中式英语之鉴.docx

1、中式英语之鉴Part One: Unnecessary WordsAll authorities on the style of English prose agree that good writing is concise. Careful writers say what they mean in as few words as possible.Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the

2、 same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. It follows that any words which perform no useful function in the sentencethat is , which add nothing to the meaningshould be edited out. Almost every text that has been translated into English from Chin

3、ese( or that has been written directly in English by a native speaker of Chinese) contains unnecessary words. Draft translations are commonly full of them, and even polished final versions are seldom free of them.Read anything that has been published in English for foreign readersa magazine article,

4、 a news story, an advertisement, a government reportand you are likely to find superfluous words. Read even the shortest of English textsthe label on a food product , a billboard on Changan , the company name on the front of a buildingand , if you are on the alert to recognize them, chances are that

5、 you will find words that could and should have been omitted. Unnecessary words are the hallmark of Chinglish.Unnecessary words can be any part of speechnouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, articles, and so on. In the following chapters we shall consider the most important types, startin

6、g with unnecessary nouns and verbs, which often go hand in hand.I .Unnecessary Nouns and VerbsNounsMost unnecessary nouns in Chinglish appear not alone but in short phrases, combined with articles and prepositions. When you eliminate the nouns , you eliminate the articles and prepositions as well.Ma

7、ny of these nouns are easy to recognize. They are plainly redundant because their sense is already included or implied in some other element of the sentence. Here are a few examples (A) with suggested revisions (B)and comments in brackets.加快经济改革步伐A: to accelerate the pace of economic reformB: to acc

8、elerate economic reform (To accelerate = to increase the pace of )农业获得大丰收A: There have been good harvests in agriculture.B: There have been good harvests.“Harvest” implies agriculture: there are no harvests in industry.城乡人民生活水平持续上升。A: Living standards for the people in both urban and rural areas con

9、tinued to rise.B: Living standards in both urban and rural areas continued to rise.【The notion of living standards applies only to people.】这些困难从本质上说是暂时的。A： These hardships are temporary in nature.B: These hardships are temporary.Any adjectives describes the “ nature” or “character” of the noun it mo

10、difies . To say that hardships are “temporary in nature” is like saying that the Chinese flag is red in color” or that pandas are few in number.”我国未来的经济发展在很大程度上有赖于A：The development of our economy in the future will, to a large extent, depend onB: The development of our economy will, to a large exten

11、t, depend on The future tense of the verb(will depend) is sufficient to express futurity.我们应采取一系列措施来保证A: we should adopt a series of measures to ensure that.B: we should adopt measures to ensure that.Here the plural form of “measures” covers the sense of a “series”Other unnecessary nouns(or gerunds)

12、 may be less easy to identify. Nevertheless, a little thought will reveal that they add nothing to the meaning of the sentence. When they are deleted, the sense is not diminished, only clarified. Some examples:在实现农业机械化和电气化后A：following the realization of mechanization and electrification of agricultu

13、reB：following the of mechanization and electrification of agriculture必须加强国防建设。 A: It is essential to strengthen the building of national defense.B: It is essential to strengthen national defense.这些构成了努力实现过渡时期的伟大任务的重要条件。A: These constitute important conditions in striving for the fulfillment of the g

14、eneral task in the transitional period.B: These are important conditions for fulfilling the general task in the transition period.当时，东北的形势仍然是敌强我弱。A: At that time the situation in northeast China was still one where the enemy was stronger than the peoples forces .B: At that time the enemy was still s

15、tronger than the peoples forces in northeast China. Situation is a particularly dangerous noun. Not only is it generally unnecessary, but it drags other unnecessary elements after it (in this instance, one where).解决问题的关键在于削减开支。 A: The key to the solution lies in the curtailment of expenditure. B: Th

16、e solution is to curtail ( or. cut back on) expenditure. Key is sometimes useful, but usually it too can be dispensed with. And like situation, it often leads to further unnecessary complications (here, lies in). 党内民主是已详细讨论过的问题。 A: Inner-Party democracy is a subject that has been discussed in detail.B: Inner-Party democracy has been discussed i