, based on the 1973 U. S. Defense Mapping Agency's Bougueranomaly map of Africa, with observed teleseismic delaytimes for Soviet underground nuclear explosions recorded at African seismological stations. 1973年,美国国防部测绘署编绘了一份非洲部署重力异常图,把根据此图所获之全非洲重力数据与非洲地震台站所测苏联地下核试验的远震延时相结合,这是对非洲岩石圈研究的一项重要创新。
二、讲求层次分明。除了辨清原文的重点内容以外,还要讲求层次分明。弄清一句英语有几层意思,再考虑汉语该用几层意思(几个小句)来表达。层次不明的译文,往往是词不达意或文不顺、字不从的。如:
1. The behaviour of a fluid flowing through a pipe is affected by a number of factors, including the riscosity of the fluid and the speed at which it is pumped. 在管道中流动的液体,其性能受到多种因素的影响,其中包括液体的粘度和泵送速度的影响。(在大小主语间加逗号、小主语前加“其”、“其中”,使层次更加分明。)
2. A hand held electric instrument that applies a layer of tungsten or titanium carbide on the wear surface of high speed cutting tools without heating the object to be impregnated, is recently announced by our factory.
我厂新近生产了一种手握式电焊器具。一般补焊高速切削刀具的损坏面,要把刀具加热到能渗透焊料的温度,而用这种电焊器具,无需加热刀具,可直接把钨或钛的硬质合金焊料直接焊到损坏面上。
三、注意承上启下。要把译文中各层意思适当地“胶合”在一起,这就要使各层意思很好地关联呼应。在不少情况下,译文可采用现代汉语中的无连词复句或意合法进行粘合。例如:
1. The realization that man is an integral part of nature and that his interaction with the ecological systems with surround him is of paramount importance to his continued survival, is prompting a revaluation of the functional relationships that exist between the enviroment, its ecology, and man.人类是大自然不可分割的一个组成部分;他们与周围生态系统之间的相互作用对于他们的继续生存具有极其重要的意义。这一认识正促使我们重新估价人类与环境及其生态之间存在的功能关系。
2. The material in the preceding chapter on velocity and acceleration for simple types of motion, which we have referred to as the logical and historical groundwork of physics,is essentially the work of Galileo. 前章所述简单运动的速度与加速度的内容,主要是伽利略的研究成果,我们把它看作物理学的逻辑基础和历史基础。
诚然,在很多情况下,译文在包含一层层意思的各个小句之间,需采用汉语的连词复句,即加一些“如果,因为,由于,不过,但是,而,并,以及…”等。当然,多“钉些钉子”,要有个前提,这就是不能任意增添而招致语意不明。如:
3. Gathering facts,confirming them,suggesting theories, testing them,and organizing findings——this is all the work of science. 收集资料并加以论证,提出理论并加以检验,以及归纳整理研究成果——这就是科学工作的全部内容。
4. Conversion to electric power represents a practical means of transferring geothermal energy. However, the price of the conversion, is a substantial loss of energy, and further losses occur in transmission. and in the subsquent use of it. 诚然,将地热能转换为电能是输送这种热能的一种可行的办法。但是,这样的转换要以大量的能量损耗作为代价;更何况,在输送以及日后的使用过程中还会有更多的耗损。
5. The great scientists are often men of supernormal vitality which enables them to retain a freshness of outlook and enterprise even into their old age. 伟大的科学家即使到了晚年,还持有新颖的观点和朝气蓬勃的事业心,因此,他们往往具有超人的活力。
可见,译文中是运用抽词拆译法,首先“将全文神理,融会于心”,再对那些“词理本深,难于共喻”的成分,则采取“前后引衬”的手段“以显其意”,才能“下笔抒词,自善互备”了(引自严复《天演论、译例言》)。英国文豪Jonathan Swift有句名言:“Proper words in proper places make the true definition of a style. ”(合适的词放在合适的地方,这就是好文章。)这句话也包含本文主题的中心意思在内,抽出合适的词放在合适的地方,拆句分译,准确而简洁地表达了原文的内容,这就是好的科技译文。