论英语新闻中被动句的翻译毕业作品.docx

论英语新闻中被动句的翻译毕业作品.docx

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论英语新闻中被动句的翻译毕业作品

英语

论英语新闻中被动句的翻译

TheTranslationofthePassiveVoiceinEnglishNews

摘要

新闻是传达信息最快最便捷的方式，英语新闻也是如此。

由于英语新闻的特殊性，当我们深入研究英语新闻的时候我们发现，英语新闻中出现了大量的被动句。

本文从英语新闻中的被动句来着手，从被动句的用法、功能以及其语境这三点来分析如何正确翻译英语新闻。

通过例证说明英语新闻翻译的过程中需要注意的问题及翻译技巧，而对原文的理解程度又关系到译文的正确与否。

所以正确理解英语新闻当中被动句的使用意图是其翻译的核心问题。

忠实原文，翻译准确，是本文的宗旨。

忠实原文是翻译英语新闻中被动句的首要问题，翻译准确是要遵循新闻当中的客观事实。

关键词：

英语新闻；被动句；翻译技巧；语言特点

Abstract

Newsisthemostrapidwaytoconveyamessage,soastheEnglishnews.WiththedeepresearchwehavefoundthattherearealotofpassivevoicesusedintheEnglishnews.WewillanalyzethelinguisticfeaturesoftranslationofthepassivevoiceinEnglishnewsfromitsusagefunctionandcontext.Wewilltakesomeexamplestoexplainwhatwehavetopaymoreattentiontoandthemethodofhowtotranslatethemexactly.TherearethreerulesofhowtotranslatethepassivevoiceinEnglishnews.Firstofall,whenwetranslatethemwemustcomplywiththeruleoffaithfulnessthatwecannotchangetheoriginalmeaning.Second,anotheroneoftheimportantrulesofasuccessfultranslationistotranslatethemexactly.Newsisamediawhichconveystheobjectfacts.

Keywords:

Englishnews;PassiveVoice;TranslationSkills;LinguisticFeatures

Contents

Abstract.…………………………………………………………………………......Ⅰ

1Introduction

FromtheturnofthecenturytherehavebeenalotofresearchesdomesticaswellasabroadresearchingthepassivevoiceinEnglish.Theseresearchdatahaveprovideduswithaninstructiveprincipleofhowtouseandunderstandthepassivesentence.Thestudywhichtheresearchershavedonegaveusabriefideaofpassivevoice.Theyhavepioneeredanewwaytoacknowledgeandmasterthepassivevoice.However,therearelittlestudieswhichresearchthetranslationofpassivevoiceinEnglishnews.Inourmodernsociety,Newsisthecommunicationofselectedinformationoncurrenteventswhichispresentedbyprint,broadcast,Internet,orwordofmouthtoathirdpartyormassaudience.Newsisthemostrapidwaytoconveyamessage.Nodoubtthatnewsisthemainmedia.Weknowtheworldformthenews.Wegettheinformationfromthenews.Thesignificanceofnewscannotbeenignored.ThereisoneofthemainlinguisticfeaturesofEnglishnewsisthatthelargeuseofpassivevoice.ItssignificanceurgesustostudythepassivevoiceinEnglishnews.ThisarticlewillstartwiththedefinitionsofthepassivevoiceinEnglishandChinese,andthenmoveontothefunctionsofthepassivevoiceinEnglish,withanaimtocastalightonthetranslation.Inthisarticle,wewillanalyzethetranslationofthepassivevoiceinEnglishnewsfromanewpointofview.

2ThePassiveVoice

2.1TheDefinitionofVoice

Ingrammar,thevoice（alsocalleddiathesis）ofaverbdescribestherelationshipbetweentheaction（orstate）thattheverbexpressesandtheparticipantsidentifiedbyitsarguments（subject,object,etc.）.Whenthesubjectistheagentordoeroftheaction,theverbisintheactivevoice.Whenthesubjectisthepatient,targetorundergoeroftheaction,itissaidtobeinthepassivevoice.

2.1.1Active

Theactivevoiceisthemostcommonlyusedinmanylanguagesandrepresentsthe"normal"case,inwhichthesubjectoftheverbistheagent.Suchas:

（1）Ieatthecake.

ThewordIisthesubject,whilethewordcakeisobject.ThewordIusestheactiontoeatthecake.

（1）我吃了蛋糕。

2.1.2Passive

Thepassivevoiceisemployedinaclausewhosesubjectexpressesthethemeorpatientoftheverb.Thatis,itundergoesanactionorhasitsstatechanged.TheSpanishlanguageandtheEnglishlanguageuseaperiphrasticpassivevoice;thatis,itisnotasinglewordform,butratheraconstructionmakinguseofotherwordforms.Specifically,itismadeupofaformoftheauxiliaryverbtobeandapastparticipleofthemainverb.

2.2TheDefinitionofPassiveVoice

Passivevoiceisagrammaticalvoicecommoninmanyoftheworld'slanguages.Passiveisusedinaclausewhosesubjectexpressesthethemeorpatientofthemainverb.Thatis,thesubjectundergoesanactionorhasitsstatechanged.Asentencewhosethemeismarkedasgrammaticalsubjectiscalledapassivesentence.Incontrast,asentenceinwhichthesubjecthastheagentroleiscalledanactivesentence,anditsverbisexpressedinactivevoice.Manylanguageshavebothanactiveandapassivevoice;thisallowsforgreaterflexibilityinsentenceconstruction,aseitherthesemanticagentorpatientmaytakethesyntacticroleofsubject.

Transforminganactiveverbintoapassiveverbisavalence-decreasingprocess（"detransitivizingprocess"）,becauseittransformstransitiveverbsintointransitiveverbs.Suchas:

（2）Thecakewaseatenbyme.

Thisisthepassivesentenceoftheexample

（1）.Inthissentence,thewordcakeisthesubject,whilethewordIistheobject.

（2）蛋糕被我吃了。

Theuseofpassivevoiceallowsspeakerstoorganizestretchesofdiscoursebyplacingfiguresotherthantheagentinsubjectposition.Thismaybeusedtoforegroundthepatient,recipient,orotherthematicrole.Passivevoicemayalsobeusefulwhenthesemanticpatientisthetopicofon-goingdiscussion.

English,likesomeotherlanguages,usesaperiphrasticpassive.Ratherthanconjugatingdirectlyforvoice,Englishusesthepastparticipleformoftheverbplusanauxiliaryverb,eitherbeorget,toindicatepassivevoice.

Theexample

（1）and

（2）arethesamemeaningandtheycantransfertoeachother.Butifonewantstoknowwherethecakeis,thenwecanuse

（2）.Andifoneisaskedwhathe/sheisdoing.Theexample

（1）isthebestanswer.Fromthesetwodifferentsentences,itiscleartousthatthepassivehaveitsownadvantage.

TheactivevoiceisthedominantvoiceinEnglishatlarge.Manycommentators,notablyGeorgeOrwellinhisessay"PoliticsandtheEnglishLanguage"（1946）andStrunk&WhiteinTheElementsofStyle（1918）,haveurgedminimizinguseofthepassivevoice.However,thepassivevoicehasimportantuses.JanFreemanofTheBostonGlobe（1993）states"allgoodwritersusethepassivevoice"–includingOrwellandStrunk&Whitethemselves,inthesectionsoftheiressayscriticizingthepassivevoice.Thereisgeneralagreementthatthepassivevoiceisusefulforemphasis,orwhenthereceiveroftheactionismoreimportantthantheactor.

2.3TheDifferencebetweenChinesePassiveVoiceandEnglishPassiveVoice

Asweallknow,nearlyallthelanguagehavethepassivevoice.Inthissection,IwillemphasisonthedifferencebetweenChinesePassiveVoiceandEnglishPassiveVoice.

InChinese,weuseonepassivewordtoexpressthepassivevoice,however,inEnglish,wehavetochangethegrammarvoiceoftheverbtoexpressthepassivevoice.Forexample:

（3）Themosquitobitesme;

（4）Iambitbythemosquito.

Theverbbitechangestoitspassivevoicebit,andthepronunciationrelativelychanges.Thepassivesentenceusesaprepositionbytoexpressthatthemosquitoistheactorwhoisthesubjectoftheactivesentence.Howeverwedon’thavetochangetheformationoftheverbinChinese,andweuseanewpassivewordtoexpressthepassivemeaning.Incontrast,wehavetochangetheformationandthepronunciationofaverbwhenthepassivevoiceisnecessary.

Therefore,wehavetorememberthepassivevoiceofaverbwhenwelearnEnglish.ItcanhelpustoreadEnglishmoreeffectively.

WhenisthepassivelikelytoappearinEnglish?

Whichgenreweusepassivelargely?

HowcanwetranslatethepassiveintoChinese?

2.4ThePassiveVoiceinEnglish

Inourlife,passivevoiceisnotwidelyused.Wetendtousetheactivevoicetoexpressourselves,whichmeansthatinspokenlanguagepassivevoiceisnotwidelyused.Therefore,whenthepassiveislikelytoappear?

Theresearchershavefoundthatweusemanypercentspassivevoiceinthenewsandtechnologicalarticle.

Tosomeextent,thefunctionofthepassivedeterminesthedistributionoftheuseofthepassive.Justastheoutcomeoftheresearchshowsthatinnewandtechnologicalarticlesusemanypercentspassivevoice,however,innovelsandourdailyconversationusesmerelylittlepercentspassivevoice.ThedifferencebetweenmodernEnglishandmodernChineseistheusagethepassive,inmodernChinese,wedon’tusealotofpassive,whileinEnglishweusealotofpassive.

3TheFunctionofthePassiveVoice

3.1PragmaticFunction

EnglishpassivesentencesarenotthesolelysimplesubstitutingformsoftheircorrespondingEnglishactivesentences,butpossessparticulartextual,pragmaticandrhetoricapplicationsinverbalcommunication.Basedontheanalysisofdata,thisresearchhasexploredfactorsininfluencingandrestrictingtheapplicationofEnglishpassivesentences.Finally,iscomestorealizethat:

theselectionofEnglishpassivesentenceisduetocomprehensivefunctioningoftheirfunctions,contexts,registers,idiolects,andwrittenorspokenlanguage;theformingandselectionofsyntaxbeholdsparticularpragmaticgroundtoreachexpectedpurposes,andthereisnoexceptionforthecasaofEnglishpassivesentences.

ThelargeuseofpassiveinEnglishnewsshowsusthatgraspingthemeaningsishelpfulforustounderstandthenews.ForourChineseEnglishlearners,theprocessoflearningEnglishistheprocessoftranslatingEnglishintoChineseinourmind.InordertounderstandtheEnglishwehavetotranslatetheEnglishintoChinese.ThisprocessisthebestwaytomastertheEnglish.Therefore,howtotranslatetheseEnglishintoChineseisthetopicwehavetoknow.TheeffectivewaytotranslatetheEnglishintoChineseistoresearchthemindifferentaspects.Thistopicmakesustothinkoverthereasonsoftheappearanceofpassive.Andletus