英汉两种语言的十大区别
英语和汉语是两种不同的语言，其思维方式和表达习惯可以说千差万别。了解这些差别，有助于我们对英语语法规则的理解，同时可以帮助我们在做阅读理解时看懂长难句，做翻译时理清句子结构。下面是对英汉两种语言差别的总结，大家认真推敲每个例句（可以作为翻译练习），仔细体会一下两种语言的差别，增强英语语感。
一、英语重结构，汉语重语意
我国著名语言学家王力先生曾经说过：“就句子的结构而论，西洋语言是法治
的，中国语言是人治的。”（《中国语法理论》，〈〈王力文集〉〉第一卷，第35页，山东教育出版社，1984年）
我们看一看下面的例子：
Children will play with dolls equipped with personality chips, computers with in-built personalities will be regarded as workmates rather than tools, relaxation will be in front of smell-television, and digital age will have arrived. (2001年第72题)
二、英语多长句，汉语多短句
由于英语是“法治”的语言，只要结构上没有出现错误，许多意思往往可以放
在一个长句中表达；汉语则正好相反，由于是“人治”，语义通过字词直接表达，不同的意思往往通过不同的短句表达出来。正是由于这个原因，英译汉试题几乎百分之百都是长
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而复杂的句子，而翻译成中文经常就成了许多短小的句子。
例如：Interest in historical methods had arisen less through external challenge to the validity of history as an intellectual discipline and more from internal quarrels among historians themselves. (1999 年第72题)
三、英语多从句，汉语多分句
英语句子不仅可以在简单句中使用很长的修饰语使句子变长，同时也可以用从
句使句子变复杂，而这些从句往往通过从句引导词与主句或其他从句连接，整个句子尽管表面上看错综复杂却是一个整体。汉语本来就喜欢用短句，加上表达结构相对松散，英语句子中的从句翻成汉语时往往成了一些分句。
例如：On the whole such a conclusion can be drawn with a certain degree of confidence but only if the child can be assumed to have had the same attitude towards the test as the other with whom he is compared, and only if he was not punished by lack of relevant information which they possessed.（1992年第75题）
Behaviorists suggest that the child who is raised in an environment where there are many stimuli which develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will experience greater intellectual development.
四、英语多代词，汉语多名词
英语不仅有we, you, he, they等人称代词，而且还有that, which 之类的关系代词和
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what, who 之类的疑问代词。在长而复杂的句子里，为了使句子结构正确，语意清楚，同时避免表达上的重复，英语往往使用很多代词。汉语虽然也有代词，但由于结构相对松散，句子相对较短，因此一般不使用太多的代词，使用名词往往使语意更加清楚。
请看下面的例句：
There will be television chat shows hosted by robots and cars with pollution monitors that will disable them when they offend.（2001年第71题）
此外，许多翻译题中代词的指代对象往往不在划线部分，再这种情况下，代词更应该翻译成名词。
例如：They are the possessions of the autonomous (self-governing) man of traditional theory, and they are essential to practices in which a person is held responsible for his conduct and given credit for his achievements.(2002年第64题)
五、英语多被动，汉语多主动
英语比较喜欢用被动语态，科技英语尤其如此。汉语虽然也有“被”，“由”之
类的词表示动作是被动的，但这种表达远没有英语的被动语态那么常见。因此，英语中的被动在汉语中往往要变成主动。下面我们先看一组常用被动句型的汉译：
it is said that...据说...
it is believed that...据认为...
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it is reported that...据报道...
it is estimated that...据估计...
it must be admitted that...必须承认...
it must be pointed out that...必须指出...
it has been found that...实践证明...
it is suggested that...有人建议...
it is agreed that...人们同意...
it is imagined that...人们认为...
it cannot be denied that...不可否认...
it will be seen from this that...由此可知...
it should be realized that...必须认识到...
it is (always) stressed that...人们（总是）强调...
it is (generally)considered that...大家普遍认为...
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it may be said without fear of exaggeration that...可以毫不夸张的说.
这些常用被动句型属于习惯表达法，在科技英语中出现频率很高，我们不仅要熟悉这些句型的固定翻译，同时要认识到英语中许多从习惯上来讲要译成汉语上的主动。我们再看一个典型的例子：
And it is imagined by many that the operations of the common mind can by no means be compared with these processes, and they have to be acquired by a sort of special training.（1993年第74题）
有时候，英语里的被动句译成汉语时用被动和主动都可以。例如：
1. It must have taken by him.
2. You will be drowned if you are not careful.
3. In the development of social economy, the culture tradition must be kept.
4. The economic development is decided to a great extent by science and technology.
有些英语被动需要把主语译成汉语的宾语，这样才能更加符合中文的表达习惯。例如：
New sources of energy must be found, and this will take time, but it is not likely to result in any situation that will ever restore that sense of cheap and plentiful energy we have had in the past time.（1991年第72题）
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六、英语多变化，汉语多重复
熟悉英语的人都知道，英语表达相同的意思时往往变换表达方式。第一次说“我认为”可以用“I think”, 第二次再用“I think”显然就很乏味，应该换成“I suppose”或“I believe”之类的表达。相比之下，汉语对变换表达方式的要求没有英语那么高，很多英语中的变化表达译成重复表达就行了。请看下面的例子：
The monkey’s most extraordinary accomplishment was learning to operate a tractor.
By the age of nine, the monkey had learned to solo on the vehicle. (R, Quirk)
由于英语喜欢用代词，汉语喜欢用名词。这也使英语多变化，汉语多重复的特
点更加突出。例如：
He hated failure; he had conquered it all his life, risen above it, and despised it in others.
同样，英语中的变化表达有时也不能在划线句子中寻找到另外一种表达，这就需要了解英语的表达特点，善于从文章中或者运用常识寻找答案。例如：
You have all heard it repeated that men of science work by means of induction and
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deduction, that by the help of these operations, they, in a sort of sense, manage to extract from Nature certain natural laws, and that out of these, by some special skill of their own, they build up their theories.（1993年第73题）
七、英语多抽象，汉语多具体
做翻译实践较多的人都有这样得体会：英文句子难译主要难在结构复杂和表达抽象上。通过分析句子的结构，把长句变短句，从句变分句，结构上的难题往往迎刃而解。抽象表达则要求译者吃透原文的意思，用具体的中文进行表达，这对考生往往具有更大的挑战性。
下面我们先看一组例子：
disintegration 土崩瓦解
ardent loyalty 赤胆忠心
total exhaustion 筋疲力尽
far-sightedness 远见卓识
careful consideration 深思熟虑
perfect harmony 水乳交融
feed on fancies 画饼充饥
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with great eagerness 如饥似渴
lack of perseverance 三天打鱼，两天晒网
await with great anxiety 望穿秋水
make a little contribution 添砖加瓦
on the verge of destruction 危在旦夕
从上面的例子不难看出，英语表达的确比较抽象，汉语则喜欢比较具体。我们再看一个翻译真题：
Until such time as mankind has the sense to lower its population to the point where the planet can provide a comfortable support for all, people will have to accept more “unnatural food”.（1991年第74题）
八、英语多引申，汉语多推理
英语有两句俗话：
1. You know a word by the company it keeps. (知人看伴，知词看文)
2. Words do not have meaning, but people have meaning for them.（词本无义，义随人生）
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这说明词典对词的解释是死的，而实际运用中的语言是活的。从原文角度来说，这种活用是词义和用法的引申，翻译的时候要准确理解这种引申，译者就需要进行推理。例如：
While there are almost as many definitions of history as there are historians, modern practice most closely conforms to one that sees history as the attempt to recreate and explain the significant events of the past （1999年第71题）
做翻译的人经常会有这样的一种感受：某个词明明认识，可就是不知道该怎样表达。这其实就是词的引申和推理在起作用。现在我们看一看sure这个词在不同句子中的处理情况：
1. I am not quite sure of his having said it.
2. This is the surest guarantee that we shall be successful.
3. He made a sure step out of the mud.
4. She had a sure grasp of the subject.
5. He is very sure in his beliefs.
九、英语多省略，汉语多补充
英语一方面十分注重句子结构，另一方面又喜欢省略。英语省略的类型很多，有名词的省略，有动词的省略，有句法方面的省略，也有情景方面的省略。在并列结构中，英语往往省略前面已出现过的词语，而汉语则往往重复这些省略了的词。例如：
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1. Ambition is the mother of destruction as well as of evil. (=ambition is the mother of destruction as well as the mother of evil.)
2. Reading exercises one’s eyes; speaking, one’s tongue; while writing, one’s mind. (=reading exercise one’s eyes; speaking exercises one’s tongue; while writing exercises one’s mind.)
3. Association with the good can only produce good, with the wicked, evil. (association with the good can only produce good and association with the wicked can only produce evil.)
4. One boy is a boy, two boys half a boy, three boys no boy. (= one boy is a boy , two boys are half a boy three boys are no boy)
在考研英译汉中，省略是一种很常见的现象。例如：
Whether to use tests, other kinds of information, or both in a particular situation
depends, therefore, upon the evidence from experience concerning comparative validity and upon such factors as cost and availability.
因此，究竟是使用测试，或是其他种类的信息，还是在特定的情况下两者都使
用取决于关于相对效度的来自经验的证据，同时还取决于成本和可获得性这样的因素。Whether…or…是并列连词，or后面省略了不定式to use, and upon 中间省略了动词depends,译文中补充了“使用”和“取决于”。
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十、英语多前重心，汉语多后重心
在表达逻辑思维时，英语往往是判断或结论等在前，事实或描写等在后，即重心在前；汉语则是由因到果。例如：
1. That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics and
behavior is central to this theory.
2. There is no agreement whether methodology refers to the concepts peculiar to historical work in general or to the research techniques appropriate to the various branches of historical inquiry.
3. And he knew how ashamed he would have been if she had know his mother and the kind of place in which he was born, and the kind of people among whom he was born.
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