9713Inversion(倒置法)

2021年1月19日发(作者：weightlifting)
Inversion
（倒置法）

Inversion of W
ord Order in Translating W
ord-Groups or Phrases
（词组或短语的词序
倒置）

Examples & Drills

8.1
Give Chinese equivalents for the following, paying attention to the word order:
1. Four cardinal points: north, south, east, and west.
2. northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest; North and South Poles
3.
card-playing,
letter-writing,
white- washing,
absent-minded,
open-door
policy
,
time-sharing system, error correcting code
4. contradictions between ourselves and the enemy
5.
men
and
women,
young
and
old;
sisters
and
brothers
(cf.
boys
and
girls);
dear
mother and father
6. the iron and steel industry
7. sooner or later; quick of eye and deft of hand
8. heal the wounded and rescue the dying; life or death; now sink, now emerge
9. the soil and water mixture
10. you, he and I; Lisa, Linda and I; my wife (husband) and I
11. rich and poor
12. food, clothing and housing
13. negative and positive
14. hot and cold (water); hard and soft; old and new
15. back and forth; to and fro
16. by twos and threes
17. right and left
18. loss and gain
19. land and water; fire and water; as well blended as milk and water
20. track and field (events)
21. model worker
The
coordinating
words
of
an
English
word-group
or
phrase
are
usually
arranged
according
to
their
shades
o
f
meaning:
“each
is
more
impressive
than
the
preceding”
(Fowler
1965:92).
Chinese
word
order
is
often
the
opposite.
Thus
a
common
rule
for
translation is:

English
Chinese
narrower
range
→

wider
wider
range
→

narrower
range
range
less
important
→

more
more
important
→

less
important
important
weaker
→

stronger
stronger
→

weaker
Examples:
1.
无地和少地的农民


peasants who had
little or no land

2.
丰收年多积累一点，
灾荒年或半灾荒年
就
不积累或少积累
一点。

Accumulate
more
in
good
years and
less or none

in
years
when
the crops
half fail
or totally fail.

3.
受打击、排斥或轻视

be slighted, pushed aside or attacked
4.
知识分子和青年学生

students and intellectuals
5.
中小国家

small and medium-sized countries
6.
我们并不认为，他们
必须
或者
应当
采取我们的做法。

We do not maintain that they
should or must
adopt our way
.

Inversion of W
ord Order in Translating Attributes
（定语的词序倒置）


Invert the word order of the attributive and the noun (
倒置定语与名词的词序
)
Examples:

1. consul general
总领事

来

2. letters patent
特许状，专利证

5. God Almighty
万能的神（上帝）

3. court- martial
军事法庭

6. the bride elect
待嫁的新娘

4. from time immemorial
自远古以
Drills 8.2.1

7. a minister designate
8. ambassador plenipotentiary
9. professor emeritus
10. knight errant
11. the heir male (apparent)


12. the body politic
13. corps diplomatique
14. poet laureate
15. malice prepense (aforethought)
16. proof positive
17. the rent due
18. a battle royal
19. fibre glass
20. Central Texas
21. sum total
22. third person singular

Invert the word order in translating a series of attributive modifiers before

a noun (
倒置前置序列定语
)
(1) Generally
speaking, especially
in colloquial speech or
literary works, a series
of
attributive
modifiers
in
Chinese
is
seldom
completely
placed
before
a
noun:
with some before the noun, and the rest after.
Examples:
1. Keith: A
little, yellow, ragged, lame, unshaven
beggar. (John Galsworthy)
基思：一个讨饭的，身材矮小，面色苍黄，衣衫褴褛，瘸腿，满脸胡子。

2.
She
had
such
a
kindly,
smiling,
tender
,
gentle,
generous

heart
of
her
own.
(
Vanity Fair
)
她心地厚道，为人乐观，性情温柔，待人和蔼，器量又大。

3. She was an
intelligent, attractive
and
somewhat temperamental
daughter of a
well-to-do doctor in Haddington. (
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica
)
她是哈丁顿一位富裕医生的女儿，有才华，又迷人，但有点脾气。

Drills 8.2.2a

4. Then one can see the
oval

face of
a handsome young
woman
with
deep dark

eyes

and
long heavy clinging
tresses
.
(
Tess of the D’urbervilles
)
5. Somebody
tapped
me on
the shoulder; I
looked
up
from the exercise books of
my
young
pupils,
which
I
was
just
correcting,
into
the
lined,
kindly

face
of
a
little
lay sister.
6. The door opened with a sucking hiss and out of the dark
a large, gaily-dressed,
sullen-looking
colored

woman
got
on
with
a
little
boy
.
(F.
O’Connor:
Everything that Rises Must Converge
)
(2) The order in multiple attribution
English: General principle for placing several attributive modifiers before a noun
Determi-
native
限制性

冠词、指
示代词、
不
定
代
词、
所有
格、
数量
词

a very
a
some
her
this
quite an
a
sour

pretty
attractive
famous
主观判
断

Epithet
性质、
特
征

valuable

Size
大小


high

Descriptive
描述性

客观描述

Age
Color
新
颜色

旧

old

red

green

pink

purple

green



Origin
来源

Substance
物质

Classifying
分类性

Gerund,
Noun,
etc.
（动）
名
词



eating





medical
Head-
word
中心词

Shape
形状









Cape-colony
German
gold
brick


silk
watch
wall
apples
face
dress
stamp
college
small
round



triangular


three
the
my three

brisk

large




green




Chinese
California



wooden

night

carpets
air
tables
small
round

(Source:
A
Reference
Grammar
for
Students
of
English

by
R.
A.
Close,
1979:159,
Longman)
Drills 8.2.2b
Translate the above and the following into Chinese:
1. advanced world levels
2. all competent university scientists
3. a big forest fire in Oregon
4. 23 New Y
ork City hospitals
5. the three Baltic states
6. the perennial American problems
7. the large West End shops
8. the Second United Nations Development Decade
9. other influential American critics
10. nineteen-century American history
11. remarkable political stability
12. automatic thermal regulator
13. high- speed metal cutting
14. crystalline pig insulin
15. two tall gate-posts of rough-hewn stone (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
16. many of our most important new projects in other fields
17. the most thriving new agricultural areas in the world
18. the recently released official U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures
19.
the
first
African
to
be
awarded
the
Nobel
Prize
(1960)
in
recognition
of
his
long
non-violent struggle against racial discrimination (
The New Encyclopedia
Britannica
)
20.
The Advanced Learner’
s Dictionary of Current English

21.
Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Literature

Chinese: General principle for placing several attributive modifiers before a noun
限制性

物主、
国别

中国的

时间、
地
数量、
指
点

代


一位

判断性

现
代
优
秀的
< br>有
二
十
年
左
右
社
会
主
义< br>建
设
经验的

专为大
描述性

本质性

名词、单音
节词

青年

中心
词

作家


我们


几十个


领导

干部

他


这几篇

最新实
语法

讲稿

学生编
写的


昨
天
带
来
放
在
一本

书
架
上
的

差
不
多
同
时
开
几千朵

放的

去
年
皖

北

在
其
他
许多

地区的


用

新

英汉成语

词典



我们



重要的

美
丽
的
红

小麦的

新


平均

水利

玫瑰

产量

工程


Drills 8.2.2c
Translate the above and the following into English:
1.
国际经济新秩序

2.
公寓大院

3.
厦门经济特区

4.
社会主义的现代化强国

5.
强大的社会主义工业国

6.
世界历史上的新创造

7.
我国的安定团结、生动活泼的政治局面

8.
一系列长期贸易协定和文化科学技术合作协定

9.
门类齐全、结构合理、能够满足社会消费和整个国民经济发展需要的先
进的工业体系


Position of Adjective Clauses
（定语从句的位置）


(1)
Restrictive
adjective
clauses
which
confine
the
meanings
of
nouns
usually
precede the nouns they modify to make the expressions closely connected in structure
if they are not very long.
Examples & Drills 8.3a
1. At once the sky
grew dark, and the
ground opened up
near the spot
where they
were standing
. (
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
)
顿时天昏地黑，
他们所站的
地方附近的地皮裂开了。

2. Objects
that do not transfer light
cause shadows.
不透光的
物体会造成阴影。

3. Atoms are the units
out of which molecules are built
.
4. Here we shall discuss only such factors
as may cause distortions of the signal
.
5. Multiply the force by the distance
matter is moved
to measure work.
6. We could not really
feel satisfied, calm or
in agreement with the situation
with
which
we
are
faced
at
the
beginning
of this
session
of
the
General
Assembly
.
(from the UN document)
(2) Adjective clauses which only have descriptive or supplementary function for the
nouns
preceded,
or
very
long
adjective
clauses,
often
follow,
yet
sometimes
precede,
the
nouns
they
modify.
These
are
translated
in
various
ways,
being
separated from the main clauses.
Examples & Drills 8.3b


Guided Translation
(1) Translate the English adjective clauses into Chinese coordinate clauses:
1. Bernard Shaw was a well-known English playwright,
who wrote many plays
.
肖伯纳写过许多剧本
，是英国的一位著名的剧作家。

2. Y
ou,
whose ancestors pioneered the paths of modern civilization
,
have
taken
the road to higher forms of social organization and culture.
你们的祖先开辟了走向现代文明的道路
，
而你们现在又已踏上了走向更高
级的社会组织和文化形式的道路。

3.
World
War
II
was,
however,
more
complex
than
the
preceding
world
war,
which was a collision among the imperialist powers over the spoils of markets,
resources, and territories
. (W. Foster)
4.
The
time
has
long
passed
when
they
sought
comfort
in the
thought that
our
economic plans were unrealistic and unworkable
.
5. Air is a mixture of gases,
of which oxygen forms 21 percent by volume
.
(2)
Translate
the
English
adjective
clauses
into
Chinese
subordinate
(adverbial)
clauses denoting purpose, result, reason, condition, concession, etc.:
1. John,
who was sick yesterday
, did not come to class. (reason)
约翰昨天病了，
（
所以
）没有来上课。

2.
They
tried
to
stamp
out
the
revolt,
which
spread
all
the
more
furiously
throughout the country
. (result)
他们企图镇压反抗，
但是
（
结果
）
反抗却越来越激烈，
并已遍及全国了。

3.
So
my
chances
of
getting
to
revolutionary
China
are
pretty
slim
although
I
have
not
given
up
my efforts to
get a passport,
which will
enable me to visit
the countries of Socialism
. (W. Foster) (purpose)
因此，
我到革命的中国来的希望相当小了，
虽然我并没有放弃努 力，
来争
取获得护照，
以便
访问社会主义国家。

4.
In
a
dispute
between
two
states
with
which
one
is
friendly
,
try
not
to
get
involved. (condition)
当两国发生争端时，
如
与两国皆友好，则应尽量避免卷入。

5.
Peter,
who
had
carefully
read
through
the
instructions
before
doing
his
experiments
,
could
not
obtain
satisfactory
results,
because
he
followed
them
mechanically. (concession)
虽然
彼得在做实验之前从 头到尾仔细阅读过操作指南，
但是由于他生搬硬
套，所以得不到满意的结果。

6.
He
did
not
remember
his
father
who
died
when
he
was
three
years
old
.
(reason)
7.
In
this
regard,
I
am
pleased
to
point
out
that
the
declaration
made
by
the
Chinese
Government
in
the
United
Nations
to
the
effect
that
the
People’s
Republic of China
will
never practise a policy of big- nation chauvinism was
no
surprise to
us,
who have had more than a decade of friendly
cooperation
with that country
. (from the UN document) (reason)
8. Their only
concern
is to produce an anti-China
lie
which might, at least for a
time, sidetrack attention from their mischief- making activities
. (purpose)
9.
We
maintain
that
no
peace
situation
is
permanent
which
does
not
take
into
account
the
legitimate
wishes
of
the
majority
of
the
people
of
any
country
.
(condition)
10. Through
great
efforts
we
have
finished
the
task
under conditions,
which are
very unfavorable to us
. (concession)
The
above
examples
show
that
though
some
English
clauses
may
look
“adjective
-
like”,
they
in
fact
imply
adverbial
mean
ings,
such
as
reason,
purpose,

condition,
and
concession.
Chinese
does
not
use
such
long
adjective
clauses,
so
translate

them
into Chinese adverbials,
which can be placed either before or after
the nouns they modify. In these cases, Chinese connectives such as
因为，
所以，
虽
然，
如果 ，
但是，
以便
may be used to replace English relative pronouns (who, that,
which,
etc.).
More
about
translating
adjective
clauses
are
explained
in
sections
10.3.1, 13.3.2 and 13.3.3.
Even
more
important
to
a
successful
translator,
however,
is
to
note
the
focus
of
information (
信息焦点
) in translating complex sentences with adjective clauses.

。


Inversion of Adverbials
（状语的词序倒置）

.
Those
adverbials
placed
after
the
verb
are
called
“
补语
”
instead
of
“
状语
”
in
Chinese, e.g. She sings
very well
.
她唱得
很好
。


English: General principle for placing several adverbial modifiers
S + V (+O)
We study
He has been
He walked
Manner
Place or Direction
hard


in the classroom
to London
round the park
Frequency


Time
everyday
.
before supper.
last week.
several times
this year.
I saw that film

at the Regal Cinema
twice

Translate the above into Chinese.

Chinese: General principle for placing several adverbial modifiers
S
我

她

他

Time
去年

Place or Direction
Manner
V (+ O)
Frequency
在北京

在学校里

愉快地

遇见他

两次。

大声


慢

朗读。


看电影

一次。

跑

两周。

每天早晨

在室外

每天清早

环校

我们

每周

Translate the above into English.


Position of Adverbial Clauses
（状语从句的位置）


Chinese subordinate clauses
（
从属分句）
denoting result or comparison follow the
main
clause;
other
subordinate
clauses
denoting
time,
place,
cause,
condition,

concession or purpose generally precede the main clauses.
Examples & Drills 8.5
(1) Translate the following, paying attention to the position of adverbial clauses:
1. Stormy applause broke forth
the moment she appeared on the stage
.
2. He impressed me that way
the first time I met him
.
3. The machine will start
as soon as you press the button
.
4.
Directly he uttered these words
there was a dead silence.
5. I am proud
that our country is forging ahead at such a speed
.
6. They said they would do it
come what might
.
7. She was
so
worried
that she could hardly eat her supper
.
8. She would have fallen
but that I caught her
.
9.
Much as I admire his courage
, I don’t think he acted wisely
.

10.
Now that I think of it
, we were wrong in turning down her proposal.
(2) How to translate
before
and
until

(till
) in the following?
Before
1. Many centuries had passed
before
man learned to make fire.
过了好几个世纪，人类才学会取火。

2. It seemed a long time
before
my turn came.
似乎过了好久才轮到我。

3. I’ll do it now
before
I forget it.
我现在就做，以免忘了。

4. We had scarcely left our school
before
it began to rain.
我们刚离开学校就下起雨来了。

5. The boy fell down from the ladder
before
he knew it.
那男孩不知怎么就从梯子上摔了下来。

6. Don’t count your chickens
before
they are hatched.
鸡蛋未孵，勿先数雏。

7.
It
may
be
some
generations
before

the
average
mind
grasps
the
identity
of
time and space, and so on. (Albert Einstein)
可能要等到几代人以后，一般人才能认识到时间、空间等等的同一性。

8.
Before
I enter on the main subject I have something to say
.
9. It was not long
before
he knew it.
10. Evening came
before
we realized it.
11. Work hard
before
it is too late.
12. I will finish this task
before
two months have passed.
13. We had barely sat down
before
we heard bicycles outside.
14. The day began to break
before
we got to the hilltop.
15.
Before
I could say a single word, he ran away
.
16. She arrived
before
I expected.
17. One must sow
before
one can reap.
18. Look
before
you leap.
19. He will die
before
he lies.
SUMMARY
Some ways to translate
before
in adverbial clauses:
a)
（在）??（以、之）前：
e.g. 8
b)
（后）??才：
e.g. 1, 2
c)
刚??就：
e.g. 4, 13
d)
就，便，快：
e.g. 9
e)
未??就，还没有（来得及）??就：
e.g. 5, 10, 14, 15, 16
f )
趁（着）
，不然会、要不就、以免：
e.g. 3, 7
g)
先??（然）后，先??再，而后，未??先：
e.g. 6, 17, 18
h)
宁（可）??（也）不（肯）
，宁愿??决不：
e.g. 19
Sentences thus translated often become contracted in Chinese
（汉语
“紧缩句”
）
，
and inversion

of

word order is sometimes unavoidable.


Until (Till)
1.
Until
he comes, nothing can be done.
他没来，什么也不能干。

2. Don’t fire
until
you have taken a good aim.
瞄准了再开枪。

3. Don’t
wait
until
problems pile
up and cause a
lot of trouble before
trying to
solve them.
不要等到问题成了堆，闹出了许多乱子，然后才去解决。

4.
When
water
is
cooled,
its
volume
contracts
steadily
until

its
temperature
reaches 4
℃
.
水冷却时，水温若未降到摄氏
4
度，其体积就一直稳定地收缩。

5. Don’t open the door
until
the train stops.
6. The path is not complete
until
the wires are joined.
7. We cannot really learn anything
until
we rid ourselves of complacency
.
8.
A
body
at
rest
will
never
move
till
a
force
compels
it
and
a
body
once
in
motion will never stop
till
a force compels it.
9. Never reach for the next step
until
you feel

sure of the preceding one.
10. Y
ou never know
till
you have tried.
SUMMARY
Until
(
till
) is often translated in the following ways:
a)
在??之前：
e.g. 4, 9
b)
（等）??再，等??才：
e.g. 2, 3, 10
c) The adverbial clause
led by
“until” or
“till”, or the
main clause,
is translated
into conditional subordinate clause or the
whole complex sentence becomes
a contracted sentence in Chinese, e.g. 1, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Until

(
till
)
is
a
word
implying
negation.
It
may
make
an
affirmative
principal
clause or adverbial clause negative
in
meaning and
in translation, even though
it does
not
appear
to
contain
any
negative
words.
Conversely
a
negative
principal
or
adverbial clause
may become affirmative. A careful comparison of the above
English
and
Chinese
sentences
will
demonstrate
this
principle.
Details
of
words
implying
nega
tion will be discussed in the chapter “Negation”.

Inversion of Sentence Structure
（句子结构的倒置）