科技文体的汉译英
2学时
一、教学目的及要求
通过本单元课程的学习，了解科技文体的范畴、特征；掌握科技文体常用翻译技巧
二、教学重点及难点
重点：科技文体的范畴、特征
难点：科技文体常用翻译技巧
三、教学手段
多媒体
四、教学方法
采取提问、讨论、启发、自学、合作、典型分析等方法。
五、教学内容与教学设计
科技文体的范畴
• 科技文体可以泛指一切论及或谈及科学和技术的书面语和口语，其中包括：
1. 科技著述、科技论文和报告、实验报告和方案；
2. 各类科技情报和文字资料；
3. 科技实用手册(Operative Means,包括仪器、 仪表、机械、工具等）的结构描述和操作规程；
4. 有关科技问题的会谈、会议、交谈的用语；
5. 有关科技的影片、录像等有声资料的解说词，等等。
1. 科技著述、科技论文和报告、实验报告和方案；
2. 各类科技情报和文字资料；
• 这两项科技英语，在文体学上统称为科学散文。 (scientific prose)
科技英语文体总貌
• 着重叙事逻辑上的联贯(Coherence)及表达上的明晰(Clarity)与畅达(Fluency)；避免行文晦涩，作者避免表露个人感情，避免论证上的主观随意性。因此，科技英语总是力求少用或不用描述性形容词以及具有抒情作用的副词、感叹词及疑问词。
• 科技英语结构力求平易(Plainness)和精确(Preciseness)，因此尽力避免使用旨在加强语言感染力和宣传效果的各种修辞格，忌用夸张、借喻、讥讽、反诘、双关及押韵等修辞手段，以免使读者产生行文浮华、内容虚饰之感。
科技文体的一般特征
• (1) 无人称（Impersonal)
• (2) 语气正式 (Formal in Mode of
Speech)
• (3) 陈述客观、准确(Objective and
Accurate in Statement)
• (4) 语言规范 (Standard in Language)
• (5) 文体质朴 (Unadorned in stylistics)
• (6) 逻辑性强 (Strict in Logic)
• (7) 专业术语性强 (Concentrated in
Technical Terms)
（1）无人称
• 绝大多数科技文章很少使用有人称的句子。 这主要是由于科技文章所描述和所讨论的是科学发现或科技实事。 尽管科技活动系人类所为，但由于科技文章所报告的主要是这种科技的结果或自然规律，而不是报告这些结果或自然规律是由谁发现或完成的，因此，科技文章往往没有人称。
• 无人称不是绝对的；总的来说，人称句在科技文章中的比例很小。
• The general layout of the illumination system and lenses of the microscope corresponds to the layout of the light microscope. The electron “gun” which produces the electrons is equivalent to the light source of the optical microscope. The electrons are accelerated by a high-voltage potential (usually 40,000 to 100 000 volts), and pass through a condenser lens system usually composed of two magnetic lenses. The system concentrates the beam on to the specimen, and the objective lens provides the primary magnification. The final images in the electron microscope must be projected on to a phosphor-coated screen so that it can be seen. For this reason, the lenses that are equivalent of the eyepiece in an optical microscope are called “projector” lenses.
(From Thornley G C, Further Scientific English Practice)
（2）语气正式
A Talk about Corrosion
Dr. Brown: Good Morning, Mr. Smith. Can I take your coat? Awful weather, isn’t it? Sit down. Cigarette?
Mr. Smith: No, I don’t smoke, thanks very much.
Dr. Brown: Well, I’ve been looking into your enquiry about the corrosion trouble you’ve been getting in the control valve. I’m sorry you’ve had trouble --- quite unexpected --- but I think we have the answer. The most probable cause of corrosion at a metal-to-metal junction immersed in an ionized fluid is electrolytic.
(From BBC, Scientifically Speaking )
（3）陈述客观、准确
• 科技文章是反映客观事实的，文章中不能参杂作者个人的主观意识，不能带个人感情色彩，对客观事实的陈述必须客观、准确。这既是科技文章的特征，也是对科技文章作者的基本要求。
（4）语言规范
• 科技文章的语言一般比较规范，主要表现为语法的规范性。这与文学作品有很大不同。
• 科技文章的语法之所以规范，是因为其描述的客观事物必须准确无误这一要求决定的。
（5）文体质朴
• 在修辞手段上，科技文章以交际修辞为主（Dominated in communicative rhetoric), 文风质朴、描述准确，不像文学文体那样富于美学修辞（Aesthetic rhetoric)手段和艺术色彩。
• 主要表现在语言的统一性（Unity)和连贯性(Coherence)强，语句平衡匀密，简洁而不单调，语句长而不累赘、迂回。
消极修辞和积极修辞
• 根据现代修辞学的观点，修辞的目的在于提高语言的表达效果（Brooks & Warren 1979)
• 消极修辞（交际修辞）：在总体上注重逻辑思维，其重点在于使语言表达简明、流畅、准确，有效地发挥语言的交际功能。“意义明确、伦次通顺、词句平匀、安排稳密。” （陈望道）
• 积极修辞（美学修辞）：在把握逻辑思维的基础上，偏重于语言表达的生动、活泼、优雅、具感染力，从而取得语言的艺术性表达效果。
• Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert to the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of throne,…There is no longer any room for hope.
• There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course other may take, but for me, give me liberty or give me death!
（6）逻辑性强
• 概念准确，判断合理、恰当，推理严密。
赵祖谟《小说创作隐性逻辑》
• “无论文学家还是科学家，其思维都离不开感情、形象、理性，这一点当前已形成共识。那么小说家和科学家思维方式的不同究竟在哪里？就在于情感、形象、理性诸因素在整个思维活动中所处的地位、所起的作用不同。科学家是人，而人不可能无情。但科学家之情推动他力求客观地、冷静地做出判断、推理，科学家以抽象的论证为指归。 科学研究的成果既有抽象的理论又有形象的营构，其内核是理性，他力避主观情感对客观事物的介入。”
• “小说家是人，是人就不能无‘理’。但小说家的理在整个创作过程中始终同‘情’紧密结合，不能一时一刻忘记‘情’。小说家以创造形象为指归。而形象的内核是‘情’，因而小说家要强化感情的介入，讲究移情。”
《小说创作隐性逻辑》
• 赵先生这里所说的“理”即是逻辑，“情”即是修辞（美学修辞）。由此可见，无论科技文章还是文学作品，都离不开逻辑和修辞（美学修辞），只是前者逻辑性突出，而后者富于修辞（美学修辞）和艺术色彩罢了。
（7）专业术语性强
• 众所周知，科技文章（科普文章除外）均有一个专业范围。一般来说，其读者均是“本专业”的科技人员，至少说是文章是为“本专业”的读者而写的。
• 专业术语是构成科技理论的语言基础，其余一具有严谨性和单一性。
• 采用术语写作能使文章更加准确而简洁。
专业术语十分密集
• It is possible to prove that as the number of tosses of coin is increased indefinitely, or “to infinity”, so the binomial distribution becomes identical with the normal distribution. For each kind of random event there is an underlying distribution. The normal or Gaussian distribution is very important because it arises very often in practice and also because it is very important in theory. Many distributions like binomial tend to become more and more like the normal as the number of events or the size of the sample increases.
• Another well-known statistical distribution is the Poisson distribution. If we are dealing with the frequency of occurrence of events which occur at random in time and space, we should expect the Poisson distribution to play some part in the calculation.
(From BBC, Scientifically Speaking)
借用动物名称的专业术语
• 英语 日常用语意义 机械专业术语意义
• coat 外衣 镀层
• cap 帽子 轴承盖，罩壳
• shoe 鞋子 闸瓦，履带片
• cup 杯子 皮碗，轴套
• bed 床 底座，机床身
• bench 长凳 拉床，钳工台
• house 房子 箱体，罩
• disk 唱片 硬磨盘
• desk 书桌 控制屏
• table 桌子 放料盘
• 英语 日常用语意义 机械专业术语意义
• eye 眼 孔环
• ear 耳 吊钩
• mouth 口 开度
• nose 鼻 喷嘴
• hand 手 手柄，指针
• finger 手指 厚薄规
• foot 脚 支座
• head 头 冒口，刀架
• neck 颈 座
• body 身体 机身
• hair 头发 游丝
• tooth 牙齿 粗糙面
注意事项
• 任何一种文体的语言特征都不是绝对的。
• 现代科普英语出现了与上述文体特征并行的趋势，即强调摆脱科技文体的因袭文风(EST Stereotype)，力求洗刷科技文章的枯涩与沉闷感(Dullness and Heaviness)。
• 科普作品的作者往往采用比较通俗的文风，融知识性和趣味性于一体，用词灵活，词句带有一定的感情色彩，尽量减少使用专业术语， 有时也使用人称和比较华丽的词藻。
科普文章举例
• A large proportion of strokes are proceed days, weeks or months before the strokes occur by warning signs or symptoms. Prompt attention to these symptoms can often make all the difference between a healthy life and a half-life in a twilight zone.
The most common warning sign is a feeling of weakness or numbness in an arm or leg or one side of the body. There may be temporary loss of speech or difficulty in speaking or understanding speech; temporary loss or dimness or vision; temporary dizziness, unsteadiness or fainting spells.
These symptoms are caused by “transient ischemic attacks (TIA’s), or “little strokes”. Ischemic means a deficiency of blood in the arteries of the brain. In TIA’s, the deficiency lasts only for a few seconds or minutes and causes only momentary disability.
As TIA’s --- they may be infrequent or occur several times a day --- are usually very brief and not alarming they are often ignored, with tragic consequences. If you promptly report them to your doctor, he will take immediate steps to discover the cause in order to prevent any impending strokes.
达尔文的《物种起源》选段
• It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. (美学修辞手段：隐喻、拟人、排比等）
• 这是科技文体的变异，但并不是科技文体特征的主流。
科技文章的句法特征
• （１）在人称的使用上，强调文章的客观性，汉语中常使用“笔者”、“我们”、“本文”而不使用“我”来充当得出某一结论的主语；英语中则常使用The author thinks that…/The authors have investigated …/This paper illustrates…等句式。
• （2）英语科技文章名词化结构用得多。
• （２）时态变化不明显：汉语里的动词无时态变化，动词所发生的时间往往是通过时间状语表示。英语中叙述客观事实几乎千篇一律使用现在时。
• （３）在语态方面，汉语中主动语态使用较多，而英语中，被动语态使用较多。
• （４）汉语和英语的科技文章中，句子结构都较为复杂。
科技写作的要求和科技翻译的标准
• 科技写作要求结构严谨、富有逻辑；在语言表达上坚持准确(precision)、清晰(clarity)和简洁(brevity)的三大顺序原则。“These three criteria are highly desirable in scientific writing but they should always be considered in that order.” (David Lindsay, A Guide to Scientific Writing, p. 38)
科技汉译英的方法
• 1) 名词化结构的应用（见课本334页）
• 2) 被动语态的应用 （335页）
• 3) 运用复合词
• 4) 运用合句法
名词化(Nominalization)
• 名词化倾向主要指广泛使用能表示动作或状态的抽象名词（如下例中的determination, transmission, evaluation) 或起名词功用的非限定动词。
• “Scientific writing differs greatly from the other styles in having a highly proportion of noun phrases with complexity…” (Quirk)
名词连用（“扩展的名词前置修饰语 ” Expanded Noun Premodifiers）
• 名词连用可以有效地简化语言结构。
• Illumination intensity determination = determination of the intensity of illumination 照明强度测定
• Power transmission relay system = a relay system for power transmission 送电中继体系
• Breast cancer survey program evaluation = an evaluation of the survey program with regard to breast cancer. 乳腺癌普查计划实施总结
• E.g.阿基米德最先发现固体排水的原理。
Archimeds first discovered the principle of displacement of water by solid bodies.
句中of displacement of water by solid bodies 是名词化结构，一方面简化了同位语从句，另一方强调displacement 这一事实。
广泛使用被动语句
根据英国利兹大学John Swales 的统计，科技英语中的谓语至少三分之一是被动态。这是因为科技文章侧重叙事推理，强调客观准确。第一、二人称使用过多，会造成主观臆断的印象。因此尽量使用第三人称叙述，采用被动语态。
• E.g.应当注意机器的工作度。
• Attention must be paid to the working temperature of the machine.
而很少说：You must pay attention to the working temperature of the machine .你们必须注意机器的工作温度。
此外，如前所述，科技文章将主要信息前置，放在主语部份。这也是广泛使用被动态的主要原因。
非限定动词
• 如前所述，科技文章要求行文简练，结构紧凑，为此，往往使用分词短语代替定语从句或状语从句；使用分词独立结构代替状语从句或并列分句；使用不定式短语代替各种从句；介词十动名词短语代替定语从句或状语从句。这样可缩短句子，又比较醒目。
• E.g. ①直流电是一种总是沿同一方向流动的电流。 A direct current is a current flowing always in the same direction.
②结构材料的选择应使其在外界条件中保持其弹性。
• Materials to be used for structural purposes are chosen so as to behave elastically in the environmental conditions.
• 大量使用后置定语，常见的结构有以下五种：
• 1）、介词短语
由于摩擦而产生的力称之为摩擦力。
The forces due to friction are called frictional forces.
2）、形容词及形容词短语。
该厂唯一可用的燃料是煤。
In this factory the only fuel available is coal.
• 3）、副词
外面的空气将桶壁压得凹进去了。
The air outside pressed the side in .
4）、单个分词，但仍保持校强的动词意义。
获得的结果必须加以校核。
The results obtained must be checked.
5）、定语从句
在施工过程中，常会出现需要改变设计的问题。 During construction, problems often arise which require design changes.
时态运用有限
• 因科技英语一般需对科学定义、定理、方程等客观内容进行解说，及常有叙述过去进行的研究情况，其内容就将时态运用一般限于一般现在时、一般过去时、一般将来时和现在完成时。
常用句型
• 科技文章中经常使用若干特定的句型，从而形成科技文体区别于其他文体的标志。例如It---that---结构句型；被动态结构句型；结构句型，分词短语结构句型，省略句结构句型等。
• 例如:
显然，润滑好的轴承，比不润滑的轴承容易转动。 It is evident that a well lubricated bearing turns more easily than a dry one.
计算机可分为模拟计算机和数字计算机两种。 Computers may be classified as analog and digital.
•
长句
• 为了表述一个复杂概念，使之逻辑严密，结构紧凑，科技文章中往往出现许多长句。有的长句多达七八个词，以下即是一例。
• 例如：
为了解释光学现象，人们曾试图假定有一种具有与弹性固体相同的物理性质的介质。这种子尝试的结果，最初曾使人们了解到一种能传输横向振动的具有上述假定所以认为的那种物理性质的发光介质。
• The efforts that have been made to explain optical phenomena by means of the hypothesis of a medium having the same physical character as an elastic solid body led, in the first instance, to the understanding of a concrete example of a medium which can transmit transverse vibrations, and at a later stage to the definite conclusion that there is no luminiferous medium having the physical character assumed in the hypothesis.
常用翻译技巧
• １）针对科技英语文体以上特点，翻译过程中常用以下五种技巧：转译法、省译法、增译法、还原法和倒置法。在实际翻译过程中，这五种方法是交互使用的，译者应理解句子的意思，用恰当的英语来表达。其中值得注意的有以下几点：
• 不定冠词的增译
这是高温计。
This is a pyrometer.
词典是良师。
A dictionary is a good teacher.
it的增译
it做形式主语或形式宾语时，在强调句型中，表示时间或天气时均应省译。
例如：做实验要花许多时间。
It takes much time to carry out a test.
我们称之为热的正是这种分子运动。
It is this molecular motion that we call heat.
添加某些解释性词语引起的减译
昨天他买了一台５８６计算机。
Yesterday, he bought a 586.
并列连词的倒置翻译，因其强调的内容为后者，英译时习惯先译后者。
我们不仅能将电能转换成热能，还能将其转换成光能。
We can turn electric energy into light energy as well as into heat energy。
特殊语态、语气及句型的翻译
• １．被动语态
如前所述，科技英语文章中多使用被动句式，但汉语中少用被动，因为被动有“受之于人”的感觉，所以汉译英时应注意将主动句被动化。
• 1）直接以被动语态：
例如：
太阳能的利用问题应给予重视。
The use of solar energy should be paid attention to.
人类将大规模使用太阳能。
Solar will be used on a large scale.
2）采用“This is…”或“…is…”的句式，来翻译汉语中的“……的是……”或“……是……”
这种装置在跳速系统中是很需要的。
This kind of device is much needed in the speed-regulating system.
• 3) 要翻译“为。。。所。。。”或“由。。。”的句型，往往要用被动语态。
老式收音机正为新式的所取代。
Radios of the old type are being replaced by new ones.
2．强势语气
翻译强势语气句时，要把加强了的语气翻译出来；而形式否定的强势语气的固定句型，it was not until…表达的也是肯定的强势语气，否定词后的at all, whatever, nearly等否定强势语气也应格外重视。
• 一直到老师来了，他们才开始做实验。
it was not until the teacher came that they began the test.
她无论如何不会单独完成那个实验。
She would not possible have done the experiment alone.
3．否定意义
否定意义的翻译要注意其否定部位的转移。
• 1）当否定句中出现表示程度、方式、地点、原因、时间、目的等状语或状语从句时，形式上在状语或状语从句否定的部位已经转移到了谓语上 。
• 例如：
地球并非在空无一物的空间运动。
The earth does not move in empty space.
• 2）部分否定、全部否定与几乎否定：由all, every, both, always, many, often等含有整体或多数的词与not构成表部分否定；全部否定由not, no, never, none, neither, nothing, nobody, nowhere等否定词构成；而barely, hardly, only, rarely, scarcely, seldom, little, few等表示几乎否定。
运用复合词
• 复合词是根据合词法将两个或两个以上的词按照一定的次序排列而成的新词，其构词成分由各种词类表示。
• 复合词包括复合名词、复合形容词、复合动词和复合副词。
复合形容词的使用
• 专门用于汽车大赛的汽车如，夏夫来(Safari)或蒙特卡罗(Monte Carlo)， 从外观上看与从汽车修理厂买来的普通用途的汽车没什么区别。事实上，它们有区别， 参加大赛的汽车是经过特殊方式制造的。首先，它们所采用的部件必须经过严格的测试；其次，选好的部件要经过精心组装，也就是说，参赛的汽车事实上是通过手工制造的。
译文1
• The cars which are used in rallies like the Safari or the Monte Carlo look the same as ordinary cars which have been bought from a garage. In fact, they are not the same; they are cars which have been specially prepared. Firstly, only components which have been rigorously tested are used. Secondly, the components which are chosen are put together much more carefully. In other words, the cars which are driven in rallies are in effect cars that have been built by hand.
译文2
• The rally-used cars like Safari or the Monte Carlo look the same as ordinary garage-bought cars. In fact, they are not the same; they are specially-prepared cars. Firstly, only rigorously-tested components are used. Secondly, the chosen components are put together carefully. In other words, the rally-driven cars are in effect hand-built cars.
复合名词的使用
• 钢制的工具箱放在仓库里。箱里除了一些标准工具以外，还有下列工具：一把12英寸长的卷尺、铜线、一些10工分长的铁钉、两脚插头、保险丝溶线和一个油壶。如发现工具丢失，请务必通知车间主任。
译文1
• The box for the tools, which is made of steel, is kept in the room for stores. In addition to the standard tools, it should contain a ruler for measuring up to 12 inches, some wire made of copper, some nails 10 centimeters long, a number of plugs with 2 pins, some wire for fuses and a can containing oil. If any tools are missing, the manager of the workshop should be told.
译文2
• The steel tool box is kept in the storeroom. In addition to the standard tools, it should contain a 12-inch ruler, some copper wire, some 10-centimeter nails, and a number of 2-inch plugs, some fuse wires and an oil can. If any tools are missing, the workshop manager should be told.
1. 相邻句表示因果、对比等逻辑关系，可以合并译成英语复合句。
• 新的形势给铁路的大发展带来了历史性机遇，也使铁路面临严重的挑战。要抓住机遇，迎接挑战，制定发展战略，担起历史任务，努力实现铁路的大发展。
• Considering that the new situation presents a historic opportunity for railway development as well as a serious challenge, the railway sector must seize the opportunity to work out a strategy to meet the challenge, and realize the great development of railway.
• 由于物体反射光线，我们才能看到颜色。能把大部分红色的光反射出来的东西看上去是红的。同样，一个绿色的物体反射出来的极大多数是绿色光。白色的东西能把所有种类的颜色的光都反射出来。而黑色的东西对任何颜色的光都不反射。
• We can see color only because object reflects light. Something red reflects mostly red light, while a green object reflects mostly green light. White objects reflect all colors of light, but black objects do not reflect any light at all.
2.相邻句表示主述语关系，即前句的述语为后句的主语。这样的相邻句可以合译成一个复合句。
• 减轻家庭妇女日常家务劳动的最合理的办法是添置机器人仆役。它可以被训练去从事某一特定家庭所必须做的事，可以按照编写好的一套程序去担任五、六中或更多的规范工作， 只要主妇根据需要拧一下开关就行。
• The most logical step to relieve the housewife of routine is to provide a robot slave which can be trained to meet the requirements of a particular home and can be programmed to carry out half a dozen or more standard operations, when so switched by the housewife.
3. 相邻句表示部分与整体关系的，合并成一个复合句，能更好的表达两者间的这种密切关系。
• “八五”、“九五”期间要加快南北通路、煤炭外运通路、西北通路、东北通路、华东通路及沿海港口的后方通路等六大通路的建设。其中，要把晋煤外运通路和南北干线通路作为重中之重。
• During the Eighth and Ninth Five-Year Plan periods, great effort should be devoted to construction of six major routes, namely, a south-north route, a route for shipping coal, a northwest route, a northeast route, an East China route and the route connecting coastal ports and the hinterland, among which the route for shipping coal of Shanxi Province and the south-north route will be given top priority.
4. 相邻的句子意思联贯，或具有时间顺序的可以合并成一个句子。
• 工业用途金刚石的价值在于它们的硬度，而不在于它们美观与否。其价值还在于它们具有千百种用途。
• The value of industrial diamonds lies in their hardness, not in their beauty, and in the thousands of jobs they do.
• 暨南大学有着悠久而曲折的历史。它的前身是暨南学堂，创办于1907年，校址在南京，主要遭受华侨子弟。辛亥革命后停办。1918年复校， 后迁上海，改为暨南大学。……
• Jinan University has had a long and chequered history. It was first founded in 1907 at Nanjing as Jian School mainly for the children of overseas Chinese, closed for a period of time after the 1911 Revolution but reopened in 1918, and then moved to Shanghai where it became Jinan University.
5 相邻的句子表示一种平行关系的也可以合并成一个句子，使这种对照关系更为明显。
• 科学是讲求实际的。科学是老老实实的学问，来不得半点虚假，须要付出艰巨的劳动。同时，科学也需要创造，需要幻想，有幻想才能打破传统的束缚，才能发展科学。
• Science deals with things in a practical way. Science means honest, solid knowledge, allowing not an iota of falsehood, and it involves Herculean efforts and grueling toil, but on the other hand, science also calls for creativeness and imagination; only with imagination is it possible to break away from the confines of conventionalities and to make headway in science.
六作业
练习十六
七参考资料
1.《新编汉英翻译教程》，陈宏薇、李亚丹主编（陈宏薇、陈浪、李亚丹、谢瑾编），上海：上海外语教育出版社，2004。
2. 《英语翻译实务基础版》，贺军主编，北京：北京出版社，2005。
3.《英汉对比研究》，连淑能著，北京：高等教育出版社，1993。
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