翻译是检验英语学习者英语水平的一个非常重要的标志。虽然你懂得很多的英语知识，但你的翻译水平未必很高。从本期开始让我们共同探讨如何提高翻译水平。

　　每当你把汉语翻译成英语时，切记：一定要忠实于原文，吃透原文。

　　A good Chinese-English translator

　　must thoroughly understand the original Chinese text, or trace the original meaning of that language. One must also make sure that, apart from the obvious meaning, there is implied (隐含的) or hidden meaning in the original text.

　　For example:

　　中国人口一度快速增加的原因之一是传统观念。根据中国的传统，女儿是要出嫁的，“纯女户”担心日后没人赡养，因此，有些农村夫妇有了几个女儿后仍希望生个男孩。

　　One student translated the sentences like this:

　　One of the reasons why the population of China was increasing very fast was the traditional idea. According to the tradition of China, the daughter wanted to marry, “purely woman family” worries having no people in the future to support, so, some rural married couple still hoped to give birth to a boy after having a few daughters.

　　In the above translation there is a problem. The Chinese “纯女户”was translated as “purely woman family”. The translation may make people feel that there is no man in the family. That means the translator didn't thoroughly understand the original Chinese text. So it will be better to translate“纯女户” as “peasants who only have daughters”.

　　So, a good Chinese-English translator must have a good command of both Chinese and English and be able to tell the difference between the two languages in grammar, style and modes (方式，样式) of expression.

　　Generally, in Chinese-English translation one can use things like “addition”, “omission”, “deviation” and “opposition” to better convey (传达，表达) the message. Taking cultural factors into consideration, sometimes “restructuring” is also necessary.

　　By “omission” we mean “leaving out” or “leaving unmentioned” any unnecessary or redundant (累赘的) part. Omission often occurs in the following cases:

　　1) redundant words in the original language, and unnecessary or wordy expressions;

　　2) an original meaning that is already implied in the English context;

　　3) original meaning that is clearly shown in the English without elaboration (详尽说明).

　　For example:

　　Translate the Chinese sentence “战争给人类带来了一系列问题，如造成粮食短缺” into English: “Wars brought a series of problems to human beings, such as causing the grain shortage.” In the translation, the word “causing” should be removed.

　　By “restructuring” we mean changing the makeup, organization or pattern. As a translation technique, it means necessarily changing word order in a sentence according to the usage in English. English speakers prefer putting more important things at the beginning of a sentence and less important things such as adverbs of time and place at the end. However, we Chinese often have them at the beginning.

　　(文/刘耀辉； 英语辅导报高二版 04~05学年度第17期；版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)