英汉对比翻译
－间接与直接
黄山学院
程汕姗
委婉（Euphemism）
• “A mild or vague expression as a substitute for
blunt precision or disagreeable truth.”
• 死亡
English: pass away, go to one’s Maker, sleep with
one’s fathers, join the great majority, pay the debt
of nature, be with God, go to glory, go to a better
world, sleep the final sleep, cross the Great Divide,
climb the golden staircase etc.
汉语： “安息”、“长眠”、“逝世”、“长逝”、“谢
世”、“离世”、“亡故”、“永别” 、“仙逝”
《礼记·曲礼》：“天子死曰崩，诸侯死曰甍，大夫死曰卒，
士曰不禄，庶人曰死。”
Your Main Topic Goes Here
• 上厕所
English:
I need to go somewhere.
I want/need to go (or use) to the washroom/bathroom/
restroom.
I want/need to wash my hands/relieve myself/ answer a
call of the nature.
I need to powder my nose/fix my face (women only)
I want/need to see a man about a horse. (men only) etc.
汉语：
出恭、更衣、解手、如厕、方便等
• 官方委婉语
Underutilization/Human resources
underdevelopment
失业问题
The underprivileged/ disadvantaged
贫困人口
Negative saver
负债累累/债务缠身/入不敷出的人
Substandard housing/Inner city/central city
贫民窟
House of correction/correctional facility
监狱
Less than truthful
编造谎言
Liquidation/terminate with extreme prejudice
暗杀
Rolling adjustment (economy)
经济衰退
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International armed conflict
Air support
Overflight
Neutralize the adversary
Antipersonnel implements
Circadian deregulation
an adjustment of the front
Strategic withdrawal
• Useful and businesslike meeting
• Serious and candid discussion
In our time, political speech and
writing are largely the defense of the
indefensible. Things like the continuance
of British rule in India, the Russian
purges and deportations, the dropping of
the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be
defended, but only by arguments which
are too brutal for most people to face,
and which do not square with the
professed aims of the political parties.
Thus political language has to consist
largely of euphemism, question-begging
and sheer cloudy vagueness.
Defenseless villages are bombarded from the
air, the inhabitants driven out into the
countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the
huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is
called pacification. Millions of peasants are
robbed of their farms and sent trudging along
the roads with no more than they can carry:
this is called transfer of population or
rectification of frontiers. People are
imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in
the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in
Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination
of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is
needed if one wants to name things without
calling up mental pictures of them.
• 职业委婉语
Sanitary engineer
Meat technologist
Prison officer
Rodent operator
Research consultant
Funeral director
Plant supervisor
Public relations counselor
Member of the oldest profession
Law enforcement officer
• 学校委婉语
unflamboyant student
Subnormal/exceptional (special) child
1. Shows difficulty in distinguishing between
imaginary and factual material
2. Needs help in learning to adhere to rules
and standards of fair play
3. Needs help in learning to respect the
property rights of others
4. Has qualities of leadership but needs help
in learning to use them democratically
II.
1.
①
②
含蓄（implicitness）
克制陈述（understatement）
-make big things seem trifle
It was nothing; a pinprick.
He had a mansion in the country and
another little place in town.
③ He had five sandwiches and a quart of
milk for his snack.
节制（controlled）、漫不经心(casual)－
幽默＋冷嘲
In France it is rude to let a conversation
drop; in England it is rash to keep it up. No
one there will blame you for silence. When
you have not opened your mouth for three
years, they will think: "This Frenchman is a
nice quiet fellow." Be modest. An Englishman
will say, "I have a little house in the country";
when he invites you to stay with him you will
discover that the little house is a place with
three hundred bedrooms. If you are a world
tennis-champion, say, "Yes, I don't play too
badly." If you have crossed the Atlantic alone
in a small boat, say, "I do a little sailing."
- Andre Maurois (1885-1967), Three
Letters on the English
2. 间接肯定（litotes）:双重否定
① To my no small disappointment, he failed
the interview.
令我大失所望的是，他未能通过面试。
② It serves no little purpose to continue
public discussion of this issue.
继续公开讨论这一问题大有裨益。
③ Martin ordered another glass of punch,
which they drank between them, and
which had no effect of making them less
conversational than before.
马丁又要了一杯潘趣酒，两人共饮，这反而令
他俩谈得更起劲了。
• 特殊否定
① He didn’t half like that girl.
He liked that girl very much.
② I couldn’t feel better.
③ If that isn’t what I want!
我想要的就是这个啊！
④ He can’t see you quickly enough.
He wants to see you as soon as possible.
⑤ One could not be too careful in a new
neighborhood.
新到一个地方，还是小心为上。
多余否定
• I ran away,…I don’t know how far I didn’t
run.
我跑了，……也不知道跑了多远。
• If the walls could speak, what an amount of
blundering and capricious cruelty would
they not bear witness to!
如果这些墙壁会说话的话，它们会为多少愚昧
无知、任意妄为的残暴行为作证啊！
• 汉语：好不＋形容词
Your Main Topic Goes Here
3. 委婉否定（indirect negation）
① 转移否定（transferred negation）
a) I don’t think he cheated in the exam.
I think he didn’t cheat in the exam.
b) I don’t suppose you need to worry.
c) I can’t consider the matter urgent in any way.
表示相信、臆断的动词：think, believe, suppose,
imagine, feel, reckon etc.
注：这些动词的名词化结构往往也可以转移否定，如：
It is not our opinion that your proposed contract is
practical.
我们认为贵方拟定的合同不切实际。
② 肯定表否定
You could have come at a better time.
肯定式：你本来可以在更合适的时候来。
否定式：你来的不是时候。
Are you telling me? I know all about it.
肯定式：你是在跟我说吗？我全知道了。
否定式：你不用跟我说了，（还用你告诉我吗？）我全知道
了。
I’ll see you dead before I accept your terms.
肯定式：在我接受你的条件之前，我得先看着你死去。
否定式：见鬼去吧，我才不接受你的条件呢！
I’m wiser than to believe what you call money talks.
我才不会蠢到相信你所谓的金钱万能呢。
肯定形式否定意义的词组：
far from (enough), escape (sb), free from (slavery),
short of, beyond (the power of words), above
(flattery), beneath (notice), blind/deaf to, absent
from etc.
4. 委婉暗示（tactful implication）
It can be worse.
婉转：还可能会更糟。
直言：还可以/还过得去/还凑合吧。
You are late for the last time.
婉转：这是你最后一次迟到了。
直言：你被解雇了。
•
The press, Tory and Labour alike, is not
remotely concerned with the great
questions.
保守党和工党两派报纸，对于这些重大问题
并非漠不关心。
•
I cannot wait to read the book.
我非常渴望读到这本书。
•
A man can never have too many friends.
朋友越多越好。
•
It was not long before he appeared.
他不久就出现了。
•
There is no man but has his faults.
人皆有过。
•
No one believes but she will succeed.
人们相信他会成功。
•
There is no one but knows him.
人人都认识他。
•
He chose none but the best.
他只选了最好的。
•
It is never too late to give up prejudices.
放弃偏见永远不晚。
•
What appeared to me wonderful was that
none of the ants came home without
bringing something.
使我感到惊奇的是每只蚂蚁回巢时都带回一
些东西。
•
The letter was written by none other than
Mary.
写这封信的正是玛莉。
•
His speech was too good not to stir the
audience.
他的演讲太好了，不会不使观众轰动。
•
He is not too old to do it.
以他这般岁数来做这种事，并不算老。
•
John is a good swimmer. He wins more
often than not.
约翰是个游泳健将,常常在比赛中获奖。
•
He has not a little experience.
他有着丰富的经验。
•
He’ll be at home now, as likely as not.
=He’ll probably be at home now.
他很可能现在在家。
Thank you!